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Where: Waltham MA
When: August 11 & 12
Agile ASAP !!
Attend the 2-day AGILE ASAP comprehensive
course of instruction presented by New Technology Solutions!!
This special Agile course is designed
for
project sponsors, managers, and team members who are considering
Agile or using aspects of Agile now and looking for better results.
Your Instructor- Dan Mezick
DAN
MEZICK is your instructor. He has over 5 years
of direct Agile experience as a project sponsor, Scrum Master,
team member-- and coach. Dan coaches executives and managers
on effective and lasting Scrum and Agile adoption. Dan is
an invited speaker at the Agile2007, Agile2008 and Agile2009m
conferences. In 2009 he was responsible for creating a large
section of Agile2009-- the Manifesting Agility Stage, incorporating
Learning and Education, Psychology & Cognition, and Agile
in Non-IT domains.
Dan is a coach to executives,
managers and teams in how to clarify goals
and reach them using Lean/Agile techniques and the Scrum
framework. Learn
more about coaching here.
He is a community organizer and
leader of the Agile
Boston and Agile
CT user groups.
He is an Agile course instructor since
2006, delivering agile/Scrum
Training. Dan is the author of books and innovative
articles and papers on agile, Scrum, Lean and
Kanban. Dan reports the Agile news for Agile
news outlet InfoQ.com
Learn more
about Dan here.
Course Overview & Approach
This is a comprehensive introduction to Agile
principles and practices. Students perform multiple exercises
in groups throughout the class. This is learn by DOING. .Each
exercise is a team-level activity. Very deep learning results
from this approach. This is not a lecture-based course but rather,
fully participative and experiental. You exit this class with
solid understandings about what Agile is-- and is NOT.
Who Should Attend
Everyone involved in your Agile rollout can
benefit from this class. Executives, project sponsors, line managers,
project managers, team leaders and team members are all appropriate
for this class. It is best if an entire team and their sponsors
and managers attend this class.
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REGISTER HERE: Price is $399 a day for 2 FULL days and
includes lunch
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Testimonials:
"...these are excellent sessions.
THANK YOU for helping me understand how agile and Scrum are
so effective. I am a line manager and I used to think "agile:
meant LESS planning and also a threat to my job and role. I
know understand how agile means more and more effective planning,
and much more effectiveness in my role as a manager. THANK
YOU!" -agile and Scrum training student from 1Q2008
"...I have taken back everything
you taught at this class and we are doing great. Our teams
could not be happier and management and sponsors are delighted
with the results. Thanks for coming in and setting up and delivering
this wonderful course! See you at the next meeting of Agile
CT !!" - agile & Scrum training student
from CT in 3Q2009
"...The learning in this class is
not easy to get from a book. We learned alot about each other
and how learning as a group is anything but automatic. This
is a fun, useful class. I am taking away a whole new way of
viewing Scrum and agile methods. " - agile and
Scrum student from 2Q2010
(references provided upon request)
Learning Objectives
Understand and use all the Agile and Scrum-related
terminology;
Identify what is an agile practice, and what
is NOT agile
Explain Scrum's roles, boundaries, tasks,
and related authorization for all of the above;
Create Release backlog, Product backlog, Sprint
backlog, and Sprint burndown documents;
Do agile estimates and planning and report
same to project sponsors;
Understand the dynamics of fixing the variables
of cost, delivery date, quality and features
Educate sponsors & managers on how agile & Scrum
techniques increase productivity;
Plan and execute Sprint planning, Daily Scrum
and Sprint Review meetings;
Tap the power of periodic and iterative group
learning via the Retrospective meeting;
Exploit the power of visual management via
the Task Board;
Explain and use Planning Poker for developing
group-level estimations of work;
Explain and use User Stories for planning
and estimating work;
Work in a team scenario while encouraging
and participating in group-level learning;
Speak from experience on complex agile concepts
like failing fast, deferring commitment till the 'last responsible
moment', role, task and boundary management, and the like;
Confidently begin a agile adoption initiative
as a Product Owner, Scrum Master or Team member
Understand and appreciate the power of having
an agile/Scrum coach to guide the team, especially in the early
stages of agile adoption;
Appreciate, develop and begin to actively
use facilitation and conflict management techniques to increase
group learning and keep the team on task
Course Outline
See the detailed outline below
Pricing and Payment
Cost is $399 per student per day-- $798 for
the full course
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REGISTER
HERE
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What is included:
All materials, workbook, lunch, and 30 days
of support by email and phone. This is a complete package of
learning and everything is included.
Course Outline:
Brief Course Description: Complete
introduction to Agile with strong emphasis on iterative, incremental
development using Scrum.
Course Objective: The course
objective is to impart the essentials of agile and Scrum to each
participant in the shortest amount of time, via active classroom
participation in team exercises, such that each student is ready
to bring Scrum knowledge and experience back to their real-world
teams who are planning and building complex products.
Teacher: Dan Mezick, an agile & Scrum
expert residing in CT. See
trainer bio here.
Duration: 2 days of FULL IMMERSION,
experiental Agile and Scrum learning.
Format: Instructor-facilitated exercises
and activities in groups and teams. Maximum experiential learning
preceded by a very brief orientation lecture and instructions.
This is a learn-by-doing class where we do many activities, and
build many complex products in groups. Each segment is followed
by a detailed de-brief or "retrospective".
Prerequisites: Knowledge and some experience
with of the typical Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is
assumed. This also known as the Waterfall Method. This model
has the following activities: System/Information Engineering
and Modeling, Software Requirement Analysis, System Analysis
and Design, Code creation, Testing, and Maintenance. Some knowledge
of agile & Scrum is useful but not required.
Assumed Audience: Project sponsors,
project managers, project leads, developers, users and testers
new to Agile and Scrum. Middle managers get A LOT out of this
course because this class is AUTHENTIC agile and Scrum. As such,
middle managers see what "doing agile" or "adopting
Scrum" actually means. Adopting these methods enhances and
increases the influence of the middle manager. There is nothing
to fear from agile and Scrum and this class demonstrates how
much more productive and happy teams are when using agile and
the Scrum framework. Come- and see for yourself !!
Course Materials: Student Resource
Pack with printed materials
Course Description Summary: This class
is loaded with team activities. Just like a real agile project,
we turn you loose on work, with others, using agile methods and
the Scrum framework. However unlike some real-world scenarios,
you actually DO REAL AGILE and DO REAL Scrum in this class. Attend
this class to experience first-hand what REAL AGILE is all about.
You exit this class confident, clear, and ready to work on agile & Scrum
teams.
Location: We teach agile
and Scrum training at your site in CT and MA. We also deliver
Scrum training in our classrooms in CT. Call us for agile coaching
in CT, Scrum coaching in MA, or anything else agile you have
questions on if you are in CT or MA. We also deliver all of our
courses nationwide.
Contact
us to learn more about our agile coaching and Scrum and
agile training in CT, MA and beyond.
NOTE: If you are in MA or
CT and looking for agile and Scrum user groups, take a look at Agile
Boston and Agile
CT. New Technology Solutions organizes and leads these groups;
anyone can attend a meeting. Take a look !
The following is the detailed course outline
for our agile training and Scrum experiential course. This course
material draws DIRECTLY from our agile / Scrum coaching practice.
Keep in mind we deliver this class in CT,
MA, NY regions. We also cover all of New England and can bring
this class anywhere in the USA. Call us if you want this course
delivered as a private class at your location.
Agile Training ASAP Overview
The best way to learn Scrum practices and
principles is to do them under the guidance of a coach. This
is true throughout the real world. Professional athletes in teams
practice relentlessly to perform well. Scrum teams are no different
! Practice makes perfect...this episodic, full-immersion experiential
course is designed to improve your understanding of Scrum as
you learn core and essential Scrum ideas.
In this course, you learn by doing (with coaching)
and then by reflecting and discussing in a lively, group-level
meeting event. This course is designed as an easy, comfortable,
low-commitment but high-impact learning event that is optimized
for maximum group-level agile training and learning in the shortest
amount of time.
In this class, you learn Scrum essentials
via very brief and focused lectures that are followed by direct
experience in groups, building some very complex products. The
direct experience is followed by reflection and the cycle repeats.
The purpose of Scrum is to set up a work structure
and a team-centric, safe “space” that enables teams
to make small mistakes and LEARN as they build very complex products.
That is what this course is all about. In this course you learn,
then clarify goals, and then engage in planning.... and execute
in short iterations. You then inspect your results. You learn
about the people and the work, just as if you are doing real-world
work. The class is a “safe room” to explore the Scrum
way of working and Scrum roles. Scrum is used as a framework
that provides structure and container for team work.
Your iterations are followed by discussing,
questioning, speaking and listening. The class ground rules are
structured for fun, a deep level of learning, and rich collaboration.
The focus is on Scrum … with rules, roles, relationships
and structure that encourages production at the expense of waste.
Student Entry Points
Each student comes in to the course with a
unique level of maturity, from “newbie” to “master” of
Scrum thinking. Each student attending (regardless of starting
level) achieves a higher level of competence in Scrum as a result
of attending this class. From this new level of skill comes immediate
understanding and learning that you can apply to your current
work and team to solve problems and build complex products.
This course is taught over 2 sessions of 1
day each. We do 2 “full immersion” episodes (days)
of experience. This is enough to begin with agile!! The ideal
students are sponsors, managers and other stakeholders, in addition
to development team members.
Learning Objectives
1. Learn the essentials of Agile and
Scrum rapidly, at the deepest level of understanding
possible, limited only by the course duration
2. Identify (and deeply understand)
the essential values and beliefs that drive ALL successful Scrum
adoptions
3. Adopt new ideas related
to traditional planning, prediction, and control
4. Exit the course with the essentials
needed to understand how Scrum adoption can succeed....or
fail, in your organizational context and culture
5. Exit the course ready to reflect
on your learning and integrate it AFTER class, such
that you may be an truly effective, self-governing member of
a Scrum team
6. Exit the class ready to learn more,
and engage with others in the execution and further
learning and leveraging of the empirical team process and production
of value, using Scrum techniques.
The following topics are taught and explored
during this hands-on class:
Scrum Principles Essentials
The course begins with a description of the four key principles in the Scrum
Manifesto. These four key principles are:
Individuals and interactions over processes
and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
These core ideas become well understood as
a result of experiencing this class
Scrum Practice Essentials
Scrum :
Three Roles, Three Meetings, Three Artifacts Lecture:
Introducing essential Scrum Roles (Scrum Master, Product Owner, Team Member),
Meetings (Sprint Planning, Demo, Retrospective)
Artifacts (Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Burndown Chart)
Scrum Structure:
Scrum examined under the surface: Boundaries, Authority, Role and Task definitions
as structure
Team Self-Organization:
Understanding Present-tense Team Collaboration
Estimating:
Estimating Tasks via Planning Poker
User stories:
Format, types, the "INVEST" acronym....
Independent,
Negotiable,
Visible,
Estimable,
Small,
Testable
Planning vs. Prediction Similarities and Key
Differences Explained
Group-level Visual Process Control:
Visual Process Control via Task Board and information radiators
Clarity:
The Nokia Test for Testing your level of 'canonical Scrum' implementation
Nokia Test / Your IT Environment
The Nokia test asks eight questions of a team.
If all of the questions are not answered in the affirmative,
the team may not be doing Scrum. In this session, participants
use the Nokia test to analyze their current software development
framework and compare it to Scrum. The class discusses how the
organization may transition to a Scrum environment which does
pass the Nokia test.
Sprints are no more than 4 weeks
Software is done at the end of each sprint
Requirements do not need to be done before start of sprint
There is a Product Owner
There is a product backlog prioritized by business value
The team estimates backlog items
The team creates burndown charts / knows velocity
The team is not interrupted
Bounded Ceremonies:
Planning Meeting
Actual Iteration,
Demo Meeting,
Retrospective Meeting
Scrum Exercise Essentials
The exercises in the class are described below.
Each exercise is fully experiential and executed in groups and
teams. Each exercise includes a brief description of the exercise
concept, goals, and associated terminology and materials. Upon
conclusion of the exercise, we perform a group-level retrospective
and reflect on the learning.
Group Estimating Exercise #1:
Participants take a shot at estimating at the level of group.
The results from this exercise are often quite surprising. Duration:
5 minutes
Group Estimating Exercise #2: Participants
in a small groups use Planning Poker and User Stories to estimate
the size of various batches of work on a Backlog. Duration: ½ hour
Low Complexity Team Task Exercise: Participants
in a small groups plan and estimate the effort for a team task
of relatively low complexity. They then execute and compare actual
to estimated effort. This experience informs future exercises.
Duration: 1 iterations in 20 minutes.
Moderate Complexity: Team
Task Exercise: Participants in a small groups use a Task Board
to plan work and maintain a Sprint Backlog as they collaboratively
develop a product of moderate complexity. Duration: 3 iterations
in 1 hour and group retrospective
High Complexity Exercise: Team
Task Exercise: Participants in a small groups use a Task Board
to plan work and maintain a Sprint Backlog as they collaboratively
develop a product of higher complexity. Duration: 3 iterations
in 1 hour and group retrospective
Higher Complexity Exercise: Team
Composition Exercise: Participants in a small groups plan work
and maintain a Sprint Backlog as they collaboratively develop
a product of higher complexity. Team composition is changed during
the various iterations. The effects on team and project performance
are inspected and explored. Duration: 3 iterations in 1 hour
and group retrospective
Full Scrum Exercise: Participants
in small teams use everything they have learned about Scrum during
this episode to plan and create a very complex, non-software “product”.
Scrum and full Scrum roles are used. Duration: 1.5 hours
Multi-Team Scrum Exercise: Participants
in small teams use everything they have learned about Scrum during
this episode to plan and create a very complex, non-software
product. Multiple teams work from one Product Backlog. Scrum
and full Scrum roles are used. Duration: 2.5 hours
Real-World, Multi-Team Scrum Exercise: Participants
in small teams use everything they have learned about Scrum up
until now to cope with complexity, and plan and create a very
complex, non-software product. The exercise scenario includes
unrealistic Product Owner demands, constraints on resources,
limited team authoritization, weak facilitation by a developing
Scrum Master, and more. This is the final exam. Multiple teams
work from one Product Backlog. Scrum and full Scrum roles are
used. Students learn that Scrum is not all fun and games but
rather, an intentional way to do serious work in groups. Duration:
2.5 hours
Discussing the Essentials
Scrum ROI / Business Case : The class ends
with a description and discussion of the business benefits of
transitioning to Scrum. This is a group-level retrospective.
Participants engage in defining ground rules for this facilitated
meeting.
Topics in this class include:
Pulling the trigger at the “Last
Responsible Moment”;
Spikes-- how to plan to focus
on one research item for one day to gather essential info;
Empirical, iterative planning
for complex products;
Effects of changing team composition and
the group dynamics of velocity;
Exploring group-level learning via “fail
fast” dynamics
Failing Fast-- honoring experimentation
and mistakes; experimenting & risk management;
Defining, agreeing to and
adhering to WORKING AGREEMENTS;
Exploring all the Scrum
roles;
Why agile means slightly more planning,
but far less prediction;
Organizing your team to
outperform all competitors;
Exploring Scrum boundaries for
roles, rules and tasks;
Definition of READY and
DONE;
Understanding the Scrum Ceremonies (Sprint
Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Team retrospective)
Understanding the Scrum Roles (Product
Owner, Scrum Master, Team)
Understanding the Scrum Artifacts (Release
Burndown, Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Sprint Burndown)
Understanding the essentials of
Team Trust, Safety, Group Learning and Hyper-Productivity)
Successively more complex products are built
IN TEAMS on existing tools and platforms as teams explore the
dynamics of accumulating understanding of the work, Scrum, and
each other in an experiential and highly empirical format of
learning.
The student that completes this course
is knowledgeable in agile methods and the Scrum Framework,
and knows how to:
Understand and use all the
Agile and Scrum-related terminology;
Identify what is an agile
practice, and what is NOT agile
Explain Scrum's roles, boundaries,
tasks, and related authorization for all of the above;
Create Release backlog, Product
backlog, Sprint backlog, and Sprint burndown documents;
Do agile estimates and planning
and report same to project sponsors;
Understand the dynamics of
fixing the variables of cost, delivery date, quality and features
Educate sponsors & managers
on how agile & Scrum techniques increase productivity;
Plan and execute Sprint planning,
Daily Scrum and Sprint Review meetings;
Tap the power of periodic
and iterative group learning via the Retrospective meeting;
Exploit the power of visual management via
the Task Board;
Explain and use Planning Poker for
developing group-level estimations of work;
Explain and use User Stories for
planning and estimating work;
Work in a team scenario while
encouraging and participating in group-level learning;
Speak from experience on complex agile
concepts like failing fast, deferring commitment till
the 'last responsible moment', role, task and boundary management,
and the like;
Confidently begin a agile adoption
initiative as a Product Owner, Scrum Master or Team
member
Understand and appreciate
the power of having an agile/Scrum coach to guide the team, especially
in the early stages of agile adoption;
Appreciate, develop and begin
to actively use facilitation and conflict management techniques
to increase group learning and keep the team on task
==============
REGISTER
HERE
==============
Click here to contact
us about this class
Click here for information on Agile
Coaching services we provide.
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Agile
Boston