Agile Yorkshire Meetup 01 April 2026

Our monthly gatherings offer a valuable platform for local practitioners to connect, share knowledge, and learn from one another. Attendees also have the opportunity to hear from some of the industry’s leading speakers, enriching their understanding of Agile principles and practices while fostering a collaborative environment.

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Our Line Up

1) Enterprise Agile Lessons Applied To Growing SMEs

Presenter: Matthew Place, Co Founder, North Stack

Summary

What does it really feel like to deliver change inside global banks compared to fast moving SMEs? Matthew shares lessons from leading large scale, regulated transformation at Lloyds and HSBC and explores how those lessons translate, and sometimes do not, in growing businesses.

What You Will Learn

• What really changes between global banks and growing SMEs
• What breaks when enterprise delivery methods are applied in smaller organisations
• The shift from ceremony driven agile to outcome focused transformation
• How to create visibility without adding bureaucracy
• Practical ways SMEs can scale in a commercially focused way

Bio

Matthew Place is a transformation leader and co founder of North Stack. He previously held senior agile roles at Lloyds and HSBC, leading group wide transformation across technology and operating models. His experience spans large scale delivery, regulatory alignment and enterprise change. He now works with leadership teams to streamline operations and adopt modern technology in growing SMEs.

2) Teams As Complex Systems: How To Lead When Everything Interacts

Presenter: Mark Devis, Principal Agile Coach, PSM III

Summary

Many leaders assume that adding more people will increase output, yet team performance rarely scales in a simple, linear way. Mark explores how teams behave as complex systems where interactions, habits and hidden constraints shape outcomes more than plans or headcount.

What You Will Learn

• Why adding more people does not automatically increase output
• How teams behave as complex systems
• A simple introduction to complexity thinking, including Cynefin
• How enabling constraints and small experiments influence outcomes
• Practical ideas to improve team performance

Bio

Mark is a Principal Agile Coach currently supporting over forty teams. He has a strong background in Scrum as a PSM III practitioner and hands on experience with SAFe at scale. He enjoys making complex ideas accessible and practical for leaders and teams. His work focuses on helping organisations experiment, collaborate and continuously improve how they operate.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Warm regards,

The Agile Yorkshire Team