Online Agile & Scrum Training-II

Forming, storming, norming and performing! Yes, exactly that is what happened in my second free online class started from 27th April to 6th May 2020. While adjourning they tried to make a hypothetical drone in the break out activity room divided in to 3 teams. My second free online class during this locked down session on Agile and Scrum started with 29 people from 14 country with lot of excitement, anxiety, expectations, etc. But in the last day, when I completed the last session it was kind of an emotional farewell for most of the participants.

Apart from the corporate style of meetings, the class were very flexible for everyone. Allowed to talk everyone, everyone was OK to have some noise created by participant’s kids or environment! All interacted with everyone. Even we had photo session with participant’s kids too. Multiple Aha! Moments! I hope it will be a memorable moment for me and all the participants! My heart felt gratitude to every participant and their kids who supported their moms to study without disturbing them most of the time. 

My first class I took, just to see whether I can help somebody in the difficult situation. But, this one was because of the request from many people through LinkedIn and my friends who already requested me to give an insight on Agile and scrum. Finally, I was forced to take the class. But it helped me to identify my potential to conduct an online class with more than double the size of previous batch. Thanks to all 29 participants who trusted me to join my class!

Here is a random snap from my class.

My class started on 27th April and ended on 6th May 2020. Everyday 3hrs from 6.00pm to 9.00pm IST. People from all 14 country managed their time zone issues and attend my class very patiently. In my last batch Mr.Suresh Muniandy cleared PSM-I with 96.3% immediately after finishing my class. But this time Mr.Akash Singh Rathore successfully completed PSM-I with 93.3% even one day before the closure of my class. As I already mentioned, this time there was lot of Aha Moments in my class! My class helped 2 of them to get Scrum Master Job. Some of them cleared multiple levels of interviews. An entrepreneur who was part of my class got a high value order from an overseas client; only because he talked about the scrum values especially about “Transparency”. He can’t even stop his joy when he call and updated me about his new deal. As a coach and trainer, it’s more than my expectations and I am very happy to see more and more success stories from everyone.

Estimation & Release planning!

As before, Estimation was fun! This time we started with Egg Omelette and ended in to Kerala Sadya. We did story point estimation and T-Shirt Sizing. This time we used poker cards App! Kerala Sadya was our product for the release planning too. I am sure they won’t forget the words MVP, MMP, etc!  

Final Activity

It was an opportunity for the team to test their knowledge whatever they learned for the 8 days! They have created a hypothetical drone with imaginary functionalities to help the covid19 warriors for disinfecting the places and monitoring the locked down activities for police and all. Also had a plan to export it too! Even though the idea was hypothetical; all 3 teams started the project from scratch and sprint on sprint they showcased huge progress in terms of collaboration, commitment and strictly following scrum events. They got a real time example from the activity. Hope all enjoyed the activity and actively participated too. 

Snaps from the breakout rooms

Daily Feedback.

To make sure I deliver the class with high quality, I used to collect their daily feedback. Which in turns helped me to fine tune my classes. Below are some of the daily feedback collected.

Final Retrospection

This time the retrospection was after the class. I am happy that everyone has given constructive feedback. I understood my class has helped many people to understand Agile and Scrum from the scratch. Many unlearning happened, people realized themselves to choose their career path when they move to Agile. Those who joined just for a time pass becomes very serious and regular to attend the class. One of the improvement areas many people suggested was my inconsistency in time management. Maybe I have given more time for Q & A session and even after I used to complete the topics I planned. But, I do understand, time management is very much important for a trainer. It will help me to manage the time more efficiently going forward. Below are some of the retro comments from my participants. 

The Farewell!

People say, Agile is a mindset. I learned from my experience that Agile is not only mindset, but it is common sense also. If you lost either of it, you may lose your power of Agility!  Thanks to all the participants who are ready to spread Agility in to their organization as well as in their personal life!! Once again wishing you all the very best and success in your agile journey!

Thanking You

Rajeev Raj.D