Course Overview
TOPAgile methodologies have become a mainstream component in the world of software development. Not surprising, Agile methods can be applied to many other types of business work. In our Agile Boot Camp for Non-Software Work, we apply agile techniques to addressing business processes, infrastructure, operations, and other types of work.
While not a silver bullet, Agile Methodologies have become the most practical way to create outstanding results. We will look at leading Agile methodologies for both discovery and operational work. You will learn the basic concepts behind Agility and how Agile can help you in your daily efforts.
Scheduled Classes
TOPWhat You'll Learn
TOP- Gain knowledge of Agile principles, concepts, and mindset and understand why they are so important for each team
- Apply these concepts to work other than software development
- Follow the team approach; start as a team, finish as a team and focus on delivering value to the organization
- Understand the power of the teams and typical agile team roles
- Learn Agile approaches for sustainability, infrastructure, operations, and non-IT work
- Understand when to use methods like Scrum or Kanban
- Learn methods that support incremental and emergent projects but also continuous flow work
- Embrace Agile planning techniques and recognize the value of continuous planning
- Map and visualize workflow to eliminate bottlenecks and streamline capacity
- Achieving a continuous improvement culture and Practice and maintain a regular cadence for delivering work
Outline
TOP1. Why Agile? The Case for Change
Businesses have historically been plagued by many problems, including inadequate requirements, which lead to products that customers aren t happy with and sometimes can t use. We start the class by making the case for a shift to an Agile approach to solve the problems and to gain an overall understanding of the basic principles, and benefits of Agile approaches.
Team Exercise: As a class we will discuss the various problems that the class has experienced in their own projects so that we can then understand how Agile will help them address these problems. The class will understand from this exercise that they are not alone with a set of problems that others also experience.
2. Becoming Agile
- Agile Mental Models
- Agile Manifesto
- Agile Principles
- Agile Practices
- Team Exercise
3. Building an Agile Team
Agile focuses on creating a team that can deliver results over and over. In this section we will discuss what makes a high-performing team and how to build that team. The section will also cover the team roles associated with an Agile approach.
Team Exercise: We will discuss as a class what makes a great team based on teams we've participated on that were great.
4. Delivery with Scrum
- Vision
- Roadmap
- User Roles and Personas
- Team Exercise
5. Backlog Planning
- Writing User Stories
- Prioritization
- Estimating
- Team Exercise
6. Iteration Execution
- The Daily Scrum
- Story Review
- Visual Management
- Agile Metrics
7. Inspect and Adapt
- The Iteration Review
- The Demo
- The Retrospective
- Team Exercise
8. Kanban Overview and Concepts
- Kanban's 5 Core Properties
- Kanban Emergent Behaviors
- Kanban concepts, principles, and terminology
9. Implementing Kanban
- Visualization of Work
- Work Item Types, Card Walls
- Workflow, Queues and Buffers
- Cadences, Work-in-Progress
- Bottlenecks, Issues and Blocked Items
- Team Exercise
10. Kanban Metrics and Reporting
- Tracking Work-in-Process, Cumulative Flow Diagrams
- Lead Time, Trends, Throughput
11. Scaling Kanban
- Scaling Kanban for different size efforts
- Minimal Marketable Release
- Two-Tiered Card Walls
12. Kanban Improvements
- Three types of Improvement Opportunities
- Estimations, Class of Service
- Service Level Agreements, Policies
- Team Exercise
13. Agile Adoption
- Kaizen Culture and Mindset
- Agile Leadership
- Kotter's Model
- Continuous improvement culture
- Team Exercise
Prerequisites
TOPAlthough it is not mandatory, students who have completed the self-paced Foundations of Agile eLearning course have found it very helpful when completing this course.
Who Should Attend
TOPThis course is designed for anyone who wants to apply agile techniques to their own work, even if it s not software related.
Because this is an immersion course and the intent is to engage in the practices every Agile team will employ, this course is recommended for all team members.
