Virtual Agile Teams: On-Demand Agile teams are a must in this world of intense competition, marketing demands, and changing expectations. Global virtual teaming has become a necessity as organizations become increasingly distributed, with suppliers and clients actively engaged in joint projects. Agile Teams now work across geographical, organizational, and cultural boundaries to deliver solutions and services to global users. Distance and differences may amplify the effect of issues and factors that are relatively straightforward for co-located Agile teams. This workshop delivers practical concepts and techniques that participants will start using immediately with their virtual Agile teams. The goal of the course is to enable you to successfully execute your preferred Agile or Scrum methods in a virtual project team environment. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain the characteristics of a virtual team and how they differ from a co-located team Build an effective virtual Agile team using a Team Charter approach Develop Release Plans, including prioritizing user stories, with a virtual Agile Team Construct a Sprint plan, including effective user story estimates, virtually Execute a Sprint, including essential Agile or Scrum ceremonies, virtually Conduct effective virtual meetings in an environment supportive of Agile and Scrum methods Foundation Concepts Agile Mindset and Values Agile Benefits and Methods Scrum Overview Co-located vs. Virtual Teams Forming Virtual Agile Teams Exploring Virtual Leadership Focusing on Virtual Agile Leaders Developing a Virtual Agile Team Charter Meeting Team Challenges in a Virtual Environment Planning Releases with a Virtual Agile Team Planning releases overview Estimating user stories Prioritizing user stories Setting release parameters Getting consensus on the release plan Planning a Sprint for a Virtual Project Sprint Planning Overview Confirming Sprint Scope with Virtual Agile Teams Developing a Sprint Delivery Plan for Virtual Agile Teams Running a Sprint in a Virtual Environment Self-organizing a Sprint for a Virtual Agile Team Using Scrum tools in a Virtual Environment Conducting End of Sprint Meetings in a Virtual Environment Iterating as a Virtual Agile Team Creating an Environment for Success Piloting a virtual Agile team Creating an Agile-friendly virtual environment
Vendor Relationship Management: On-Demand A successful project is dependent upon the contribution of vendors. After the selection and procurement of a vendor has occurred, the project manager assumes the responsibility for managing the vendor relationship. Managing vendor performance and the vendor relationship can make or break a project. Through case scenarios and an interactive workshop approach, this program deals with the challenging task of delivering a successful project involving significant vendor contributions. What You Will Learn You'll learn how to: Determine stakeholder interests, impact on the project, and requirements Explain the process of planning for and preparing a contract Describe best practices for managing the quality of products and services Identify key techniques for managing vendor relationships Take proactive steps to ensure good working relationships with third parties Emphasize quality in the work performed by external resources Engage in requirements gathering and management Understand Agreements, Statements of Work, Letters of Intent and Contracts Develop an effective contract change control process Discuss the steps for closing a contract Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Stakeholder Relationships Identifying stakeholders Planning stakeholder management Managing stakeholder engagement Controlling stakeholder engagement Event: Worksheet: What Are Your Issues with Stakeholders? Understanding the Procurement Process Planning procurement management Conducting procurements Controlling procurements Closing procurements Event - Discuss the project's outsourced scope and qualities of an ideal vendor and customize a set of criteria for this project including descriptions and weightings Requirements Gathering and Management Requirements gathering Requirements management Managing relationships Contract change control Change management Event - Small Group Activity: Identifying Gaps in the Requirements Process Agreements, Statements of Work, Letters of Intent and Contracts Contract controls Agreements Contracts Negotiations Closing the contract Contract termination Procurement Audits and Lessons Learned Event - Class Activity: Win-Win Negotiating Summary and Next Steps What did we learn, and how can we implement this in our work environments?
Work Breakdown Structures It's amazing how often project managers begin the project planning process by making an outlined list of every task they believe will be required to complete a project and then proclaim they have created the work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. The result is a list of hundreds, or even thousands of tasks, many of them having durations of a few days or a few hours. Essentially, what they have done is create a 'to do' list, which they then use as a 'checklist' to measure progress. This approach leads to, and even encourages, micromanagement of the resources working on the project without consideration of more critical aspects of project management such as: requirements management, risk management, procurement management, estimating, scheduling, executing, and controlling. Further, it makes it impossible to see the big picture, at levels of detail, in keeping with the needs of sponsors, clients, project and functional managers, team leaders, and project performers. Join us for this exciting program and learn how to use the WBS to make better-informed business decisions. What You Will Learn You will learn how to: Describe the need for a project WBS Describe the WBS role in the project Gain practical experience in the development, decomposition, and use of the WBS Determine the appropriate level of detail in the WBS. Explain how the WBS integrates with project requirements, risk, procurement, estimating, scheduling, and overall project execution. Provide the basic tools to enhance efficient re-use of key information in your future projects Foundation Concepts Key definitions History of the WBS Importance of the WBS Overall structure Terminology Other breakdown structures WBS tools WBS & Scope Project scope management processes Specification of the project objectives WBS design based on project deliverable WBS decomposition process and 'The 100% rule' Work Packages and Control Accounts WBS & Risk Risk management planning and WBS Risk identification to enhance the WBS Risk analysis and the WBS Risk responses and updating the WBS Implementing risk response and Monitoring risks and the WBS WBS & Estimating Use of WBS in the estimating process Components and work packages Sizing and algorithmic estimates WBS & Scheduling Component Scheduling - High-Level Milestones WBS activity decomposition WBS elements dependencies Work Package Level Schedules Responsibility assignment matrix WBS & Execution and Control Earned Value Management and tracking of work performance Progress reports, forecasts, and corrective and preventive actions used to manage work performance Necessary information to close out a project
Project Leadership Skills - Français: On-Demand To be effective within an organization, project managers must have a wide variety of skills and abilities.These include: creating and executing a vision;motivate others;influence without authority;networking;communicate up, down and laterally;the negociation;stakeholder management;and manage conflicts. This workshop aims to develop the soft skills essential to leading a team and creating lasting business change.Participants will gain insight into social science and brain science to motivate and empower others.They will learn and experiment with various influencing strategies and tactics. Participants will also discover their personal communication preferences, strengths and blind spots and learn how to best communicate with others they find 'difficult'.They will learn better how to manage the human side of change and learn strategies for managing each step.In the process.Practical negotiation and conflict management activities reinforce theoretical learning, rooting it in real life and making it actionable. What You Will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain the importance of a vision in driving motivation and engagement Apply a scientific approach to better motivate those around you Strategically maximize your personal and positional power for better project results Determine influence and network development strategies necessary for personal development Know how to respond to communication challenges related to different personality styles Make the link between the expectations of stakeholders and the success criteria of a project Assess key stakeholders across different dimensions of complexity Apply the four rules of principled negotiation to real-life conflict situations Recognize key aspects of a physiological response to conflict Make the right choice of tools and techniques to "demine" an emotional situation Maximize different strategies and tactics to manage ambiguity at work Manage vision and purpose / Motivate others Communication and alignment with the vision Link the present to the future The Importance of Purpose The art and science of motivation Network development and influence Positive policy and project success Types of power in an organization power and influence Network Development Best Practices Communication The medium and the message Personality and communication styles Communication challenges Stakeholder management / Negotiation Identification of stakeholders Stakeholder analysis The basics of negotiation reasoned negotiation Manage the conflict Conflict dynamics The Anatomy of Conflict Conflict management approaches and tools Dealing with Ambiguity Summary and Next Steps Review of key concepts Create your personal action plan
Management of Portfolios (MoP®) Foundation: On-Demand In this MoP® Foundation course, participants will acquire the sufficient knowledge and understanding of the principles, cycles, practices, techniques, roles, responsibilities, documents, and organizational context within which portfolio management operates. MoP helps organizations ensure if the investments are done in the right change initiatives and implementing them correctly. This is achieved by: Prioritizing the programs and projects in terms of their contribution to the organization's strategic objectives and overall level of risk Managing the programs and projects consistently to ensure efficient and effective delivery Maximizing the benefit by providing the greatest return from the investment made What You Will Learn Individuals certified at the MoP Foundation level will be able to: Define the scope and objectives of portfolio management and how it differs from program and project management List the benefits of applying portfolio management Explain the context it operates in List the principles upon which successful portfolio management is based on List the different approaches to implement MoP List the factors required to maintain the progress and assess the success of portfolio management State the purpose and key content of the major portfolio documents Define the scope of key portfolio management roles Introduction: MoP Scenario Background of the Methodology The MoP Principles Senior Management Commitment Governance Alignment Strategy Alignment Portfolio Office Energized Change Culture The MoP Definition Cycle Roles and Responsibilities The MoP Delivery Cycle Management control Benefits management Financial management Risk management Stakeholder engagement Organizational governance Resource management The MoP Framework Recap
Building High Performance Project Teams: On-Demand This course pulls together the most current and popular theories and writings on this complex topic and presents this amalgamated view in a highly interactive workshop and activity-based approach. Students will understand and have the skills required to build and participate in high-performance project teams and will possess the insight to proactively affect change within their respective organizations by guiding the existing culture to one that promotes high performance. What You Will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Define a team and describe the optimum team size for effective performance Describe characteristics and guiding behaviors of high-performance teams Describe the major elements of each development stage in two distinct models Recognize cultural barriers in achieving high performance List the attributes of a high-performing corporate culture Assess your own corporate culture Discuss corporate leadership as a factor in building high-performance project teams Describe the three A's of selecting team members State three leadership responsibilities Describe leadership responsibilities, styles, and roles List and describe the eight components of the team charter model for building high-performance teams Foundation Concepts The Nature of Teams Characteristics of High-Performance Teams Understanding Team Development Stages of Team Development - Model 1 Stages of Team Development - Model 2 Designing a High-Performance Culture Corporate Cultures Corporate Leadership Establishing the Attributes of High Performance Choosing the Right People Team Effectiveness Team Leadership The Team Charter Model
Managing and Leading Projects Across Organizational Boundaries - Achieving Project Success in Complex Environments Through Collaborative Skills: On-Demand Significant projects today are performed by teams of people from multiple organization units and, often, multiple companies. When project managers, team leaders or technical professionals seek collaborative relationships across organizational boundaries, they often encounter a daunting array of challenges. These challenges must be dealt with effectively across business, political, team, interpersonal and personal levels to successfully meet project objectives. The goal of this course is to provide participants with a framework for improving project performance by successfully navigating through the turbulence of organizational cultures. What You Will Learn You'll learn how to: Assess an organizational culture's challenges and adapt your interpersonal skills and political acumen to meet them Apply basic tools and techniques for building relationships and gaining influence across organizational boundaries Plan a tailored, systematic approach for gaining support, resources and collaboration from individuals in organizations where you have no formal influence Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Foundation Concepts Overview of key course concepts Managing and leading: the balance and evolution Managing and leading projects versus ongoing work Organizations defined and a project manager's outlook across the structures The Path to Competency in Managing and Leading Projects Across Organizational Boundaries (MLPAOB) Organizational Cultures and Behaviors Overview of organizational culture and behaviors Organizations and change Organizational grassroots changes Political Acumen Overview of role and impact of political acumen Role of politics in organizations Political behaviors How to improve your political acumen skills Building Relationships Strategies for building relationships Balance emotion with reason "Try to understand" Inquire, consult and listen Reliability and building trust Gaining Influence Overview of gaining influence Step 1: Determine influence needs Step 2: Assess influence assets Step 3: Plan approach Step 4: Implement plan Step 5: Manage progress Planning and Implementing Your Approach Overview of Implementation Approach and Continuous Improvement (IA&CI) Enhancing Primary MLPAOB skills through: Identifying and sampling auxiliary MLPAO skills Practicing MLPAOB skills Self-reflection: developing a personal action plan (optional - time permitting) Summary What did we learn, and how can we implement this in our work environments?
AgileSHIFT® AgileSHIFT® is the change your organization needs: the business landscape is changing and transformation is necessary. But it is also hard. This program is aimed to drive transformational change throughout an organization. This new enterprise agility guidance empowers individuals to use a lightweight tailorable framework to understand, engage with, and champion change by embracing agile and lean ways of working. Taking a holistic view of an organization, AgileSHIFT® will create and support the champions of change your business needs in order to thrive in an increasingly competitive and disruptive workplace. What You Will Learn At the end of this program you will be able to: Identify why organizations need to create a culture of enterprise agility in response to a changing context Recognize how to think and work differently to enable change Explore agile and lean thinking concepts and how they relate to running and changing your organization Utilize key concepts of the AgileSHIFT® framework Describe the AgileSHIFT® delivery approach Getting Started A changing context Enterprise agility The Purpose of AgileSHIFT® The AgileSHIFT® Framework AgileSHIFT® principles AgileSHIFT® practices AgileSHIFT® roles AgileSHIFT® workflow Benefits of AXELOS.com Summary and Next Steps
Assuring Quality Through Acceptance Testing - Making Sure that the Business Problem is Solved: On-Demand It is the business analyst's job to define the business problem to be solved by IT. It is also the business analyst's responsibility to confirm that the resulting solution developed by IT does, in fact, solve the defined problem. This is done first through testing, especially acceptance testing, and then through monitoring of the installed solution in the user community. The business analyst is not only concerned with the testing itself, but also with the management and monitoring of the users doing the acceptance testing, and recording, analyzing, and evaluating the results. What You Will Learn Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to: Create a set of acceptance test cases Manage and monitor an acceptance test stage where users perform the testing Work with the development team in the systems testing stage Assess the solution once it is in the business environment Foundation Concepts The role of the business analyst An introduction to the BABOK® Guide BA roles and relationships through the project life cycle Introduction to assuring software quality through acceptance testing The Scope of IT Testing Overview of testing stages The testing process Testing documentation Pre-Acceptance Testing The BA's role in testing Early development testing stages (unit and integration) Late development testing stage (system) The Acceptance Test Stage - Part I (Planning, Design, and Development) Overview of user acceptance testing Acceptance test planning Designing user acceptance tests Developing individual user acceptance test cases Building effective user acceptance test scenarios The Acceptance Test Stage - Part II (Execution and Reporting) Operating guidelines Execution Reporting Post-Acceptance Testing Overview Project implementation Project transition (project closure) Production through retirement Testing Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Software Overview Selecting the software Implementing the software Summary What did we learn and how can we implement this in our work environments?
Agile Sprint Planning: On-Demand The goal of the course is to provide you and your team with the ability to develop effective and realistic Sprint plans. Without effective Sprint Plans, iterations are set up for failure. But Sprint Planning cannot be improved on its own, in isolation. The Scrum processes are highly intertwined and influence each other. The surrounding artifacts, events, and roles must be examined closely, and enhanced, in order to improve Sprint Planning. This course will remind you of the theory to reinforce the principles, but will concentrate on next-level skills, so that you and the team are able to create realistic and usable Sprint Plans. This course is not introductory. You are already aware of the Scrum framework and have been implementing Scrum on your projects. Now is the time to improve efficiency and effectiveness, to facilitate successful Agile projects. What you will Learn You'll learn how to: Identify and correlate the key symptoms and root causes of ineffective sprint plans Improve key Product Backlog elements Evaluate Agile roles in sprint planning Appraise key product practices Enhance project transparency The Product Backlog User stories Acceptance Criteria Backlog Refinement Supporting Roles Product Owner (the Backlog) Development Team Stakeholders and SMEs Supporting Product Practices Roadmaps and release plans and story maps Definition of Done Technical Debt Transparency Daily Scrums Information radiators Retrospectives Sprint Planning Capacity and Velocity Sprint Planning Meetings The Sprint Backlog Summary What did we learn, and how can we implement this in our work environments?