Agile Training and Scrum
The use of Agile management training as an approach to managing projects has been increasing dramatically over the last several years, and RG Freeman Group has kept up with agile training courses. Gartner had predicted that Agile development methods would be used on 80% of all software development projects.
Many companies face the dilemma of introducing, managing, and executing Agile methodologies as a potential alternative to Waterfall projects. A traditional project management approach can become ineffective. Executives may not be satisfied with the cost of completing projects, the time it takes to complete them, or their ability to meet dynamic expectations. At the same time, a company cannot just ‘convert’ to Agile. The management culture needs to be supportive. Special circumstances--like virtual teams and regulatory controls--may not seem consistent with Agile principles.
In order to do more than survive in this changing world, today’s IT department and business owners need to join together to bring about agility and innovation. Standard practices for prioritizing features, estimating levels of effort, managing work, and maintaining quality control need to be revised. The business owner, project manager, business analyst, and software developer in particular must recast themselves in new relationships using unfamiliar tools and techniques. Many Agile methods may need to be tested, and then adapted to the company’s environment.
Scrum Cheat Sheet
Below is a sample illustration of all of the moving parts that typically take place on an Agile project team during a 2-4 week Agile Scrum Sprint:
View Agile 3-Prong Approach and Scrum Framework PDF
Agile Training Courses:
AGL-101 Overview of Agile - 1 day
This course aims at introducing its attendees to the core values, principles, and practices of Agile. This course discusses how to plan and manage Agile practices, not only those in Scrum. The course also goes into greater depth about all the roles and responsibilities on the team and not just the ScrumMaster and Product Owner roles.
The use of agile as an approach to managing projects has been increasing dramatically over the last several years. Gartner predicted that agile development methods would be used on 80% of all software development projects.
AGL-105 Executive Overview of Agile - 4 hours
This 4-hour session will explore what an organization needs to know to successfully transition to Agile.
Scrum is an incremental, iterative Agile framework for project management and software development - where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams. This disciplined project management process involves:
- A leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, self-organization and accountability
- A set of engineering best practices intended to allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software
- A business approach that aligns development with customer needs and company goals
Participants will learn what it takes to manage an Agile Scrum framework. Your role in an agile project will look much different as you form and coach a self-directed team, facilitate continuous collaboration with your clients, manage and deliver business value to your clients early and regularly throughout the project.
AG-BA08 Agile for Business Analysts - 2 days
In this course, you develop your understanding about Agile business analysis and the role of the business analyst on an Agile team. You learn how business analysis on an Agile project is similar and different than on Waterfall projects. A number of business analysis techniques suited for supporting Agile teams are introduced alongside the various standards available to the community to help teams and organizations transition. Since few organizations are purely Agile, you also learn about delivery approaches that use a combination of practices from Waterfall and Agile and are also introduced to the important concept of business analysis tailoring--the key skill used to adapt business analysis skills to all environments--regardless of the delivery life cycle selected.
Added Bonus--Support for Pursuing Your IIBA®AAC Certification
Since demonstrating your Agile competencies is important when pursuing your next role, this course introduces the newest Agile analysis certification in the marketplace IIBA-AAC. The IIBA-AAC credential identifies your as someone who has mastered a firm understanding of Agile business analysis and obtained a few years of experience in the process.
You receive important information that defines the credential, explains the experience required to apply for the exam, the exam structure, its costs, and a thorough overview of what the exam covers and what you need to understand to prepare for it. You may not have considered obtaining an Agile certification before, but should you decide, this course provides all the information you need to start your studies.
AG-BA18A Agile/Scrum Product Owner Workshop - 2 days
Ongoing concerns of Product teams are how to deliver better and faster results while increasing
the effectiveness of the business units within the larger enterprise. Does your team have the
skills to develop products at the speed of business and maintain high customer satisfaction? A
way to achieve these results is to adopt the Agile Mindset and promote it within the business
units and the enterprise. The Agile/Scrum Product Owner workshop will emphasize the roles,
events and artifacts created in Agile and Scrum. It will focus on understanding why the Agile
Mindset is imperative to understand for learners, business units and the organization. The role
of the Product Owner will be emphasized in regard to Strategy, Release and Iteration planning.
Scrum ceremonies will be explained, and participants will understand why transparency,
inspection and adaptation are an important part of Scrum. Common planning and estimating
techniques will be discussed so terminology is understood while the team works within the
organization. Participants utilize a case study to execute during a Sprint and teams learn how to
adapt their process to a more Agile/Scrum Framework.
AGL-19A Agile Requirements - Writing User Stories Workshop - 2 days
Writing User Stories Workshop will demonstrate how to manage, write, and communicate requirements in an Agile Environment. Participants learn to collaborate and identify business needs and communicate those needs through User Stories. Group activities will be performed to apply the learned knowledge in real time with the ability to use their own project.
This course is intended for Agile teams to communicate and write user stories to capture requirements. This would include Product Owners, Stakeholders, Business Analysts, Testers and any person who wants to write user stories.
AGL-21A Non-Certified Scrum Master Workshop - 2 days
This course is for Tech Leaders, Project Managers, Scrum Masters, Dev Team members and
anyone who wants learn to coach the Agile/Scrum team to increase their productivity.
Course Objectives:
• Understand why teams need to be part of Strategy & Release Planning to understand
the vision and goals of the organization and make sure requests align with the vision and
strategy of the organization.
• Understand the Agile Mindset and why it is important for the learner, the business unit,
as well as the organization.
• Understand how to apply the 12 Agile Principles.
• Focus on Scrum Master techniques to coach the Product Owner, the Organization as
well as the Development Team.
• Utilize your product during the workshop exercises for quick applicability and uncover
common cultural issues and organizational issues within your organization.
• Learn what it takes to lead Scrum Team and understand what other Agile Leaders
responsible for Agile Transformation wish they had done differently.
• Experience a Sprint and perform all events to inspect and adapt thus solidifying the
learners understanding of what it takes to really be Agile.
• Understand each the role of the Product Owner, Scrum Master and how to be a member
of the Dev Team, and how to work collaboratively as part of the team.
• Apply techniques to help define the Product Backlog and understand User Stories.
• Understand the Scrum Framework and how to implement your projects in shorter
iterations, focus on the work needed “just in time” to understand how to create results
faster with higher quality.
• Describe how implementing the Scrum Framework allows teams to deliver more specific
content to employees/departments in faster increments.
AGL-22B Agile Scrum Team Workshop - 2 days
This 2-day workshop puts the Agile team through their paces by showing them how to conduct the 5 Scrum ceremonies while simulating key activities within a sprint--all while using their own project as a case study for the exercises. The Agile Scrum team gets to experience the leading Scrum methodology, via hands-on exercises and testing the basic premise and techniques behind agility.
Course Objectives:
- Reduce the time it takes for Agile adoption by training the entire team with the help of an Agile expert
- Avoid costly mistakes made by inexperienced Agile teams on the first project
- Fast-track your project by developing your Scrum Board in the classroom
AGL-22V Virtual Agile Scrum Simulation Workshop - 2 days ( or 4, 3-hour sessions)
Agile has quickly become one of the most popular and practical ways to build better systems. However, agile teams and organizations find out that with agile, building the wrong things faster is very possible if you leave out key components like; an understanding of the “real” requirements, the development of a “high-performing virtual team, or eventual backsliding to a waterfall approach.
This 2-day virtual workshop puts the distributed agile team members through their paces, by showing them how to conduct the five (5) scrum ceremonies, while simulating key activities within a sprint, all while working remotely and using their own project (for private classes) as a case study for the exercises The Agile Scrum team will get to experience the leading Scrum methodology, by using hands-on exercises and testing the basic premise and techniques behind agility.
Agile-23D Agile for Developers - 2 days
This 2-day course explores how adapting Agile values and principles will improve product development. It contrasts traditional SDLC methods with the most popular Agile methods to set the stage for benchmarking performance. Then it introduces a comprehensive set of Agile techniques and practices, and gives attendees the opportunity to simulate an end-to-end project while using them. Attendees discuss significant issues such as how to transition traditional roles of development within an Agile Framework.
Agile-BA25 Managing the Agile Product Development Life Cycle - 4 days
This 4-day course explores how adapting Agile values and principles improves product development within an enterprise. It contrasts traditional SDLC methods with the most popular Agile methods to set the stage for benchmarking performance. Then it introduces a comprehensive set of Agile techniques and practices and gives attendees the opportunity to simulate an end-to-end project while using them. Attendees discuss significant issues such as how to transition traditional IT roles (development, business analysis, testing, and project management), and how to work with new roles (ScrumMaster and product owner). The strength of this course comes from more than 2 dozen exercises and discussions that give attendees hands-on experience with practical situations. The complete product life cycle is covered from inception to release planning and deployment, from managing a backlog to demonstrating results, and from prioritizing requirements to changing them.
Learning Objectives Using Agile Practices and Principles:
- Ensure your project delivers required functionality with less waste, and adds value to the business
- Plan, manage, and close requirements at every development stage
- Minimize project uncertainty and risk with improved estimating and planning
- Create an environment of self-management for your team so that they may continuously align the delivered product with desired business needs, easily adapting to changing requirements throughout the process
- Measure, evaluate, and communicate status based on working, tested software, while creating higher visibility and accountability into the process.
