Agile Training

This page is to highlight people who are coming or might come to Charlotte. To help us (or our associates) learn more about Agile. I view these speakers/teachers also as potential guests of Agile-Carolinas.

What's Happening Soon

Mark Pushinsky will be leading a Certified ScrumMaster course on Sept 11-12, 2008. In Durham, NC. See Lean-Agile Courses . Mark is an experienced Certified Scrum Trainer and an agile coach.

Joe Little will be leading a Certified ScrumMaster course on Oct 2-3, 2008. In Charlotte, NC. See Lean-Agile Courses . Joe is an experienced Certified Scrum Trainer and an agile coach. See his blog, Agile & Business .

Agile 202 course: Starting and Planning Your Next Agile Project. Jim York & Joe Little will lead this course. This will deal with starting an Agile project , and will cover Mike Cohn's Estimating and Planning material (and related ideas). This is a 2 day course. On Apr 8-9, 2008, in Charlotte. See Lean-Agile Courses for more information. Tell us if you are interested.

Contact Joe Little , if you want an in-house course or a special course.

Goals for Training

Speaking more longer-term about training for the Carolinas Agile community....

The following goals are proposed, although they are not necessarily consistent.

Learning for team members or scrum masters
Learning for product owners
Learning for managers (IT or Business)
Influencing for those who need "external validation" (eg, mid to upper managers) (See that pattern in Fearless Change.)
New blood and new ideas (see the same thing a different way, so that we understand it more thoroughly)
Consistency (hearing related topics from the same person, using consistent terms, to reduce confusion)
Dynamite - to move some big organization or group off the dime

Topics and People

Certified Scrum Master Course: Many people can teach this. I will mention a few.

Ken Schwaber - Ken started the teaching of the CSM courses. I think we could get him. Ken and Jeff Sutherland speak with perhaps equal but different authority on this subject.
Jeff Sutherland - Jeff and Ken "invented" or pulled together Scrum. I strongly recommend Ken and Jeff.
Doug Shimp has taught several courses here. Several people here can tell you about the experience. I have only heard good things.
Mike Vizdos and Mark Pushinsky lead CSM courses regularly at Capital One and have taught here in Charlotte. They spoke to our group. I can vouch for them strongly. A different style and emphasis than Doug, same terms I believe.
Jim York - Jim has worked with several firms implementing Agile somewhat north of here. He has also taught here in Charlotte recently. Again, I can vouch strongly for him. Jim tends to put more Lean concepts into his training (example of Lean: tailoring the course to the specific customer need). Some of your managers may already like Lean, so the change curve might be easier.

Cost: I think they are in the $1200-$1800 per person range now.

Duration: 2 days

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

Esther Derby and Diana Larsen

I know these folks and can tell you many people think this is a great course. The have a recent book out on this subject.

See http://www.spcspringboard.com/catalogue/derby/retro.htm , as an example of the course.

2 days; $1500 per.

Certified Product Owner training

Clearly a topic in demand.

2 days; about $1500 per.

User Story & Product Backlog training

This course generally covers the material in Mike Cohn's book: User Stories Applied.

1 day; about $600 per. Often given in conjunction with Agile Estimating & Planning, since they are so related.

Agile Estimating & Planning Training

In some organizations and with some managers, this is an essential topic. It is also an essential skill for Product owners, to enable them release Business Value faster. And the team needs it, so they can execute it. It is an in-depth look at topics usually covered in the CSM course.

1 day; about $600 per.

Starting an Agile Project

Jim York. Discusses the steps you might use to start an agile project more effectively.

See: http://www.jim-york.com

1 day; $800 per.

Secrets of Agile Teamwork

Esther Derby and Diana Larsen

Ken Schwaber and others consider this essential training beyond the CSM.

See: http://www.estherderby.com/workshops/secrets.htm

3 days: $1200 per.

Implementing Lean Software Development: Practitioners Course

Mary & Tom Poppendieck

Since most of you understand Scrum and XP, I will say that Lean Software Development is basically Scrum and XP, but expressed in Lean terms. I think this is essential for more fully understanding the meaning of Agile.

See: http://www.poppendieck.com/

2 days

Test-Driven Development

Kent Beck

Frankly I don't know if Kent would come to Charlotte to teach this course. What I do know is that I would not miss it if he did. TDD (and other XP disciplines) can improve team productivity tremendously. Kent Beck is the leading authority on Extreme Programming.

See: http://www.threeriversinstitute.org/Test%20Driven%20Development%20Workshop.htm

2 days; $1000 per a while back.

Advanced Sessions: Agile Planning

Doug Shimp, Derek Wade

This is part of a series of essential training beyond basic agile for those who are looking to sharpen their to the level of experienced practioner.

See: http://www.3back.com/courses/agile-planning-advanced-session

3 hours: $225 per.

Public Training Courses

Doug Shimp, Derek Wade and Sam Hazziez

We offer a series of public courses that fit in with Agile, Lean and Scrum

For a Complete Listing of Current Public Events

Custom or In-House Training

Joe Little

We would be happy to set up and delivery training modules for your people. Modules can be as small as a 1/2 day and for groups as small as 6, although 12+ is preferred. We don't recommend conducting training that lasts longer than 2 days at a stretch (mind fatigue). Topics can include: Initial Team Training To Start Agile, Defining and Using Business Value, Working with Offshore Teams, Agile Testing, How Continuous Integration and Automated Testing Work Together, Building Your Product Backlog (Discovery, Writing Stories, Business Value, Story Points, Ordering), Starting TDD, Setting Up Your Impediment Management Framework, Lean Ideas and Scrum, Building a Knowledge-Creating Team, Better Retrospectives Now, How Does the Manager's Job Change With Agile, etc.

1/2 Day: ~$300 per person; 1 day: ~$600 per person; 2 days: ~$1200 per person

How this might work

I think all or most of these courses would require two or more firms to be interested at about the same time. So let's discuss potential collaboration in the yahoo group. These folks will generally also do a "free public seminar" for Agile-Carolinas on the night of the course (on perhaps a different topic).

I commit to helping you all, as best I can, get the people you want. I know almost all of these people, some better than others, and will be happy to guide you where I can.

Joe Little