I am almost speechless. This was by and far THE most powerful talk at ADP this year. Forget ADP, this was one of the most powerful talks I’ve ever heard. For me to try to convey the emotion and passion that was so much a part of this talk would be a disservice. All I can say is if you ever have the chance to hear Linda Rising speak…DON’T miss it!

I don’t even want to try to give you the blow by blow on this one. Let’s just file it under: How stereotypes and prejudices can alter teamwork. Linda describes it “A weird talk”. I describe it as life changing, powerful, and moving. It’s essentially a discussion about the connection of what cognitive scientists and evolutionary biologists are telling us about the way we came to be and what those implications are for agile software development. But it is far more than that. It is a message of hope for all of us that we can work together to solve bigger problems.

I don’t want to ruin Linda’s message by writing more. You should really hear her speak about herself. Here’s a video from InfoQ shot after Agile 2008 in which Linda discusses the topic in detail:

http://www.infoq.com/interviews/Prejudices-Linda-Rising

And if you want the details, there are others who have heard this talk at other conferences and written very good summaries of it. Here is a link to the best description I’ve found:

http://www.infoq.com/articles/Who-Do-You-Trust-Linda-Rising

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