Agile Lunch 'N Learns - ongoing practice

This is well known and simple to use. At my current client, which is in the middle of a large agile transformation, we have regular lunch learning sessions within the various Director's organizations. Not all groups are involved yet, but we working on it. In one of the groups I help we conduct a session about every 2 months with a final retrospective session near the end of the year.



I could say the topics are what interest people and that's why they keep coming. However, it might also be the free pizza and brownies that gets to keep coming. The reality is, it's a little bit of both. We survey our organization to see what topics the group is interested in. We then proceed to delivery relevant sessions that last about 90 minutes. The key to success? Simple:

• Free food - pizza and brownies/cookies
• Topics the group is interested in
• Examples relevant to the organization
• Knowledgeable presenters
• Interactive sessions
• Use of videos and skits to augment presentations
• Exercises where appropriate
• Getting the organization leaders to attend
• Ample time for Q&A

As people and teams move through a transformation, they need different types of information at different stages in their development. Lunch 'n Learns serve as a mechanism to build awareness and understanding for the employees. 

If you don't have individuals in your organization with enough knowledge, reach out to other groups, other companies, & user groups and you'll be surprised how many people will be interested in delivering lunch time presentations. You may also be able to get vendors to delivery sessions as well. For instance, my company does this.