Course Description
This module looks at what Agile is before investigating the how this is affected by the business culture.
Learning Objectives
The objectives of this course are to provide you with and understanding of:
- Agile, agile (with a small ‘a’) and business agility.
- The organizational challenges of agile adoption.
- The Scrum Masters role in facilitating culture change.
Intended Audience
The course is aimed at the Agile Scrum Master. However, it’s equally relevant to the Product Owner’s role in the team.
Prerequisites of the Certifications
There are no specific pre-requisites to study this course.
Feedback
We welcome all feedback and suggestions - please contact us at qa.elearningadmin@qa.com to let us know what you think.
I’m sure by now that you know that Scrum as a lightweight and simple-to-understand framework. The bit that’s really challenging though is driving organizational change to enable incremental transformation.
Too often, organizations look for ways to shortcut improvements; they believe that by adopting new language and new frameworks that they’ll get the benefits of new ways of working. If only it were that simple – change and improvement take effort, they need drive and focus.
Agile and agile
OK. If I asked you to draw a picture of ‘Agile’ what would you come up with?
Well, if it was Agile with a big ‘A’ you might have thought of the Agile frameworks like Scrum, XP, DSDM and SAFe. These all follow the Agile Manifesto and focus on developing products incrementally.
But an organization can follow Agile (with a big ‘A’) frameworks without being agile (with a small ‘a’).
So, what does agile with a small ‘a’ mean to you?
Agile (with a small ‘a’) is about people and interactions. Being agile is a mindset, it’s about being collaborative, transparent and open. It means adapting to change, learning from mistakes and growing as a team. It’s how you go about things.
Business agility
Today, organizations operate in fast moving and complex markets. They turn to agile approaches to help them develop the internal capability to respond to changing customer expectations and business demands.
Business agility is the ability of an organization to respond quickly – internally and externally – to change so they can deliver value to their customers. This might mean adapting to changes in the market environment, making better use of the people who work in the organization or being flexible to changing customer demands.
As the famous physicist Stephen Hawking once said “intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” So, it fits that business agility is the outcome of organizational intelligence.
An organization must be able to adapt to change quickly and cost-effectively without lowering the quality of the product. This means they can be more creative and resilient as they face the challenges of a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environment.
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.