What if there was a different way to introduce Kanban - one not centered on tools but on a system of values? It turns out that this values-based approach is interesting not just for its novelty but for the questions it helps to answer. What is Kanban for? Why would my organization want to try it? How should I go about it? What pitfalls should I avoid? This extended session is aimed at a mixed audience, from people still learning about the Kanban method up to those who teach it or introduce it to organizations. Through guided activities we will share stories of success and failure that illustrate how values shape the conditions in which change happens, inform the outlook of the organization undergoing change, and help to set a direction of travel. Mike has led development teams and larger IT functions for much of his career, working in the aerospace, software tools, finance and energy sectors.

With its inherent suitability for parallel execution, and an increasing appreciation of the declarative coding style among developers, functional programming is returning to the limelight. A host of new languages have come out recently to bring this paradigm into the modern era (like Scala, Clojure and Elixir) and F# is Microsoft's offering on the CLR. This talk by a self-proclaimed FP newbie will give a brief introduction to functional programming and F#, and attempt to explain why you should be getting involved!