Agile Boot Camp

Course Description:

Scrum, Extreme Programming, Lean, Feature Driven Development and other methods each have their strengths. While there are significant similarities under the Agile umbrella, each method brings specific tools for team success. Rarely do organizations adopt one methodology in its pure form. Rather, success is achieved by combining best practices.

 

In this three-day Agile Boot Camp, you will put the skills, tools and techniques you are taught to work. The classroom will be broken up into Agile teams and an expert instructor will drive each team through the Agile process: from vision down to daily planning and execution. Your instructor will answer questions with real-world experience, as all of our instructors have Agile experience “in the trenches.” You will leave the class with practical knowledge and a clear roadmap for success.

Learning Objectives:

• Structure a team with generalizing specialists so the team can develop working software incrementally.
• Practice and maintain a regular cadence when delivering working software each iteration.
• Follow the team approach; start as a team, finish as a team — and focus on delivering value to the organization.
• Gain knowledge and understanding of Agile principles and why they are so important for each team.
• Embrace the five levels of planning and recognize the value of continuous planning.
• Build a backlog of prioritized and estimated user stories that provides emergent requirements for analysis and foster customer engagement and understanding.
• Engage in more effective estimating (story points) and become more accurate by being less precise.
• Create accurate Agile release plans that connect you back to business expectations – including hard date commitments and fixed price models.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Course Materials:

Students will receive a course manual with presentation slides and reference materials as well as one deck of Agile Planning Poker cards.

Agenda:

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
1. Agile Introduction and Overview	1. Prioritizing the Product Backlog	1. Iteration Execution
2. Forming the Agile Team	2. Estimating	2. Measuring and Communicating Progress
3. Product Vision	3. Release Planning	3. Iteration Review and Demo
4. Focus on the Customer	4. Story Review	4. Retrospectives
5. Creating a Product Backlog	5. Iteration Planning	5. Bringing it All Together
6. Product Roadmap

Course Outline:

Agile Introduction and Overview

• Why Agile
• Agile Methods
• Agile Benefits
• Agile Basics – understanding the lingo

Forming the Agile Team

• Team Roles
• Process Expectations
• Self organizing teams – where flexibility exists
• Communication – inside and out

Product Vision

• Five Levels of Planning in Agile

– Vision

– Roadmap

– Release

– Iteration

– Daily

• Importance of Product Vision
• Creating and communicating vision

Focus on the Customer

• User Roles
• Customer Personas
• Customer Participation

Creating a Product Backlog

• User Stories
• Acceptance Tests
• What makes a good story (sizing and substance)
• Story Writing Workshop

Product Roadmap

• Product Themes
• Importance of Focus
• Creating the Roadmap
• Communication
• Maintaining the Roadmap

Prioritizing the Product Backlog

• Methods for prioritizing
• Building Trust
• Expectations for prioritizing stories

Estimating

• Actual vs Relative estimating
• Story Points
• Planning Poker
• Estimating Team velocity

Release Planning

• Utilizing velocity
• Continuous Integration
• Regular cadence

Story Review

• Getting to the details
• Methods
• Keeping cadence

Iteration Planning

• Task breakdown
• Time estimates
• Definition of “done”
• Active participation

Iteration Execution

• Collaboration – value individuals and interactions

– Communication

– Daily Standup (Scrum)

– Taskboards

• Cadence

Measuring and Communicating Progress

• Actual effort and remaining effort
• Burndown charts
• Tools and Reporting
• Your company specific measures

Iteration Review and Demo

• Iteration Review
• Demos – a change from the past

Retrospectives

• What we did well
• What did not go so well
• What will we improve

Bringing it All Together

• Process Overview
• Transparency
• Cadence
• Team Roadmap

Audience:

Because this is an immersion course and the intent is to engage in the practices every Agile team will employ, this course is recommended for all team members responsible for delivering outstanding software. That includes, but is not limited to, the following roles:

• Business Analyst
• Technical Analyst
• Project Manager
• Software Engineer/Programmer
• Development Manager
• Product Manager
• Product Analyst
• Tester
• QA Engineer
• Documentation Specialist