Team Level Up Workshop

Charlotte, NC

Our Team Level Up Workshop approach is unique. We offer a two-day interactive Team Level Up workshop (August 29-30).

The Team Level Up Workshop addresses two problems:

1. You have a team that has evolved over some period, and now the people on the team do not see Agile-Scrum the same way. So, you want to have them reach a common understanding. This is often called level-setting on what Agile-Scrum is for us.
2. You have a team that has achieved some degree of success with Agile-Scrum. Perhaps the team has plateaued. Now you want to enable the team to reach a higher level — perhaps double their Velocity in six months. This is similar to “leveling up” in the gaming community.

This workshop (Team Level Up) taken together are designed to deal with these situations. A key idea is that the team together must commit to become a better team.

We consider this to be an intermediate course. Upon completion of the workshop (two days in total), you can receive 16 SEUs (Scrum Educational Units) and 16 PDUs toward PMI requirements.

After you complete the workshop, you will receive:

• A printed copy of the course materials (and a softcopy)
• One pack of Fibonacci estimating cards, for use in estimating with your team
• SEUs and PDUs as described above
• A free copy of our book on Agile Release Planning
• A certificate in intermediate Agile-Scrum from Lean Agile Training

Samples of What You Will Learn:

• An evaluation of where your team is in doing “Aggressive Scrum” (Jeff Sutherland’s term)
• Practical, project-proven practices to become better
• A reasonably good start on an Impediment List (a.k.a. “opportunities for improvement”)
• Key ideas on how to make each role better (including PO, SM, implementers, Business Stakeholders and managers)
• The essentials of getting a team to start to become hyper-productive
• Suggestions on correcting all the imperfections in your golf swing (i.e., toward better Scrum)
• A review and balancing of two ideas: (1) your team can become a LOT better (hyper-productive), you all do not need to be Steve Jobs, Einstein or Stephen Hawking, AND (2) Agile-Scrum is not a silver bullet, it is hard, it does require effort, and in your situation you might fail to get great results
• Creating and managing your Product Backlog more effectively
• Answers, or attempts at answers, to your most pressing problems (we promise to limit glib answers to impossible questions). We will spend significant time in answering your questions. We do have to prioritize the questions, and not every question gets addressed.
• More techniques and suggestions for continuously improving each day and each Sprint
• How to help both new and experienced teams be notably more successful
• The basics of using Scrum more broadly in your organization, perhaps in large, multi-continent project teams
• Tips and tricks from the instructor’s 10 years of using Scrum in a wide variety of environment

Overall Goals:

• The team is much more productive (higher Velocity)
• The team is happier and having more fun
• The team is probably working fewer hours per week (based on prior teams)
• The team delivers a lot more business value (includes Pareto’s ideas)
• The team is more innovative
• The team wants to and can deliver more business agility (including faster time-to-market and more adaptable to changing market conditions)
• The team wants to relentlessly pursue perfection
• The team can practice the “quality is free” principles

The Trainer:

• Joe Little, who has 10+ years of experience as an Agile coach and Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), will lead this Scrum course.
• Joe has co-trained eight times with Jeff Sutherland (one of the co-creators of Scrum), and we believe you get more “real Scrum” because of this experience.
• Joe has an MBA and 20+ years of senior level Big 6 and related consulting experience.
• Joe has in-depth practical experience in helping teams become very productive with Scrum and Agile.
• Joe has taught Agile-Scrum in India, Europe, South America, North America and Bermuda.
• He often co-teaches these courses with other great Scrum trainers.
• Take a look at Joe’s blog, Agile & Business.
• Joe is a CST associated with Scrum Alliance.

Who Should Attend:

• We recommend that the whole team attend together, or multiple teams in the same area.
• All roles may attend (PO, SM, Implementers)
• Managers should attend.
• Business stakeholders should attend.
• Agile coaches should attend.
• We will take the point of view, normally, of “we are the team; how do we improve ourselves,” but of course many people can have an influence in helping the team get better.
• It is generally assumed but not required that each person have a CSM (or CSPO).  If you have your team attending, surely some will already have the CSM certification, right?

Why Choose Us?

• A better trainer
• A fun, entertaining and memorable course
• More success
• More Real Scrum

You may want to learn about our Referral Program and about our Refresher Program. We are also starting to offer free and paid webinars to go along with the in-person course.

Prerequisites:

• Many of the attendees will have already taken the CSM course, or otherwise have significant prior knowledge about Agile-Scrum. Note: If you are a real beginner, you almost always do well to take the CSM course first.
• The “Scrum Guide” by Sutherland and Schwaber. (About 17 pages)
• Read one of Ken Schwaber’s or Jeff Sutherland’s books. We recommend for beginners: “Agile Project Management with Scrum” by Ken Schwaber, or “Scrum” by Jeff Sutherland. They are available in Kindle versions, if that interests you, and some libraries have them.

Our website (and especially our blog) has lots of other information that may be helpful to you.

Registration and Fees

• You may see the Early Bird price for the two-day Team Level-Up workshop above. The normal price is $1,500.
• We can change from Early Bird pricing to normal pricing at any time.
• If you need us to hold a price for you for a couple of days (e.g., to get approval), please contact us and we probably can do that.
• If you are a member of a local Agile group or PMI chapter or SPIN group, you can normally get a $100 reduction in these fees.
• Alternately, there is a 10 percent discount for any group of three or more people.
• In addition, there is a 3 percent cash discount. That is, 3 percent off the net due if you pay with cash (i.e., cash, not check, at the beginning of the course). To receive the cash discount, you must make a $100 non-refundable deposit (which normally is just a pre-payment, and typically done by credit card).

The fee also covers food and beverage at the course (typically, a continental breakfast, AM break, lunch and a PM break).

Please register using the “Register Now” button (above right). If you register multiple people, please send us an email with their names and email addresses.

You may also discuss options by contacting us. We can discuss other payment methods, receipts, invoices, etc. Payment methods include USD check, money transfer, credit card, PayPal, over-the-phone (CC), cash, etc. All payments should be received before the course starts. Once we receive payment you will be registered.

The course date or location may be changed up until 16 days prior to the start date. Please do not book non-refundable travel expenses without discussing with us. We can advise you once the date is set.

Policy for Changes and Refunds

If for any reason you cannot make a course, you may send another person in your place for free (no additional fee). You must identify that person before the course starts.

There are other options and other situations. Some involve notable fees or deductions. These rules are discussed at this webpage. You are responsible for reading these rules carefully. In general, fees or extra costs are more likely if you are within 16 days of the course start.

Please contact us if you have questions!