Certified Less Basics (CLB)- GUARANTEED TO RUN

Course Overview

Certified LeSS Basics

As per LeSS overview video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BZf_Oa7W94&t=6s, and LeSS's antithetical stance to typical misconceptions about Scrum at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2rjaGmUzo&t=14s, Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) is a framework for scaling agile development methods for multiple teams. More accurately, LeSS is for de-scaling the organization, simplifying organization design, processes & workflows. A short overview can be found on LeSS.works.

LeSS builds on the Scrum principles such as empiricism and cross-functional, self-managing teams and provides a framework to use them on a larger scale. Here, simple structural rules and guidelines are given, as Scrum can also be used for large projects in product development.

The Certified LeSS Basics course provides an initial introduction to the LeSS framework. You will get an overview of the framework itself and get to know some of the basic concepts. The course will help you decide if LeSS could be the right one for your needs, but for the introduction of LeSS, we also recommend participating in a  LeSS Practitioner course.

CLB is suitable for anyone who deals with the concept of LeSS. Basic knowledge of Scrum is required, which means, for example, that a course has already been completed as a  Certified Scrum Master or a  Professional Scrum Master, or has been acquired through the study of specialist literature such as the  Scrum Primer and practical experience in using Scrum. The Certified Less Basics course is often offered as an extension day of a Scrum course and thus serves to deepen Scrum-focused training.

Would you like to know what practical experience some companies have had with the introduction of LeSS? Then visit the LeSS Case Studies page

AGENDA:

• Articulate why LeSS
• Explain how LeSS is a Scrum-based approach to scaling
• Summarize what impact this has on the organizational design (structures, policies, etc.)
• Explain the dynamics of component teams vs. feature teams
• Explain all LeSS roles and their purposes
• Explain why there is one and only real PO and not so-called team POs
• Explain the LeSS Complete diagram, organizing LeSS information in terms of the principles, rules, guides, and experiments
• Explain how LeSS scales over ~8 teams
• Analyze one's own current organizations’ state
• Evaluate the applicability of LeSS in one's own current work environment
• What organizational impacts LeSS adoption may cause.
• What impact would LeSS adoption make to participants’ work life?

Starts with LeSS Friendly "Scrum reset" then continues with CLB agenda. Optional reset on Zoom calls or relaxed informal warm-up event before the workshop

Learning Goals

Foundational Knowledge

A year (or more) after this course is over, we want and hope that participants will still be able to:

• Articulate why LeSS
• Explain how LeSS is a Scrum-based approach to scaling
• Summarize what impact this has on the organizational design (structures, policies, etc.)
• Explain the dynamics of component teams vs. feature teams
• Explain all LeSS roles and their purposes
• Explain why there is one and only real PO and not so-called team POs
• Explain the LeSS Complete diagram, organizing LeSS information in terms of the principles, rules, guides, and experiments
• Explain how LeSS scales over ~8 teams
• Know the existence of and location of major learning resources at less.works, including at least these sections: Why LeSS?, Introduction to LeSS (chapter 2 from book 3), the rules, the online videos & books chapters. 

Application Goals

After the class, we expect that participants will have skills to:

• Analyze their current organizations’ state
• Evaluate the applicability of LeSS in their current work environment

Integration Goals

After the class we want and hope participants are able to make following the connections:

• LeSS is Scrum.
• What organizational impacts LeSS adoption may cause.
• What impact would LeSS adoption make to participants’ work life?
• LeSS is building on top of modern management thinking. Eg. Peter Senge, John Seddon, W. Edwards Deming, Taiichi Ohno, Richard Hackman, Robert Sutton, and Jeffrey Pfeffer.  The authors and practitioners of LeSS advocate understanding leading management thinkers and prevailing evidence in terms of management thinking and participants are encouraged to continue learning post-training.

Human Dimensions Goals

After the class we want and hope participants have made the following realizations:

• There is no blame. People’s behavior is determined by the system they are in (managers have a responsibility to change the system).
• What participants could or should learn about themselves
• What is preventing them from influencing the organization they are currently in
• What participants could or should learn about understanding others and/or interacting with them

Caring Goals

After the class, we want and hope participants have

• Interest in learning more about topics discussed in the class
• New ideas about their future