Agile 101 Workshop Syllabus

Part 1 - Agile With LEGO

Part 1 of the Agile 101 workshop is to do a project simulation such as the Lego Island Activity which is always very popular and an entry point into Agile for absolute beginners, technical and non-technical participants. The exercise is fun, engaging and helps understand the mechanics of Agile frameworks such as Scrum as well as what it feels like to be on an agile team, which is highly important.

Agile Simulation Activities

Suggested Agile simulation activities for Part 1:

• Lego Island Activity
• Micro:bit Challenge
• Hotel Booking Website Project Sim (Scrum Edition - Electronic)
• Hotel Booking Website Project Sim (Scrum Edition - Paper)
• Scrum Master Conference Website (Scrum Edition - Paper)

Timings

Provide about 3 hours for the part 1 exercise to get at least 4 iterations or Sprints done to help orientate and then capitalise on their patterns of behaviour. This also provides for a good comprehensive reflection on the exercise to help cement the learning.

Part 2 - Agile Fundamentals as a Project

After the practical exercise in Part 1, now start to compound the learning with a series of exercises that teams can do on their own within an agile project of their own. The format for the session is as an agile project to create a backlog of learning activities that the teams want to do, iterations or Sprints to do the activities, and then receive feedback of their learning in group Sprint Review sessions or similar. Concluding with an overall share back and reflection of the experiences.

Setup

The setup for the room with up to 16 participants includes:

• Concept centres for each activity on offer (including a poster, instructions, materials and equipment)
• Large poster illustrating the Agile framework in use for the session such as Scrum for example
• Flip chart paper and markers
• Post-it notes and markers
• A4 spare paper
• Visible timer to indicate the time left for the activities
• Music playlist and sound system to help play low level music whilst the teams are working

Team Workstations

Each team should have setup:

• Poster of their team name and sense of identity
• Flip chart paper for their Backlog or Product Backlog of work
• Flip chart paper for their Iteration or Sprint Backlog
• Table where to work

Timings & Run Sheet

Provide 3 hours for teams to orientate themselves to their project, conduct 4 iterations or Sprints and conclude with a reflection:

1. Introduction and orientation of the approach - 15 mins
   1. Team self selection
   2. Team name poster and workstation setup
   3. Run through of the Agile framework poster and how the session is going to run
2. 4 x iterations or Sprints - 150 mins:
   1. Sprint Planning (if using Scrum) - Team decides how long
   2. Sprint or iteration to do the chosen activities - 25 mins - Sprint Planning time (if used)
   3. Group Sprint Review as a Feature Fair to enable teams to interact, offer feedback and discuss what they have learned - 5 mins
   4. Sprint Retrospective or other reflection for the teams to improve how they do things - 5 mins
3. Overall share back and reflection on the workshop - 15 mins

Total: 3 hours

Syllabus

Here is a table of suggested activities mapped to the intended learning outcomes of the session:

Topic	Learning Objectives	Activity
Agile Framework	Scrum, Kanban and their application	Build Your Scrum Framework Build Your Kanban Framework
Agile Roles	Differences between traditional and agile roles Cross functional and self organising teams	Scrum Roles Exercise
Agile Manifesto	Principles and values of the Agile movement	Agile Manifesto Discussion (Small Group)
Scrum Values	Values of the Scrum Framework
Traditional vs Empirical control methods	Prediction vs experimentation
Iterative and Incremental delivery	How to work with iterations and increments
Sprints, Iterations and Flow	Limiting the work in progress Working with constraints Agile events and activities	The Dice Game
Iteration Planning	Generating impact with iterations Capacity planning
Product Backlog Refinement	Adapting, learning and responding
Daily Scrum / Daily Standups	Inspecting progress towards the goals Adapting in the moment Self organising and self managing teams	Daily Scrum From Heaven
Sprint Review / Iteration Review	Inspecting and adapting the iteration / Sprint output and outcomes
Sprint Retrospective / Kaizen	Inspecting and adapting the process Continuous process improvement	Quadrant Retrospective Plusses & Deltas Retrospective Mood Thermometer Retrospective MDA Retrospective Lego Retrospective Sailboat Retrospective Story Cube Retrospective I
Definition of Done	Delivering quality Improving focus
Artefacts	Product Backlog Items Increments Backlogs
Agile Estimation	Estimation and metrics techniques Making decisions	Agile Metrics Workshop

See Also

• Scrum Framework
• Kanban Framework
• Scrum Master Coaching Syllabus
• Product Owner Coaching Syllabus

References

• Scrum Foundations Learning Objectives, accessed 21 Jan 2019