Drive to Value with Agile Methods . Master an adaptive approach to product development

4.7

stars

2,663 ratings

Alex Cowan

29,518 already enrolled

Offered By

Agile Development SpecializationUniversity of Virginia

What you will learn

How to determine what's valuable to a user early by focusing your team on testable narratives and creating a strong shared perspective
How to drive a focus on outcomes over outputs by facilitating a culture of experimentation and a test-driven, results-driven approach to agile
How to charter and focus an analytics (and data science) program that enhances your core objectives
How to iteratively identify and test the right agile practices from leading frameworks like scrum, XP, and kanban to your team's work

Skills you will gain

hypothesis-driven development
Design Thinking
User Experience (UX)
agile
Lean Startup
agile user stories
User Experience Design (UXD)
Agile Software Development
Product Management
Software Development
Usability Testing
Continuous Delivery

About this Specialization

7,917 recent views

Beyond practices and beyond principles, you'll learn the applied skills that enable an agile team to succeed. While applying an evidence-based approach across the four courses, you'll practice what you've learned by creating an actionable, adaptive focus for a digital product team.

Applied Learning Project

You will apply agile practices to a project of your choice or to a provided venture concept. Over the course of the Specialization, you will define what's valuable to the user, design end to end testing, and charter your team with an adaptive view of the right agile practices that make sense for them. You’ll finish the Specialization with a portfolio-building design brief that demonstrates your learning and specialized skills in agile product development.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Some familiarity with software development is helpful, but not required.

Approximately 4 months to complete

Suggested pace of 3 hours/week

English

Subtitles: English, Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Spanish

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Some familiarity with software development is helpful, but not required.

Approximately 4 months to complete

Suggested pace of 3 hours/week

English

Subtitles: English, Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Spanish

How the Specialization Works

Take Courses

A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.

Hands-on Project

Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.

Earn a Certificate

When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.

There are 4 Courses in this Specialization

Course1

Course 1

Agile Meets Design Thinking

4.7

stars

3,160 ratings

Despite everyone's good intentions, hard work and solid ideas, too many teams end up creating products that no one wants, no one can use, and no one buys. But it doesn't have to be this way. Agile and design thinking offer a different--and effective--approach to product development, one that results in valuable solutions to meaningful problems. In this course, you’ll learn how to determine what's valuable to a user early in the process--to frontload value--by focusing your team on testable narratives about the user and creating a strong shared perspective.

Course2

Course 2

Hypothesis-Driven Development

4.7

stars

881 ratings

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.

In this course, you’ll learn how to identify the right questions at the right time, and pair them with the right methods to do just enough testing to make sure you minimize waste and maximize the outcomes you create with your user. This course is supported by the Batten Institute at UVA’s Darden School of Business. The Batten Institute’s mission is to improve the world through entrepreneurship and innovation: www.batteninstitute.org.

Course3

Course 3

Agile Analytics

4.7

stars

373 ratings

Few capabilities focus agile like a strong analytics program. Such a program determines where a team should focus from one agile iteration (sprint) to the next. Successful analytics are rarely hard to understand and are often startling in their clarity. In this course, developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, you'll learn how to build a strong analytics infrastructure for your team, integrating it with the core of your drive to value.

Course4

Course 4

Managing an Agile Team

4.7

stars

1,191 ratings

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.

Rather than just boring you with an accounting of agile methodologies, this course focuses on helping you better charter your team’s focus, definition of success, and practice of agile. While learning about agile mainstays like Scrum, XP, and kanban, you’ll also learn to help your team ask the right questions about how they’re working and facilitate good answers on how agile can help. This course is supported by the Batten Institute at UVA’s Darden School of Business. The Batten Institute’s mission is to improve the world through entrepreneurship and innovation: www.batteninstitute.org.

Instructor

Alex Cowan

Faculty & Batten Fellow

Darden School of Business

394,080 Learners

20 Courses

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the refund policy?
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Can I take the course for free?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid.
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
I completed the Digital Product Management Specialization, what do I have to do to finish the Agile Development Specialization?
The Digital Product Management Specialization is a superset of the Agile specialization- you've already earned it.
Can I earn Product Management Institute (PMI) professional development units (PDUs)?
You may earn Project Management Institute (PMI) professional development units (PDUs) and Contact Hours for completing courses in the specialization. To do so, log in to PMI to access your account and submit a report.
What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?
At the end of the specialization, you’ll be able to:
Explain how key agile methods fit into best current practices across software engineering, general business, and product design; and how those matter for your particular project
Apply product design best practices to your project through user stories, prototypes, and narrative collaboration
Focus your work on outcomes (vs. output) with hypothesis-driven development
Introduce agile practices to your team & customers on an incremental, success basis
Integrate your activities across development, QA, and operations
Conduct phase-appropriate usability testing
Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?
We suggest you take the courses in the order presented to get maximum benefit from the materials.
What background knowledge is necessary?
While no specific background knowledge is needed, learners might find it helpful to have a basic understanding of digital product development.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
Coursera courses don't carry university credit, though some universities may choose to accept Specialization Certificates for credit. Check with your institution to learn more.
If I finish the Specialization, will it help me gain admission to Darden's MBA programs?
Admission to Darden is highly competitive and based on a number of requirements, including undergraduate record and degree, GMAT scores, and work experience. Successful completion of the Specialization is in no way a guarantee of admission, but please do mention this achievement in your application.
Can I download materials to share with my colleagues?
All course materials are for your personal use while participating in this course. You are not allowed to share or distribute them in any form; however, they are available for licensing. If you’re interested, please contact DardenOnline@darden.virginia.edu.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.