Agile Politics – (re)discover the politician in you at XP Days Benelux
If you believe corporate politics is something for ‘those dirty managers’ think again. Everybody behaves in a political way when a limited amount of resources has to be divided over groups of people. Come play our game and experience firsthand how dirty a politician you are!
It has behooved the XP Days Benelux conference to allow playing of devious political games in its program. Join Emmanuel Gaillot and me on November 23 or 24 so that you can (re)find the (dirty?) politician in you.
“Cheney Satan ’08″ by futureatlas.com
Photo found through Photo Suggest
(Well, you don’t have to get as dirty as the photo suggests, but you will have to put up a fight for your cause 
)
We will play politics – in a game you will represent a political faction that tries to get an alliance of agilists to spend money the way you prefer. Convince others to vote for you so you can carry out your program, or choose another party to do what you want for you… Will you be trying to convince the voters to spend money on conference organization, advanced agile research, business 2 business schmoozing, or something else entirely?
After playing the game we will debrief our experiences and draw parallels with everyday work. It may be that you are already aware of the politics around you. In that case the game can help you understand more about your behaviour. It may be that you believe your work has nothing to do with politics. Think again… it may be that you are a “spoiltician” 
– someone who has “delegated” that dirty politics to others (e.g. your boss . This game will show you how political many common project decisions are. Whether you care about corporate politics or not, they have an impact on your worklife. Regardless your status, be it an opinion leader, a reckless reformer or “just a programmer” in the silent crowd, this workshop is for you!
Benefits:
- Learn when politics happen
- Get a better grasp at why politics happen the way they happen
- Experience your own behaviour and that of others – it is the situation that is politically charged more than you
- Try out various political strategies and safely observe their possible outcomes
- Have fun!
In case we haven’t convinced you to join, maybe we can offer you a bribe or a kickback? (In case you are american, we may also have some pork available for projects in your home state, to be executed by the companies you love )
Agile Politics Workshop, November 23 or 24, XP Days Benelux, Mechelen
