My journey with the Agile India conference
Agile India is the longest-running conference I have attended for over a decade. Unfortunately, this year (2025) will be its last edition. I started attending this conference in 2012 as an attendee, and in later editions, I have also been a volunteer and a speaker. The conference had a significant influence on me over the years.
It was probably around the time when conferences were on the rise in India, and Bengaluru had a more significant share of them as the city was known as a major IT hub in the country. While Agile India wasn't the first conference I attended, it was definitely unique compared to the others I had already participated. It wasn't all about listening to the talks and going back. I quickly realised having good conversations with people, including speakers, was possible.
One of the immense opportunities I had in Agile India was interacting with several practitioners and popular conference speakers from the industry. I had innumerable conversations with several people at the conference, which helped me with my professional growth.
Several day-long or two-day workshops helped me gain deeper perspectives on the subject. For example, workshops from Dave Farley and Jez Humble, the authors of the Continuous Delivery book, helped me understand Continuous Delivery from the grassroots. Without the power of such knowledge, it would have been hard to be confident in a world where using some tools is treated as practising Continuous Delivery. There were other workshops that I had the opportunity to participate in, such as those conducted by Venkat Subramaniam, Gregor Hohpe, Joshua Kerievsky, Woody Zuil, Diana Larson, Linda Rising, etc.
No mention of Agile India would be complete without discussing the law of two feet, which I learned at the conference. If we don't feel we are either adding value or receiving value, we move to another session where we either receive or add value. It is not very uncommon to find hallway conversations one of the most value-adding ones. It definitely gave me the courage to walk away from mediocrity several times.
It is not easy to run a conference for two decades. It is indeed a great achievement for Agile India. This wouldn't have been possible without the support of many folks who believe in community contribution. I want to take this moment to thank everyone who contributed to Agile India's success. Also, Naresh Jain deserves a special mention for being the backbone of the conference for so many years.
It is sad to know that Agile India is ending with the 2025 edition. But from a different perspective, it is better to end things when they are doing well. While adding 'AI' to the conference title would have increased its demand several times, it is a relief that there were no such moves.
No lengthy writing can do justice to this fantastic conference, so I will not attempt to be comprehensive enough. Agile India will always remain in my memory as an integral part of my professional journey.