In keeping with the agile spirit, APLN has continued to evolve since its inception. Over the last year or so, the national board has had an ongoing discussion about “getting the ‘P’ out”. That’s ‘P’ as in ‘Project’; as in Agile ‘Project’ Leadership Network. Why do that?

As agile practices for software development projects have become more prominent, broader application of agile principles and values has come more to the forefront. It is not that we no longer want to talk about these projects; we do and will. But we also want to talk about more than projects and we think the 10-year anniversary of the Agile Manifesto is an appropriate milestone to recognize that evolution.

With that in mind, the Agile Project Leadership Network is proud to announce that it is becoming the Agile Leadership Network. Our new domain is www.AgileLeadershipNetwork.org (www.APLN.org forwards to there), and our new logo will be unveiled soon.

What should you expect from this? Expect the discussion to evolve beyond agile software teams toward agile organizations; beyond agile project leadership toward agile leadership; beyond agile in the software domain toward agile in the enterprise. This is the next step in pursuing our vision to

Accelerate Agility: Connect and Engage to Transform Your Enterprise.

To this end the Agile Leadership Network is continuing to move forward with three broad initiatives.

Executive Advisory Council
Formed last year, our executive advisory council is a group of agile executives; practitioners who have walked the walk that can help us understand the issues faced by organizations and enterprises wanting to move their agile adoptions beyond their delivery teams and how the Agile Leadership Network can help. Our sincere thanks go to Pat Reed of the Gap, Max Keeler of The Motley Fool, Lisa Shoop of Sabre, and Sue McKinney of Pitney Bowes for their counsel and we are grateful to Jim Highsmith and Pollyanna Pixton for their continued service to the Agile Leadership Network in forming and leading this group.

Connecting and Growing Local Chapters
At the heart of the Agile Leadership Network community is our network of local chapters who do a great job of evangelizing agile principles, values and practices in their local communities. We have recently formed a new work group of persons who have been in the trenches of local professional organizations to help us strengthen this network. Our overall goal is to better connect local chapters with each other to leverage their synergies and learn from each other’s experiences. Our thanks to Barbara Wilders, Alan Bustamante, and Pat Guariglia for offering their time, energy and experience to this important effort.

Community Outreach
Since our website was reborn as a Ning site last year, its membership has steadily grown, even doubling in the last few months. Still, this represents only a fraction of the people involved in the Agile Leadership Network around the world. We envision this site becoming a place of dynamic content, a place to share new ideas, a place to learn, a place to view what’s happening in the national and international community of the Agile Leadership Network and beyond. The site is not intended as a medium for the national board to dispense information. This site is about our community, it is about you. Your participation is needed to make it a resource of value to you in connecting and engaging with like-minded professionals striving to improve both themselves and one another.

How can you help? The answer is simple; get involved. Help the local chapter in your area; if there is not a local chapter in your area, consider starting one. Share to your thoughts, theories and questions with your colleagues on our web site. Volunteer to help move our national initiatives forward. Suggest what the next initiatives should be. The Agile Leadership Network is about community; it’s about growing agile leaders at all levels; it’s about improving the craft of agile leadership. Join us in our journey and help shape the Agile Leadership Network into the organization you would like it to become.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Robbie Mac Iver, President