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Can Agile Scale Without Exhaustion?
ACN Episode 115 explores coordination overload, differing views on team consistency, and practical ways to scale Agile while respecting people's time.
Oct 23 min read
Is Agile Open Northwest Worth It?
Every year, someone asks whether Agile Open Northwest is “worth it.” So let’s skip the polite marketing language and be honest. Here are five excellent, highly sarcastic reasons you might want to stay home: You prefer conferences where someone reads slides at you for eight hours. Agile Open Northwest has no pre-written agenda and no one hiding behind a deck. Instead, people talk about real problems they are actually facing. You will have to think, listen, and contribute. Und
Dec 29, 20252 min read
Agile Community Network Podcast: A Look Back at 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, I have been reflecting on the conversations we shared this year on the Agile Community Network Podcast. Each episode opened a doorway into real experiences across our teams, organizations, and the broader Agile community. Instead of focusing on tools or trends, the discussions kept returning to the human side of work and the deeper purpose behind our practices. It became a year shaped by honesty, curiosity, and community. Below is a look at the theme
Dec 11, 20254 min read
Why Agile Testing Days Is Worth Your Time
Agile Testing Days in Germany is more than a conference. It is an experience, a gathering of passionate professionals, and a place where community, learning, and fun intersect in the best possible way. I have had the privilege to participate three times, including giving a keynote. Standing on that stage, I felt the unique energy that comes when practitioners from around the world come together not just to share knowledge but to experiment, challenge assumptions, and build la
Sep 15, 20252 min read
Rebuilding the Agile Community: A Call to Action
The Importance of Communities of Practice Communities of Practice (CoPs) have long served as the backbone of professional learning and innovation. They bring people together not to compete, but to connect. Members share insights, failures, and discoveries, all in the pursuit of better outcomes for everyone involved. However, over time, many of these communities have withered. The Agile community, once a shining example of peer-driven evolution, now stands as a cautionary tale
Aug 7, 20253 min read
PMI’s Acquisition of Agile Alliance
In a significant move that has sparked discussions across the project management and Agile communities, Agile Alliance has become part of the Project Management Institute (PMI). While this acquisition may surprise many practitioners—especially those who have valued the independence and community-driven nature of Agile Alliance—it also promises to offer new opportunities for collaboration, growth, and a more unified approach to delivering value through projects. Below, we expl
Jan 4, 20254 min read
Abandoning the Agile Brand
I just returned from attending the Agile 2023 conference in Orlando, and something has been on my mind. I noticed that a fair number of individuals I met at the event had removed the term "Agile" from their job titles. This has piqued my curiosity and made me wonder about the implications for the future of Agile. So during my time at the conference, I spoke to several people to understand their motivations for rebranding themselves. Reason 1: It's a Label That No Longer Fits:
Jul 29, 20232 min read
Unlocking Agile Scaling: The Critical Role of Communities of Practice
Agile methodologies have revolutionized the industry, providing a new way of working that prioritizes customer satisfaction, collaboration, and continuous improvement. But as organizations adopt Agile practices, they often face challenges when scaling those practices across teams and departments. That's where communities of practice come in. Communities of practice (CoPs) are groups of people who share common interests, professions, or expertise and come together to learn, sh
Mar 4, 20232 min read
Falling Face-First into Learning
A few weeks back, a good friend Elizabeth Hendrickson tweeted about her approach to learning as being quite non-linear. Like her, this has been my approach to problem-solving, especially when dealing with complex problems. Unlike the common educational approach where we gain knowledge and skill in a guided and controlled linear format, non-linear learning is much more emergent and fits better when dealing with complex problems where the outcome cannot be foretold. The learnin
Mar 16, 20204 min read
Why your business should attend an open space conference
Ray Arell goes to Agile Open Northwest to see the benefits to the business in attending open conferences. Explore this topic Related articles Is Agile Open Northwest Worth It? Explore the value of conversations shaped by participants' actual questions and challenges. Why Agile Testing Days Is Worth Your Time Explore the learning, conversations, and community offered by a practitioner conference. Hear the ACN conversation ACN Episode 104: Rebuilding Communities of Practice H
Feb 22, 20191 min read
A look at ING Banks House of Agile
Ray Arell, in his Agile Alliance staff role, visits with Eric Abelen, Agile Coach at ING Bank. Together in this short video, they look at ING's House of Agile and other cool Agile workspaces inside ING. #BusinessAgility #Spaces Explore this topic Related articles From Software Patterns to Organizational Design Consider how design patterns can inform the way an organization works. Agile at Scale: How to Avoid Missing the Point Consider why expanding a framework can miss the v
Feb 5, 20191 min read
“I Dig the Great Minds Idea”
That's something that David Hussman said to me a few years ago. He loved jamming with people on new ideas, and I had the honor of being in a number of those conversations with him over the years. It was then that I would observe him being in his element. He would be jamming on new ideas, being most of the time peaceful, chill, and groovy — living up to his nickname, "The Dude". I was lucky to meet David several years back when we invited him to speak at Intel's internal Agil
Aug 20, 20183 min read
The Narrative Project
Daniel Pink said, “We are our stories. We compress years of experience, thought, and emotion into a few compact narratives that we convey to others and tell to ourselves.” Stories give us the ability to see from the perspectives of the people in our Agile community, and in turn give us insight about the world so we can perhaps change it for the better. That is really what the Narrative Project is all about. Now saying this I know that doing both are not at all easy. Co
Jul 12, 20173 min read
OdinSTAR 2017, and the not so forgotten questions
A week ago, I was in Oslo, Norway, for the OdinSTAR 2017 conference on software testing, and I had the privilege of teaching a great group of people in my Agile Leadership Workshop. The workshop is taught dynamically and I never expect for us to get through all of the materials in the class. So, in the very beginning the students sorted the backlog of potential topics and added key questions to establish the highest value for their four-hour investment. By the end of the cou
May 18, 20175 min read
Press Release: Launch of nuAgility, LLC
We are excited to announce some changes at nuCognitive, LLC. In the coming month, one of our founders, Daniel Walsh, will be moving to Austin, Texas. With this, we are going to be separating nuCognitive into two independent businesses. Daniel Walsh will be taking the leadership and full ownership of nuCognitive, and Ray Arell will be establishing a new company called nuAgility (www.nuagility.com, ray.arell@nuagility.com) that will remain headquartered in the Portland area. Th
May 4, 20171 min read
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