Introduction:
This course will provide participants with an in-depth understanding of agile principles, frameworks, and practices. Through discussions, exercises, role plays and case studies, participants will learn how to successfully plan and implement agile approaches on projects.
Objectives:
- Understand agile principles and values
- Learn popular agile frameworks like Scrum and Kanban
- Implement core agile techniques like planning poker, iterative development, and continuous integration
- Apply agile practices through real-life exercises and simulations
- Transition to agile successfully on existing and new projects.
Course Outline:
Day 1
Session 1
- Introduction to Agile Project Management
- Overview of Agile principles and values
- Agile vs. traditional project management
- Introduction to popular Agile frameworks (e.g., Scrum, Kanban).
Session 2
- Agile Project Initiation
- Agile project charter and visioning
- Stakeholder identification and engagement
- Defining project goals and objectives
- Creating the Agile project roadmap.
Day 2
Session 1
- Agile Project Planning
- User stories and product backlog grooming
- Estimation techniques (e.g., relative sizing, planning poker)
- Release and iteration planning
- Creating Agile project schedules.
Session 2
- Agile Project Execution
- Roles and responsibilities in Agile teams
- Agile ceremonies (e.g., daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives)
- Managing project scope and change
- Tracking progress with Agile metrics (e.g., velocity, burn-down charts).
Day 3
Session 1
- Agile Project Monitoring and Control
- Monitoring project performance using Agile techniques
- Managing risks and issues in Agile projects
- Agile quality management and testing
- Continuous integration and deployment.
Session 2
- Agile Project Collaboration and Communication
- Effective communication in Agile teams
- Facilitating collaboration and decision-making
- Agile leadership and team empowerment
- Managing distributed Agile teams.
Day 4
Session 1
- Agile Project Adaptation and Improvement
- Agile project adaptation and flexibility
- Continuous improvement using Agile retrospectives
- Applying Agile techniques for process improvement
- Scaling Agile for larger projects or organizations.
Session 2
- Agile Project Stakeholder Management
- Identifying and engaging project stakeholders
- Managing stakeholder expectations and communication
- Stakeholder feedback and prioritization
- Building strong relationships with stakeholders.
Day 5
Session 1
- Agile Project Delivery and Closure
- Agile project delivery and customer value
- Approaches for delivering working increments
- Agile project closure and lessons learned
- Celebrating success and transitioning to operations.
Session 2
- Exam Preparation and Review
- Recap of key Agile concepts and principles
- Practice questions and exam simulation
- Review of important exam topics and tips.
- Q&A session and final exam preparation.
Activities
- Planning poker sessions
- Iterative estimation and release planning exercises
- Retrospective and daily standup simulations
- Kanban board visualization exercise
- Agile transition plan presentations
- Agile project simulation role play.
Labs
Lab 1: Conduct Planning Poker Session
Steps:
- Form groups of 5-6 participants
- Assign an agile story/task to estimate
- Distribute planning poker cards to each member
- Follow planning poker steps to arrive at consensus
- Report out estimations across groups
Lab 2: Run a Daily Standup
Steps:
- Form agile teams of 5-6 members each
- Assign simulated sprint/iteration context
- Volunteers to facilitate daily standup
- Teams to follow typical standup format – What I did yesterday? What will I do today? Any impediments?
- Feedback on standup effectiveness.