Modern Agile Fundamentals Training

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Modern Agile Fundamentals

• Agile: Why It Exists
  • History of Agile
  • The problem Agile was designed to solve
  • Why traditional delivery models still struggle
  • Why many Agile adoptions fail to deliver results
  • Agile as a response to complexity and uncertainty
  • Agile as a mindset and decision framework
• From Projects to Products to Value Streams
  • Project thinking vs. product thinking
  • Outputs vs. outcomes vs. impact
  • Understanding value streams and flow of work
  • Why speed without clarity increases waste
  • Aligning work to customer and business value
• The Agile Toolkit: Frameworks as Options, Not Rules
  • Overview of common Agile approaches:
    • Scrum
    • Kanban
    • XP
  • Why most organizations use hybrid Agile
  • Choosing practices based on context and constraints
  • Common Agile anti-patterns:
    • Scrumfall
    • Cargo-cult Agile
    • Rituals without learning
• Scrum, Revisited: Practical and Reality-Based
  • Why Scrum exists and what problems it solves
  • Core Scrum roles:
    • Product Owner
    • Scrum Master
    • Developers
  • Product Owner vs. Product Manager (modern tension)
  • Scrum Master vs. Agile Coach (real-world expectations)
  • When Scrum fits and when it doesn’t
• Modern Planning, Backlogs, and Flow
  • User stories vs. job stories vs. outcome statements
  • Backlogs as learning tools, not requirement lists
  • Planning in uncertain and changing environments
  • Managing dependencies and unplanned work
  • Flow-based thinking:
    • Work in Progress (WIP)
    • Bottlenecks and constraints
• Metrics That Matter (and the Ones That Mislead)
  • Why velocity and story points get misused
  • Flow metrics:
    • Lead time
    • Cycle time
    • Throughput
  • Measuring outcomes and learning
  • Using metrics for insight, not control
  • Avoiding metric gaming and false confidence
• Agile in the Real World: Scaling, Constraints, and Tradeoffs
  • Why scaling Agile is hard
  • Scrum of Scrums and coordination challenges
  • Agile in regulated, compliance-driven environments
  • Hybrid governance models that actually work
  • Making Agile sustainable, not performative
• Agile Leadership: Designing the System
  • Leaders as system designers, not task managers
  • Decision latency and empowerment
  • Incentives that undermine agility
  • Psychological safety and cognitive load
  • Managing conflict and change fatigue
  • Practical approaches to generational differences
• AI and Agile: What’s Changed Forever
  • AI as an Agile accelerator
  • Where AI supports Agile work:
    • Backlog refinement
    • Planning and estimation support
    • Testing and quality analysis
    • Insight generation
  • Risks of over-automation and shallow thinking
  • Applying Agile principles to responsible AI use
• Making Agile Work For You
  • Diagnosing your organization’s Agile reality
  • Identifying constraints and mismatches
  • Selecting high-impact changes
  • Individual and team action planning
  • What to try first and what to stop doing

Before Taking this Class

Software/Setup For this Class

None.