While agile has become the de facto standard for managing digital innovation teams, many wonder if they’re doing it ‘right’. Twitter is full of jokes about how teams say they do agile but don’t ‘really’ do it. The reality is that getting the most out of agile is less about observing specific procedures and more about how a team focuses and measures their progress.
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University of VirginiaAbout this Course
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Learner Career Outcomes
50%
started a new career after completing these courses
35%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
10%
got a pay increase or promotion
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
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Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible deadlines
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Approx. 11 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, English, Spanish
What you will learn
How to select and test agile practices to adaptively improve your team’s practice of agile
How to create an agile team charter that aligns your team’s focus with company strategy while leaving it free to work creatively
How to facilitate retrospectives with your team to iteratively, collaboratively improve your practice of agile
How to support your team’s transition to agile
Skills you will gain
agile product managementAgile Software Developmentbacklog managementKanbanXP
Learner Career Outcomes
50%
started a new career after completing these courses
35%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
10%
got a pay increase or promotion
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible deadlines
Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
Approx. 11 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, English, Spanish
Offered by
University of Virginia
A premier institution of higher education, The University of Virginia offers outstanding academics, world-class faculty, and an inspiring, supportive environment. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University is guided by his vision of discovery, innovation, and development of the full potential of students from all walks of life. Through these courses, global learners have an opportunity to study with renowned scholars and thought leaders.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
2 hours to complete
The Agile Team
This week we’ll introduce the four fundamental jobs of software development to help you define what’s important to your team and, hence, which of the many agile practices might make the most sense for you to try out. Then we’ll talk about achieving alignment with your company while maintaining autonomy through an agile team charter. We’ll close by stepping through the leading agile methodologies--Scrum, XP, and kanban. You’ll finish the week with an understanding of how to pair what’s important to your team with the best of what agile has to offer.
2 hours to complete
22 videos (Total 107 min), 2 readings, 1 quiz
22 videos
Drive to Value with Agile Methods2m
Managing with Agile6m
The Business of Software5m
The Job of Software Development5m
David Bland on Agile & Lean Startup5m
Agile at Spotify: Part 16m
Agile at Spotify: Part 25m
Facilitating Alignment5m
The Business Model Canvas - Proposition Design & Revenue Drivers3m
The Business Model Canvas - Customer Experience6m
The Business Model Canvas - Business Model Type & Cost Drivers6m
Achieving Alignment1m
Introducing the Corporate Innovation Canvas2m
Using the Google Slides Templates1m
Your Agile Team Charter2m
Scrum Fundamentals: Roles3m
Scrum Fundamentals: Phases7m
Scrum Fundamentals: Burndown3m
XP Fundamentals: Learning and Deciding4m
XP Fundamentals: Building and Managing7m
Kanban Fundamentals7m
2 readings
Course Overview & Requirements10m
Make Discussion Forums Work for You10m
1 practice exercise
Week 1 Quiz: The Agile Team15m
2 hours to complete
Learning and Deciding
One of the most critical focal points for any team is facilitating a focus on outcomes over output. Without this, you’ll never graduate from responding to requests about your to-do list of output to driving better user outcomes that move the needle for your company. This week, you’ll learn how to define and prioritize what’s important to your team in the areas of learning and deciding, and to pair those with relevant agile practices from Scrum, XP, and kanban.
2 hours to complete
20 videos (Total 117 min)
20 videos
Good Inputs7m
Good Collaboration5m
David Chait on Learning What’s Valuable6m
Agile Methodologies and the Job of Learning4m
Skit: Grooming the Story Map4m
The Limits of Good Inputs5m
Bill Wake on Acceptance Testing11m
Valuable Decisions4m
Slicing the Lasagna6m
Managing Work in Progress: Part 15m
Managing Work in Progress: Part 27m
The Quagmire of Estimation, the Power of Flow8m
Demo: Using Trello for Agile2m
Bill Wake on Estimates and Prioritization3m
Greg Cohen on User Stories10m
Bill Wake on Burndown2m
Greg Cohen on Prioritization4m
Agile Methodologies and the Job of Deciding6m
Skit: Iteration Planning4m
1 practice exercise
Week 2 Quiz: Learning and Deciding15m
2 hours to complete
Building and Managing
This week we’ll dive into the jobs of building software and the core management jobs in running an agile team. Agile--and XP in particular--offers a rich body of work on specific coding practices. We’ll step through a few of the most prominent and discuss key linkages with the other concepts and practices you’ve learned. On the job of managing, we’ll dive deeper into what that means and what works in an agile context.
2 hours to complete
19 videos (Total 113 min)
19 videos
XP on Writing Software: Part 19m
XP on Writing Software: Part 23m
Bill Wake on YAGNI6m
Bill Wake on Integrated QA3m
The Agile Manager6m
Creating an Agile-Friendly Environment6m
Skit: A Developer at Work3m
Bill Wake on Self-Organization3m
Bill Wake on Support Escalations4m
International and Distributed Teams9m
Skit: Retrospective #64m
Agile Teams Meet Waterfall Processes10m
Greg Cohen on Software Development10m
Agile Product Teams Meet Big Customer5m
Working with Big Customers: Keeping the Initiative5m
Working with Big Customers: Accommodating Customer Variations6m
Skit: Big Meeting with Marla2m
David Chait on Using Data with Clients7m
1 practice exercise
Week 3 Quiz: Building and Managing15m
4 hours to complete
Practicing Agile
Now that you’ve learned about the four jobs of software development, you’ll have a chance to think through how they relate to your work in this week’s peer-reviewed assignment. You’ll finish the course with a clear plan to accomplish the jobs of learning, deciding, building, and managing for your project.
4 hours to complete
6 videos (Total 35 min)
6 videos
Yael Grushka-Cockayne on Transitioning from Traditional Project Management8m
Spotify: Scaling Agile3m
Salesforce: The Big Plunge8m
Yael Grushka-Cockayne on Project Managers and Agile6m
Final Thoughts1m
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM MANAGING AN AGILE TEAM
by FBNov 12, 2018
I have learned new things about agile practices and it worth the time to take the course. Sometimes I had the impression that some subject are vague, but overall the course rised to the expectations
by EGDec 11, 2019
This course was Excellent. The Instructor is very engaging and kept my attention through all of the 4 weeks of class. The Assignment was extremely helpful in applying the learning to a project.
by OSJun 25, 2017
The course was challenging for me since I lacked the experience of working in an IT/Software Development, but I thought all the practical exercises forced me to develop some practical skills.
by SAJun 4, 2019
I've really enjoyed this course on Managing an Agile Team. Comprehensive with a mix of insights from industry experts, case studies and great instructions on best practices from Alex.
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