Agile, Lean, and Iterative Development: An Executive Brief - Defense Industry

Overview

0.5 days

This practical, information-packed executive seminar summarizes the key research, business case, ideas, values and practices of agile and iterative methods, aimed at senior leadership. This is a high-impact guide for executives to agile and iterative methods: what they are, how they work, how to implement them – and why you should.

A number of large USA defense contracts, such as Lockheed-Martin (LM), have been involved in a transition to agile development for some years. I am grateful to have been asked by LM to help kick off their adoption, and to have participated in several of their annual internal Agile Development Conferences. In addition, I have researched the background of USA DoD standards related to sequential life cycle versus iterative life cycle and agile development. Further, I have a background in CMM and CMMI. As such, in this seminar, I help defense industry leaders understand the landscape of defense standards and activities in relation to agile and/or lean product development.

Using statistically significant research and case studies, agile thoughtleader Craig Larman presents a convincing case for agile methods. Larman offers a concise, dense summary of the key ideas that drive all agile methods, with a focus on the most popular agile method: Scrum. Where, appropriate, there will also be an emphasis on scaling agile methods to large (for example, a 500 person product) systems involving multi-site development, and on large enterprise agile transformations – as these are his specialties.


Methods of Education

Discussion, presentation, Q&A.


Audience

This exploration of modern software management best practices is appropriate for anyone guiding, managing, or in a software development team.


Level

Introductory: This course introduces concepts and techniques that the attendee will not apply during the session.


Prerequisites

none


Objectives

  • Introduce Agile Methods and Lean Principles
  • Analyze outcomes of projects that have used Agile Methods
  • Convey the key principles in the new software development game


Outline

  • Compelling evidence that agile and iterative methods reduce risk and increase ROI
  • Frequent misconceptions
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Agile values and practices
  • Scrum: the most widely used agile method
  • Increasing alignment between R&D and customer; increasing value with Scrum
  • Value-driven and feature-driven adaptive iterative development
  • Increasing transparency and predictability with agile methods
  • Lean Thinking in agile methods
  • Short cycle time, small batches, low WIP
  • Relentless improvement in Scrum
  • Leading the transformation: adoption and rollout
  • New management roles and skills in Scrum
  • Organizational and team structure changes
  • Agile product management and changes in planning
  • Scaling agile methods for large, offshore, or multi-site system
  • Estimation, scheduling, and fixed-price contracts
  • Creating a deep learning culture through Scrum
  • Scrum and CMMi


Maximum Participants

200


Environment - Room, Tools, Texts

Read this: Course Environment - Presentation Oriented