About Dave Bales
Passionate about teams, Dave Bales is one of Australia’s leading Agile coaches researching “The Relationship Between Organisational Culture and Agile” at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
Dissatisfied with Agile transitions that only focus on adopting Agile practices, he is dedicated to developing adaptive mindsets, supportive leadership and joyful places of work.
He has led multiple Agile revolutions in large enterprises, secretive innovation programs and nervous startups across the AUNZ region for the past 15 years, and presented a range of diverse topics at Agile Australia in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
A bit nerdy. Attracted to unused whiteboards in mid conversation, and fascinated with the lived experiences of teams.
Ethnography: Constructing Rich Insights into Agile Team Culture
“…culture is not a power, something to which social events, behaviours, institutions, or processes can be causally attributed; it is a context…” Geertz & Darnton (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures
This talk ventures beyond the superficial rhetoric of the “Ways of Working” and describes how ethnographic methods, with practical examples, can be used to express a team’s Agile culture, or more plainly “Ways of Being”.
The presentation is for anyone interested in the deliberate development and cultivation of Agile culture in their teams.