Agile Based Learning and Agile Based Leadership (Week 11)

Digital & Collaborative Learning (DCL) - Agile Based Learning

Looking at what project management looks like in our schools...
For most schools project management is sort of a pyramid structure and implementation styles vary.

An overview of Agile structure vs Waterfall structure

'Old styles' is Waterfall. With agile it is more like formative assessment.

Does your process look like a Waterfall? As Steve McConell ('Rapid development', 1995) says, it's possible for a salmon to go back up a waterfall, but it's not easy!

Activity: 
How would you rewrite the agile manifesto to apply to teaching and learning?
"Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation customer collaboration over contact negotiation responding to change over following a plan. That is, while there is value in the items on the left more."

This is how Sue, Liz and I rewrite it:

What Peha thinks:

Activity: 
What does project management look like in your school? By Sue, Liz and I

We looked at how story cards are used to record user requirements in agile teams.

It is about what the user want and why.
Looking at agile planning:
As a ...
I need / I want to...
So that ...
(and as Sue said, this is a great way to eat an elephant!)

Activity: 

Create learning user stories and add them to a Trello board

Kanban charts can be used in agile projects. It can also be used in the classroom...

Leadership in Digital & Collaborative Learning (LDC) - Agile Based Leadership
We played a game to demonstrate how self organising teams are an important component of agile management

Our group's strategy - passing in star form. Then we realised it's going faster if taking more balls in hands and pass on. Reflected on self-organising teams and leadership with the ball point game improvement kata with these questions: What did we learn? How might this experience offer insights into how the teams you operate in at school (can) self-organise.

Simon Breakspear asking 'What is an Agile Leadership Mindset?' 

The mindset of an agile leader is to get better all the time.

Agile Leadership style:

• Facilitate 
• Remove obstacles 
• Encourage reflection 
• Be a servant leader 
• Create a safe environment 
• Allow team to self-organise

There can still be boundaries to work within - in a self-organising team. Function and structure are closely linked. A flat structure will result in agile function whereas a hierarchical structure will lead to waterfall functions.

Individual Activity: Agile Leadership
Revisit your presentation of your school's planning process and look at what adjustment you would make by applying agile leadership concepts and look at what obstacles would need to be removed.

~ "We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated." - Maya Angelou ~

You will inevitably run into challenges along your agile journey, the key is to learn from these challenges and overcome them through stand-ups and retrospectives.