The three keynote presentations for Agile 2011 have been announced.  I’m thrilled to see that two of them are on the people side of agile, rather than the technical side.  Barbara Fredrickson will speak on how positive emotions feed a virtuous circle in the workplace, and Linda Rising will talk about how viewing ourselves as “changeable” produces better outcomes than viewing ourselves as “fixed”.  I believe the latter point is essential, if we are to truly value people and their interactions over processes and tools. 

I’m also thrilled to see that one of these speakers, Barbara Fredrickson, comes from outside the agile community. I’m a firm believer that agile can learn a lot from outside the agile community, so it’s great to see that happening at our largest conference.