On completion of this course, participants will be able to confidently:

• Understand Agile beyond the typical methodologies, including Emergn’s approach: Value, Flow, Quality ® (VFQ) and how it can help you deliver better business outcomes.
• Recognize how the fast-paced modern environment is impacting how we approach work.
• Associate the impact our biases and heuristics have in our work.
• Explain the business benefits of changing to a discovery / flexible mindset.
• Understand how to set goals within your context.
• Recognize the importance of the customer in your work and how value is defined.
• Identify why you should organize your work around value.
• Understand the value of experimentation.
• Identify why visualization is key to navigating complexity.
• Understand how you can optimize the flow of work end-to-end.
• Define what quality means and why you need feedback in your work.

This course is designed to maximize the outcomes through a self-guided, self-paced learning journey, enabling participants to apply the learning to real work, while taking into consideration the demands on people’s time.

• Number of modules: 12
• Total lecture time: 2-hours
  (Additional time required to download templates and complete quizzes throughout the course)

The attention span for participants of remote sessions are typically shorter so introduction of different concepts and techniques will be done in 2-3 minute videos, with multiple videos comprising each module.

Each module has learning outcomes and a brief knowledge assessment in the form of a 2-4 question quiz. Some topics are accompanied by a downloadable template or a link to a case study or additional resources, as supplemental learning materials.

Course Outline

Beyond Agile methodologies

• Introduction to Value, Flow, Quality (VFQ), the principles of VFQ and essential practices
• How VFQ works

Why change?

• Iron Triangle
• Cargo Cult
• Fixed vs. Discovery mindset

Biases and heuristics

• Defining biases and heuristics
• Exposing Systems 1 Thinking
• Types of work
• Complicated vs. Complex

Setting goals

• Defining your goal
• 5 Why’s technique
• Knowns, Unknowns and Risks

Discovering value

• Importance of value
• Delivering early and often
• Breaking down work using prisms
• Attributes of value
• Value profiles, when your goal is valuable

Understanding your customer

• The importance of the customer
• Selfridges case study
• Empathy, In their shoes
• Jobs-to-be-Done
• Clayton Christensen’s Milkshake story
• Customer profile

Defining value

• Value Proposition framework
• Awareness of other canvases/frameworks

Designing experiments

• Four reasons to design an experiment
• Hypothesis structure
• Components of a Test & Learn card

Visualizing the work

• The importance of visualization
• Designing an effective work board
• Other types of visualization

Optimizing flow

• End-to-end flow
• Understanding lead and cycle times
• 7 types of waste

Incorporating feedback

• What quality means
• Importance of feedback
• Zara case study
• Overcoming resistance to feedback
• Exploring feedback loops

Conclusion

• Summaries
• Course Knowledge Assessment