Iryna Viter 
The Epicflow team has happily returned home after enthusiastically interacting with tech gurus and specialists at the Outsource People 2017 conference in Kyiv, Ukraine. This event was huge, with 350 companies and 1500 participants. We were glad to support the community as a silver sponsor, as Outsource People provides an outstanding opportunity to learn more about the challenges of outsourcing software development, project management, multi-teaming, operational development, data science, and other hot topics.
The Epicflow project management game changers
The Game of Thrones theme charged conference visitors with the right competitive energy and transported them to the world of the seven kingdoms with their favorite characters watching from banners, flyers, and screens. The conference’s participants showed a lot of creativity, wearing their own branded apparel or disguising themselves as Jon Snows or Daenerys Targaryens. Our most spectacular contribution to Outsource People 2017 was the Iron Throne we prepared as a photo zone for visitors so they could feel on top of the world. The Epicflow team also supported the Game of Thrones theme with our edition of How to Win the Game of Thrones Using PM Software.
The Epicflow stand
The conference was swarming with all kinds of IT experts, so it proved to be an ideal place to investigate the levels of project maturity in successful software development companies as well as developing startups. We provided visitors to our stand with an opportunity to show their expertise in multi project management, from their prioritization skills to team management and planning. CEOs, senior managers, business professionals, sales leads, marketing experts, and other team members were welcome to test their PM knowledge by answering a few questions on our short test. We found the similarities between their project management routines and Game of Thrones striking – it’s almost always uncertainty that hinders perfect project flow.
Project maturity test
How can you be certain that a project won’t enter the red zone when there are so many factors to consider? That’s the question we’ve been answering since the release of Epicflow, but for this occasion – Outsource People 2017 – our visitors got the Epicflow Game of Thrones edition while our speakers – Jan Willem Tromp and Yuri Warczynski – prepared a good dose of insights about the reality and drama of outsourcing.
Jan Willem Tromp, delivering a talk as part of the Operational Development flow, demonstrated how Agile software development has lost its speed in the midst of multi-project realities (we’ll be publishing an article on this topic soon).
Jan Willem Tromp on Agile software development
Yuri Warczynski, a speaker in the Business Strategy flow, shared the five A’s of Motivation: A Vision, A Purpose, Authority, Autonomy, and Appreciation (we’ll be publishing an article on this topic soon).
Yuri Warczynski on motivation: The 5 A’s method
Many speakers also shared pieces of literature they’ve found helpful as outsourcing professionals. Here’s the list of recommended books we managed to collect:
- The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t by Robert I. Sutton
- How to Manage Your Slaves by Marcus Sidonius Falx and Jerry Toner
- A Survival Guide for Project Managers by James Taylor
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Ichak Adizes’ books
In addition to reading these books, you can sign up for a free webinar to discuss your PM needs with our team of scientists and find out more about our unique project management solution. Let us know the suitable time for a webinar.
Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of Outsource People 2017 here.
