Agile Project Management for the Federal Environment

The tenets of Agile have been steadily transforming Federal project management (PM). As a project manager, you must stay current with best practices—which includes Agile. You will learn Agile PM methodologies that apply to the Federal environment, including acquisitions and non-IT projects. You will focus on value, not cost, with the overarching idea that project managers are team leaders who work with the customer rather than against them.

Learning Objectives

• Examine the differences between Agile project management and typical project management
• Describe the philosophy and framework of Agile development
• Examine the principles and practices using Scrum as a primary Agile project management process
• Review the unique characteristics of implementing Agile within the federal environment
• Discover what is needed to initiate an Agile project
• Demonstrate what is involved in planning an Agile project
• Examine what is involved when executing an Agile project
• Practice approaches for monitoring and controlling an Agile project
• Explain the steps involved in closing out an Agile project
• Discuss how to implement Agile project management in the federal environment

Course Topics

Why Agile?

• Exercise: Desert Island
• Agile Popularity
• Proof of Agile Project Management Success
• Typical Project Risks and Early Warning Signs
• Notable Agile Project Failures
• Why Agile?
• Development Approaches
• Development Life Cycle Selection
• Notable Agile Project Successes

Agile Development

• History of Agile/Scrum
• Agile Manifesto
• Agile Development Methodologies
• State of Agile Development
• Agile Practices
• Acquisition Using Agile
• Agile Success Story

Applying Scrum

• Scrum Life Cycle
• Product Life Cycle in Scrum
• Core Principles of Scrum
• Key Elements of Scrum
• Productivity vs. Team Size
• Attributes of a High-Performing Team
• Benefits of a Self-Organizing Team
• Self-Organizing Team Challenges
• Common Agile Myths

Initiating in Agile

• Initiation Goals
• Initiating Projects
• Initiating in Agile
• Stakeholder Dynamics
• Agile Life Cycle Artifacts
• Look Familiar?

Planning in Agile

• Planning Goals
• Typical Acquisition
• Planning in Agile Acquisition
• Planning in Agile
• Typical vs. Agile Planning
• Planning Activities
• Requirements Definition in Agile
• User Stories Defined
• Product Backlog: Writing User Stories
• Prioritization
• Product Life Cycle in Scrum
• Sprint Planning Part 1: Requirements Workshop
• Estimating Techniques
• Assigning Story Points
• Velocity
• Definition of Done
• Sprint Planning Part 2: Design Workshop
• Common Agile Myths

Executing an Agile Project

• Executing with Scrum
• Scrum Framework
• Team Size
• Team Building: Model for Team Engagement
• Benefits of Collocated Teams
• Considerations with Virtual Teams
• Common Agile Myths

Monitoring and Controlling an Agile Project

• Monitoring and Controlling
• Typical Acquisition
• Monitoring and Controlling in Agile Acquisition
• Agile Monitoring and Controlling Tools
• Life Cycle Tracking
• Typical Monitoring and Controlling Processes Used in Agile
• Agile Quality Differences
• Change Management in Agile
• Agile in the Federal Environment
• Other Agile Myths

Closing an Agile Project

• Closing in Agile
• Typical Acquisition
• Closing in Agile Acquisition
• Sprint Review Meeting
• Sprint Retrospective Meetings
• Closing Activities

Implementing Agile in the Federal Environment

• Organizational Change to Agile
• Why Do Organizations Change?
• Levels of Change
• Forces of Change
• Force Field Analysis
• Change
• Successful Change
• People Need Answers
• Make Your Ideas “Sticky”
• Implementation Strategy Considerations
• Do You Recognize These?