Beyond Agile: The Meaning of Agile
A modern approach to business/IT alignement
A one-day workshop for IT managers and technical team leaders, which answers to a simple and fundamental question: "What tools do we currently have available to do business better?".
We know that the Agile approaches – be they Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP) or Kanban – suggest practices and processes that improve the productivity of the technical teams, their ability to respond to change and the quality of the software they create.
But what we are learning is that adopting an Agile method is only a first step in that direction and that the possible improvements, expected as well as unexpected, are easier to achieve when we integrate the Agile principles with modern techniques of leadership, teamwork and organizational systemic.
Overview
This workshop is different from others you may find, because is places special attention on the organizational implications of adopting and Agile approach in your organization, including the cultural and role changes that come with it; and of course, we'll also talk about the mechanics of Agile.
The workshop starts with a brief discussion of the Agile principles and then proceeds to consider how those manifest themselves in Scrum, in XP and in Kanban, paying special attention to the organizational changes they imply and to the meaning of generating value.
It continues with illustrating some of the soft skills that, inside the organization, increase the effectiveness of the Agile process of choice.
In the last section we reserve time for practice, where the attendees can discuss real-life cases that they may want to bring to the table.
Main topics:
- Industrialized software development and its limitations
- An overview of Extreme Programming, Scrum, Kanban
- Strengths of the three methods above and a comparison
- Organizational and business meaning of cross-functional and self-organized teams
- Influence of the Agile methods on the organizational model
- Dealing with change
- Understanding potential resistance in leaders and in technical team members
- The invisible organization
- Soft skills for effective Agile teams
- Real-life scenarios
Benefits
Those who have already adopted an Agile method, as well as those who are considering it, will find in The Meanind of Agile new insights and modern tools, relational and organizational, to increase the value that the IT brings to the business.
Who Should Attend
This workshop is intended primarily for product managers, project managers and team leaders with experience in managing IT projects and teams. Previous experience with Agile is useful but not required.
Format
This workshop is taught both on-site and as a public event.
The on-site version is more appropriate to a group of at least 5 attendees, or when the training must happen in a specific time frame; also, real-life scenarios can be discussed more confidentially on-site than during a public edition (more complex cases, however, require a consulting session).
Upcoming Dates and Locations
To book an on-site edition, please contact me using the contact page.
Currently there are no public editions scheduled, but the calendar is being defined and will be announced as soon as it's finalized.
Please see the "To Keep in Touch" section for the different ways to stay informed.