Advanced Agile Master Class with Alistair Cockburn

NEXT PUBLIC COURSE

TBA

Instructor:     Dr. Alistair Cockburn

About the Course

“I wanted to be challenged – and I was not disappointed – participants got kicked out of their comfort zone before morning tea on day one, by lunchtime you knew there is no going back.”

Alistair sets out to challenge all of your preconceptions about agile, deconstruct them, and then helps you to rebuild your understanding using different lenses he's crafted from his deep and extensive experience. The result being, that people walk away with more insight, understanding and approaches with which to advance their own agility and those of the people around them.

Don't just take our word for it, here is a review from Kelsey van Haaster, one of the participants at previous Australian courses…she's done the course 3 times!

Information about Alistair Cockburn's Advanced Agile Masterclass 

What is covered?

Modern “expert” agile practitioners have mastered the practices – but not why they work, not how to adjust practices to situations, not how to approach new and surprising situations, not how to apply agile practices to non-software projects, not how to incorporate results from other fields back to their own projects, not how to tailor the practices to different organizational cultures. This advanced course from industry guru Dr. Alistair Cockburn addresses those areas.

• In this discovery-filled course,
  • Learn why agile works, in software or outside of it,
  • Learn how to articulate and deal with the weaknesses in agile development,
  • Test yourself and your partners with the Test-Driven Carpaccio exercise.
  • Learn to reduce risk and maximize results by viewing design as a Knowledge Acquisition activity.
  • Practice backing up your recommendations with solid theory, not just an appeal to authority,
  • Learn how to plan and track larger, more complicated projects using Story Mapping or Blitz Planning (time permitting),

• . . . and most of all
  • Come face-to-face with yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses, as you confront one situation after another with equally inquisitive classmates.

Bring along bring gnarly problems you have been challenged with and objections as to why agile can’t work in whatever context: We will work through those problems as a class, using the skills taught in the class.

This is not a course for the beginner or the faint of heart. Expect to do homework, expect to be put through your paces, expect to dialog and argue, have your beliefs challenged.

You need not prepare for the course, but you will get more from it if you have read Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game and “The Seven Properties of Highly Successful Projects” from Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams prior to the start of class.

At the end of the course, walk away with a rich, robust set of tools for approaching your project and organizational situations.

What Students said about Alistair’s Master Class:

“Really great master class with @TotherAlistair”

“Mind exploding like crazy.”

“Definitely inspired to up my game!”

“Ego obliterated, mind expanded, much to ponder after the masterclass. Thanks”

“I had to call in sick the next day.”

“I feel a lot better this time around after coming out of Alistair’s class. Learned a lot and my mind is clear”

“Huge emotional learning about self.” -@ksteffe

“I’m breathless from drinking from the firehose.” – Resetley & Restarting

Best part about the course. “Alistair’s mastery of the course/industry content and ability to respond and support any student requests.” – Scott Wolfe

“Alistair is the Chuck Norris of Use Cases. Applying use cases to the project life cycle has re-instilled my faith in project management.”

“Alistair provided a non-intimidating environment to allow for mind stretching. I feel like I’ve been put through a mental wringer but all in a way that can only improve my value for my team.” –Nicole Hopkins

“The deep level of experience Alistair brings to the training adds significant insight to the domain.” –Dave Pugmire

“Excellent course… well worth the investment of time and money. I especially appreciated Alistair’s depth of knowledge and breadth of experience. I will be watching for other courses offered by him.” –Chuck Stoner

“Course goes well beyond novice level in terms of cognitive complexity. Pushes into analytical/critical thinking skills.” –Cristina

“I want my boss, my boss’s boss and my boss’s boss’s boss to take this course.”

“In 20+ years of attending courses in software development this has been the best course. Great balance of theory and lab (hands on) work.” –John W. Cooley

“I would certainly agree with Alistair’s characterization of what he does being the height of voodoo witchery and other eldritch practices, at least to the untrained eye. Stretching the metaphor even further I’d also say that some of those that he coaches are left with a feeling much like what I would imagine a visit to the voodoo shaman would engender – glad that he was there to help, but equally glad that he has taken his rum and chickens elsewhere.” –Jonathan

“Fantastic course for practitioners who want to think about what they do and improve their teams. Cuts through the Agile hype to communicate deep insights and truly useful techniques.” – Kay Johansen

“This course was simply amazing! Dr. Alistair Cockburn has one of the best minds period. I have so much to learn. This course should be mandatory for all project managers.” – J. K.

“Excellent job of imparting knowledge without creating dogma.” – J.S.

“Your teaching style/positioning as a methodologist fit exactly what I was looking for, not dogma but the base/broad thinking behind the practices” – Anastasia

“Alistair combines the theory with practical experiences and exercises that reveals the hows and whys of agile.” – Richard Thomson

“It is great to be able to tap into Alistair’s years of experience!” – Sean Landis

“It was great to take this course from one of the acknowledged leaders in the field.” – Jeff Romine

“Very enjoyable course. More please.”

“Exceeded my expectations! Great class; excellent presenter!”

“Alistair is a wonderful instructor! Very knowledgeable, easy to listen to, and funny!” – Anne Marie Kimberling

“OMG @TotherAlistair u broke me!! I am seeing holes in everything that we are doing. Huge improvement opportunities!!” – Supriya