Hosted (likely in October 2023) by club leaders Cynthia Clemmer and Taniya Shaikh, the material will acknowledge that when it comes to project management methodology, there are only two games in town, i.e., Waterfall and Agile. The material proposes a third game, “Elegance.” Robert will share a brief history of software-centric methodologies, explain why they made sense in the past 50 years, and why they are counterproductive for today’s innovation teams. Robert will share the origin story of the Elegance methodology, explain the merits of a people-centric methodology, and dig into details of the three metaphors of the Elegance methodology.

Hosted (likely in July 2023) by Norm Eckstein and Vadim Katsman, leaders of IMC’s Chicago chapter, the material will acknowledge that when it comes to project management methodology, there are only two games in town, i.e., Waterfall and Agile. The material proposes a third game, “Elegance.” Robert will share a brief history of the methodologies, explain why they made sense in the past 50 years, and why software-centric methodologies are counterproductive for today’s innovation teams. Robert will share the origin story of the Elegance methodology, explain the merits of a people-centric methodology, and dig into details of the three metaphors of the Elegance methodology.

Hosted by conference leaders Wouter Nieuwenburg, Patrick Van Renterghem, and Filip Hendrickx, BA & Beyond is in its sixth year. Robert’s material acknowledges that when it comes to project management methodology, there are only two games in town, i.e., Waterfall and Agile. The material proposes a third game, “Elegance.” Robert will share a brief history of the methodologies, explain why they made sense in the past 50 years, and why software-centric methodologies are counterproductive for today’s innovation teams. Robert will share the origin story of the Elegance methodology, explain the merits of a people-centric methodology, and facilitate a working session with the audience. The workshop leverages the Elegance methodology’s three metaphors and structures tools and frameworks that shape a culture of discipline and empathy.

Hosted by conference leaders Wouter Nieuwenburg, Patrick Van Renterghem, and Filip Hendrickx, BA & Beyond is in its sixth year. Robert’s material explains why existing, software-centric methodologies contribute to VUCA. He proposes that combatting VUCA is straightforward and explains the metaphors and culture traits of Elegance, a people-centric methodology that elevates project success rates and the employee experience.

Hosted by Ali Aksoy and Amari Benjamin Oziegbe, officers of IIBA’s Orange County chapter. Event title was “Self-awareness: One Tool For My Team, One Tool For Me.” Robert shared the origin stories for two tools in the Elegance methodology’s asset portfolio: the Approachability Menu and the Lessons Learned template. He facilitated a role play where audience members reacted to the tools and contributed examples from their own experience.

Hosted by Christine Hoh, Digital Events Coordinator for ACMP Global. Facilitated by Danielle Freeman, Continuous Improvement Practice Leader at The Clorox Company. Being and feeling set up to fail is common. Robert shared a story where he felt set up to fail. He explained the basics of the martial art of Aikido and why it’s effective to apply when you feel set up to fail. He showed five tools that are evidence you are set up to succeed and five separate tools to use when you feel set up to fail. All ten tools are part of the Asset Portfolio within the Elegance methodology.

Hosted by Janella Kaczanko, Chief Administrative Officer of Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. The two-hour workshop shared the origin story of the Elegance methodology, the history of software-centric methodologies (Waterfall and Agile), and set the table for the audience to dive into the three metaphors of the Elegance methodology. The audience explored language, habits, and culture of a Factory, Asset Portfolio, and Empathetic Arts metaphors.

Hosted by Chris Pride, President of the Chicago Roundtable, the material contrasted VUCA culture traits with Elegant culture traits. Robert facilitated a conversation about how Agile contributes to a VUCA culture, why companies should not surrender to VUCA, and gave a preview of the Elegance methodology. Robert outlined how the metaphors of a factory, an asset portfolio, and the performing arts shape a culture of discipline and empathy.

A Leadership Beyond is a podcast hosted by Adrienne Guerrero and Tom Rosenak. The conversation covered how the six empathetic arts shape culture and give teams competitive and collaborative advantages. Audiences resemble innovation customers. The business world has a lot to learn, benefit, and profit by emulating the six arts of parenting, aikido, improv, music, dance, and theater.

Hosted by Tammi Boyd, Process & Quality Manager at AT&T. Material shared language and culture traits that elevate innovation teams’ discipline and empathy. Material included Top Ten List (David Letterman style) of Quotes for discipline and empathy. Explained how the Five Verbs framework saves teams from Verb Sprawl. Shared a peek into the Asset Portfolio, i.e., what every disciplined project team documents.

Hosted by Justin Byers, Manager of Quality Assurance at Vetter Pharma. Material shared language and culture traits that elevate innovation teams’ discipline and empathy. Material included Top Ten List (David Letterman style) of Quotes for discipline and empathy. Explained how the Five Verbs framework saves teams from Verb Sprawl. Shared a peek into the Asset Portfolio, i.e., what every disciplined project team documents.

Using music as a metaphor, the material contrasted a jam session with a symphony. A jam session is loose, unpredictable, unrepeatable, and accidentally successful. Its ideal audience is 3-5 people. A symphony is thoughtful, predictable, scalable, and success is resilient to small errors. Its ideal audience is 3-5 dozen people. Small clubs like Toastmasters chapters need to emulate a symphony to sustain, survive and thrive.

Hosted by Florence Rene, VP of Publicity for PMI’s Central Illinois chapter. Material contrasted software-centric methodology (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid) with people-centric methodology (Elegance). Shared culture traits that elevate team discipline and empathy. Showed how the metaphor of a factory improves discipline and the metaphor of the performing arts improves empathy. Showed Lessons Learned example for Dream Team and Nightmare Team. Toured the Approachability Menu.

Conversation with Brett Taylor, Chief Engagement Officer for the Executives Club of Chicago. The metaphor of a factory shapes a culture of discipline. The metaphor of the performing arts shapes a culture of empathy. These metaphors improve project success rates and the employee experience.

Robert presented to students in the Industrial / Organizational Psychology graduate school program. Messages included 1) you belong at the innovation table, 2) distinguishing operations, innovation, and chaos, 3) basics of the two predominant software-centric innovation methodologies, 4) Elegance’s metaphors, 5) encouraging students to refuse surrendering to VUCA … and consider Elegance!

Founded in 1951, the Association of IT Professionals (AITP) remains one of the largest professional technology associations in the country. At this event, Robert Snyder will share three frameworks (related to factory, culture, and performing arts) that comprise Innovation Elegance.

Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid. What’s Next? Three frameworks to innovate how we innovate. The metaphor of a factory (and why), power in Five Verbs (the what), and lessons from the Performing Arts influencing your culture (the how).

Dr. Mansur Hasib hosts diverse guests to kick off a 15-minute conversation about a topic of their expertise, passion, and purpose. In the July 7 event, Robert Snyder kicks off the conversation sharing how basic lessons from the performing arts improve businesses’ culture, stakeholder experience, and profit.