Leading Answers offers the following consulting services:
Training Courses
- PMI-ACP Exam Preparation Course - 3 days
The new PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certification is the PMI’s fastest growing certification and is set to be the gold standard for agile competence by employers. Train for the examination with this 3 day, accelerated learning exam preparation class taught by Mike Griffiths, one of the PMI-ACP Steering Committee members and designer for the examination. Get inside information on all of the PMI-ACP Domains, Knowledge & Skills areas, and Tools & Techniques needed to pass the exam. Course Outline: PMI-ACP Exam Prep - Outline
- Agile Project Leadership - 2 days
For anyone faced with managing an agile project who is dissatisfied with the training offerings from companies “jumping on the agile bandwagon”. This practical two-day course provides no-nonsense agile leadership guidance gained from Mike’s 20 years of agile methods experience. By combining case-studies, instruction, and exercises, the key tools for effective agile leadership are covered in this fast-paced, informal class. Course Outline: Agile Project Leadership - Outline.pdf
- Agile Project Management Essentials - 1 day
Need to hit the ground running on agile project management? This focused one day class covers all the basics from scope, planning, estimating, executing and tracking agile projects. Quickly gain an overview of the best practices for agile teams, workspace design, stakeholder engagement, collaboration tools and more. Course Outline: Agile Project Management Essentials - Outline.pdf
- Agile Project Estimation and Planning – half a day
Learn the basics of estimating and planning agile projects on this hands-on, half-day course. Using exercises and examples the concepts for user story estimation, team velocity and iteration planning are covered. Learn about Story Points, Ideal Developer Days, Velocity, Planning Poker, and Wideband Delphi. Find out how to calculate optimal team sizes, iteration durations and take home a USB stick of tools and templates. Course Outline: Agile Project Estimation and Planning - Outline.pdf
- Agile Project Tracking and Reporting – half a day
The iterative nature of agile projects introduces new challenges and opportunities for tracking and reporting agile projects. On the one hand are the scope-creep fears and lack of lifecycle understanding experienced by many project stakeholders, on the other hand we get many valuable early-trend and feedback metrics from using an agile approach. This course explains how to track and report on agile projects using powerful, easy to create reports and graphs. Course Outline: Agile Project Tracking and Reporting - Outline.pdf
- Agile Team Dynamics – half a day
People are by far the most important factor in determining project outcomes. Attend this course to gain best practice skills for creating and sustaining high performing teams. Learn decision making and conflict resolution techniques especially designed for agile projects. Experience collaboration tools, retrospective techniques and guidance for workspace design. Understand team rewards and recognition, learn how to build problem-busting “juggernaut” teams. Course Outline: Agile Team Dynamics - Outline.pdf
- Introducing Agile Methods – half a day
Save your self the frustration and costs associated with opposition to change and failed agile adoptions. Instead, learn the successful approaches used by other companies adopting agile and the common pitfalls to avoid. This half day course exposes why many agile change initiatives fail and presents a proven roadmap for agile methods introduction. Created from the lessons learned during 20 years of agile roll-outs world wide and case studies from Forrester, Standish and Gartner this half day course has been described as “worth its weight in gold” by participants involved in agile introductions. Course Outline: Introducing Agile Methods - Outline.pdf
- Agile and Traditional Methods Integration - half a day
Learn how Agile methods can integrate with your existing processes. Understand the “connects and disconnects” with standard PMO processes and discover how to gain the benefits of agile development without losing control. Course Outline: Agile and Traditional Methods Integration - Outline.pdf
Pricing and Availability
For current pricing and availability information please contact Training@LeadingAnswers.com. All of the courses listed can be adapted, merged or tailored to meet client specifications.
Custom Training Courses
Training materials and delivery options can be developed for any lean, agile and kanban based course you have in mind. Using leading edge instructional design techniques and adult learning theory, courses ranging from durations of one hour to one week can be developed. Branded with “Leading Answers” or your own company’s themes for your custom training solution.
About the Trainer
All of the training courses listed here are taught by Mike Griffiths. Mike was involved in the creation of the agile method DSDM in 1994 and has been using agile methods (Scrum, XP, FDD, DSDM) in a variety of business and technical domains for the last 20 years. He is active in both the agile community and traditional project management circles. Mike served on the board of the Agile Alliance and the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN). He was a contributor to the PMBOK v3, V4, & V5 Guide and is a trainer for the PMI SeminarsWorld program. Mike served on the Steering Committee for the design of the PMI-ACP exam and authored the best selling PMI-ACP Exam Prep book for RMC.
Testimonials
Some attendee comments:
"This was a very well executed course. Instructor (Mike Griffiths) was very engaging!" – Ameila White, Boeing
"Excellent course with great information" – Tom Gehret, JNJ Vision Care
"Excellent class, timely subject material I can use" – Julia McGowern, Kaiser Permenante
"The instructor was very knowledgeable, class well organized, content at the right level of detail and very comprehensive. One of the best classes I have taken regarding PM topics" – James Bernard, Scottsdale
"Excellent facilitator. Mike is respectful and knowledgeable" - Nghiem Pauline, San Diego, CA
"The course was fantastic, better that I thought it might be" - Kimberly Kehoe, San Diego, CA
"Mike delivers an exceptionally well reasoned and effective presentation of agile. Thoroughly appreciated"- Bill Palace, El Sugund, CA
"Mike is an excellent instructor and I really appreciated his organized and clear, well researched presentation. His domain and project management experience is evident from his talk. Also I appreciate his exposure/experience to multiple approaches like PRINCE2, PMBOK, Scrum, DSDM etc." - Sarah Harris, OpenText
"Great content and delivery" – Andrea Williams, Fed Ex
"The instructor was one of the best I have had at a PMI Seminar"- Ann Wittenauer, US Census Bureau
"Great Stuff!, Really enjoyed instructor and real-world examples" - Don Brusasco, Northridge, CA
"The instructor did an excellent job of keeping the pace, - clearly explaining topics and providing practical applications"- Cathy MacKinnon, Schering Plough Corp
"Excellent!" – Peter Colquohoun, Australian Defence
Clients include: