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Your Agile journey
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Difficulty
Beginner
Duration
32m
Students
4243
Ratings
4.6/5
Description

This Course takes a look at how you can work in an Agile way. It will help you to understand what value is, how to measure progress, what Kanban is, and what a project is. You will also learn more about iterative development, and how to estimate and reflect on your own Agile journey.   

Learning Objectives 

The objectives of this Course are to provide you with and understanding of: 

  • What value is
  • How to measure progress
  • What Kanban is 
  • What Agile pm/ DSDM is 
  • How to deliver in an iterative way 
  • How to estimate 
  • Growth through mastery  

Intended Audience 

This Course is suitable for anyone with no prior knowledge of Agile who is considering, evaluating or involved in a move towards working in (or with) an agile environment.  

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this Course, however, participants should be familiar with the content and rationale in the Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org/ ) 

Feedback 

We welcome all feedback and suggestions - please contact us at support@cloudacademy.com if you are unsure about where to start or if you would like help getting started. 

Transcript

Whenever we start something new, or want to do things in a new way, it can be pretty daunting. We have to learn new rules, change our mindset, adopt new principles, and take on different roles. Of course, this applies to agile, too. If you're feeling this way, there's a cool technique you can use to visualise for yourself and your team where you are, and where you're going. It's called Shu Ha Ri, and the idea comes from Japanese martial arts.

During the first stage, Shu, we need to really immerse ourselves in the discipline. Imagine we want to become musicians. To start with, we need to take lessons from a master, practice, and do exactly what they say if we want to improve. We mustn't change anything to suit ourselves during this stage because we're still learning the ropes and basically, we're not qualified to know what's best yet. After a bit of time, we'll be really familiar with our new way of working. At this point, we can start to question some of the things we've been doing, to make sure they're actually working for us. If we continue with the musician analogy, at this point, we would be able to start experimenting with the way we play. We'll still probably stick to the music, but maybe we'll start to play a little more arrowy and bring our own flair. We won't change anything too much, but we'll start to make a few small innovations and test how well they work for us.

Finally, we reach Ri, and we've become masters of our new way of working. Now, we can fully depart from the laws and rules we followed so closely in Shu, and create our own rules. As musicians, we are now fully in control of our music, and can write songs and perform as experts. We are masters of this new way of working, so we know what works for us, and what doesn't.

Now, this may not seem too complex, and it's not, but it's a great way of thinking about how your agile journey will probably progress. Expect a few hiccups along the way, especially during Shu, when you look to change the way you work. Agile might seem difficult, but as you keep at it, moving through Ha, and eventually Ri, you'll be in a new perspective, and become that much better at what you do.

About the Author
Students
11486
Courses
37
Learning Paths
28

Tony has over 20 years’ experience in Business Development, Business Change, Consulting, and Project/Program Management working with public, private, and third sector organizations.

He has helped organizations to design and create processes and procedures to align ways of working with corporate strategy. A highly motivated and detailed solution provider, utilizing a wide range of methods and frameworks to provide structure whilst promoting creativity and innovation.

As a confident and self-motivated professional with excellent communication skills, Tony is able to bring people together and get them working as a team quickly.

Tony is an Agile and Scrum trainer with a vast knowledge spanning IT Systems, Business Change, Program and Project Management. With excellent presentation skills and a solid background, he ensures that all clients gain maximum benefit from his training. He has successfully guided those new to the industry through their initial training, helped experienced staff as they progress in their careers, and worked at the director level advising on best use and practice, as well as tailoring courses to fulfil the exact needs of clients.