Wednesday, May 7, 2025    Conference Day 2

Ways for R&D Managers to Get the Engineers to Shorten Time-to-Market

Welcome back

Christer Lundh, Conference Co-chair, LPPDE

Christer Lundh opens the second day with reflections on the learnings from the first day. As
always on a Lean Project and Process Development Exchange event the learning and
knowledge exchange is central. Christer will share his learnings and let the knowledge sink in
through a reflection before presenting the first speaker.

Decide to Move: How Finding Missing Decisions and Making the Call Faster Unlocks Progress

Amer Catic, CEO at Yolean

Projects often stall—not because people aren’t working hard, but because the decisions that matter most haven’t been identified yet. In this talk, you’ll learn a practical method to uncover the critical decisions your team doesn't even know it’s missing. These hidden decisions are often the silent roadblocks to progress, creating delays, confusion, and unnecessary rework. But the power of this approach doesn’t stop at discovery. You’ll also see how to accelerate the process of making the call—cutting through ambiguity, aligning the right people, and reducing the lead time to action. Backed by key data and metrics from hundreds of real-world design projects in construction, this talk blends actionable insight with evidence. Whether you’re leading complex projects or trying to get your team unstuck, this method will help you shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive momentum. Decide to move—and help your team do the same.

Amer Catic is passionate about effectivity! His specialties are in visual management and knowledge management, and he applies those tools through Yolean (www.yolean.com) to achieve goals of lean and agility in teamwork. Amer is happy to share knowledge whenever it can make a difference and he equally enjoy moderating, presenting and listening. Let's connect!

Amer is a lecturer in Knowledge Management at Chalmers University and HSN Kongsberg Norway. He is also a Guest lecturer in Digital Transformation IHM Business School. He has been an invited speaker in lean, project management and knowledge management at several events and conferences, eg. Lean Product and Process Development, Lean Enterprise Institute USA, Lean Forum Sverige, Logistikföreningen Plan and Energy Valley Norge.

For several years, he has supported AB Volvo as a trainer in knowledge management and A3 problem solving.

Be the Change You Want to See

Ulrika Thell, Enterprise Coach - Leadership & Culture

The presentation focuses on how you can increase flexibility and that way gain speed.

To handle the challenges that we face in a more and more complex environment, we tend to focus on what is tangible. We upgrade our way of working, and we try to become even better at what we do. Focusing on these areas will help us become more efficient, but is that enough?

As a leader and manager, you may feel that it has become more difficult to reach targets and goals e.g. it takes more time than predicted or requires more effort. You may feel that the change initiatives you launch to improve your situation do not yield the effect and the outcome you desire.

This session will focus on the fact that it is you who hold the key to unlock the potential of the organization. The way to increase flexibility and thereby gain speed is to be the change you want to see. By upgrading your own internal operating system, you will gain additional tools to your leadership toolbox and improve your ability to scale your leadership. You will also be able to use your old leadership tools more effectively.

Ulrika Thell is a human centered change agent, an agility in leadership expert (ICE-AL) and a Meditation Teacher & Coach. She has 25 years of experience working in the automotive industry, with over two decades in different leadership positions. Cross functionally, nationally and internationally.

Ulrika has aways been intrigued by change and willing to test new things. As a leader she has had the privilege to drive change and it is her experience that when you do, it is of outmost importance to do that from the heart and with a human centered approach. This has become a driving force for Ulrika in recent years, as change comes from within and the speed of change and the need of flexibility is ever increasing. This requires more diverse perspectives and affect our behaviors and culture as well. Therefore she also state the importance of personal growth as an item on the daily agenda of a successful business, equally important as deliveries and customers et al.

Learning Session and Networking Break

Servant Leadership

Christer Lundh, Founder and President at AUFERO

Servant leadership isn’t about authority—it’s about empowerment. Great leaders create the conditions for teams to thrive. In Lean product and process development, top-down control slows progress, while servant leadership accelerates it. Instead of dictating, servant leaders empower teams with clarity, autonomy, and trust—enabling them to solve problems, harvest on opportunities, and deliver value. This approach fosters innovation, engagement, and long-term success. Christer will explore how this leadership style fosters high performance by aligning people with purpose and enabling decentralized decision-making. He will discuss real-world applications, challenges, and why leading with “pull” rather than “push” is essential for sustainable growth. When leaders step back and serve, teams take ownership—and that’s when real transformation happens. 

Christer Lundh is president of AUFERO, a consultant firm that helps senior leaders and development teams to benefit from small low-cost iterations that remove a lot of risk. Christer has built his expertise from extensive practice. He provides transformations, strategic projects and personal advice, within product flow management, advisor on leadership, and interim senior manager. He is a board member at LPPDE.org. He is a passionate leader who creates flow of new products and innovations together with customers.

Traditional Leadership

Bengt Johansson, Lean Peak Solutions

Leadership has always played a pivotal role in shaping societies, organizations, and cultures. Traditional leadership, characterized by hierarchical structures and authority, has historically ensured order and stability within communities and organizations. It is deeply rooted in cultural heritage, with leaders serving as custodians of customs and values, fostering identity and unity. In his talk, Bengt will highlight key areas for exploration. These include the strengths of traditional leadership, such as its ability to inspire stability and trust, as well as its challenges, like resistance to change. He will also examine how we can blend the enduring strengths of traditional leadership with modern approaches to create more adaptive and forward-thinking leadership models.

Bengt Johansson has spent his entire working life at ASSA ABLOY and has seen the company grow to a global champion. Bengt has been working around 25 years with product development in different roles, production engineering, through quality management and product development. The latest 15 years Bengt spent in ASSA ABLOYs Lean Innovation program where he has been the Global Lean Innovation Manager the latest 6 years.

Learning Session and Lunch

AI-Powered Bottom-Up Assessments: Accelerating R&D through team empowerment

Ludvig Åhlin, Swedbank

In this session, Ludvig Åhlin will share a proven and innovative approach to agility assessments used at one of his banking assignments, leveraging AI to empower R&D teams in their efforts to shorten time-to-market. This bottom-up method focuses on team-level insights, fostering collaboration and efficiency across the organization.

Ludvig will introduce you to a systematic approach that involves conducting team-level agility assessments, incorporating feedback from various aspects of agile methodologies. The format includes interactive sessions where teams provide insights and improvement ideas, ensuring they own their growth actions and are encouraged to seek support as needed.

This approach is rooted in real-world experience, having been successfully applied in a banking context where line managers sought to enhance team efficiency. By using AI to analyze assessment data, leaders gain actionable insights that enable informed decisions. The approach leads to enhanced agility in product development, improved alignment between team capabilities and organizational goals, and foster a culture of continuous learning.

Through live demonstrations, Ludvig will show how AI tools can be used to derive valuable insights from assessment data. This session is ideal for R&D managers, agile leaders, and executives interested in improving team efficiency and innovation.

You will leave with a clear understanding of how to implement AI-powered assessments in your organization, strategies to enhance agility, and tools to foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Ludvig Åhlin is an accomplished Agile Coach and SAFe SPCT candidate at Swedbank, where he has been pivotal in driving agile transformations since September 2023. Prior to joining Swedbank, Ludvig was a consultant at Accenture, where he helped various companies across industries such as telecommunications, manufacturing, and banking with their SAFe journeys.

With over a decade of experience in agile methodologies and a deep understanding of SAFe, Ludvig has successfully led numerous initiatives focused on maximizing business value by empowering teams and leverage scaling effects. His session promises to offer valuable insights into creating more accurate, team-centric assessments that drive real-world improvements in R&D efficiency and time-to-market.

TBD

Klas Hagelin, Telia Company

Abstract TBD

Klas Hagelin enjoys developing new opportunities working with visions, setting challenging goals and find ways to reach the goals even if the existing organization and processes are not yet aligned. He is dedicated in establishing practices and ways of working needed to achieve settled goals. He believes that SAFe is a very useful reference model when establishing and developing lean and agile organizations. He is a certified SAFe Practice Consultants (SPCs) meaning that he is a certified change agents who combines technical knowledge and ways of working with an intrinsic motivation to improve the company’s software, systems and business processes. His overall goal as professional is to assure that, what is delivered, is adding value to his customers business as well as to his organization. 

Klas specialties are: Applying SAFe, Business Agility, Business Development, Business Process development, Business Modeling & Architecture, Change management, Enterprise Architecture, Lean and Agile ways of working, Operational excellence, Solution Management, Product Management, Program Management, Project Management, Running effective work shops, Strategy Execution and Communication.

Learning Session and Networking Break

Learning from LPPDE

Geoff Neiley, Rapiscan

I learn from every LPPDE conference I attend says Geoff Neiley. In this presentation Geoff will share how he prepares for a conference and, more important, what he does when he comes home! 

He has not missed a conference since his debut in Austin, TX 2015 and will share his learnings conference by conference. 

Geoff Neiley has been in the mechanical engineering field for 30 years. After graduating from the University of Maine, Orono, he learned much about the custom equipment business at NESLAB Instruments designing water chilling systems. Following this he spent 15 years working for BTU International where he designed and lead projects for conveyorized furnaces using in the electronics and solar industry. During this time, he earned his master’s in mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. It was at BTU where Geoff began to see the value of concurrent engineering. Geoff joined AS&E in 2011 where he led the mechanical team to introduce state-or-the-art x-ray products for the security market. Three years after joining AS&E (now Rapiscan Systems) in 2011, the leadership team introduced the concept of Lean Product Development. Geoff joined the leadership team reading many Lean PD books, inviting Lead PD practitioners to AS&E and attending LPPDE for several consecutive years. AS&E has roundly embraced the concurrent engineering aspects of Lean PD focusing greatly of Set-Base Innovation and cross-functional collaboration with our supply chain and manufacturing team. In 2022, Geoff took the role of Director of Continuous Product Improvement and Configuration Management. In his new role, he continues to leverage his learning from 8-years for practicing LPPD. Geoff has been a member of the board of Lean Product and Process Development Exchange since 2019. Today he is still learning and experimenting with lean processes and enjoys the pride felt in enabling a cross-functional team to achieve challenging, rewarding goals.

TBD

Mikael Lundgren, Founder, Business consultant at Levla

Abstract TBD

Mikael Lundgren has a deep experience of Lean and Agile, in particular Scrum from many types of service- and product developing organizations. He lives for learning, and sharing his experience and insights with the people he works with. Mikael is a consultant transformation leader, interim manager, Lean/Agile mentor, and appreciated trainer and speaker within areas of Service- and Product Development, Product Management, Organizational Change and Management. He is a good communicator, leader and facilitator, and always work with the aim to make things work in practice. He works with start-ups as well as big corporations in Sweden, Scandinavia and Europe, through the people in the organization. Mikael believes growth comes from learning, applying, then teaching your peers, something that permeates all of his work with leaders, management teams and executives.  He is a Certified Scrum Trainer since January 2006.

Learning Session and Networking Break

Closing Address

Peter Palmér, Conference chair, LPPDE

What learnings and practices will you be taking back with you to apply on Monday morning?

Back to work:

• Share your learnings
• Run experience
• Learn fast
• Implement

End day two and of the conference