Most companies who think they’re “Agile” aren’t. Learn true agility in Allen Holub’s comprehensive video course. Go beyond Scrum!
First, for those of you who have stumbled on this draft by word of mouth (instead of my mailing list), welcome! I’m planning on the project going live on Wednesday, March 15 at 10AM Pacific [GMT-8]. If you’d like regular updates, sign up for my mailing list.
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This video course teaches you everything you need to be truly agile (in the software sense :-)), from Lean principles, to agile practice frameworks, to how to build an agile culture, to nuts-and-bolts, day-to-day practices. It goes way beyond typical Agile/Scrum training, and it’s full of practical advice that can eliminate years of flailing around. The deep understanding you’ll develop dramatically shortens your learning curve.
If you’re new to Agile, this class gives you everything you need to hit the ground running, without making novice mistakes that add years to your learning curve. You’ll be able to walk into a job interview confident that you can answer any question that’s thrown at you. (and you can earn a certificate based on a nontrivial essay exam to prove it).
This class is also spectacularly useful for the pros. It’s exactly what you need if you’re doing Scrum and want to up your game. Scrum is one small gear in a big Agile machine with a lot of moving parts, and all of those parts are interconnected. You need to understand the whole machine to be successful, and that’s what you’ll learn in this class: everything you need to succeed. This class will give you the ammunition you need to convince a skeptical boss (or customer) to do things right.
You’ll come away from this class with a solid understanding of how to build a fully agile organization (and team) that actually works, and how to build software in fully agile way that’s not tied into any one methodology.
First, all major modules will have an automated multiple-choice test that you can use to check your own progress. That’s just included with the cost of the course.
Job seekers, however, need to demonstrate that they know something to other people, and to that end, I’ll provide a nontrivial essay-based “final exam” that’s graded by a real human being (in English. If the company is wildly successful, other languages might be possible down the line.) On the commercial site, the exam will be a stand-alone product that you can take even if you haven’t taken the class (I’ll provide a reading list). If you pass, you’ll get a certificate and I’ll put your name on the web site. There’s no guarantee that you’ll pass, of course—the test is indeed nontrivial—but if you don’t pass the first time, you’ll get feedback as to why, and you’ll be able to retake the test once.
I’m applying agile principles to the course itself: I’ll constantly improve it and add new material based on your feedback. The purchase price (and your Kickstarter contribution) provides lifetime access, so you’ll be able to keep up with these changes.
The videos will be a mixture of live video, voiceover against animated slides, and animation, and the approach will vary depending on the material. For example, most of the business-case module will take the form of a conversation between me and a skeptical manager. Other segments will be more traditional.
I expect the total running time to be around 7-8 hours (I teach this material live over two days (about 12 instructional hours), but a video will leave out classroom discussion, exercises, etc.). No single unit will be longer than 40 minutes, so you can watch during lunch.
The commercial version will be broken up into an a-la-carte menu that lets you purchase individual modules (e.g. a for-C-levels package) and a whole-cabootle option for the entire course. The hand-graded essay-based assessment will be a standalone product with a separate fee that allows for two attempts to take the exam.
Here is a (probably too detailed) outline. Consider this list to be more of a topic list than a strict outline. I’ll cover everything in the list, but order may change to make the presentation flow appropriately. I’ll be developing the course in an agile way, incorporating your feedback as I release modules, so this list will almost certainly evolve.
Is there a topic that you’d like me to cover that’s not listed? Drop me a note and I’ll add it (allen@holub.com).
This issue comes up a lot, so let’s address it head on! Most of the real problems I see in real programming shops happen because people don’t have the big picture. The whole point of this class is to fix that problem with comprehensive coverage. That said, I do plan for the commercial product to have an à-la-carte menu that lets you buy only those modules you find interesting.
I’ve been pretty upset by the state of Agile, of late. Real agility means that you’re flexible, adaptable, nimble. However, the word “Agile” has come to mean a rigid process that doesn’t deliver up to its potential. Agile is something you are, not something you do. The Agile ship needs a course correction.
I really believe in the efficacy of the agile approach to software development, and I really want to help put things back on track.
None of the existing books or certification programs provide everything you need in one place, and some of them do active damage. For example, Scrum training that teaches that Scrum and Agile are the same thing is, to me, destructive.
For less than the cost of the books you’d have to read, and for way less than the cost of a certification course, you’ll now be able to get all this knowledge in one place.
Hi. I’m Allen Holub (call me Allen :-) ). I’ve been in the software industry since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and have learned an awful lot along the way. I’m an internationally recognized consultant, trainer, speaker, and author, specializing in Lean/Agile processes and culture, agile-focused architecture (such as microservices), and cloud-based web-application development. I teach for the University of California Extension, do a lot of in-house training, and speak internationally. The people who take my classes say that they’re the best classes they’ve ever had.
I’ve worn every hat from grunt programmer to CTO (at a couple of agile startups), and have written a dozen books and hundreds of magazine articles for various technical publications. My C Chest column and subsequent blogs for Dr. Dobb’s Journal and my Java Toolbox column for JavaWorld were influential in the industry. I’m also a Pluralsight author. I’m a key contributor to the Agile and Lean Software Development group (120,000 members) on LinkedIn.
I’m estimating 3 weeks per major module with a little slop at the end. In practice, some modules will take a little longer and some a little less, and I won’t be surprised if the first couple modules slip a bit. This schedule is actually pretty aggressive, but I’ve already developed a lot of the material, so I think it’s doable. That said, estimates are inherently unreliable (in fact, there’s a module on that topic in the class). With significant funding, I’ll be able to work full time, outsource some of the editing, and deliver early. Should things slip, I’ll ask the backers whether they’d prefer to extend the schedule or reduce the scope. In any event, I’ll be releasing modules as I finish them at most of the reward levels, so you’ll start getting useful information almost immediately.
There are no significant risks. I have been writing and teaching about (and doing) agile and lean processes for many years. I regularly consult on those subjects, and present at international conferences.
Much of the material I intend to use in this class (slides, etc.) already exists. I use it for the two-day Agility class that I regularly teach in house and in public sessions.
I’ve also put together three very-well-received video classes for Pluralsight, so am intimately familiar with the course-development and video-editing-and-production process, and I have all the necessary equipment and software for a great class.