NC WK 8 Continuous Improvement in Agile & Earning the Seat Discussion

Topics:

• Continuous improvement of quality, effectiveness, and value of the product, the process, and the team in the Agile project management context.
• Course Project – Close & Reflect

Readings:

• Layton, Ostermiller, & Kynaston (2020), Agile Project Management for Dummies: Chapter 15
• Schwartz (2017). A Seat at the Table: Charters 13, 14
  • Video Lecture: Continuous Improvement   
     
• Instructor’s      Notes (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppwmS2nclG8&t=4s
• Video: Bin Linders – The Need for       Continuous Improvement in Agile  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0RStMD767s&t=2s

Assignments:

• Discussion 13 – Lean Practices & Continuous Improvement in Agile
• Discussion 14 – Earning the Seat (Risk, Quality, Shadow IT)
  • (initial post due by Saturday of Week-8 @ 11:59 PM USCT, replies due by Saturday of Week 9 @ 11:59 PM USCT).

Discussion 13 – Lean Practices & Continuous Improvement in Agile

Initial post due by Saturday of Week-8 @ 11:59 PM USCT, replies due by Saturday of Week 9 @ 11:59 PM USCT)

Assignment:

Lean practices are often integrated with Agile frameworks as mechanisms for achieving a culture and state of continuous improvement both in-process and outcomes (Shahzeydi & Gandomani, 2016).  Listed below are Five common Lean practices.  For your initial post, briefly define each Lean practice. Then draft a discussion regarding how they are/may be implemented as an Agile framework (DAD, SAFe, Scrum, DSDM, etc.). What is your personal definition of Continous Improvement?  

• Address Bottlenecks
• Defer Decision Making
• Considering Incentives
• Measure and Manage WIP
• Kaizen

Initial Response

Your initial submission, due by Saturday of Week 8, should be approximately 550-650 words. Your summary should include APA 6.0 compliant in-text citations and references. (If you are new to APA style please see the APA style references located from the Citation Styles Link under the eCourse Portal page.

Discussion 14 – Earning the Seat (Risk, Quality, Shadow IT)

(Initial post due by Saturday of Week-8 @ 11:59 PM USCT, replies due by Saturday of Week-9 @ 11:59 PM USCT)
 

Assignment:

For this assignment, draft a summary of Schwartz (2017) Part II Earning the Seat (Chapters 10, 11, 12). Then draft a response to the following: 

• Substitute      Agile Project Manager for “IT Leaser”; what do you think      Schwartz means in the following statement  “An IT leader      adds business value by adopting an intelligent attitude toward risk”      (Schwartz, 2017, p. 217)?
• Describe      the Agile Quality concept of “Fail often, fail fast, but fail      well” (Schwartz, 2017, p. 233).
• What      is “Shadow IT” and how does Schwartz view its role in an      Agile organization? Do you concur with his view? Why, why not?