Lean-Agile Project Management Certification
This course incorporates all of the latest lean-agile methods to ensure your success!
Participants will learn how to effectively implement Lean practices, Scrum, Enterprise Scrum, Kanban, and hybrids driven by lean thinking- Designed for those looking to start an Agile initiative, mature their current Agile process, or to extend their Agile initiative beyond their teams
- Addresses which Agile method is best for your company’s culture.
Certification and PDUs: A certificate of completion of the Lean-Agile Project Manager Course is awarded to each participant who successfully passes the LAPM Certification test. This test is taken at the end of the course and validates that participants understand the basic tenets of Lean-Agile Project Management. This is a PMI R.E.P course that can be used for category A for 21 PDUs.
Course Length: 3 days
PDUs: 21 (Category A)
Maximum Number in Class: 24
** $100 discount for The Agilista PM readers (Code = AgilistaPM).
*** Earn 21 PDU’s for an early-bird price of $695 – that is only $33 per PDU !!!
PMI-Agile Webinar – “Does Risk Mgt have a place in an Agile Lifecycle?”
We often have questions about relating traditional PM practices to Agile practices. This is especially true in the area of risk. In this one hour webinar, Greg Smith (Author of Becoming Agile) and Donna Reed (The Agilista PM) will cover traditional risk management techniques and contrast them to the Agile risk management practices.
You will learn how to use traditional risk management in harmony with an Agile lifecycle and how to perform risk management at a level that minimizes waste and over-planning.
Areas covered include
- BURP (Big Upfront Risk Planning),
- daily risk management,
- and Team involvement in risk identification.
Hosted by: PMI Agile Community of Practice
Duration: 1 hour
PDU’s earned: 1
Differences between Waterfall, Iterative Waterfall, Scrum and Lean Software Development (In Pictures!)
This simple overview of the different Agile-Lean methods found was too great to not share. Sometimes it is best to keep it simple to build a foundational understanding….then build on that. Pictures speak a thousand words.
- Waterfall Development,
- Iterative Waterfall Development
- Scrum/Agile Development
- Lean
Thanks goes out to author Tara Lee Whitaker, a digital program director of a leading consumer magazine publisher in the UK. She has over 10 years of experience in the areas of product, project and program management. – The Agilista PM
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FREE eBOOK – Kanban and Scrum: Making the most of Both
This FREE eBOOK DOWNLOAD by Henrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarin is excellent ! It clears up the fog, so you can figure out how Kanban and Scrum might be useful in your own environment. Thanks to InfoQ for posting it.
There isn’t a single “best” way to do things; you have to think for yourself and figure it out – based on your situation !
LEARN ABOUT…
- the difference between Scrum and Kanban.
- their strengths and limitations,
- when to use each
- how and when to improve upon Scrum, or any other tool you may happen to be using.
- how to apply them in real life situations
- and more….
Mary Poppendieck writes:
Henrik Kniberg is one of those rare people who can extract the essence of a complicated situation, sort out the core ideas from the incidental distractions, and provide a crystal clear explanation that is incredibly easy to understand. He makes it clear that these are just tools, and what you really want to do is have a full toolkit, understand the strengths and limitations of each tool and how to use them all. The important thing is not the tool you start with, but the way you constantly improve your use of that tool and expand your toolset over time.
David Anderson, the founder of Kanban, writes,
Kanban is proving useful to teams doing Agile software development but equally it is gaining traction with teams taking a more traditional approach. Kanban is being introduced as part of a Lean initiative to morph the culture of organizations and encourage continuous improvement.
..
How To Implement Scrum in 10 Easy Steps
Scrum is not a hard concept to understand. But there are a lot of parts ot making it successful. I found a great article that explains how to implement Scrum in just 10 easy steps from getting your backlog in order to tracking progress through burn charts, and more… Thanks goes out to Kelly Waters, from All About Agile, who writes:
When I first encountered agile development, I found it hard to understand. Okay, I might not be the brightest person you’ve ever met! But I’m not stupid either, I think 
There’s a myriad of different approaches, principles, methods and terms, all of which are characterised as ‘Agile’. And from my perspective, all this ‘noise’ makes agile software development sound far harder, far more scientific, and far more confusing than it really needs to be.
Collaboration by Leveraging Better Problem Solving
Toyota Motor Corporation is famed for its ability to relentlessly improve operational performance. Central to this ability is the training of engineers, supervisors and managers in a structured problem-solving approach that uses a tool called the A3 Problem-Solving Report – that facilitates and improves knowledge sharing and collaboration.
The term “A3″ derives from the paper size used for the report, which is the metric equivalent to 11″ x 17″ (or B-sized) paper. Toyota actually uses several styles of A3 reports–for solving problems, for reporting project status, and for proposing policy changes–each having its own “storyline.”
The A3 Report is one of the most powerful tools in the lean toolset. Although it looks pretty simple, it is one of the most effective means of pulling together many of the tools used in problem solving and reporting. You can’t go wrong by learning how to use this tool and then implementing it within your organization.
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Burn Down Chart Tutorial: Simple Agile Project Tracking
For me, going from a non-agile development methodology to an agile one should have been simple. I had read the articles, attended the seminars, and knew the theory. However, what I did not have was a basic template for project tracking throughout an iteration. This article provides that template with the burn down chart shown below being the end goal. The only tool we need is a spreadsheet.*
Visually Communicating Project Progress
One of the traits of a great PM is their ability to communicate visually – presenting the progress of a project in a single glance so that one can see if things are going to plan or not. When you look at your world through visual lens that help you solve problems in business in new ways !
Edward Tufte teaches the gift of visualizing information in a way that people can take action on.
Agile teams often place large charts and graphs in their workspaces to radiate important information. It doesn’t matter if you are developing software, delivering IT infrastructure solutions, building a house, hardware products or systems – you can visually see if you project is on track or not.
Burn Charts
Agile teams often track project progress through ‘’Burn charts’’ (burn-up, burn-down and cumulative flow) which are a very popular way to give visibility into a project’s progress. Burn Charts are a graphical representation of the work left to be done and of the progress that has been made. The chart is typically drawn to show progress against predictions.
They are extremely simple and astonishingly powerful. They reveal the strategy being used, show the progress made against predictions, and open the door to discussions about how best to proceed, including the difficult discussions about whether to cut scope or extend the schedule.
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5 Reasons Why Being Agile Is More Important Than Being Perfect for Innovation
I must agree that all my projects that leverage Agile practices produce Customers and Employees that are much more ENERGIZED and ENGAGED. By continuously releasing features and functionality – your project stays “top of mind” and “talked about” with your sponsors and customers.
A great example would be several of the projects in my current program where we have created a prioritized backlog of features we believe meet our customer’s needs. Which was done after a 2-3 month planning and analysis phase that outlined the resource, budget, technology, and architectural needs for our sponsors.
We are now putting a release roadmap together for iterative releases on a 4 week cycle. And the developers and testers are using daily standups during each iterative development cycle to keep a handle on progress, obsticles, and continuously adjusting the backlog for future releases.
A great article I read this weekend talked about the 5 Reasons Agile is much more important than being Perfect for being innovative, including:
1. Speed Wins
2. Perfection equals 2nd place
3. Who’s perfection is it anyways
4. It energizes your employees
5. It energizes your customers
Click here for the full article on OPENForum
Agile Open Southern California Conference 2011 (Sep 15-16)
THEME: People, Principles and Performance
WHEN: Thursday and Friday, September 15 & 16
WHERE: University of California, Irvine
What is Agile Open California?
You don’t want to miss this! Imagine an event where experienced Agile practitioners and newcomers alike come together for two days to discuss, examine and otherwise brainstorm the most timely and relevant topics in Agile development today.
Agile Open California is a coalition of agile practitioners and advocates intent on providing an opportunity for learning, networking and growth to the Agile community in California and to others who are interested.
What Will I Get?
- A 2-day conference pass – up to 24 sessions to choose from each day
- Continental breakfast and lunch both days
- A networking reception on Monday evening
- Free Agile Alliance 1-year Membership - a $100 value! With your registration and attendance, you can receive a free one-year membership in the Agile Alliance, which is a $100 dollar value. Just check the option when you purchase your ticket!
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Let’s Connect!
My Speaking Engagements …..
-Nov 10: HOW TO PLAN, MANAGE, and TRACK ITERATIONS (ProjectTimes) -Dec 16: DEALING WITH THE TOP 10 ISSUES DURING & AFTER AN ITERATION (ProjectTimes) -Jan 13: AGILE REQUIREMENT GATHERING & DOCUMENTATION - BEYOND USER STORIES (ProjectTimes) -Feb 10: DEALING WITH THE TOP 10 ISSUES IN AGILE ADOPTION (ProjectTimes) Some Agile User-Groups and Links…
