Agile for Managers Workshop

Part 1: Introductions, Class Objectives

Part 2: Making the Case for Change

• Defining the Challenges of Software Development
• What is the Problem Agile is Trying to Solve
• What is Lean? What is Agile?
• Agile versus Waterfall

Part 3: The Agile Framework

• Agile Framework and Methodologies
• Agile Manifesto and Principles
  • Team Exercise: Teams will discuss which principles would be easy to implement and which would be difficult and share reasoning with the group.
• Terminology and Ceremonies
• Prioritization
  • Team Exercise: Teams discusses prioritization techniques and considerations for their industry and shares with the group.

Part 4: Organizational Culture and Leadership Styles

• What is Organizational Culture?
• Organizational Culture Models
• Schneider's Culture Model
• Mapping Agile Values into the Four Quadrants (Team Exercise)
  • Team Exercise: Map Agile Values into the Four Quadrants from Schneider's Culture Model
• What's Your Organization's Culture (Team Exercise)
  • Team Exercise: Map Agile Values into the Four Quadrants from Schneider's Culture Model
• Agile and Lean Methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban
• Matching Agile Practices to Organizational Culture (Team Exercise)
  • Team Exercise: What are ways to help Agile Adoption taking into account Organizational Culture?

Part 5: Agile Adoption and Change Acceptance

• Barriers to Agile Adoption
• Agile and Change
• Kubler-Ross Model of Change
• Change Acceptance
• Characteristics of a Change Agent
• Reasons Teams Have Difficulty With Agile Adoption
  • Team Exercise: Teams do role playing with a difficult change with one member of team acting as change agent practicing techniques learned.

Part 6: Building and Supporting Agile Teams

• Definition and Characteristics of an Agile Team
• Supporting an Agile Team
  • Team Exercise: Teams execute a self-organization exercise
• Agile Teams aligned to an Organizational Hierarchy

Part 7: Management 3.0 (Jurgen Appelo)

• Energize People
• Empower Teams
• Align Constraints
• Develop Competence
• Grow structure
• Improve Everything

Part 8: Continuous Improvement

• Retrospectives
• Knowledge Sharing
• Principles of Systems Thinking (Complex Adaptive, Chaos)
• Continuous Improvement Processes
• Self-Assessment
• Tips for Successful Continuous Improvement
  • Team Exercise: Teams start with a problem to solve and take baseline measurements. Then, after practicing continuous improvement techniques, try again and measure for improvement.

Part 9: Becoming an Agile Leader

• Mental Models
• What is Agile Leadership?
• Servant Leadership

• The benefits of working in an Agile environment
• The Agile Framework, including an overview of methodologies, principles, terminology, and ceremonies
• How to classify organizational cultures and leadership styles
• How to foster change acceptance and Agile adoption
• The role of managers in an Agile environment and how to become a servant leader
• How to build and support Agile teams
• Jurgen Appelo's Management 3.0 Model
• How to motivate teams for continuous improvement
• How to apply what you have learned to real life scenarios within your own organization
• How to lead a high-performing Agile team

This Agile Project Management training course is designed for anyone who will be managing agile teams and people, including:

• Senior Managers
• Product Owners
• Development Managers
• Development Leads