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Future Founders Lab 19.-21.11.2024 an den Nymphenburger Schulen

• Was brauchen Menschen, um sich als Teil einer Community zu fühlen und sich einzubringen?
• Welche Services würden Familien helfen, um stressfrei durch den Alltag zu kommen?
• Warum gibt es eigentlich vor der Schule jeden Tag automobiles Bring- und Hol-Chaos?
• Wie kommen Schüler in Zukunft an gute Praktika? Würde ein Alumni-Verein helfen und wie könnte man das organisieren?

Große Herausforderungen sind Startpunkt legendärer Geschäftsideen! Und deshalb veranstalten die Nymphenburger Schulen mit uns ein Future Founders Lab zum Thema

COMMUNITY INFLUENCERS

Das ist für uns sehr aufregend, weil unsere Töchter Antonia und Sophie an diese Schule gehen. Wir freuen uns sehr, auf diese Weise selbst Community Influencers zu sein, Schule aktiv mitzugestalten und voneinander zu lernen.

“Die Formel für den Erfolg ist einfach. Beginnen Sie etwas in dem Bereich, in dem Sie wirklich gut sind, stellen Sie Ihre Gewissheiten in Frage, reparieren Sie, was nicht funktioniert, und passen Sie alles an die Realität an.”

Elon Musk

Für wen ist das Future Founders Lab?

Eingeladen sind alle Schülerinnen und Schüler, egal ob Unterstufe, Realschule oder Abiturient. Elterngruppen und Lehrer, die gemeinsam einer Projektidee auf den Grund gehen wollen, sind ebenfalls herzlich willkommen. Um teilzunehmen muss man nicht im Vorfeld schon eine konkrete Idee haben.

Wir freuen uns über kompletten Größenwahn genauso wie über pragmatische Ideen für kleine, lokale Initiativen. Allen machen wir dieses Versprechen:

1. Ihr habt zwei Tage lang Zeit und Raum, um aus eurem Team geniale Ideen rauszukitzeln und zu staunen, wieviel Kreativität und Talent in euch steckt.
2. Ihr werdet Projektmanagement, Gamestorming und Design Thinking kennenlernen, wichtige Tools und hilfreiche Projekt Hacks ausprobieren und euch in ganz neue Gefilde vorwagen, die später im Berufsalltag gefragt sind.
3. Startup Magic ist ein wirklich starkes Erlebnis und unternehmerisches Denken und Agieren eine große Kraft.

Klingt super. Wie melde ich mich an?

Interessenten gehen bitte in der Schule auf Frau Kahle zu oder schreiben an die Moderatorinnen Brigitte und Wang Man unter info@agileparenting.net.

Ich bin Günder, Unternehmerin, Investor, engagiere mich bei einer Community Initative und möchte das Future Founders Lab gerne unterstützen.

Perfekt! Hier brauchen wir deine Expertise:

• Als Coach für eine oder zwei Stunden am Buß- und Bettag oder am 21.11.
• Als Pitch Doctor, der den Teams dabei hilft aus den 7 Minuten, die sie für ihren Pitch haben alles rauszuholen.
• Als Helfer mit deinem ganz spezifischen Talent. Du bringst einen Kuchen vorbei oder einen Kasten Getränke? Du hast Lust bei der Logistik der Pitch Night zu unterstützen? Du kannst Plakate gestalten? Es gibt eigentlich nichts, was wir nicht brauchen können.

Melde dich bei Frau Kahle über das Elterportal oder bei Wang Man und Brigitte über info@agileparenting.net

Astrid Heine

kreative Denkerin &
lösungsorientierte Macherin

mehr zu Astrid Heine

Astrid ist ein kreativer Kopf mit einer großen Leidenschaft für Innovation und Design. Sie ist studierte Industriedesignerin und hat viele Jahre für produzierende Unternehmen innovative Produkte entwickelt. Astrid hat bereits zwei Startups mitgegründet. Dadurch bringt sie jede Menge Erfahrung mit, um den Teilnehmer*inne zu zeigen, wie man Ideen von der ersten Skizze bis zum fertingen Produkt entwickelt – und sogar, wie man Ideen so groß machen kann, dass die viele Menschen erreichen. Wir freuen uns sehr, Astrid an Bord zu haben, die mit ihrer Kreativität, Erfahrung und Innovationsfreude unterstützt.

www.astridheinedesign.de

Christiane Boehme

Resilienz-Coach,
Führungskräfteentwicklerin

mehr zu Christiane Boehme

ist systemische Coach & Business Trainerin, das heißt: Expertin beim Thema “picksige und zugleich wertschätzende und konstruktive” Fragen zu stellen, Gruppen anzuleiten und das Beste aus ihnen heraus zu holen. Ihre Söhne gehen in die 6. und 9. Klasse der Nymphenburger Schulen. Christiane unterstützt als Coach die Gruppen darin, durch ihre Fragen die für die Gruppe beste Lösung zu finden. Es ist toll, Christiane an Bord zu haben, die die Nachhaltigkeit im Blick hat.

Florian Rustler

Innovationsberater,
Projektmanager

mehr zu Florian Rustler

ist Innovationsexperte und Gründer von creaffective. Sein Sohn geht auch in die 7. Klasse der Nymphenburger Schulen. Beruflich begleitet und stärkt er innovative Prozesse in Unternehmen. Er wird die Teilnehmer dabei coachen, einen strategischen Blickwinkel auf ihre kreativen Ideen zu entwickeln. Für uns ist es wirklich Wahnsinn zu erleben, dass echte Profis uns spontan ihre Unterstützung zusagen!

Julius Renz

Gründer, Designer und Social Media Experte

mehr zu Julius Renz

Julius ist Gründer des Münchener Startups Goodbean Coffee. Er vertreibt den sehr schmackhaften Kaffee v.a. online und kennt sich deshalb bestens darin aus, wie man social media nutzt, um Menschen zu erreichen, die hochwertige Bohnen und perfekte Röstung zu schätzen wissen. Er wird am Mittwochabend erklären, wie man gute Bilder und Videos für Instagram aufnimmt und die Teams praktisch unterstützen, ihren Prototypen und ihre Story in Szene zu setzen. Julius hat noch keine Kinder. Er freut sich, wenn ihr einen Kaffee-Adventskalender bei ihm kauft ;). Und wir freuen uns, dass die teilnehmenden Community-Influencer mit Julius’ Crashkurs coole Bildsprache lernen.

Marc Poppner

Technologieberater,
Investor

mehr zu Marc Poppner

hat in der Vergangenheit selbst sehr erfolgreich gegründet, ist Technologieexperte und Investor. Während des Future Founders Lab wird er auf dem zweitwichtigsten Startup Event Europas ; ) – der SLUSH – sein und uns live davon berichten. Wir freuen uns schon sehr auf diese Momente von gemeinsamen Startup-Magic. Marc hat zwei Töchter an der Schule.

Markus Scherner

Digital Strategie
and Operations

mehr zu Markus Scherner

Markus‘ Sohn geht an die Nymphenburger Schulen. Beruflich hat er intensiven Kontakt mit vielen nationalen und internationalen Startups , da er für den ADAC laufend nach frischen Ideen und jungen Unternehmen Ausschau hält, die für Mitglieder und Kunden spannend sind oder in leichter Abwandlung der Idee dahinter spannend werden könnten. Er hat ein umfassendes Netzwerk über die Münchener Szene hinaus und weiß, welche Ideen das Interesse von Unternehmen und Investoren wecken könnten. Er wird am ersten Abend beim Bilden der Teams unterstützen und den Teilnehmern, die noch keine Ideen haben, ein paar Impulse geben – wenn sie wollen.“

Mihnea Vlad

Product Developer
& Designer

mehr zu Mihnea Vlad

Wir freuen uns ja über und auf alle Unterstützer, aber auf Mihnea irgendwie besonders. 😊 Er hat 2016 an den Nymphenburger Schulen Abi gemacht und anschließend Design und Innovationsmanagement studiert. Im Anschluss hat er mehrere Leidenschaften zum Beruf gemacht, indem er Co-Founder von Codex Sports wurde. Das ist eine App, mit der Sportbegeisterte z.B. einen Basketballplatz und auch gleich Mitspieler finden können. Das passt wirklich perfekt zu unserem Thema „Community Influencers“! Mihnea ist mittlerweile bei dem Startup ausgestiegen, nachdem er viele Höhen und Tiefen des Gründens selbst erlebt hat. Er arbeitet als selbständiger Designer und bei der Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Beim Future Founders Lab wird er die Key Note halten, am letzten Abend Teil der Jury sein und auch zwischendrin mal vorbeikommen, um zu sehen, wie es den Gruppen geht.

Link Codex Sportshttps://www.codex.social/

Nadin-Shirin Zimmermann

Venture Builder, Innovationsberater, BayStartup Jurorin

mehr zu Nadin-Shirin Zimmermann

Nadin verbindet Ideen mit Menschen, damit Innovation gelingt.
Sie hat bereits vielfältigste Geschäftsideen entwickelt und skaliert, dabei neue Marktchancen identifiziert und innovative Technologien angewandt. Sie berät Unternehmen strategisch und stärkt nachhaltige Innovationen: hands-on. Ihr Engagement spiegelt sich in ihrer Rolle als Beirätin und Business Angel sowie als Podcasterin, BayStartUp Jury und Keynote-Speakerin wider, wo sie durch ihre persönliche Gründungserfahrung gepaart mit aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen frische Impulse in der Innovationslandschaft setzt. Als Teil ihres fortwährenden Engagements für nachhaltige Innovation absolviert sie derzeit ein Executive Study Programm an der Harvard University mit dem Schwerpunkt „Sustainable Innovation.“
Nadin hat zwei Jungs in der 7. und 9. Klasse auf der Nymphenburger Schule.

Sonja Goeller

Finanzplan Expertin (für Startups) und
Ex-Investment Bankerin

mehr zu Sonja Goeller

ist die Mutter eines Schülers aus der 6. Klasse an den Nymphenburger Schulen und Geschäftsführerin von bizzplan. Die ehemalige Goldman Sachs Investment Bankerin wird den Teilehmer*innen die Grundzüge eines Finanzplans näherbringen. Es ist unglaublich, dass wir von einer so hochkarätigen Expertin Unterstützung bekommen! Wir freuen uns sehr darüber!

Sonja Kamm

Talent-Expertin

mehr zu Sonja Kamm

Sonja ist beruflich für internationales HR zuständig und eine Expertin darin, Talente zu entdecken und sie dabei zu begleiten, ihr Potenzial auch auf die Straße zu bringen. Sie wird am Mittwoch als Coach den Teams helfen, an einem Strang zu ziehen und Entscheidungen zu treffen, hinter denen alle stehen. Am Donnerstag unterstützt sie als Pitch Doctor, damit die erarbeiteten Ideen perfekt rüberkommen. Sonjas Kinder gehen in die 5. und die 9. Klasse. Wir freuen uns schon sehr auf ihren positiven, energiegeladenen Vibe im Raum.

Susanne Schindelmann

Kommunikationstrainerin, Teamentwicklerin

mehr zu Susanne Schindelmann

arbeitet mit Führungskräften, damit diese lernen, erfolgreicher zu kommunizieren. Da geht es nicht nur um Rhetorik, sondern auch um die passende Einstellung und ein gutes Verständnis der gesamten Situation. Sie ist ein Profi darin, Individuen und Teams dabei zu begleiten, Hindernisse auszuräumen und top Ergebnisse zu erzielen. Ihr Sohn geht in die 6. Klasse der Nymphenburger Schulen. Susanne wird dabei helfen, dass die Teilehmer ihre Pitches genau auf den Punkt bringen.

Tim Zimmermann

Investor, systemischer Coach

mehr zu Tim Zimmermann

Tim war schon in der ganzen Welt unterwegs, um große Firmen dabei zu beraten, wie sie ihre Organisationen für die Zukunft aufstellen. In den letzten Jahren hat er mit seiner eigenen Beratung einen neuen, vielleicht sanfteren Weg eingeschlagen und bringt seine Kunden mithilfe systemischen Coachings weiter. Er hat ein geschultes Auge für gute Geschäftsideen und wird beim Future Founders Lab Teams durch seine ganzheitliche Perspektive weiter bringen. Wir sind schon sehr aufgeregt, was wir alle von Tim lernen können.

Valentina Nigg

Gründerin, Engineering Master Student

mehr zu Valentina Nigg

Valentina ist der jüngste Coach. Sie studiert aktuell noch an der TUM, hat aber bereits ihr erstes Startup, AnyCharge mitgegründet, das intelligente Lade-Lösungen speziell für (Firmen-) Parkhäuser entwickelt. Sie ist selbst noch mittendrin zum next level und der herausfordernden Reise von einer beachteten Idee zu einem erfolgreichen Unternehmen. Sie kann aus eigener Erfahrung von Startup-Wettbewerben und Pitches berichten, was gut ankommt und wie man als Team überzeugt. Wir freuen uns schon sehr auf ihre Ideen und ihre Energie.

Walter Edhofer

Gründer des Fördervereins

mehr zu Walter Edhofer

Walter Edhofer war Lehrer an den Nymphenburger Schulen und bereits in seiner aktiven Zeit ein leidenschaftlicher Gestalter der Schulfamilie. Er initierte die Gündung des Fördervereins der Nymphenburger Schulen, weil er erlebte, dass es auch in diesem Umfeld zu sozialen Härten kommen kann, die dann glücklicherweise durch den Förderverein abgefedert werden konnten. Die ca. 65 Mitglieder des Fördervereins unterstützen heute mit ihrem Jahresbeitrag und zusätzlichen Spenden Initiativen an der Schule, die den Kindern zugute kommen. Diese vitale Gemeinschaft engagierter Eltern und ehemaliger Schüler über Jahre zu pflegen ist persönlicher Verdienst von Walter Edhofer. Wir freuen uns sehr, dass Walter Edhofer Mitglied der Jury sein wird. Als ehemaliger Lehrer, dem das Wohl der Schüler immer noch stark am Herzen liegt, kann er bestens einschätzen, welche Gruppe besondere Leistung erbracht hat. Er ist selbst ein erfolgreicher Community Influencer und wird bewerten, welche Ideen Impact in Gemeinschaften erzielen können.

Zehra Alibaba

Head of Retail Finance und Head of Accounting

mehr zu Zehra Alibaba

Zehra hat eine ausgeprägte Leidenschaft für Zahlen – und noch mehr. Als Head of Retail Finance und Head of Accounting für Deutschland, Österreich und die Tschechische Republik in einem weltweit führenden Unternehmen, hatte sie nicht nur die Finanzen im Blick, sondern auch den Bereich Compliance und Geldwäsche Prävention fest im Griff. Herausforderungen? Für sie Alltag. Maßgeschneiderte Lösungen innerhalb komplexer gesetzlicher Vorgaben? Ihr Spezialgebiet. Privat kümmert sie sich um den Erfolg ihres Sohnes, der die 10. Klasse des Nymphenburger Gymnasiums besucht. Zehra engagiert sich als Elternbeirätin und unterstützt uns tatkräftig beim Navigieren der schulinternen Kommunikation. Danke für den Post in classlist!

The post Future Founders Lab 19.-21.11.2024 an den Nymphenburger Schulen appeared first on Agile Parenting.

What is Mom360?

Over the course of roughly one and a half years, young mothers are enabled to juggle family and job. Following a holistic approach, it involves HR, mentors, managers and partners alike.

How do we do it?

Before maternity leave

The program starts before maternity leave and involves HR, the mentor or manager and – of course – the female employee herself. During this phase, the mother-to-be develps a rounded target picture which represents a 360degree view of her situation.

During maternity leave

Mothers receive regular coaching sessions (and may bring their babies) which support the transition into this new set-up. They cultivate management and leadership capabilities to successfully navigate the new situation. Furthermore, we introduce a range of tools to strengthen resilience.

When juggling career and kids, the partner can play a pivotal role. Therefore, one workshop is dedicated to aligning targets and tasks within the support system. We are more than happy to include partners who want to join.

Swinging back

When the female high-performer comes back, regular sessions offer a space to reflect and adjust. Workload management is at the core of these meetings.

How does it work?

Wang Man and Brigitte are experienced change managers and coaches by training. On top of this they can reach out to a network of managers/coaches/mothers who are just as excited as they are to deliver this program. Where needed they can cover specific requrements like industry knowledge oder process know-how.

The post Mom360 keeps mothers’ career planning and companies’ need for talent aligned appeared first on Agile Parenting.

Participants are invited to reflect on our ideas and experiences and discover which tools and methods might be useful for improving their own family dynamics. There is some theory and input in the beginning and then plenty of experiment and discussion. The goal is that all participants feel ready to start with their own agile parenting practice after the workshop, if they wish to do so.

Most families wish for more sanity 😉

“It [mental wellbeing] is more than just going to yoga classes or meditating – it is about understanding our roles, negotiating boundaries, communicating needs with confidence, our sense of leadership, and emotional awareness – and it takes work and yes, some pain. But trust me, with pain comes resilience. The pain is worth it.”

Enoch Li, our friend, mental health care pioneer and founder of Bearapy

How do we do it?

A big family with very small children and a minimalistic lifestyle has other needs and possibilities than a solo mum with a demanding career and a teenage daughter. The big family might mainly look into distributing household chores in a fair, satisfying way. The mum/daughter team might be more interested in learning how to minimize obstructions and energy drainers to have as much quality time together as possible.

We introduce several SCRUM and other agile methods. Participants then customize them according to their needs and we help and coach when needed.

This is the outline for a workshop Wang Man did together with her daughter Sophie. They introduced the agile tool Challenge Board which they have used in their own family before to get a grip on their less desirable habits.

How does it work?

Mostly, companies that want to support and inspire their associates to better balance work and family life invite us for workshops. We also love to be part of events organized by the agile/female/innovative community and conduct a session in a larger context.

This workshop format is suitable for parents in high-performing environments, mothers and fathers with a strong interest in increasing effectiveness with their families’ tasks and families with a need for more balance and resilience.

For a workshop we simply need 20-30 open minded participants, an inviting, big enough room with space for flip chart papers and enough tea, coffee and snacks to provide for energy and joy. Everything else we will bring along.

The post Find a new perspective on managing a family and discover how Agile Parenting might work appeared first on Agile Parenting.

Hackathons are common in the Startup ecosystem. Several teams develop business ideas. During that time, there are coaches, experts and pitch doctors around to support and inspire. A typical hackathon lasts a full weekend. The method for funneling creativity into a feasible product is Design Thinking.

• Participants learn new creativity methods and techniques for gradually increasing the maturity of their ideas.
• They understand the basics of a successful business model.
• They learn to collaborate, mitigate conflict and make decisions as a group.
• They have the opportunity to meet kindred spirits to follow up on the hackathon result later on. If everything goes well, they end up with the next unicorn – or zebra.

Design Thinking is an agile practice and a process to develop customer-centric ideas. It is an industry standard for software development but not limited to that industry. Tech companies in Silicon Valley and the rest of the world follow these steps:

How do we do it?

Design Thinking activities small and large are Brigitte’s favorite thing and she will rarely miss a chance to use at least one of the typical tools when doing consulting projects. Wang Man and she also have plenty of experience for extreme out-of-the-box innovation with kids.

How does it work?

First, we need a compelling product idea. Our experience shows, that hackathons that have a “do-as-you-like-approach” have lame results. When the playing field is too narrow, like “How do we increase the profit/reach/customer satisfaction of this-and-that” lacks novelty to truly inspire participants. The UN sustainability goals never disappoint as a source of topics to chew on:

https://sdgs.un.org/goals

For instance, a hackathon can put “water” at the heart of the weekend-long activity. Based on this, one team might choose to work on an idea on how to limit the use of plastic water bottles. Another team might be carried away further and first think of water, then of flow and end up with a meditation app for teens.

Once this has been set, it is easy: Get a group of 20-40 people who are happy to stretch their brains for a long weekend. Organize rooms and some basic catering. We take care of the rest.

What do you need?

1. People: 30-40 participants is a good group size. They should be funny, open-minded and enjoy stretching their brains.
2. Space: Teams can work in one room or in separate rooms and only convene for the first evening and the final pitch.
3. Inspiration: Experts from the chosen industry, entrepreneurs, communication specialists etc. pop in for an hour or so and share their thoughts with the individual team. They do not give much specific advice but rather challenge the teams and help them to get to the next level of their business idea.
4. Food: nutritious, tasty meals and snacks will fuel all this thinking and creating
5. Optional: Give-aways with hackathon branding
6. Optional: Prizes for the winners. This can be cash or access to consultancy services etc.

This means, a Design Thinking Hackathon can be organized very easily. Our team will bring all the materials, props and experience to make it a memorable event. There will be just one official winner but tons of personal growth and enhanced skills for the 21^st century for all participants.

If are interested, let us discuss your basic product idea and audience. We would be pleased to organize a bespoke activity for you.

In case you are a non-profit, a school that caters to special needs, in general an organization with a big vision and a tiny budget, do not hesitate to contact us, either. We are more than happy to customize a pro-bono solution.

The post Experience Startup Magic with a Design Thinking Hackathon appeared first on Agile Parenting.

T_Incubate is the startup incubator for teens and twens. It provides a range of services that keep teams with great business ideas on track when the initial startup magic fades. Hackathons and Startup Weekends are great. There are heaps of adrenaline, Wow! and What if? in the room. Everyone is excited about the seemingly unlimited creative power they own. The high-paced environment leads to results these pumped individuals would never have dreamed of.

However, it is hard work to get from the headlines level of a business idea pitched to a feasible MVP. These are the most common reasons:

• Interpersonal skills make or break businesses.
• Daily live with all its tasks and chores, social obligations and distracting habits creeps in quickly and suddenly there is seemingly no time to advance the pitched idea.
• Teams lack skills or access to resources for building a functioning MVP or at least a model of what they have in mind.

Charlotte Martins, the organizer of the first Startup Weekend I joined (on Zero Waste and in Shanghai a couple of years ago), shared this wise insight with me:

“The team is more important than the idea. Sometimes you have a compelling concept but the leader loses the people. There is no way they will be successful.”

Charlotte Martins

How do we do it?

Hone social skills

Conflict management, communication management and healthy decision making as a group are key for long-term commitment of highly talented, diverse team members. This is the pre-requisite for innovation that has the chance to sustain. Most people are not born with these skills and schools do not teach them. When our team comes in, we teach the basics and then continuously coach for steady personal growth.

Adapt project management

When motivation decreases, it is helpful to keep focus with the help of a high-level project plan, regular meetings, aligned deliverables and other agreements. This can be as free and flexible or rigid and rule-based as each team finds useful. There is never a one-size-fits-all in project management but there a several best practices that are usually worthwhile to consider.

The agile project management toolbox contains everything teams possibly may need

As with most really important stuff, only very few people learn this at educational institutions as we know them today. A project with some stretch is the perfect context to apply and internalize them naturally.

Connect with our network

It takes a village to raise a startup. Young people usually do not have access to a wide range of people and organizations that are capable and willing to help either for free or a manageable fee in an un-bureaucratic way. We are happy to connect and advocate as needed with.

How does it work?

The typical T_Incubate project lasts three months, from pitched idea to presentation of fully functional MVP or model.

Each T_Incubate team is self organized and decides how to achieve the goal of presenting a fully functional MVP to judges and supporters after three months. Participants can meet for a daily standup or synchronize results with the help of a digital collaboration tool and only meet once a week.

However, they will receive input, guidance and practical help when needed for the topics mentioned above.

These are typical activities where our team comes in:

If are interested, let us discuss your needs and expectations. We would be pleased to create a framework that gives young innovators the stability and structure they need to grow.

In case you are a non-profit, a school that caters to special needs, in general an organization with a big vision and a tiny budget, do not hesitate to contact us, either. We are more than happy to customize a pro-bono solution.

The post T_Incubate is the incubator for startup business ideas from teens and twens appeared first on Agile Parenting.

„Agile Parenting“ is based on the principles of agile project management. It plays with its tools, methods and the radically customer-centric and purpose-driven mindset. When we started it, Agile helped us to get a grip on this challenge: How do we help our kids to enter the world?

The original Manifesto for Agile Software Development was drafted by American IT experts in 2002, as a consequence of industry frustration.

They had experienced too often, that the created software did not meet the requirements that had been defined at the beginning of the project due to

• too little involvement of the future users,
• command-and-control communication instead of open discussion and a
• lack of sincere search for the best solution.

The alternative they were looking for was pure value creation, which meant to them: Sustainable results in short lead time, high morale, safety, quality, customer delight.

Parents also feel frustrated.

1.      Families feel stressed due to high workload, social obligations and financial pressure. Maybe more importantly, they feel trapped in routines and social norms which they follow – while being aware that often they do not benefit them.(http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006391/how-one-obscure-word-captures-urban-chinas-unhappiness

• Formal schooling is facing a massive crisis on a global scale. Children just do not learn skills for the 21^st century. They are not prepared for the professions we do not know yet but will be the economic drivers in the future. Most schools do not teach healthy learning habits. They do not foster curiosity. Instead of increasing resilience and solution-orientation, schools make children feel bored and fearful.
• Family life is not how we expected it to be. Too often it is not a save space for everyone, filled with love and laughter, where we can re-charge and relax from our busy lives. Instead, there is conflict, fatigue and un-met needs. More and more parents and children suffer from anxieties and need treatment.

The Agile Manifesto claims that the items on the right are important but the items on the left are crucial.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

https://agilemanifesto.org/

“Responding to change over following a plan” is most likely natural for all families. Who has not experienced packing bags for a highly anticipated weekend getaway and the night before the kindergarten kids starts vomiting? However, the idea behind this item is even bigger. It encourages us to venture forward with as few items as possible on our bucket list and just look where the journey takes us. It encourages us to work with what we have. My child is a gifted artist but I envisioned a career as a lawyer for her. What is better? Item from the left or from the right?

This requires a lot of solution-driven, regular, structured communication. Agile project management has developed a bag of tools to institutionalize this, e.g. KANBAN boards, product backlog, review and retrospective. All of them can be used effectively by agile families.

The manifesto is further explained by the 12 agile principles. Not all are fully relevant in the family context. https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html. These are the ideas we find important:

Self-organization is covered by various principles. In the corporate world as in the family realm, it requires a lot of personal growth by parents and coaching for kids until it really works. When your primary school kid insists on packing her school bag herself and then forgets her snack box, she will be hungry that day or ask her friends to share their snack with them. When your middle-school kid resists studying for a test, parents do not force him, and he gets a bad mark in the end, this will teach him a lesson. Either he embraces the assistance parents are willing to give him or he studies better by himself the next time.

Empowering your children is very important according to Dr. William Stixrud and Ned Johnson They gives tons of scientific evidence why in their book The Self-Driven Child. Kids need to be allowed to fail on their own terms. This is the prerequisite for the deep knowledge that they have control over themselves. This experience actually builds up the frontal cortex in the brain.

Translated into the domain of family life “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” means that what we do needs to serve us as human beings. Some social norms like dressing nicely or keeping proper hygiene can give useful guidance on how to prosper socially and physically. Other unwritten rules, like which clothing brands you have to wear or when it is time for a child to stop playing with their cuddly toys can add pressure or even damage an individual.

Bruce Feller Adapt gives a good example in his TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_feiler_agile_programming_for_your_family?language=ry

Family dinner is a good idea but might be overrated and actually not fit the family situation. Instead of forcing this ritual, it can be better to re-frame it and define the target to spend 10 minutes of meaningful time together every day. This can be any time, not limited to dinner. According to Feller, happy families have an above average ability to adapt.

Furthermore, this item reminds us that it is not possible to draw lines with a ruler when it comes to human beings who are continuously changing. Organizing daily tasks with a KANBAN board might work well for a while and suddenly does not do the trick any more. Instead of forcing the daily standup on everyone it is better to find out how to adjust – or replace – this procedure.

As parents, we often look for proofs that we are doing the right thing. “Working software over comprehensive documentation” can serve as a reminder to focus on the actual outcome. For instance, this can mean that it is more important that my child enjoys playing the piano than winning piano competitions. Another example is not to measure learning success of a child by the hours she studied or the number of pages he read in a book but simply by assessing how much they truly learned and understood.

The idea “Customer collaboration over contract negotiation” can be the most radical when applied to family life. The way we live it, it means that we communicate a lot, align expectations and needs of all family members and each member takes responsibility for everyone else. This is the contrary of order-and-control, which is often found in corporate and in family life where one person or group sets the rules and everyone else has to follow, receives and completes tasks. Don’t get us wrong: A top-down leadership style is not necessarily a bad thing and it can be vital in times of crises.

Agile emphasizes teamwork. One of its values is to give power for decisions to those who know best. Most of the time these are not the superiors or line managers but the individuals who execute the task on a daily basis. This challenges the “old normal” of hierarchies. In the context of agile parenting, this means that parents need to learn to trust that children can and should make important decisions for themselves. Children make decisions, the whole family gives constant feedback. For small kids this may mean that they may pick the clothes they want to wear even if this does not exactly reflect the color-coding you had in your mind for the dinner in that fancy restaurant. If children do not practice taking small decisions how can we expect them to take educated big decisions when they are teenagers or grown-ups?

Most importantly, fluid collaboration requires that team members work together daily. It is a reminder to have quality conversations every day beyond “how was your day?” Instead, they can cook and clean together, craft, draw or plan the next holiday together (link zu agile holiday). At home and at work the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

Simplicity. The art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential: eliminate waste, build quality in. For families this can mean the adoption of minimalism: Why drive your child to school when she can take a bus? Why travelling overseas as appropriate for people of our status when everyone in our family would have more fun by just renting a cottage in the mountains? Why searching for your keys every morning instead of having the routine of putting keys at the same spot every time you enter your home? Why buying an extra wardrobe for all those clothes instead of sticking to a capsule wardrobe where you can mix and match everything and need much less?

The 12 Agile Principles do not explicitly cover our love for Experiment J. This is hidden within principle 1 and 3. Agile projects in the corporate world aim at producing an MVP, a minimum viable product as soon as possible. They start with a workable solution and only later add features as they learn about their customers’ additional needs and desires. The basic truth behind this: It is better to benefit from an 80% solution quickly – and then take it from there – than never reach the perfect 120% solution.

Most importantly, the Agile Principles emphasize Excellence and Sustainability. In the corporate world agile often is a pretext for sloppiness and lack of focus and planning. This is a crass misunderstanding. The product idea of a happy family where everyone can develop according to their talents and aspirations is a massive goal that does not allow half-heartedness.

If you are practicing agile parenting, please let us know why you do it and how. We are always thrilled to learn more. There is so much inspiration out there!

The post This Is Agile Parenting: Apply Best Practices From Work And Observe Positive Impact At Home appeared first on Agile Parenting.

This was an interesting exercise since they had never asked themselves this question. First, they approached this by doing a picture brainstorm. In any workshop this is an uplifting activity, since you browse through glossy advertisement and pick what appeals to you. As it turned out, they think mums need a lot of luxury and serenity 😉

As a next step, they collectively filled in the Empathy Map. In this context as in the corporate context, it is important to not just write down stereotypes. It is important to back up the findings with evidence and give examples for the observations. What the girls found out about the emotional state of mums was less glamorous than the result in the step before.

When mums speak, they give orders like: “Do more homework!”, “Play the piano!”, “Walk the dog!”

The lower right corner shows that the daughters see a lot of multi-tasking going on: They work, take care of the house and spend time with the family.

And what do they think? “Don’t give up!”, “Don’t lag behind!”, “I have responsibility (for the dog ;)!”, “I need time for myself!”, “I want to have fun!”

Our girls were not happy with our overall emotional state. Very often, their mothers are angry, stressed, moody and tired. Furthermore, they find us hard to understand. Fortunately, Happiness also popped up when the girls contemplated about how we might feel. Thank god!

What do your children see, think, feel and do when they look at you? We would be happy to read your comments!

The post What Does A Mum Need? This Is What Happens When Daughters Emphazise appeared first on Agile Parenting.

Wang Man brought this method back to where it came from and spent a day with her daughters and their friends designing fashion.

Define

Ideate

Prototype

Test to learn

In their book (in German) the brothers/designers Thomas and Martin Poschauko explain Design Thinking without even calling it Design Thinking. Their book Nea Machina was a huge inspiration for Brigitte when she started experimenting with this method in the corporate environment.

The post Design Thinking When Making Fashion: Bringing The Method Back To Its Roots appeared first on Agile Parenting.

Sometimes this meant a mother needed some space. For tasks that required concentration. My friend Wang Man and I occasionally hosted play dates to free up each other’s day a bit. I brought up the idea of a Design Thinking workshop to break up the usual homeschooling routine and create an enjoyable leaning environment for kids of varying ages.

Creative problem solving is a life skill!

I am a big fan of gamification and preach to my clients that a well-designed game says more than 1000 words. Design Thinking is a creative problem solving technique and an agile practice. It is fun for adults and should be even more natural for kids since it involves drawing, making collages and telling stories. Being silly is also encouraged.

My daughter Antonia does not like writing. Well, that is not true. She likes imaginative stories but hates checking and changing at the end and getting criticized for her spelling mistakes. With my criticism about the mistakes she makes, which I considered below par, I had managed to completely demotivate her to the point where she was boycotting even holding a pen. Time for a fresh start with other kids around and using a fresh technique. No pressure to write a perfect story according to school standards but with the key metric “imagination”.

Design Thinking follows simple principles:

The Design Thinking process: There are six steps that need to be covered.

Empathize

This is the starting point for any agile practice and requires you to put yourself into the shoes of the customer. You take a real person and find out what she wants to achieve, what motivates her way of life. From my consulting experience with adults, I know that it is good to stay in this phase for a long time and do this thoroughly. Once you have fully connected with the customer, all the other steps are easy.

Define the problem

based on the intelligence gathered you choose a topic at headline level that you want to work on.

Ideate

Brainstorm until you find solutions and product ideas for the problem defined earlier.

Prototype

Very quickly, you sketch the beta-version of a product. The purpose is to check if it really works once transferred from the idea-level into the real world. The second reason for creating a prototype is that it allows you to show it to others, ideally your target audience and get feedback.

This is done in the following phase:

Test to learn

According to my experience, this is the hardest step. After all this creativity and crafting, which is uplifting and energy-consuming at the same time, it can be very sobering to show the result to outsiders. Creating a questionnaire to get awareness of the weaknesses of the current result. It is tough and at the same time reflects the Google mantra “Get out of the f*cking office!”

Tell your story

or a pitch wraps up the whole process.

How does this actually work?

Connect facts and feelings, logic and intuition

We use techniques that trigger the brain to work in a rounded way. Usually, adults sit on a computer screen with just one finger at the mouse. This is all the sensual impulse they get. The situation of school kids is often not much better. With Design Thinking, we count in our surroundings, browse through magazines, cut, glue, draw, craft. Suddenly, we connect with parts of our decision making capabilities that are underutilized most of the time.

Make magic happen

This is the ultimate purpose: To create this WOW! This “What if?!” moment is just priceless. In order to get there, you must be totally free. No fear of being silly, no pressure to deliver feasible results immediately, which, chokes the free flow of ideas.

Playfulness, which is a key component of Design Thinking comes naturally to all healthy children and therefore I was curious to find out what happens when they work with this agile practice.

My first experiment was with three primary school kids, one of them being my daughter Antonia. Their task was to write a story filled with fantasy. First, they should define main characters and then describe them with as much detail as possible. What do they like to do? Who are their friends? How are they dressed? For inspiration, they could browse our house, magazines or their own mind.

It is a good idea to try out agile practices with your kids before doing them with your client 😉

Brigitte

Then they created the initial story lines by drawing on post-it stickers or cut out pictures from magazines. It was important that everything stayed flexible and the single elements could easily be moved or replaced.

When they had made up their mind about the problem and the solution of their stories they came up with titles. Next it was time to re-work the stories, maybe change the thread and add details. It was now time to present the stories to experts – which were the other kids. By re-telling they learned which parts were particularly funny, which lacked consistency (not that it actually mattered) and where their audience lost interest.

Stories miraculously started flowing

Equipped with this intelligence, they started writing their stories. This was the most amazing part because all stories miraculously flowed on the paper. All the content was already inside their inner selves ready to be released. My daughter had lost her anxiety and sentences just burst out of her.

This is the effect I also observe when doing Design Thinking workshops with grown-ups:

• First, for a long time not much seems to happen. All the action is happening in the inner realm but then everything materializes very quickly.
• The whole process is intense and when finished, everybody feels very tired.
• The results are filled with emotions.

To wrap it up, the kids presented their stories. Most of them were very weird, I have to admit. However, this is what you get when you ask them to go wild and overload the stories with fantasy, I believe.

However, they also needed guidance not to get lost in just playing but combining playfulness with target-orientation. The kids all had her individual struggles at some point, be it losing concentration, meeting anxieties or falling into unproductive patterns. I could have employed even more tools from my usual Design Thinking workshops from the corporate environment, like the Cover Story or templates for story boards but I was cautious not to spread the activity out too much and risk losing the children. I was not sure about the collective attention span but assumed three hours of intensive work might be the maximum.

The event was over a full morning. Amazingly, all children embraced the exercise with motivation and awe. They enjoyed the creative chaos when sitting in the middle of all the materials that were provided and the process overall. That evening, I received messages from the parents telling me that the kids wanted to do something like this again.

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