Agile Project Leadership

Agile Project Leadership

Agile methods like DSDM, eXtreme Programming and Scrum have been proven to
deliver business value by accelerating project delivery, increasing customer and
employee satisfaction and providing flexibility to changes in business requirements.
But how do you effectively lead and manage high performing agile teams with skilled
team members in the midst of high pressure deadlines, demanding customers and
ever-changing business conditions?

Overview
This course is designed to be a practical introduction to agile methods and to the management of agile projects. It provides delegates with the opportunity to learn agile techniques in a collaborative environment, using exercises, case studies, and examples to illustrate the principles being explored.

Duration
This is a 2 day course.

Prerequisites, evening study and examinations
There are no pre-requisites for the course. Delegates will receive a free copy of Sanjiv Augustine's book: Managing Agile Projects.

Course Objectives
This course will enable delegates to:
- Plan, estimate, track and report work on agile projects
- Identify and handle risk in an agile environment
- Align agile methods with existing practices
- Introduce agile methods into an organisation
- Lead agile teams in collaboration and rapid value delivery


Who Should Attend
Those who are likely to become involved in Agile Projects, including:
- Project Managers
- Business Managers
- Team Leaders
- Product Owners
- IT Managers/Directors
- Business Analysts
- Other Senior Project Personnel

Course Content
Introduction and Context
- What are agile methods? Why use Agile?
- Background to agile methods (including Spiral Model, RAD, Scrum, DSDM, FDD, XP and Lean)

The Impacts of Agile on Project Management
- The Agile Planning Model
- Educating stakeholders and empowering teams
- Project tracking and reporting
- The Agile Contract and managing sub-contractors

Pre-Project Considerations
- The risks and benefits of agile approaches
- Organisational factors
- The Project Suitability Filter

Agile Teams
- Characteristics of highly effective teams
- Team communications, workspaces, decision-making tools
- Leading self-organising teams

Agile Project Planning
- Project Vision: Designing the Product Box (Highsmith)
- Kick-off workshop; stakeholder priorities and roles
- Planning iterations and prioritisation of features
- Assessing project complexity
- Approaches to estimation: PNR curves; Brooks' law
- 10 common estimating omissions

Risk Management
- Handling risk: PMBOK; PRINCE2®; Agile
- Tailoring for risk
- Qualitative and quantitative risk analysis

Execution and Control of Agile Projects
- Project chunking strategies for early ROI
- Avoiding late design breakage
- Tracking project progress; velocity; cost of change
- Linear progression versus non-linear progression work
- Meaningful metrics

Introducing Agile into an Organisation
- Understanding organisational change; overcoming resistance
- Framework for strategic and human change factors
- Institutionalising change and creating sustaining cultures