Download and watch the associated Webinar on Demand: https://www.cprime.com/resource/webinars/planes-trains-and-automobiles-learnings-from-ken-frances-personal-agility-journey/ In celebration of the 20th year of the signing of the Agile Manifesto, Ken France, Agility Practice Leader and SAFe Fellow at Cprime, shares his professional journey which has been centered around application development and agility. He explains how planes, trains, and automobiles are directly tied to the long and winding road he traveled from being an application developer with a computer science degree to becoming the Agility Practice Leader at Cprime and SAFe Fellow. This session highlights things he has learned and done along the way and he shares experiences and insights that may benefit others in their professional journey. This talk also features some “cameo” appearances from well-known industry icons who have influenced and supported him, specifically Grady Booch, Dr. Ivar Jacobson, and Dean Leffingwell. This event was part of Agile 20 Reflect Festival, a global community-led agile event.

2. Welcome to the Biggest Global Agile Festival ever!
Over 600 Events worldwide in February 2021
www.agile20reflect.org
Twitter
#MyAgile20Reflect

3. The Agile20Reflect Festival has been made possible entirely by volunteers,
and funded by generous donations from the community to keep this non-commercial.
You are welcome to make a donation here: Agile20Reflect.org
https://au.gofundme.com/f/agile-20-reflection-festival-foundation
All events agree to adhere to our Code of Conduct (CoC) and are open and safe.
https://agile20reflect.org/home/community-policy/

4. PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES
Feb 25, 2021

5. OPENING PLACEHOLDER
- Replace this with OSU marching band intro video – want to grab their
attention right out of the gate

6. WHO AM I?
• Executive enterprise coach cultivating transformational
organizations and a recognized highly-rated trainer
• One of the first U.S. minted SPCT
• 25+ years experience in IT
• Successfully supported multiple Fortune 100 enterprises,
tackling large and complex scaled agile transformations
• Passion to help empower all levels of the organization in
their journey to drive sustainable improvements and
meaningful change
KEN FRANCE
VP, Scaled Agility
SAFe SPCT/Fellow

7. APPRECIATIONS
Scott Seivwright
Cprime
Founder, Agile Reflect Festival
Martin Burns (RIP 2019)
Founder, SAFe Leadership Retreat

8. THE THREE AMIGOS
GRADY BOOCH
IBM Fellow
IVAR JACOBSON
Chairman & CEO, Ivar
Jacobson International
DEAN LEFFINGWELL
Chief Methodologist,
Scaled Agile

9. 1985 - 1990: THE ……. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
IBM Boca Raton, FL IBM RTP, NC IBM Rosslyn, VA

10. 1985 - 1990: TAKEAWAYS
Tip 1: Carpe Diem –
don’t let a little fear
prevent you from
saying yes to an
opportunity
Tip 2: Education can’t
replace hands-on
experience

11. 1990 - 1996: IBM/LORAL/LOCKHEED GAITHERSBURG, MD
March, 1993: FAA Cure Letter

12. 1990 - 1996: TAKEAWAYS
Tip 3: Don’t panic in the
face of adversity, work
the problem
Tip 5: Do the job before
you have the job
Tip 4: The
integration/alignment
of people, process, and
tools are key

13. 1996 - 2002: RATIONAL/IBM (AGAIN)
Mark Meinschein
IBM
Kelli Houston
Lockheed Martin
Rational ”Agile Teams”
- Outside/Inside Sales
- 3-5 Tech Reps
- Shared goals
- Self-managing
“Siebel Guy”
“Sales Guy”

14. 1996 - 2002: TAKEAWAYS
Tip 6: Develop T-
Shaped Skills across
multiple domains
based on your long-
term goals
Tip 8: “Take care of the
customer and I got your
back”
Mike Devlin
Co-Founder
Rational Software
Tip 7: Cross-functional,
aligned teams with
shared goals works for
ANY kind of team
Tip 9: Get a good
financial planner early
in your career

15. 2003 - 2011: INTELLIBANK/NUMBER SIX/GOV’T CONTRACTOR
Gary Swart,
Polaris Partners
Ken Clyne,
FiveWhyz (Cprime)
Craig Rudman,
Wiley
Nate Oster,
CodeSquads
“The Marble Run” – Scrum simulation
Brian Lyons (RIP 2007)
Co-Founder, Number Six
Ambassador of ”Mojo”
2007 - 2011
- Brian passing (Sept 2007)
- Number Six acquired
- “Chop up and integrate”
- Cost control focus
- 2007-2008 Recession
“HiHo!”
“Scottie” to my “Frenchie”

16. 2003 - 2011: TAKEAWAYS
Tip 9: Intentionally
foster long-lasting
relationships
Tip 11: Find your “Mojo”
but always be humble
Tip 10: Startups can
leave you with scars
but also wisdom
Tip 12: ”Culture eats
Strategy for Breakfast”
Peter Drucker,
Author

17. 2012 – 2017: ….. BLUE AGILITY
Eyal Abukasis,
Cprime
Pratik Bengali,
Entrepreneur
Empower the Enterprise
BLUEAGILITY
Cheryl Crupi
MetLife
SAFe Fellow
Partners, ”Sixers”
Seven
Liz Parnell
Fujitsu
Enterprise Strategy,
Agile, DevOps

18. 2012 - 2017: TAKEAWAYS
Tip 13: Be bold Tip 15: Do a real
Trademark search
Tip 14: Hire a marketing
person
Tip 16: Go all in

19. 2017 – PRESENT: CPRIME/ALTEN
Zubin Irani
Co-Founder
Cprime
Gerald Attia
Co-Founder
Alten
David Hussman
(RIP 2018)
Founder, DevJam
Anne Steiner
Cprime
”Culture meets Strategy for
Breakfast”

20. 2017 - Present: TAKEAWAYS
Tip 17: One Team, One
Dream
Tip 19: Find your ”why”
(Ref: Simon Sinek)
Tip 18: Ride out the
highs and lows

21. PRESENT - ??
Dan
Teixeira (“Tex”)
SPCT, Cprime
Dan Weikart
SPCT, Cprime
Isaac
Montgomery
SPCT, Cprime
Mik Kersten
Tasktop
Empower the Enterprise
BLUEAGILITY
?
Next?
Yvonne Delaney, Steve Adolph, Kyle Dukes
Cprime SPCT Candidates
Sue Shreve
SPCT, Cprime
Luke
Hohmann
First Root

22. APPRECIATIONS

23. FINAL THOUGHTS

24. THANK YOU

25. QUESTIONS?