Course description
Introduction to Agile: Beyond Methodologies
Methodologies are about driving valuable ideas to market in a more predictable way. Yet from our experience working with organizations across the globe, we’ve seen that most people are merely ‘comfortable’ with methodologies, rather than completely sold on them. Why is that?
In this introductory course, we will offer you a different way to approach Agile methodologies – tackling why they’re often misunderstood and how to make them work better for you and your teams.
We focus on changes you can make today that will make a real impact. Using work-based activities and templates, you’ll gain practical guidance that can be applied immediately to change how you approach Agile, your work and lead you toward better, more impactful outcomes.
This course is right for you if you are:
- beginning your learning journey in agility and / or product management,
- interested in product organizations, or
- working with or striving to lead agile teams.
Upcoming start dates
Suitability - Who should attend?
Prerequisites
None
Outcome / Qualification etc.
What you'll learn
On completion of this course, participants will be able to confidently:
- Understand Agile beyond the typical methodologies, including Emergn’s approach: Value, Flow, Quality ® (VFQ) and how it can help you deliver better business outcomes.
- Recognize how the fast-paced modern environment is impacting how we approach work.
- Associate the impact our biases and heuristics have in our work.
- Explain the business benefits of changing to a discovery / flexible mindset.
- Understand how to set goals within your context.
- Recognize the importance of the customer in your work and how value is defined.
- Identify why you should organize your work around value.
- Understand the value of experimentation.
- Identify why visualization is key to navigating complexity.
- Understand how you can optimize the flow of work end-to-end.
- Define what quality means and why you need feedback in your work.
Training Course Content
Beyond Agile methodologies
- Introduction to Value, Flow, Quality (VFQ), the principles of VFQ and essential practices
- How VFQ works
Why change?
- Iron Triangle
- Cargo Cult
- Fixed vs. Discovery mindset
Biases and heuristics
- Defining biases and heuristics
- Exposing Systems 1 Thinking
- Types of work
- Complicated vs. Complex
Setting goals
- Defining your goal
- 5 Why’s technique
- Knowns, Unknowns and Risks
Discovering value
- Importance of value
- Delivering early and often
- Breaking down work using prisms
- Attributes of value
- Value profiles, when your goal is valuable
Understanding your customer
- The importance of the customer
- Selfridges case study
- Empathy, In their shoes
- Jobs-to-be-Done
- Clayton Christensen’s Milkshake story
- Customer profile
Defining value
- Value Proposition framework
- Awareness of other canvases/frameworks
Designing experiments
- Four reasons to design an experiment
- Hypothesis structure
- Components of a Test & Learn card
Visualizing the work
- The importance of visualization
- Designing an effective work board
- Other types of visualization
Optimizing flow
- End-to-end flow
- Understanding lead and cycle times
- 7 types of waste
Incorporating feedback
- What quality means
- Importance of feedback
- Zara case study
- Overcoming resistance to feedback
- Exploring feedback loops
Conclusion
- Summaries
- Course Knowledge Assessment
Course delivery details
This course is offered through Emergn, a partner institute of EdX.
1-4 hours per week
Expenses
- Verified Track -$199
- Audit Track - Free