To deliver agile outcomes, you have to do more than implement agile processes- you have to create focus around what matters to your user and constantly test your ideas. This is easier said than done, but most of today’s high-functioning innovators have a strong culture of experimentation.
Offered By
University of VirginiaAbout this Course
Learner Career Outcomes
50%
started a new career after completing these courses
33%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
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. 10 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, English, Spanish
What you will learn
How to drive valuable outcomes for your user and reduce waste for your team by diagnosing and prioritizing what you need to know about them
How to focus your practice of agile by pairing qualitative and quantitative analytics
How to do just enough research when you need it by running design sprints
How to accelerate value delivery by investing in your product pipeline
Skills you will gain
Usability TestingContinuous Deliveryhypothesis-driven developmentLean Startup
Learner Career Outcomes
50%
started a new career after completing these courses
33%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
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. 10 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, 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
How Do We Know if We're Building for a User that Doesn't Exist?
How do you go from backlog grooming to blockbuster results with agile? Hypothesis-driven decisions. Specifically, you need to shift your teammates focus from their natural tendency to focus on their own output to focusing out user outcomes. Easier said than done, but getting everyone excited about results of an experiment is one of the most reliable ways to get there. This week, we’ll focus on how you get started in a practical way.
2 hours to complete
19 videos (Total 69 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz
2 hours to complete
How Do We Reduce Waste & Increase Wins by Testing Our Propositions Before We Build Them?
Nothing will help a team deliver better outcomes like making sure they’re building something the user values. This might sound simple or obvious, but I think after this week it’s likely you’ll find opportunities to help improve your team’s focus by testing ideas more definitively before you invest in developing software. In this module, you’ll learn how to make concept testing an integral part of your product pipeline. We’ll continue to apply methods from Lean Startup, looking at how they pair with agile. We’ll look at how high-functioning teams design and run situation-appropriate experiments to test ideas, and how that works before the fact (when you’re testing an idea) and after the fact (when you’re testing the value of software you’ve released).
2 hours to complete
18 videos (Total 113 min)
2 hours to complete
How Do We Consistently Deliver Great Usability?
The best products are tested for usability early and often, avoiding the destructive stress and uncertainty of a "big unveil." In this module, you’ll learn how to diagnose, design and execute phase-appropriate user testing. The tools you’ll learn to use here (a test plan template, prototyping tool, and test session infrastructure) are accessible/teachable to anyone on your team. And that’s a very good thing -- often products are released with poor usability because there "wasn’t enough time" to test it. With these techniques, you’ll be able to test early and often, reinforcing your culture of experimentation.
2 hours to complete
16 videos (Total 80 min)
4 hours to complete
How Do We Invest to Move Fast?
You’ve learned how to test ideas and usability to reduce the amount of software your team needs to build and to focus its execution. Now you’re going to learn how high-functioning teams approach testing of the software itself. The practice of continuous delivery and the closely related Devops movement are changing the way we build and release software. It wasn’t that long ago where 2-3 releases a year was considered standard. Now, Amazon, for example, releases code every 11.6 seconds. This week, we’ll look at the delivery pipeline and step through what successful practitioners do at each stage and how you can diagnose and apply the practices that will improve your implementation of agile.
4 hours to complete
23 videos (Total 118 min)
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM HYPOTHESIS-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
by MBJan 29, 2019
Alex does an excellent job in structuring and delivering his courses. Definitely makes me want to continue educational opportunities with his courses offered and University of Virginia.
by MSJul 23, 2020
Alex delivers a concise message and provides real-world examples coupled with interviews with industry experts that assist in a deeper understanding of how and when to apply Agile,
by OSJun 25, 2017
I thought this was a very good practical course. It was challenging for me since I lack experience in software development industry, but I thought it gave me a very good framework.
by NNNov 13, 2020
Great insights on how to test both the motivation and the usability! Gave me additional knowledge of Agile. It is better to take this course within the Specialization programme.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
Is financial aid available?
How can I better display my certificate on LinkedIn?
Will I earn university credit for completing the Course?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
