The Value of Process Mentors Agile and Lean Boot Camp

The learning approach that has consistently yielded the best results is our Just-In-Time training strategy.??As one of the most valuable aspects of the Process Mentors transformational roadmap to achieving business agility, in almost all situations, the best option is short duration focused training modules delivered just when a team will put a practice or technique into action.??

Hopefully, you read that and thought, yes, that makes a lot of sense to me, but I am not part of organizational transformation enjoying such an approach.??What is the next best option for me to understand agile and lean principles from practical experience???My answer is an agile and lean boot camp!?

Are you thinking, what does he mean by “boot camp”???Do I have to get up before dawn and jog miles in formation with others???!??No, but you also don’t need to sit for hours and hours-on-end listening to an instructor cover agile and lean theory.??In this context, a boot camp is an option for those who want to learn by listening to a little bit of theory to understand a practice or technique and then put it into action.??Learn by doing!???

Over the years of providing just in time training coupled with coaching to use a practice in a team’s actual work immediately, I’m asked if this approach can be bundled together to provide an alternative option.??This boot camp is the realization of those requests.??If you seek to understand agile and lean insights and fundamentals, then I suggest that you explore this option.

Practical, Immersive and Interactive

Three words ultimately shaped the vision for what I feel a boot camp experience must entail: practical, immersive, and interactive.??

Practical: heavily based on practical exercises that bring to life how you can apply agile and lean principles in your value delivery.

Immersive: project simulation where you are immersed in the learning, your instructor covers what a practice is and how it provides value, and you learn by doing a practical exercise.

Interactive: utilizing a virtual collaboration canvas, you interact with the environment and your fellow attendees who are your team members in the simulation.?

The simulation’s core is based on high impact practices that most teams transition to an agile way of working choose.??The simulation utilizes an Iterative/Scrum-based approach that delivers a scope of work for a software product.??Once the boot camp team completes the simulation, they are next exposed to the differences if the scope of work was not software related.??Attendees can see from real-life example differences when using an agile way of working for non-software work.

Samples Courseware and Dynamic Collaboration Exercises

Figure one through five are a few samples from the bootcamp. Figure one and two are examples of course materials covered. Figure three through five are a few examples of the simulation project exercises using dynamic collaboration of the attendees.

Figure 1: Course Materials – Identifying User Stories

Figure 2: Course Materials – Example Inputs for Product Owner Prioritization

Figure 3: Dynamic Collaboration Exercises – Virtual Collaboration Canvas where attendees identify AND write stories (User & Technical) as well as develop acceptance criteria for a few.

Figure 4: Dynamic Collaboration Exercises – Virtual Collaboration Canvas where Team Sizing is used to size stories (via relative sizing),

Figure 5: Dynamic Collaboration Exercises – Virtual Collaboration Canvas where prioritize based on exercise parameters.

The boot camp’s final component demonstrates the difference in the Iterative/Scrum approach to how the same team could use a Lean/Kanban approach.

Pre-requisites

None!??This is a boot camp for those seeking to understand the insights and fundamentals of agile and lean.??No prior knowledge, experience, or certifications required.??If you are looking to experience an agile way of working that includes iterative and Kanban, software development, or non-software development, this is for you.??This boot camp is designed to stand on its own as a foundation learning experience; however, if you seek to earn a certification such as the PMI Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM), the combination of boot camp and DASM course is a significant enabler to success.

Already Attended a Certification Course

If you have attended a certification course, such as the DASM, and you were challenged by the exam or did not pass it, this boot camp supplements the learning, bringing it to life by doing practical exercises.

Certification courses covering a large quantity of content often don’t have enough time to include the learnings practical side.??Someone can also take them with no pre-requisites, yet these courses are better positioned for those with some existing knowledge or experience.??Attendees that are new to agile or lean can benefit from attending but often realize that they could benefit from additional learning.

Already Certified

Did you take a certification course, pass the exam, and are now certified but unsure how to put the theory to practice???The boot camp moves you beyond the theory to doing your way of working.??Just because you have a certification should never set-in motion the mindset that you cannot learn by doing foundational practices.

Explore this Option

If you would like to know more, please see the agile and lean boot camp description:?https://processmentors.com/agile-and-lean-bootcamp/

Join Me

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