Our bite-sized agile workshops offer an alternative training format allowing your people to learn a key skill in one hour, and then immediately apply it. This works well as a regular session every 1-4 weeks, allowing staff to take a short amount of time out of a normal working day, and then have time to apply it before the next topic is introduced. It also works well in the scenario where 4-5 topics may be selected in a single day, with delegates able to select only the topics that are relevant to them.
Clients opting for this format have reported the following benefits:
- Staff are not taken our of work for a whole day / multiple days
- One-hour practical workshops are enough to focus in detail on a single topic
- A gap of 1-4 weeks between workshops allows time to try out the practices learned
- Staff are able to attend workshops relevant to them and skip topics that they don’t need
Each workshop focuses on a specific product delivery technique or idea, and we can develop new bespoke workshops to meet the specific challenges your team are facing. Our current library of workshops available is as follows:
Introduction to Agile
Introduce the intentions behind agile ways of working through practical experiences.
- Run a process simulation in a non-technical environment.
- Explore how continuous improvement can result in substantial performance gains.
- Use this practical experience to explore the benefit of fast feedback and small batch sizes in agile software
delivery.
Scrum Delivery Framework
A demonstration of Scrum as a means of achieving an agile capability.
- Define the Scrum framework according to the intended delivery practice.
- Explore how these tools are the implementation of agile practices.
- How to use these frameworks to deliver tangible business benefit.
Kanban Process Improvement Methodology
A demonstration of Kanban as a means of measuring and improving an agile process.
- Define the Scrum framework according to the intended delivery practice.
- Explore how these tools are the implementation of agile practices.
- How to use these frameworks to deliver tangible business benefit.
Roles and high-performing teams
Explore the key accountabilities and working patterns typical in high-performing agile teams.
- Define the roles of the product owner, agile coach (or scrum master), and development team.
- Explore the activities undertaken and where they collaborate.
- Map the differences between traditional project management roles and these new roles.
Product Inception Workshop
Take a vision for a new product and turn it into a backlog of features.
- Use user story mapping to generate specific feature ideas.
- Explore options for breaking down products by user journey, functional area, business outcome or user type.
- Use the story map to create a visual release plan, manage scope, and control the initial budget.
Estimating Major Software Releases
Explore what can be predicted at the start of a big piece of work such as bringing a minimum viable product to market, or planning a release over multiple iterations.
- Understand the sources of uncertainty in software development.
- Size items using relative sizing and compare this technique to other available options.
- Gain confidence in knowing how to communicate forecasts and budgets to the business based on the data available.
Effective Sprint Planning
Tips for improving the accuracy of short-term planning and forecasting.
- How to prepare: establish a definition of done, and ensure items are well refined.
- Effective task breakdown estimates, matched to team capacity.
- Avoid carrying over backlog items every time by establishing feedback loops.
Effective Product Ownership
An overview of the product owner role, exploring the key accountabilities and techniques available.
- Help Product Owners to Understand their role.
- Help others to understand how to work with product owners.
- Learn how to collaborate to optimise the value of a product.
Software Quality: Definition of Done
Establish or reinforce a sense of ownership for quality by the development team, and how to use a definition of done to drive up standards.
- Discuss what professionalism means for software development.
- Review or create a definition of done articulating the minimum technical standards for each product backlog
item. - Explore how the definition of done might evolve to improve the integrity of the product and confidence in
releases.
Agile Coaching Workshop
Focused workshop on the purpose of agile coaching, where it is (and isn’t) appropriate, and some practical tips to help new and experienced coaches improve their skills.
- Review the intent and desired outcomes of coaching on an individual and group level.
- Learn about active listening and open questions.
- Practice one-to-one coaching using a simple technique to guide the conversation.
Using Data for Effective Decision-Making
A product-focused workshop exploring a wide range of data-gathering options available to product owners, allowing them to back up their hunches and improve decision-making.
- A comprehensive overview of the metrics available to aid in decision-making for agile products.
- Pick out the metrics that are best aligned with strategic objectives.
- Make a plan for collecting these data, and using them as part of the overall planning process.
IT change from a business perspective
This workshop seeks to allow IT to understand how changes to delivery may be perceived from the business, with a view to allowing IT people to establish the best possible working relationships with business stakeholders.
- Understanding how IT delivery impacts the business.
- Designing and running requirements workshops that business people won’t hate.
- Being a positive advocate for change.
Requirements elicitation
Effective Sprint Reviews
- Starting with a sized product backlog, extrapolate release plans and forecast delivery dates.
- Explore scope-driven and date-driven release planning.
- Learn how to use these techniques to elevate the sprint review from a “show & tell” to a means of seizing new
opportunities to deliver value.