Living in Australia means that everything (yes, everything!) is far away. Travelling to the USA or Europe was a bit too far to travel just for a conference so I had a look at what was in my global neighbourhood (Oceania and Asia).
Luckily, there were quite a few Regional Scrum Gatherings to choose from. In 2025, I had the choice of Tokyo (January), Hangzhou (May), Seoul (June), Singapore (August), and Shanghai (September) if I stayed within Asia. All around 9-10 hours flight time from Sydney, mostly direct flights.
Of course, I chose Tokyo. I love Japan, the people, and culture. That and I have been to Japan five times previously so it is familiar.
First things first – event tickets! RSG Tokyo tickets went on sale in 2 batches. I was in time to buy tickets for the second batch in November but they sold out in minutes. I reckon it was easier to buy tickets to Taylor Swift than RSG Tokyo.
“It was easier to buy tickets to Taylor Swift than RSG Tokyo!”
Jason Cathcart
I am quoting this because I was quoted by the Chairperson of the Scrum Alliance (Søren Filbert) on his LinkedIn post.
Luckily the amazing organisers at RSG Tokyo set aside tickets for people just like me from the global Scrum community, I contacted the organisers and I was in!
Next – Flights. I had just enough One World frequent flyer points to get me there. Which unfortunately meant I had to fly Qantas / Jetstar. I know they are the national carrier but they are not my favourite. Maybe not even in my top 7.
Lastly – Accommodation. Even though Tokyo is easy to get around with its super futuristic and reliable train network, I really didn’t fancy travelling too long to get the conference venue each day so I opted to stay as close as I could and ended up choosing JR-East Hotel. Right on Akihabara train station. A 10 minute walk.
The rooms were well laid out, clean, and comfortable. The hotel staff were very helpful. I would definitely stay here again. Not sure they would be suited to a family though.
9-10 minute walk from the hotelAkihabaraKanda River
Keynote Speakers
The keynote speakers really attracted me to the event this year.
Jeff Patton spoke about Maximizing Value Using a Digital Product Mindset.
Hiyoshi Homma talked us through Honda in the early 80’s and what influenced Waigaya which led into him being interviewed by Takeuchi and Nonaka when they created the New New Product Development Game
We also got to watch these ads from Honda and Madness. I was a fan of Madness growing up in the 80’s but had no idea they did an ad for Honda.
Sponsor Introduction of the Keynote Speakers
Jeff Patton is best known as the author of the bestselling O’Reilly book User Story Mapping which describes a simple holistic approach to using stories in Agile development without losing sight of the big picture. Importantly, the book has a blue bird on the cover….
Kabuki (歌舞伎, かぶき) is a classical form of Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes, and for the elaborate kumadori make-up worn by some of its performers. The term kabuki originates from a verb that was used to describe young samurai patrons, meaning “being weird” or “offbeat. (Wikipedia).
But why am I telling you all this?
Because each of the amazing sponsors introduced a keynote speaker or a session in a fun and creative way.
For Jeff Patton, KDDI created a Kabuki / Anime / Japanese TV murder mystery detective show / play, including the blue bird (personified) from the cover of Jeff Patton’s book.
Initially I was in shock as I wasn’t quite sure what was happening. I think I said “what?” to myself about 5 times. Then, after completing the sufficient number of obligatory stages, I accepted what was occurring….
IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
I came away with a sore stomach from laughing so hard even though I am not quite sure what was going on!
On the last day, this was how OST (Open Space Technology) was introduced – again, INCREDIBLE! and thoroughly enjoyable. You can just about see me in the video, saying “what?”.
Event Technology
I was a bit hesitant in going to a conference where most of the speakers were speaking a language I don’t unfortunately understand. Nothing to worry about though, the 2 main rooms had large presentation screens with transcribed (Japanese) and translated (English). There was hardly any lag with what was being spoken and what was being displayed on the screen and everything was very easy to read and follow.
Just like watching a subtitled movie – but better!
There were also sign language interpreters at the edge of the stage with separate cameras for people online, and people hard of hearing. There were also Japanese -> English interpreters available as well but I didn’t need to use them. The organisers thought of everything.
This technology opened up all sessions to me however the super thoughtful organisers made sure that there was always an English language track available.
Summary
This was a truly amazing conference and I already want to go back next year. Apparently the venue will change next year to accommodate much more people as it is so popular. Rightly so too. I learned a lot and brought what I learned to my everyday job and shared with my colleagues.
I have purposely not talked too much about the event content here as I wouldn’t be doing it justice. You had to be there!
Here are the other sessions I went to:
An Agile Mindset to Turn Failure into Learning: 13 Years of Insights from Linda, Lyssa, Jeff, and Emotion Science
The Project to Product with Scrum Playbook. Bridging the Gap between project and product thinking.
A new innovative way to manage the complexity of a team.
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