The Agile Samurai Bootcamp

Get ready to kick some software project butt.

                  Enter the world of the Agile Samurai, where the most dire of software projects are dispatched with ease and grace. By learning the ways of the Agile Samurai you will discover:

• What Agile is, how it works, and the mindset necessary for working iteratively

• Common myths and pitfalls and how to choose the right Agile method for you

• How to build a good Agile team

• How from traditional waterfall roles (like developer, analyst, tester, and project manager) change on Agile project

• How to create a plan you and your customer can believe in

• How to gather requirements in a fraction of the time using Agile User Stories

• How to deliver something of value every week

• What to do when the schedule is wrong, and how to look like a pro correcting it, and

• The four essential Agile Engineering practices and why they are so important for Agility.

By the end of this course you’ll have everything you need to successfully set up, execute, and deliver your own Agile project.

Course Outline

Agile In a Nutshell

• What Agile is, how it works, and how to choose the right Agile method for you.

Agile Teams

• What makes the Agile team tick. Characteristics of good Agile teams. And how to find quality players.

User Stories

• In this session we break down what user stories are, how they work, what effective user stories look like for your project, and how to host great story gathering work shops.

Estimation

• By learning how to estimate the Agile way, you’ll stop trying to get something your up-front estimates can’t give (precision and accuracy) and instead focus on what really matters—building a plan you and your customer can believe in.

Planning

• In this session, you’re going to learn how to create plans you can believe in and follow through on commitments you and your team make.

Iteration Mechanics

• This session shows teams how to set the iterations up for success, breaks down what actually occurs during an iteration, and how to setup an agile communication plan for you and your team.

Visible Workspaces

• By learning how to create a visual workspace, you and the team will never be at a loss for what to do next or where you can add the greatest value.

Engineering

• Agile doesn’t work on planning alone. That would be wishful thinking. Only by apply these core software engineering practices can you reduce the time it takes to test, ensure you always have a good design, and confidently make necessary changes with speed.

Unit Testing - Automated tests proving your software works

Refactoring - Paying down technical debt, while continuously improving your design

Test-Driven Development - Write the tests first to help improve your design

Continuous Integration - Maintaining a culture of production readiness, and deploying at a moments notice

Intended Audience

• This is an introductory level course on Agile software delivery.

Course Requirements

• No previous experience with Agile expected or necessary.

Instructional Level

• All Levels

Update NEW FAQ Section April 2017

• New FAQ section added answering most commonly asked questions

• New templates section added containing downloadable examples of burn down charts

Update NEW Cheat Sheet Section August 2018

• New section summarizing key concepts in downloadable pdf

Testimonials

• One of the best introduction on Agile concepts. Not only for beginners but also the experienced agile practitioners will benefit from this course.

Instructors

Jonathan Rasmusson – Ex-Spotify Engineer, The Agile Samurai