ICAgile Learning Roadmap

Agile Fundamentals Track

The work in this document was facilitated by the International Consortium for
Agile (ICAgile) and done by the contribution of various Agile Experts and
Practitioners. These Learning Outcomes are intended to help the growing Agile
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LICENSING INFORMATION
 SPECIAL THANKS
ICAgile would like to give
special thanks to the following Track Founders:
Alistair Cockburn • Ahmed Sidky • Dennis Stevens

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SPECIAL THANKS
CONTENTS
2 LICENSING INFORMATION
3 SPECIAL THANKS
4 TABLE OF CONTENTS
5 HOW TO READ THIS DOCUMENT
6 LEARNING OUTCOMES
6 1. HISTORY & MINDSET
6 1.1. History
6 1.2. Culture & Mindset

7 2. INDIVIDUALS & INTERACTIONS

7 2.1. Creating Shared Understanding
7 2.2. Shifts in Roles

8 3. VALUE-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
8 3.1. Incremental Development
8 3.2. Work-in-Progress (WIP)

9 4. CUSTOMER & USER INVOLVEMENT

9 4.1. Including Customers and Users

9 5. PLANNING & ADAPTING

9 5.1. Planning and Adapting
10 5.2. Process & Product Adaptation

11 REFERENCES

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CONTENTS
HOW TO READ THIS DOCUMENT
This document outlines the Learning Outcomes that must be addressed by accredited
training organizations intending to offer ICAgile certifications for each step in the Agile
Fundamentals Track.
Each LO follows a particular pattern, described below.

0.0.0. Learning Outcome Name

Additional Context, describing why this Learning Outcome is important or what it
is intended to impart.
The Learning Outcome purpose, further describing what is expected to be
imparted on the learner (e.g. a key point, framework, model, approach, technique,
or skill).

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HOW TO READ THIS DOCUMENT
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. HISTORY & MINDSET

1.1. HISTORY
1.1.1. Origins of Agile
Many people entering the Agile world see the Agile Manifesto as the beginning of
the world, where it was really the summing up of much previous work.
Anchor the ideas of Agile development in earlier work, giving the learners
continuity from the past to the present.

1.1.2. Agile Manifesto

The 2001 Manifesto for Agile Software Development is still the anchor document
for all forms of Agile development.
Make clear that the Agile Manifesto is a set of values, not a prescription for a
particular type of process. Also, learners should be introduced to the fact that the
values on the left are preferable to those on the right.

1.1.3. Agile Beyond Software Development

Agile is gaining increasing adoption throughout the organization.
Agile methods can extend beyond software development.

1.2. CULTURE & MINDSET

1.2.1. Understanding the Agile Mindset
Many people come to Agile looking for "the Agile process". However, while some
processes and methodologies may be more supportive or common in Agile
organizations than others, the mindset must come first.
Introduce Agile as a mindset and explain that agility is achieved through both
"being" and "doing" Agile. The Agile mindset is characterized by things like
valuing early failure for learning, collaboration, continuous improvement,
continuous discovery, etc.

1.2.2. Establishing the Agile Mindset

Experiencing the Agile mindset is the best way to establish it in a learner
Allow the learner to experience situations in which the Agile mindset is likely to be
different from their current way of working, so the learner can internalize the
difference experientially, not just in concept.

1.2.3. Agile in Context (As a Journey)

The level of knowledge and experience held by individuals, teams and
organizations can affect behaviors, processes and adoption.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
 Introduce the learning models that help contextualize the novice-to-expert
journeys of individuals, team and organizations. This helps learners relate to
each other and other parts of their organization on an Agile transformation
journey

2. INDIVIDUALS & INTERACTIONS

2.1. CREATING SHARED UNDERSTANDING

2.1.1. Developing Soft Skills
Soft skills such as attitude, community, trust and morale have traditionally been
left out of team-based design. Agile brings them to the fore.
Highlight how changing community drivers affects work outcomes.

2.1.2. Understanding Communication Barriers

Projects can be impacted when organizations underestimate the cost of physical
and cultural separation.
Review the costs of physical and cultural distances, and introduce ways to
successfully address the communication barriers these can raise.

2.1.3. Sharing Knowledge

When teams ignore tacit vs. documented knowledge, they are not able to make
conscious decisions about sharing information.
Discuss options for sharing knowledge with current and future team members.

2.1.4. Physical Work Environments

It is easy to set up work spaces that hinder rather than help the team.
Illustrate concepts of setting up Agile working environments that are conducive to
swarming, collaboration and teamwork.

2.1.5. Collaboration Techniques

Collaboration needs to be experienced, not just talked about.
Let learners experience techniques for improved collaboration.

2.1.6. Techniques for Shared Understanding

The Agile community has adopted several tools and techniques to support shared
understanding.
Experience the advantages created by tools and techniques that improve shared
understanding.

2.2. SHIFTS IN ROLES

2.2.1. Shifts in Roles

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
 The term "self-organizing" can create concern for individuals and organizations
because it infers shifts in traditional power structures. Agile learners and
organizations need to define and align old and new role definitions.
Define what is meant by "self-organizing" and "self-managing," and where the
learner fits in an Agile organization.

3. VALUE-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT

3.1. INCREMENTAL DEVELOPMENT

3.1.1. Incremental Development
One anchor of Agile development is incremental development.
Introduce the concept and value of incremental development, and how it differs
from effort-based or task-based management.

3.1.2. Value-Based Work

Many people, even understanding the idea of incremental development, can't see
how to break work into small, value-centered work items and track their progress.
Develop and practice techniques for breaking problems into value-based parts and
tracking progress against them.

3.1.3. Retaining Quality

It is easy to lose sight of the cost of rework in incremental-iterative development.
Introduce and highlight why Agile developers need to keep an eye on design quality
even (or especially) when working incrementally and iteratively.

3.2. WORK-IN-PROGRESS (WIP)

3.2.1. Work-in-Progress (WIP)
Work-in-Progress (WIP), a term from lean manufacturing, seems to many people a
strange concept to introduce outside of manufacturing, but WIP shows up in
incremental development.
Describe WIP, demonstrate how it maps to design work, to incremental
development, to multi-specialist and multi-department teams, where it hides on a
design project and why it is useful to track and reduce WIP.

3.2.2. Continuous Integration

Continuous integration is a valuable goal in software development; non-software
projects can still use the more general concepts of frequent integration.
Introduce the concepts of early, frequent and continuous integration, and link them
to project effectiveness.

3.2.3. Cost & Benefit of Frequent Delivery

Delivering is not merely giving a demo; it includes costs as well as benefits.
Discuss the benefits, challenges and costs of delivering frequently.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
4. CUSTOMER & USER INVOLVEMENT

4.1. INCLUDING CUSTOMERS AND USERS

4.1.1. Defining the Customer
The literature and common usage can be confusing in defining the customer.
Clarify customer-side roles and how they are referred to in Agile methods,
particularly sponsor, buyer and user; relate these roles to actual people who need
to be satisfied by the project and product.

4.1.2. User Involvement

Product/project success correlates with end-user involvement. Many teams face
resistance to getting end-users to participate in a project, which then can fail even
if the team practiced every other Agile habit besides getting feedback from real
users.
Convey the importance of end-user involvement within, as well as at the end of,
iterations.

4.1.3. User Feedback

Ongoing user feedback is important for maximizing customer value.
Provide the learner with one or more techniques for soliciting feedback from users
and sponsors during an iteration or project.

5. PLANNING & ADAPTING

5.1. PLANNING AND ADAPTING

5.1.1.Planning
A misconception of Agile development is that it involves no planning and no
promises.
Review different planning stages and timeframes, separating release-level
planning from daily & task-level planning.

5.1.2. Estimation
Agile teams understand the value of collaborative estimation during planning.
Introduce the learner to the power of relative estimation using the wisdom of the
crowd; Incorporate different Agile estimation techniques for different granularities
and time scales.

5.1.3. Status
A team and its sponsors need to know how the work is progressing.
Provide two or more techniques Agile teams use to track and show the status of
the project and the team.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
5.2. PROCESS & PRODUCT ADAPTATION
5.2.1.Process Adaptation
A common mistake is to imagine that there is a single process that can fit all
projects & situations; even a good process becomes mismatched to the team over
time.
Illustrate to the learner how products/projects in different contexts need different
methodologies, processes or strategies, and why it is important to adapt
processes even within a single product, project or team.

5.2.2. Product Adaptation

Products need to be adapted based on learning and feedback, however an
unprepared team can suffer from reacting too vigorously to change requests.
Introduce ways to receive feedback and balance responding to change with
product stability and work predictability. These might include not accepting new
work during an iteration, having a disciplined Product Owner who re-prioritizes for
the team in ways that do not disrupt ongoing work, etc.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
REFERENCES
Derby, E., Larsen, D., & Schwaber, K. (2006). Agile retrospectives: Making good teams great.
Hohmann, L. (2006). Innovation games: creating breakthrough products through collaborative
play. Pearson Education.
Tabaka, J. (2006). Collaboration explained: facilitation skills for software project leaders. Pearson
Education.

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REFERENCES