Agile Parenting

Future Founders Lab 19.-21.11.2024 an den Nymphenburger Schulen

Brigitte Neumann — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 16:12:11 +0000

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:

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.
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.
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

Die erste Unterstützer*innen haben wir schon!

Astrid Heine

kreative Denkerin &
lösungsorientierte Macherin

mehr zu Astrid Heine

AgiLego – The Battle!

Brigitte Neumann — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:44:19 +0000

Kids vs. Grown-Ups: Who Masters SCRUM First?

Two groups take their seats across from each other — kids on one side, grown-ups on the other. The question on the table is deceptively simple: who picks up SCRUM faster? One side has decades of experience. The other has nothing to unlearn. Today, we’re here to find out. Place your bet.

Antonia, aged five, had her first AgiLego experience by assisting with the preparation of LEGO blocks for a simulation that Pan Ke and I facilitated at a client site.

The idea surfaced at a previous Agile Parenting event, during a single game that said everything — kids navigated it with ease while the parents fumbled. Watching it all unfold was Christian Alber, a management consultant and former colleague of Brigitte’s, who had come along with his family. He left with an idea: an AgiLego session for the community. We’re glad he did.

The development team organizing user stories in the backlog.

Four teams. One winner. The prize goes to whoever builds the best town out of LEGO — but everyone leaves with something. Hands-on experience with agile project management, the kind that shows how creative results happen within constraints, not despite them.

Want in? Drop an email to brigitte@agileparenting.net and let us know how many kids and adults are coming. The more, the better.

And if you’re wondering what to expect — here’s what Robert, one of our previous participants, shared on LinkedIn. Safe to say, it made our day.

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Family New Year Resolution Workshop

Brigitte Neumann — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 14:18:31 +0000

One afternoon. One conversation that actually matters.

Most New Year’s resolutions are made alone. This one isn’t. What does a happier, healthier, more fulfilled life look like — not just for you, but for the people you come home to? What are your partner’s ambitions? Your kids’ quiet wishes? This is the space to find out.

Brigitte saw this on a window in Copenhagen last winter.

If you’re anything like us, January starts the same way every year — a list that’s ambitious before it’s realistic.

Brigitte’s to-do list in its natural habitat — open tasks on the left, conquered ones on the right.

The problem isn’t the list. It’s that my next steps might clash with what my spouse’s needs — or quietly complement them. We rarely know, because we rarely ask. Wang Man explored a version of this with her Agile Holiday Planning. Now we’re taking it further.

From fuzzy expectations to goals that actually pull you forward.

Expect hands-on group work — Design Thinking and Gamestorming tools that make the thinking visible. You’ll hear how other families have approached it, what worked, and what didn’t. And everyone in the room contributes: grown-ups and kids alike.

By the time you leave, you’ll have more than good intentions. You’ll have a shared roadmap — what your family wants to achieve by year’s end, documented and agreed upon. Less mental load. More forward momentum.

The workshop draws on Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families — a book that does exactly what we try to do: take the principles that work in boardrooms and bring them home.

The format works best for school-age kids. If you’re bringing younger ones, just let us know — we’ll make sure they’re taken care of too.

As for who it’s for: families, in every sense of the word. Couples, non-traditional setups, chosen families — all equally welcome.

When?

Saturday, February 24, 2024

14:00-18:00

Where?

KITCHEN2SOUL

Schlörstraße 4, München/Neuhausen

Cover Charge?

We charge EUR 30 per family for snacks and drinks.

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Drinks & Agile Games

Brigitte Neumann — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 14:01:05 +0000

The first Agile Parenting event. And we’re keeping it simple.

Drinks — with or without alcohol, but definitely a little glamorous. Snacks. Good conversation. Agile Games at the heart of it, with activities designed for grown-ups and kids in equal measure. Bring the children.

Agile Games will be at the core of this evening.

We’re expecting a crowd that’s genuinely curious — people who’ve wondered what Wang Man and Brigitte actually mean when they talk about Agile Parenting. But if we’re honest, the most interesting part might be the people in the room themselves.

Play is the highest form of research.
Albert Einstein

Doors open at 6pm — early enough for the kids to join. The evening starts with a short introduction, then moves into games and hands-on learning stations for the whole family. No family in tow? That’s fine too.

Everyone is welcome — as long as you’re curious about what agile can do beyond software development

When?

October 24, 2023

18:00-22:00

Where?

KITCHEN2SOUL

Schlörstraße 4, München-Neuhausen

Find out how this went. What a night! Families showed up, leaned in, and took it seriously — in the best possible way.

You have further questions?

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What If You Ran Your Family the Way You Run Your Best Projects?

Brigitte Neumann — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 21:00:16 +0000

So, what actually happens in an Agile Parenting Workshop?

It starts with a little theory — our ideas, our experiences, the tools and methods that have made a difference. Then it opens up: experiments, discussions, and room to figure out what might actually work for your family.

By the end, every participant should feel ready to start their own agile parenting practice. No obligation — but the option, clearly within reach.

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.”

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

Discussion at a workshop for international women in tech that we facilitated in Beijing

How do we do it?

A large family with young children and a minimalist lifestyle has entirely different needs than a solo mum with a demanding career and a teenage daughter. One might be looking for a fairer way to split the household chores. The other wants to cut energy drainers and protect the time that matters.

Both leave with something useful.

We introduce SCRUM and other agile methods — then step back and let participants shape them to fit their own reality. We’re there to guide, not prescribe.

Below is the outline from a workshop Wang Man ran with her daughter Sophie. Together, they introduced the Challenge Board — an agile tool they’d already used in their own home to get a handle on the habits neither of them was proud of.

Agile-Parenting-Workshop_Challenge Board Download

How does it work?

Companies invite us when they want to do something genuinely useful for their people — not another wellbeing initiative that gathers dust, but a session that sends parents home with tools they’ll actually use.

We also love showing up as part of larger events: agile communities, female leadership forums, innovation gatherings. Give us a slot and we’ll make it count.

The format works best for parents in high-performing environments — mothers and fathers who bring the same drive to family life that they bring to work, and want the methods to match.

What we need from you: 20 to 30 open-minded participants, a room with enough wall space for flip chart papers, and decent coffee. We bring everything else.

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Experience Startup Magic with a Design Thinking Hackathon

Brigitte Neumann — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 19:05:01 +0000

What is a hackathon and what is Design Thinking?

Hackathons are a staple of the startup world. Several teams, one challenge, a weekend to make something real. Along the way — coaches, experts, and pitch doctors circling to push the thinking further. The method holding it all together is Design Thinking: a structured way to turn creative energy into something that actually works.

They walk away with creativity methods and techniques for sharpening ideas — from rough spark to something solid.
They understand what makes a business model actually work.
They practice collaborating under pressure: resolving conflict, making decisions, moving forward as a group.
And they meet people worth knowing — the kind you follow up with. If everything clicks, the next unicorn – or zebra – is born.

Design Thinking is an agile practice built around one idea: start with the customer and work backwards. It’s an industry standard in software development — but the method travels well. From Silicon Valley to the rest of the world, tech companies follow the same steps:

5 steps of the Design Thinking Method

How do we do it?

Design Thinking is Brigitte’s natural habitat. She finds a way to work at least one of its tools into almost every consulting project she touches. Together with Wang Man, she has also taken it somewhere less expected — into the room with kids, for some genuinely out-of-the-box innovation with kids.

How does it work?

The product idea makes or breaks it. In our experience, “do whatever you like” hackathons tend to go nowhere — too much freedom, too little traction. But a brief that’s too narrow kills the spark just as fast. “How do we increase profit for X” is a management meeting, not a hackathon.

The sweet spot? The UN Sustainability Goals. They’re big enough to inspire, specific enough to focus — and they never disappoint as a source of topics to chew on:

https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Take “water” as the theme for a weekend. One team might tackle plastic bottle consumption. Another starts with water, drifts to flow, and lands on a meditation app for teenagers. Both are valid. That’s the point.

Once the theme is set, the logistics are straightforward: Get 20 to 40 people willing to stretch their thinking for a long weekend, provide a space, basic catering and enough coffee. We handle everything else.

What do you need?

People: 30 to 40 participants works well — curious, open-minded, and happy to have their assumptions challenged for a weekend.
Space: Teams can work side by side in one room or spread out and only come together for the opening evening and the final pitch.
Inspiration: Experts drop in for an hour — entrepreneurs, industry insiders, communication specialists. They don’t hand out answers. They ask the questions that push teams to the next level.
Food: Nutritious, tasty meals and snacks. Sustained thinking needs sustained fuel.
Optional: Branded give-aways to mark the occasion.
Optional: Prizes for the winners — cash, access to consultancy, or whatever feels right for the crowd.

In practice, organizing a Design Thinking Hackathon is simpler than it sounds. We bring the materials, the props, and the experience. You bring the people. There will be one official winner — but everyone walks away with something: sharper skills, a broader toolkit, and a clearer sense of how to think for the century ahead.

Interested? Let’s start with your idea and your audience and take it from there. We love building something bespoke.

And if you’re a non-profit, a school, or an organization with an outsized vision and a modest budget — reach out anyway. We’re genuinely happy to find a way.

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How Agile a Parent Are You, Really? Time to Find Out.

Brigitte Neumann — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 15:05:27 +0000

The way Antonia designed a grid when she was 5.
True STeAM spirit.

Two decades ago, Wang Man and I worked together at the German Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. Back then, Wang Man ran Customer Satisfaction Surveys — and that’s where we both learned to ditch uneven scales. Given the option, respondents drift to the middle. Comfortable, noncommittal, and not particularly useful if you actually want to know where to improve.

An Agile Parent Is an Agile Manager on Oxytocin.
Brigitte Neumann

When we started practicing Agile Parenting, the move felt obvious: take what worked in the office and bring it home. The books, the methods, the mindset — Design Thinking, SCRUM, the art of being a good Product Owner. All of it, transplanted e.g.

The Professional Product Owner by Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham
Nea Machina – die Kreativmaschine by Thomas and Martin Poschauko
Management 3.0 by Jurgen Appelo

Description

The agile world’s flexibility is one of its greatest strengths — and occasionally its most frustrating quality. Without clear metrics, it’s hard to know where you stand or how far you’ve come. So we decided to change that.

The Agile Parenting Self-Assessment covers three categories. First, how your family experiences you as a parent. Second, which values you actually get across — not the ones you intend to, the ones that land. And third, how you manage the family as a unit.

Simple. Honest. A little uncomfortable, perhaps. That’s the point.

Agile_Parenting_Self_Assessment Download

What makes this an agile parenting tool?

Once you have your result, sit with it. Where do you want to grow? The agile community runs on exactly that impulse — the quiet conviction that there is always a next level.

And if you have a moment, leave a note in the comments. How well did the result reflect your reality? Where does the tool fall short? This is an MVP — and like any good one, it gets better with honest feedback.

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Agile Parenting in Style: Show the Spirit of Being a Parent in the Growth Zone

Brigitte Neumann — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 11:42:51 +0000

We think of Agile Parenting as a startup — no clear business purpose yet, but the energy is there. It might even become a movement. We’ll see.

Either way, it’s never too early for a little startup megalomania. So we got t-shirts made. When we sat down with Sarita to talk design, one thing was non-negotiable: the wearer had to look great. Not something you can say about the average startup t-shirt. But then again, we were never going for average.

Soft organic cotton, sizes S, M, and L — available in a body-hugging cut or a straight shape.

Want to wear the spirit? Drop us a message.

T-shirt RMB400/EUR30.

Hoodie RMB600/EUR45

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T_Incubate: The Incubator for Startup Ideas from Teens and Twentysomethings

Brigitte Neumann — Sat, 27 Nov 2021 19:37:55 +0000

What is T_Incubate?

T_Incubate is a startup incubator for teens and twentysomethings — built for the moment the magic wears off.

Hackathons and Startup Weekends are electric. The room hums with adrenaline, with “what if,” with the genuine conviction that anything is possible. And in that environment, teams produce things they never thought they were capable of.

Then Monday arrives.

Getting from a pitch headline to a functioning MVP is hard work — and most teams don’t make it. Here’s why:

Working relationships are everything. Interpersonal skills make or break a business before the product ever does.
Daily life moves fast. Chores, obligations, distracting habits — they creep in quietly, and suddenly the idea that felt urgent on Sunday night has nowhere to go.
Teams hit a wall. They lack the skills, the tools, or the access to resources needed to build even a basic model of what they have in mind.

Charlotte Martins, the organiser of the first Startup Weekend I ever attended — Zero Waste, Shanghai, a few years back — put it well:

The team is more important than the idea. Sometimes you have a compelling concept but the leader loses the people. And without them, there is no success.
Charlotte Martins

How do we do it?

Hone social skills

Conflict management, communication, and group decision-making aren’t soft skills — they’re the foundation. Without them, even the most talented, diverse team falls apart before the idea gets a chance. And yet people were not born with them. Schools don’t cover them. They’re just expected.

That’s where we come in. We teach the basics, then stay close — coaching for steady, ongoing growth rather than a one-off workshop and a wave goodbye.

Adapt project management

When motivation dips — and it will — structure is what keeps a team moving. A high-level project plan, regular check-ins, clear deliverables, shared agreements. As loose or as rigorous as the team needs it to be.

There is no one-size-fits-all in project management. But there are best practices worth knowing — and we make sure every team does.

The agile toolbox has everything a team could need

Like most things that actually matter, nobody teaches this in school. But a real project — one with some stretch to it — is the perfect place to learn. The tools stick when the stakes are real.

Connect with our network

It takes a village to raise a startup. Most young founders simply don’t have that village yet — the network of people and organisations willing to help, quickly and without red tape, for free or close to it. We do. And we’re happy to make the introductions.

How does it work?

A typical T_Incubate project runs three months — from pitched idea to a fully functional MVP or model, presented to judges and supporters.

How teams get there is up to them. Daily standups or weekly syncs. In-person or digital. Self-organised, by design. What every team gets, regardless of how they work, is input, guidance, and practical help when it matters.

Here’s where our team typically steps in:

Interested? Let’s talk. We’d love to build a framework that gives young innovators the stability and structure to actually see their ideas through.

And if you’re a non-profit, a school, or an organisation with an outsized vision and a modest budget — reach out anyway. We’re genuinely happy to find a way.

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Lapbook: Create a Mini-Book of Your Learning and Present Ideas in a Tangible, Attractive Way

Brigitte Neumann — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 13:21:02 +0000

Description

Lapbooking is making a collection of mini-books, each covering a different angle of a larger topic. Once you’ve made enough of them, they come together in a single folder — sprawling, tactile, and satisfying in a way that a digital file never quite manages to be. The name comes from the finished product itself: open it up and it covers your lap. Learn more here.

What do you need?

Cardboard
Paper, pens, pencils, crayons, glue, tape, scissors
Magazines to raid for illustrations
A computer and printer, if you want to pull in anything from online
30 minutes to get your kid settled, started, and in the mood to make something

Let’s do it!

Pick a topic together — anything goes, from potatoes to black holes, from Confucianism to ancient Egypt.
Break it down into knowledge areas. These become the topics for each mini-book inside the lapbook.
Decide together which mini-books your kid tackles solo and which ones need your input. A delegation board can help make this visual.
Design, build, and complete the mini-books.
Assemble everything into the lapbook and decorate it however you like.
Before you start, take a moment to align on the bigger picture — timeline, depth of research, overall structure. A short conversation upfront saves a lot of course-correcting later.
Check in for ten minutes each morning or evening. Review what’s done, adjust the plan. One mini-book per day works well as a rhythm — though complexity will always have the final say.
Present it. Your kid can showcase the finished lapbook to the whole family, you can do it together, or film it and share with us. After all that work, the story deserves an audience.

What makes this an agile parenting tool?

Your kid owns the project. You’re the Scrum Master — there to support, not to direct.
The final presentation is borrowed straight from Design Thinking. It matters to tell your story!

Think back to your last genuinely interesting dinner conversation. A heated debate about vaccination. Female entrepreneurs in Africa. Something that sent everyone down a rabbit hole and left you wanting to know more. Tulip flowers. Chinese silk. It doesn’t have to be weighty — it just has to spark something.

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