12. June 2018
by Silke Tautorat | 569 words | ~3 min read
The first day’s keynote “Umgang mit Komplexität lernen” (learn how to deal with complexity) was held by two 13-year old pupils of the Evangelische Schule Berlin and has been a very interesting start for a Software Engineering & Architecture Conference. Romy Randel and Rosalie Hermann presented in a very professional way the everyday life at their school, in which each student can decide on their own at what pace they want to learn and work on projects.
Of course, the students have a fixed time-table, but in certain units called “Lernbüro” (learning office) they can choose if they want to do Maths, German or English and on what topic they want to work on.
Every few months the students together with their tutor, usually a teacher, agree on goals for the upcoming month and check on the achievement of the past time. One day of the week is reserved for a project that the whole class, which comprehends of students from 7th to 9th grade, is working on, for example improve the neighbourhood or work in an old people’s home.
Another difference to other schools is the yearly “Projekt Herausforderung” (project challenge). All students must plan and organize a three-week project with a budget of 150€. This can be done all alone or in a group of students and can be everything from a stay on a farm to work with animals, a canoeing trip to a journey to Italy.
Both girls seemed to be very happy with this type of school and, according to the way they presented the keynote and answered questions, this model encourages self-confidence and self-organisation.
Maik Wurdel summarized the twelve lesssons learned (he spontaneously added the twelfth one) he and his team made in a large agile project. They have been developing a major core system, which is supposed to replace the existing system shortly. They set up the first agile teams within their company EOS. Here is the list in my own words: