Tag: downtown association

Agility Café 8: Co-working and Cindy’s amazing update

Posted on by in Agile

If you are wondering “What’s an Agility Café?” then read this.

Downtown Association back door
Downtown Association back door

We welcomed two new people to the café, Trevor Swenson and a co-owner of Scripture Gift and Book shop, whose name I’ve sadly forgotten. I haven’t forgotten the amazing brownies she brought however. 🙂

Cindy had lots to update us on since our last session, she is really on fire. The other half of the session was spent pondering the feasibility / desirability of a co-working space in Sault Ste. Marie. The idea resonated with everyone present, with a number of ideas for how to keep building momentum. Andrew Ross, expect some emails from us. Darryl Buck from RBB Innovations is keen on the idea as well, so we’ll continue to discuss this with him.

Mind map of conversation
Mind map of conversation (click on photo to view in larger size)

Overall rating this time: 7

Likes:

  • venue
  • open discussion
  • rich update from Cindy
  • silent brainstorming

Improve:

  • time was short for topic discussions
  • interruptions by people coming in late

Experiments for next time:

  • time box updates
  • expand Agility Café overview online so newbies can become more familiar with format before attending
  • pull out mind map from last session for during the update

If you are wondering “What’s an Agility Café?” then read this to learn more and register for the next one.

Agility Café 7: Creativity, Engagement and New Breakthroughs

Posted on by in Agile
Agility Café Topic / Action Mind Map
Agility Café Topic / Action Mind Map (click image to see larger version)

We met for the first time at the Downtown Association, in their spacious board room overlooking Queen St, the sunlight pouring in. Combined with the quiet and large table for note taking, this created an ideal space for rich discussion. This was the best café yet, just keeps getting better.

See the mind map for most of the details. Note that:

  1. Each topic is listed, with the challenges, observations and ideas captured.
  2. Each person whose topic is discussed selects one or more actions to take in the next week. Those action steps are circled in red.
  3. We also check in at the start. Cindy had a lot of exciting breakthroughs to share (highlighted in yellow). That’s what makes this all worthwhile, seeing people get excited, moving past obstacles and closer to their goals.

Topic: Creativity in the Workplace

Darren gives a one minute summary of what we discussed and action steps he plans to take:

Overall scores out of 10:

  • 9, 9, 8, 10
  • we liked: no noise, sun, focus and flow of conversation

Improvements to get a perfect score:

  1. better parking
  2. more people for next session

Want to know more about Agility Cafés? Read when they happen, what you’ll get out of them, and how to register.