Talk “Coaching Creatives: New Ideas from Dead Artists”

Speaker: Nathaniel Cadwell

Track: Coaching
Audince Level: Practitioners

What do a 17th century painter’s workshop, an international photographic cooperative, and an early 20th century design house have in common with a modern software development team? On the surface it may not seem like much, but bringing a group of makers together to work presents special challenges and opportunities, regardless of field. How do you get highly opinionated creatives to collaborate for a greater goal? How do you foster an environment that encourages innovation? How do you make sure that makers are free from other burdens to actually make? How do you make sure that your group actually ships?

In this session we’ll look at examples of what worked, and didn’t, for several groups of historical artists and craftsmen. We’ll use stories and dialogues to explore parallels with Agile software development teams, and discuss coaching strategies around the examples provided.