From Second Line to Agile: What Jazz Funerals Teach Us About Adaptive Teams
Dr. Tricia Diamond brings New Orleans to the world of project management and the lesson hits harder than you’d expect.
What do New Orleans jazz funerals have to do with Agile? According to Dr. Tricia Diamond, everything. Drawing on her New Orleans roots, a five-century family musical legacy, and her experience directing a $386 million federal portfolio, Dr. Diamond reveals the surprising parallels between jazz funeral traditions and the principles that make Agile teams thrive under pressure.
Shared purpose. Structured freedom. Reading the room. Trusting the collective. These aren’t just musical virtues; they’re the operating principles of teams that deliver when it matters most. These same principles apply to Agile teams:
- Use a clear, shared purpose to keep teams aligned even as conditions change.
- Balance structure with freedom so teams can improvise solutions without losing momentum.
- Build the habit of “reading the room” and trusting the collective to pivot quickly while staying in rhythm.
See the details on Dr. Tricia Diamond’s IPM Day 2026 presentation here.
Dr. Tricia Diamond is an aerospace engineer turned portfolio governance practitioner, with over 20 years of experience directing complex programs across government, defense, and the private sector. As the former director of a $386 million ARPA Implementation PMO, she achieved 100% federal audit compliance while navigating institutional resistance and political pressure.
Dr. Diamond holds the PMP, PMI-ACP, PMO-CP, GPM-b, CAL, ITIL, AWS-CCP, and AWS-AIP credentials and served as Vice President of Professional Development and Programs for Puget Sound PMI. She speaks internationally on AI governance, portfolio leadership, and adaptive team practices, drawing on a career that spans aerospace engineering, federal program management, and cross-cultural leadership across the United States and Europe.
