New Group – Agile Lean Europe (ALE)

Why are Agile and Lean practitioners in the US better organized than in Europe?

It is great that we have an Agile Alliance, a Scrum Alliance, the LSSC and other organizations. But when Agile and Lean thinkers in European countries want to coordinate things across European borders, should they depend on institutes and initiatives from outside of Europe?

After 10 years of Agile, with Kanban, Craftsmanship, DevOps and other new movements, the world of software development seems more fragmented than ever.

The Americans have done great work as pioneers. That's what they're good at. But uniting people of diverse cultures and rich histories is what the Europeans have learned to do quite well. Maybe it is time for the Europeans to give it a try.

Maybe we should have a European Network for Agile and Lean thinkers. Not as a replacement for anything. But as the ties that keep people in the Agile and Lean territories working together. Despite our many differences.

I invite you to discuss this opportunity in a new group for Agile and Lean thinkers (on LinkedIn).

The purpose of this group will be decided by its members.

• Maybe we'll use it to share information about Agile and Lean conferences. Maybe not.
• Maybe we can be an umbrella organization for all Agile and Lean communities. Maybe we can't.
• Maybe we will be the European Centre of Excellence to the Agile Alliance and LSSC. Maybe we won't.
• Maybe we'll become a Point of Contact for European business and the European Union. Maybe not.
• Or maybe we will just use this group to schedule appointments and beers. And maybe we won't. 

We don't even have to call it "Agile" and "Lean". Maybe we want to come up with a new name that will serve us well in the next decade…

But whatever we do, the group will be about Agile. And Lean. And Europe.