PMI has a New Disciplined Agile Workshop!

It has been quite some time since PMI released a new workshop for Disciplined Agile. DA for Teams is a new workshop, and I think it’s worth the wait. Before I get into the specifics, here is some background context on how this workshop came to fruition.

Although a great starting point for adopting an agile approach, DA has not reached a tipping point where it is a predominant choice (at least not yet). Scrum and scaling methods such as SAFe are highly prevalent in comparison.?

In addition to being an alternative to industry frameworks, DA has long been complementary. Use it as a body of knowledge to explore options to fill process gaps, remove or reduce impediments, or refine your framework to be fit for purpose.

You DO NOT have to abandon your current approach to adopt DA; instead, you use DA to enhance and improve your current approach. This workshop centers on how a team using a framework can benefit from Disciplined Agile.

Let me introduce you to the DA for Teams workshop and its first “starting point.”

DA for Teams

The DA for Teams workshop differs from other DA, agile, and certification courses. A few significant bits of its differentiation and value proposition:

• A workshop for a team to attend, not a public enrollment course where individuals sign up.
• The initial starting point of the workshop is for teams using Scrum as their approach (although many other variants to follow).
• Attendees leave the workshop with an actionable improvement backlog.
• The focus is on the team’s way of working, challenges, and context – not a case study or other such generic content.
• PMI Disciplined Agile Consulting Partners, the most experienced DA consultants, facilitate this workshop exclusively (DA instructors do not deliver this workshop).

The design of this workshop guides a team to identify areas in their way of working that are a gap in the process, an impediment or challenge, or something they are ready to advance/evolve. Candidate improvement items are discussed and prioritized. Then, using the Disciplined Agile browser, they examine improvement solutions. Best fit options (the practice or technique) are added to an improvement backlog, providing an actionable strategy to begin enhancing their way of working.

There are no PowerPoint slides. The workshop is delivered using Miro, a virtual collaboration platform. It is highly collaborative and thought-provoking, enabling a safe space for an expert facilitator to guide the team to uncover improvements and evolution. The team does not leave this workshop with a student manual in pdf form. They depart with the Miro board used in the workshop; it is theirs to continue with. This virtual whiteboard provides a wealth of content for continuous improvement, including a visualized assessment tool, dynamic impediment identifier, DA knowledge base guidance, and potentially most valuable – an actionable improvement backlog.

What Does It Look Like?

The figures below are a few examples from the workshop’s Miro board. The workshop facilitator guides the team via a virtual whiteboard. Attendees progress through collaborative exercises and use tools that show them how to identify areas in their way of working to improve or evolve. They leave the workshop with the board as a team asset.

?Figures one and two are examples of the collaboration exercises, visualized to spark discussion and thoughts.

Figure three is part of the assessment tool the team utilizes. The backdrop is the Scrum framework graphic. The review area contains Scrum roles, events, and artifacts. It also includes common challenges and impediments Scrum teams often face. Team members place icons representing if they feel they are good at that item and it is a benefit, if they are ok with how it is done but could improve, and if they have stopped doing something, getting no benefit from it, or need to do it differently. This visualized approach sparks high energy and engagement.

Figures four and five show one of the keys to unlocking candidate practices to improve an area. Often there is no one-to-one relationship where a single practice can be mapped to an issue. For example, if a team has carry-over work from one Sprint to the next, it could be an issue with the quality of their user stories, poor Sprint planning, lack of a technique to size their work, unplanned work pushed on them during the Sprint, no definition of ready, etc. The workshop provides candidate practices for the team to explore via the DA Browser and an understanding of how to use the DA knowledge base to identify others.

Figure six is the improvement backlog containing the initial practices the team has identified to evolve their Scrum based on what they think will help improve their approach. The team now understands how to identify areas to improve or evolve, how to use the DA Browser to find practices, techniques, and strategies, and a set of tools and assets to leverage going forward.

Where to Learn More About DA for Teams

Curtis Hibbs, PMI Agile Thought Leader & DA Team Member, and I are doing a Livestream on LinkedIn on August 10th. Learn more by attending live or watching the replay. Message me through LinkedIn for more information.

Livestream: https://www.dhirubhai.net/events/pmi-snewdisciplinedagileworksho7093153590717865984/theater/

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