Get in touch


We use HubSpot CRM to process and manage contact and information requests. Please accept the "Functional Cookies" and reload the page to load the contact form.

Insights / Blog / Agility & Organisation

People and Organization: Why we launched the PnO Rhein Main Usergroup

March 13, 2018
Joern BockJoern BockCOO

On February 22, we launched the user group PnO Rhein Main at AOE. PnO stands for People and Organization, the Usergroup is public and is aimed at those interested in HR, organizational development and agile companies. The goal is the regular exchange between HR and organizational development (OD) in the agile environment in the Rhine-Main area/Frankfurt.

At the kick-off event we had a small, but very exciting round of great ideas and suggestions, which I would like to summarize briefly here. Those interested in the PnO Rhein Main can find information at Meetup.com and in our Xing Group.

The agenda of the first PnO Usergroup Meetup included:

  1. Why we want to start the user group
  2. Topics and discussion
  3. Perspective

Goals and expectations of the PnO Usergroup

After the introductory round, we looked at what our goals and expectations are for the PnO Usergroup and which target audience we want to address. You can see the results in the picture (in German).


The PnO Rhein Main wants to work on the following goals (excerpt):

  • Exchange of ideas on HR topics in the environment of agile organizations
  • Introducing HR Best Practices
  • Building an agile mindset from an HR perspective
  • Promote culture and a holistic
  • Introducing and discussing alternative and new ways of working
  • Collaboration and integration of HR (poor reputation of HR)
  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Transformation and change of the agile organization
  • Labor law, works council in the environment of agile organizations

Target audiences: HR, executive managers and everyone interested

We also thought about the target audience. The focus here is certainly on employees from HR and employees with personnel responsibility. But of course, Scrum Masters and people who are largely concerned with personnel and organizational development are also invited. In addition, we would like to address people from the fields of labor law, works council and science.

For the first evening we chose 3 topics:

  • Which tasks does HR have in an agile organization?
  • Does an agile organization need HR at all?
  • How do you recognize an agile organization?

Discussion “Tasks of HR in an agile organization”

The first topic “Tasks of HR in an Agile Organization” was discussed immediately. We came to the following opinion:

The tasks of HR can be differentiated into the areas of administration and development. Administrative activities come up, you can try to automate as much as possible, but not everything. Too often, HR sees itself as solely responsible for these administrative issues. Much more important in our view are the development issues - be they organizational development, personal development or the like. Here, we controversially discussed to what extent tasks can be carried out by the teams themselves and where HR can help out. HR should not be understood as an “escalation path”, but should be involved at an early stage in the development of different topics. For example, in the support, education and training of Scrum Master Teams.

Results and Perspective

After the discussion, we agreed with the following results regarding the outlook of our user group:

  1. We will invite interested person to a monthly meeting for the next 3 months and then decide if the rhythm is right.
  2. We would like to continue to meet in company offices, agencies or co-working spaces. We don’t consider the option of restaurant/Stammtisch as optimal.
  3. For each meeting, we want to agree in advance on a topic and would like to offer a lecture or impulse on that topic.

We are looking forward to the next PnO Rhein Main event on March 22, 2018 at AOE in Wiesbaden. Topic: How much HR does an agile organization need? We look forward to seeing new as well as familiar faces.