BONUS Agile Tour Vienna 2025: Building Community-Driven Agile Excellence With Robert Ruzitschka, Sabina Lammert, and Richard Brenner

BONUS: Agile Tour Vienna 2025—Building Community-Driven Agile Excellence In this BONUS episode, we explore the upcoming Agile Tour Vienna 2025 (get your ticket now!) with three passionate organizers who are bringing together the Austrian agile community for a day of learning, networking, and innovation. Join us as we dive into what makes this community-driven event special, the challenges facing today's agile practitioners, and why local connections matter more than ever in our evolving professional landscape. The Heart of Community-Driven Events "For me, it's really about creating an event from the community for the community. So at the Agile Tour Vienna we really pay a lot of attention that the contributions are made by community members." - Sabina Lammert The foundation of Agile Tour Vienna lies in its commitment to authentic community engagement. Unlike corporate-led conferences focused on sales and marketing, this event prioritizes genuine knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning. The organizers emphasize creating space for meaningful conversations, where participants don't just consume content but actively contribute to discussions and support one another with real-world challenges. This approach fosters an intimate atmosphere where attendees leave with valuable professional connections and practical insights they can immediately apply. Balancing Local Expertise with Global Perspectives "This local aspect is very important, but then it needs to be enhanced by bringing in ideas from people from the outside world." - Robert Ruzitschka Agile Tour Vienna strikes a unique balance between showcasing local Austrian talent and bringing in internationally renowned speakers. The event features a carefully curated mix of practical experiences from Vienna-based practitioners working directly with teams and companies, combined with keynotes from global thought leaders. This blend creates opportunities for attendees to understand both the local context of agile implementation and broader industry trends, making the learning experience both immediately relevant and strategically valuable. A Thoughtfully Designed Experience "We make sure we have a good diversity within the speakers. We also take care that we have a good mix, because for me, agile started with the engineering practices." - Richard Brenner The 2025 program demonstrates attention to creating a comprehensive learning experience. The organizers ensure language accessibility by maintaining at least one English track throughout the day while also offering German sessions. The content spans from technical engineering practices to team coaching and business strategy, reflecting agile's evolution across organizational levels. The event takes place in a stunning castle location (Auersperg Palace) that enhances the intimate, family-like atmosphere the organizers work hard to cultivate. World-Class Content in an Intimate Setting "Agile Tour Vienna is never aiming to go big, but to stay small and familiar. By the end of the day, you know new people." - Sabina Lammert This year's highlights include keynotes from Dave Farley on engineering excellence and Mirella Muse on product operations, plus an innovative Comic Agile storytelling workshop. The organizers deliberately limit attendance to maintain the conference's intimate character, ensuring meaningful networking opportunities rather than overwhelming crowds. Additional touches like a professional barista bar and ample space for informal conversations between sessions create an environment where genuine professional relationships can develop. From Concept-Based to Context-Based Agility "The biggest challenge is that we go from concept-based agility to context-based agility. Companies realize the world is complex. There is no one framework to rule them all." - Richard Brenner The agile community faces a significant evolution as the methodology matures from underground movement to established practice. Organizations are moving away from rigid framework implementations toward contextual problem-solving approaches. This shift requires practitioners to focus on solving real business issues rather than introducing agile for its own sake. The challenge lies in maintaining agile's core values while adapting to diverse organizational contexts and avoiding the trap of seeking simple solutions for complex problems. Maintaining Values-Based Working "It's not about winning over something. It's about using common sense, getting into interaction and trying to find sometimes complex solutions for complex problems." - Sabina Lammert Rather than declaring agile "dead," the community must refocus on value-based working and continuous adaptation. The real challenge involves empowering people to constantly reevaluate situations and embrace the reality that today's solutions may not work in three weeks or three years. This requires normalizing the inspect-and-adapt mindset as standard practice rather than ...