This course in Agile project management addresses the essential elements of this approach so that you can put them into practice in your work reality. Above all, it is an opportunity to rethink the notion of deliverables and constraints (schedule, budget, quality) to focus on the value offered to the client/user in the shortest possible time. Thanks to the Scrum method, you will be able to optimize the development of a software or other IT project. More specifically, if your projects depend on changing technologies or if the needs are likely to evolve along the way.
1. Introduction to agile methods
In this module, participants will learn to distinguish between agile values and principles, and to understand the philosophy behind agile.
While some of the concepts of agile may sound like statements of intent, they all have concrete applications in project management and improvement. Participants will also see what the different levels of agility are within an organization and their scope of action.
- The 4 values of the agile manifesto
- The 12 principles of the manifesto
- Why adopt agility
- The benefits of agility
- The obstacles to adopting agility
2. Agile project life cycle
In this module, participants will see the major differences between agile and traditional (or waterfall) project management.
Project management covers the methods and techniques that allow the project manager or leader to plan, estimate and control all the activities required to achieve the desired outcome. Beyond simply delivering, the PM must ensure that the deliverable meets expectations.
Agile specificities
- Phases of an agile delivery
- Analysis
- Design
- Development
- Validation - Iterative and incremental development
- Favor successive refinements
- Favour building in pieces
Agility allows for the delivery of incomplete and imperfect versions, which are essential intermediate elements to allow for improvement until satisfaction is achieved. Short and frequent feedback loops facilitate corrections and learning through experimentation.
3. The Scrum method
Although there are several agile approaches (Kanban, XP, etc.) here the focus is on the Scrum method and its particularities. How Scrum, thanks to its flexibility, facilitates the progress of the team and the adjustment of developments as they progress.
In this module, participants will see how scrums are organized and their characteristics, in order to maintain a framework that facilitates collaboration, favors empiricism and encourages team self-organization, among other things.
- Artifacts
- Product backlog or set of customer requirements (prioritizable and scalable)
- Iteration notebook or the list of elements to be processed per iteration (limited and forecasted)
- Increment or set of elements completed during an iteration (and meeting the expected quality standards). - Official meetings
- Sprint Planning, to define what will be done, when, how and how much.
- Daily Scrum, to coordinate the work, every day.
- Sprint review, to demonstrate the real progress at the end of an iteration with the stakeholders.
- Retrospective, to prepare the next iteration, after the iteration review and before the next iteration planning.
- Grooming or refinement of the product roadmap, to validate or adjust future priorities. - The roles
- The development team
- The Scrum Master (SM)
- The Product Manager (PM) - The technical debt
The previous points also allow to manage the technical debt, which includes the delivered elements, but incomplete or not qualitative enough.
- Causes and consequences
- Possible treatments
4. Roles and responsibilities (Product Owner vs Scrum Master)
Agile encourages a form of collegiality, where all members of the project team can contribute to the progress of the deliverables.
In this module, participants will distinguish between the roles and responsibilities of each, and how to keep the focus on the final objective.
- The Product Owner (PO). The embodiment of the product vision.
- His/her responsibilities during the different project phases
- His characteristics - The Scrum Master (SM), an attentive leader at the service of the PO, the development team and the organization, to structure the project from start to finish.
- Responsibilities to understand and pitfalls to avoid - The Development Team is responsible for the realization of the increments while integrating continuous improvement in its work methods.
- Specific characteristics
- Team productivity cycle
- Possible malfunctions - The Project Manager, a support to the Scrum Master, provided that the areas of responsibility are respected
- The responsibility matrix
5. Starting an agile project
Important phase because it includes the vision and the scope of the project, but not only.
In this module, participants will see the key steps to take into account at the beginning of a project.
- The product vision, an essential element, inspires and aligns the team, identifies the target and states the business objectives.
- The scope defines the initial needs and prioritizes them. On the one hand, we find the user stories, which simply describe the functionalities from the user's point of view. On the other hand, the product backlog prioritizes the deliverables according to their business value (in general).
- Developing the delivery plan. How to establish the roadmap, the rate (or velocity) of deliveries, and how to estimate the product backlog.
- Revision of the budget following the previous steps
- The strategies to apply to ensure iterative and incremental development, including release.
- The work environment, ensuring its availability as well as that of the necessary tools.
- The creation of the team. How many people with what expertise.
6. Planning an agile project
In this module participants will see the identification of risks and the creation of solution increments.
- Iteration planning or how to define and commit to the deliverables of the iteration
- Product backlog refinement or how to refine items according to the priorities provided by the PO.
- Capacity and velocity or how to establish the capacity to deliver as accurately as possible according to different methods.
7. Monitoring an agile project
In this module, participants will learn the difference between tracking an iteration and a delivery. They will also see how to apply the tracking mechanisms in the context of both.
- Iteration tracking mechanisms (daily scrum, iteration progress graph, task board, Kanban principles, etc.)
- Delivery tracking mechanisms (delivery progress graph, predictability, etc.)
- Predictability of the team
- Budget tracking
- Risk management
8. Closing an agile project
During this module, participants will learn how to use the Scrum mechanisms for closing an iteration and identify the typical activities of a delivery closure.
- Iteration review or how to demonstrate product progress, collect feedback and adjust the product backlog.
- Iteration retrospective or how to allow the team to inspect itself and define the plan for the next iteration.
- Continuous improvement or how to take advantage of empiricism
- Delivery closure or how to ensure final validation, preparation to production and delivery.
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