SmitsMC

Change

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software development

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guidance

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Smits Management Consultancy

 

Leading Change in Software Development - Workshop

Change of software development practices that is neither understood nor lead by the organizations leadership team is doomed to fail. Too many teams embrace Scrum or XP, double their productivity and see their gains diminish in the next year or so. The changes are not embedded in the organization, they are isolated, incidental.

This one day workshop takes the leadership team through the principles of organizational change, based on the thoughts of John Kotter. The role of Agile, Scrum and XP is explained, and placed in the right context. I’ll help you to understand what your role in the change process is.

One day workshop - $ 6,000.00 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500

Working Internationally

All prices on this page are based on working in the US. I work internationally, quite a lot. The workshop rates remain the same, and I work with you to manage the cost of travel - usually by combining two or more customer visits in a single trip. Please contact me to discuss the arrangements.

Agile Software Project Management - an introduction

Within the changing organization a project has the important role of delivering early wins, proving the chosen changes and time-boxing these steps. Project dynamics change, move away from 4 - 18 month ‘big bang approaches’ and embrace iterative and incremental delivery. Frameworks like Extreme Programming, Feature Driven Development and Scrum are used to manage projects in an agile fashion.

In this two day workshop I’ll work with your project and program managers, teaching the concepts and comparing them to the existing software development life cycle. The attendees will walk away with a broad understanding of the concepts of agile projects, they will have practiced new techniques to work with project participants, and they will have an list of needed changes to migrate the existing life cycle to an agile one.

Two day workshop - $ 12,000.00 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500

Agile Software Project Management - advanced topics

After the introduction of agile practices in the software development organization the learning begins. The never ending process of inspect-and-adapt that is build into the agile frameworks will start to shape the practices of the involved teams.

In this two day workshop I’ll work with experiences agile teams to inspect and adapt the new practices, tuning the practices to be effective in the organization and creating an overview of changes to team practices. Your team will learn techniques to create better product breakdowns (based on lean and six-sigma techniques), they will be better suited to inspect root causes of process problems.

Two day workshop - $ 12,000.00 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500

Certified ScrumMaster Training

The only agile certifications available are endorsed by the Scrum Alliance. I’ve been a Certified Scrum Trainer since 2005, and can train people to not only pass the required test, but also give them the skills to create a plan for the introduction of Scrum in the organization. CSM training is not limited to only the future ScrumMasters, the whole team usually attends, which results in a valuable career step for the individuals and a made-to-measure Scrum implementation plan for the organization.

Two day workshop - $ 16,000.00 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500

Certified Scrum Product Owner Training

This training is an introduction to Scrum (like the CSM training), but with a strong focus on the Product Development part of the framework. More extensive work is done around feature selection, story writing, prioritization and delivery monitoring. It is less suited for whole teams, it focuses on the people in the product area: product managers, marketeers, sales, and business unit management.

Two day workshop - $ 16,000.00 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500

Team Roll-out

To kick-start a team with agile practices I follow an approach which will train the involved team, and then immediately starts them with a first iteration. I’ll guide the team during their first iteration, inspecting their practices and teaching them how to continue to improve their delivery process. In this approach it is key to have the whole team present: the people delivering the software (programmers, testers, tech-writers, architects), the product owner(s) and the project manager (ScrumMaster). A roll-out would include the following activities:

  1. -Roll-out preparation - up to 4 hours of phone consultancy to ensure that the delivery requirements are ready for the roll-out

  2. -Team training - 2 days of intense work with the team on agile principles and practices, based on the Scrum framework. The selected project will form the backbone of the two days, and the participants will work with the requirements, the timeboxes and other project objectives.

  3. -Iteration planning - a full day of facilitated iteration planning, in which the team will create the plan for their first iteration, agree how impediments will be addressed, who will manage the identified risks, and how the team will communicate during the iteration.

  4. -Iteration demo/review and retrospective - after the completion of the first iteration I will work with the team in a full day of coaching in the art of creating feedback loops. The team will learn how their completed work can affect the product design, and how they can improve their team agreements and team processes.

  5. -Second iteration planning - a full day of coaching of the team, but not leading the team. The team lead / project manager / ScrumMaster will facilitate this event, with me in a role of reviewer and coach.

  6. -Phone support - during the first iteration I am available for up to 4 hours of phone support for the team.

Six day Team Roll-out - $ 22,000 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500

Combination of this workshop with CSM certification: upon request.

Leading Change in Software Development - Coaching

Following the training of the teams in your organization I can continue my support to you, your product people, your delivery teams. This is a made to measure approach, the most common components are:

  1. -Additional training/workshops for specific teams.

  2. -Process inspection for your Project Management Office - based on Lean Value Stream Mapping

  3. -Product Owner workshop - inspecting the process around backlog creation and maintenance, prioritization of project and requirements, and the creation of communication structures fit for your product delivery structure.

  4. -Tuning workshop - inspecting the state of your agile / lean implementation with the involved teams.

  5. -Weekly and monthly reviews of your implementation process.

  6. -Telephone support.

Pricing for the above is per project, and based on a consultancy rate of $2,500 per day.

Introduction to Lean Software Development

During this one day workshop I will introduce the concepts of Lean and link them to Software Development practices. You will walk away with an understanding of the most used practices in Lean, and can use this knowledge to create a plan to implement Lean in your organization. The topics for this workshop include:

  1. -Waste, and the elimination of waste through Value Stream Mapping.

  2. -Quality, and building quality into your process instead of testing for quality.

  3. -Set-based Design, and how deferring commitment improves your product and reduces the cost of product development

  4. -Fast Delivery, and how to use queuing theory to inspect your software delivery process.

  5. -People and respecting people, where you will learn how to use the knowledge of your people to create better plans, to solve problems better and to motivate your people.

  6. -Learning and knowledge management, using a practice called ‘A3 reports’ you can capture product and process knowledge.

  7. -Optimizing the whole, and using metrics to keep an eye on the big picture, not just the project and problems at hand.

One day workshop - $ 6,000.00 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500

Lean Software Development

The Introduction to Lean workshop is extended to include hands-on exercises with the newly introduced Lean techniques. You will create your first value stream map, draw an A3 report, and create a plan to roll-out lean in your organization.

Two day workshop - $ 12,000.00 - excluding expenses, travel and taxes

Additional consultancy days - $ 2,500