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At a glance

Working Effectively with Distributed Agile Teams

50% off - Special Offer: You can attend this course for just $825 incl GST.

When your organisation books anyone to attend SDC - Transforming Analysis you can book a place on this course, co-delivered with Johanna Rothman and Shane Hastie, at 50%.

For each booking you make on SDC - Transforming Analysis your organisation can book a place on Working Effectively with Distributed Agile Teams, 28-29 March 2011 for just $825 per person incl GST. 

This offer is made to the organisation, subject to Software Education's standard terms and conditions and is not available in conjunction with any other offer.

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Course Description - Working Effectively with Distributed Agile Teams

Geographically distributed projects are a reality in many organisations today; teams spread across multiple locations - diverse cities, states, countries, cultures and time zones.

Getting the most out of a geographically distributed team is a challenge, one that is brought into sharp focus when Agile methods are used.  Agile techniques place an emphasis on close collaboration and working together to deliver business value, but how do you achieve the levels of collaboration necessary when the team is spread across various locations, with testers in Brisbane, developers in Sydney, customers in Auckland and management in Melbourne?

This hands-on two-day course provides you with an intensive and immersive learning experience which will give you an understanding of the challenges facing distributed Agile teams. It will show you how to address these challenges in order to create the most productive and effective team environment possible, enabling your distributed teams to deliver business value faster, better and cheaper!

Intended For

Prerequisites

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course you will have a clear understanding of the challenges facing distributed teams, and how those challenges can be addressed using Agile techniques. 

You will be armed with a toolkit of ideas, techniques and tools to address these challenges, and will know how to set up and prepare distributed teams to enable their success - success for the project, the organisation and for the individual team members.

Content

Introduction

• Elicit your specific problems now

Simulations: Geographically distributed projects.

        (These projects and their associated debrief last an entire day)

• Project 1: Entire team is distributed. Product owner, developers, testers are all in different places
• Project 2: Product owner is with developers, testers are in another location
• Project 3: Cross-functional teams with their own product owner working towards one common deliverable

Five levels of planning and how that plays out in a distributed project

• Product owners and the Product vision, product road map
• Technical project team: Release plan, Iteration plan, Daily commitment
• Discussions and activity in the context of a project

Program vs. project management

• Ways to bring together multiple Agile teams
• Activity: Project in the way the class wants

What makes sense for you to do?

• Alternative lifecycles
• How to move to Agile, step by step, depending on what the simulation shows you
• Product owners and their special issues
• People issues, including building trust across time and space

Solving your problems

• Answer the problems based on what you learned in the simulations

Summary and wrap-up

Method Used

This course is interactive and hands-on.  Over the two days we run a simulated project in distributed teams, identifying and exploring the challenges and addressing them - you will learn by doing and will come away confident of your ability to put the learnings into practice in your project environment.

About the Course Leaders

Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group (USA)

Johanna is a celebrated author, coach and trainer.  She is the author of a number of books including:

• Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects
• Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management
• Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management (with Esther Derby)
• Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds
• Corrective Action for the Software Industry, (with Denise Robitaille)
• She also has two essays in Amplifying Your Effectiveness.

She has managed geographically distributed teams since 1986 and says:
“I wish I could tell you all my projects were fabulous successes. Some were. Some were spectacular failures. I have been coaching clients with their geographically distributed projects since 1995, and the successes all had certain common characteristics. That's why this is a simulation-based course. You will have the opportunity to discover those characteristics yourself for your organisation”.

Shane Hastie, Chief Knowledge Engineer, Software Education (NZ/AU)

Shane is internationally recognised as one of Australasia's leading Agile software development trainers and experts.  He has worked with a variety of organisations in Australia and New Zealand helping them successfully implement Agile methods.

An Agile coach, a Certified ScrumMaster, one of the first CBAP™ (Certified Business Analysis Professional) qualified business analysts in the world, Shane has presented at Agile conferences in Australia, New Zealand and the USA and is actively involved in the discussions for the IIBA™ BABOK™ Agile-extension.

Customers who have had training, consulting or mentoring with Shane consistently give him top marks for the practical, real-world skills, information and advice they receive that makes them better at what they do.

Shane has worked with distributed teams crossing, cities, states, countries, continents and cultures. He has many learned lessons to share with you about what makes distributed teams work effectively.