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DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230720T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230720T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230619T171009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T171009Z
UID:10000169-1689854400-1689858000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Safe Enough to Stay Silent
DESCRIPTION:Facilitators often worry about how to bring out quiet voices. Silence can be a sign that people are withholding their ideas because they do not feel safe enough to speak up. But silence is not something to eliminate entirely! This session will explore productive and unproductive uses of silence in group meetings. Find out how high performing teams use silence well and how to talk to your team about silence.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/safe-enough-to-stay-silent/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Cartoon-cricket-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82659533063
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230712T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230712T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230613T184414Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230613T184414Z
UID:10000166-1689159600-1689163200@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Partners\, Not Stakeholders: Reframing Stakeholder Management
DESCRIPTION:Does your organization seem to bless anyone with an opinion about your work with the title of “stakeholder?” As a result\, are you surrounded by more stakeholders than Dracula? Is trying to satisfy multiple competing interests a pain in the neck? In this session\, we’ll sink our teeth into the problem of stakeholder management. We’ll look at how organizational structures are reflected in pressures on teams. Together we’ll explore how to navigate these tensions in ways that don’t suck.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/partners-not-stakeholders-reframing-stakeholder-management/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/no_stakeholders.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88423563615
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230705T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230705T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230613T202210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230613T211420Z
UID:10000167-1688558400-1688562000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Well Beyond Self-Care: Pragmatic Self-Improvement Series (Part 1)
DESCRIPTION:We have heard a lot about “self-care”\, this basic idea which is\, shocker\, we should take care of ourselves. As leaders\, coaches\, and humans\, we are both experiencing and helping others who are experiencing frustration\, change\, conflict\, frustration\, unfair situations\, disappointment\, inconsistency\, lack of autonomy\, and more. How do we do our job and not get burned-out or stressed? Is it even possible? The most common tip I hear is “drink water”\, and while that is very important\, it is insufficient. People know they should drink enough water and don’t (telling them has not solved the issue either). You can apply this same thinking to many other tips. \nDuring this session\, we will first dig into the core things people ‘know’ and look into how they resonate and are adopted. We will then take a deeper dive into another level of options that go beyond these initial core tips and ideas. Many of these ideas will not be totally new to you\, however many people don’t associate some of these with ‘self-care’\, hence the use of ‘self-improvement’. Additionally\, even less people focus on them. In the end\, we want to start to understand what might actually be useful to do and begin to look at what might be holding us back.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/self-care-or-improvement-well-beyond-the-basics-part-1/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Self-Improvement-can-be-slow-scaled.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Jake Calabrese":MAILTO:info@helpingimprove.com
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89544503958
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230629T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230629T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230502T213814Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230502T213814Z
UID:10000159-1688036400-1688040000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:What Are You Actually Doing In Your Retrospectives?
DESCRIPTION:“At regular intervals\, the team reflects on how to become more effective\, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” This is the twelfth principle behind the Agile Manifesto. Inspecting and adapting are so crucial to agility that many frameworks include a retrospective event dedicated to this principle. At the same time\, retrospectives are perhaps the most mysterious and poorly implemented agile practice. What do good retrospectives look like? What are your teams doing in theirs? Join us for a “retro on retros” and learn how to help your teams better embody this agile principle.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/what-are-you-actually-doing-in-your-retrospectives/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/past_future-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88952876660
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230621T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230621T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230609T184453Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230613T204756Z
UID:10000157-1687348800-1687352400@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Self Compassion - Why its Not What We Think.
DESCRIPTION:What exactly is self-compassion? Some people hear the term and think it’s about being nice to themselves\, which is a part of it – but it is not that simple. Other people hear the term is and think it will make them soft or weak. The science behind self-compassion shows that people who have it actually perform BETTER. This session will explore the 3 core elements of self-compassion – what they are\, how they relate to stress responses\, and how you can utilize them. Through this process\, we will also dispel some common myths and concepts\, like the idea that self-esteem is useful. Most people tend to be at least occasionally critical of themselves; some of us more than others. Regardless of how much or how little you do that\, this session may be useful to you if you are self-critical\, put yourself down\, judge yourself\, feel like you are an imposter\, feel like others are doing better than you\, always feel like you are doing something wrong\, or worse. Two Notes: Self-compassion can be helpful even if you think you can’t be helped! And we will work through these in a way that you will not be required to share anything you don’t want to share. Note: This is part of the Well Beyond Self-Care: Pragmatic Self-Improvement Series.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/self-compassion-why-its-not-what-we-think/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/self-compassion-stop-trash-talking-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84221893742
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230614T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230614T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230515T205529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230515T205529Z
UID:10000165-1686740400-1686744000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Mentorship Beyond Advice-Giving
DESCRIPTION:Mentoring can be magical when done right. It can give someone a level up in developing their skills\, achieving results\, and increasing their confidence. But if the mentor or mentee treat mentorship as something where only the mentee receives\, the relationship can fizzle out. This session will explore the archetypal role of the Mentor and what mentees are seeking. Join this Learning Lab to rediscover what a strong mentorship relationship can be like and participate in simple activity you can use to deepen respect between mentor and mentee. Allison will also share resources from her experience leading Women in Agile’s Mentorship program that you can use.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/mentorship-beyond-advice-giving/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mentorship-Beyond-Advice-Giving-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84835144735
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230607T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230607T110000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230501T163254Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230501T173029Z
UID:10000158-1686132000-1686135600@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Humanizing the Org Chart
DESCRIPTION:Observers of organizational structure often focus on formal authority: Who is responsible for what and who reports to whom. They describe some structures as more “hierarchical” and others as more “flat.” Authority is an important element in organizations\, but it is not the only one. This session takes an alternative view: Looking at organizations as networks of mutually supportive partnerships. We’ll explore ways to assess and improve the health of these partnerships by examining a specific one – the relationship between you and your manager.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/humanizing-the-org-chart/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/human_org_chart-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81732119871
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230531T084500
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230601T170000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230113T192849Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230601T194445Z
UID:10000135-1685522700-1685638800@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Certified ScrumMaster® [CSM] Training - Virtual
DESCRIPTION:Learn the core elements of Scrum and the ScrumMaster role and how Scrum helps teams thrive so they can deliver for customers.\n\n\nCertified ScrumMaster® Training \nA ScrumMaster is someone who works to help the Scrum Team and the organization continuously improve. This work includes helping to remove organizational impediments that slow the team down\, or making the impediments transparent (everyone agrees they are okay going slower). They are not a project manager\, given they are not accountable for delivery of a project. Instead they are accountable to help everyone on the team improve and help create an environment and structure where they can thrive and deliver for customers. \nStudents will work on engaging exercises and a simulation (to keep things fun and interesting) throughout the class. These activities provide opportunities to think and experience Scrum concepts by working on them in small groups. Throughout the course\, we will dig into real life situations and tackle tough questions. Our approach is reality based\, and we expect students to push back and challenge concepts that don’t work in their organization. Expect to work in various groups and be engaged throughout the course. We never use slides – so if you planned for a nap\, this is the wrong class for you. \nWhat is Scrum?\nScrum is an agile framework used to get work done. Scrum works in a variety of situations\, but it thrives when either the work or the environment is complex and not as predicable as we would like. Scrum focuses on delivering incrementally in small chunks\, to allow us to learn more and adapt\, rather than just continuing to deliver things that are no longer needed or perhaps never were. \nScrum is based on the principles of inspection\, adaptation\, and transparency. These three principles are the foundation to being success in the face of complexity. Transparency allows people to see issues\, challenges\, and places that can be improved. Inspection and adaptation focus on continuous learning and improvement. Scrum consists of a number of events\, artifacts\, jobs to be done\, and practices. You can read more about Scrum in the Scrum Guide\, which is free to read or download. \nWho Should Attend\nThis course should be attended by anyone who wants a foundational knowledge of scrum and what scrum is in practice. \n\nScrumMasters\, Agile Coaches\, Product Owners\nScrum team members\, agile team members\nArchitects\, business analysts\, database administrators\, developers\, operations and support\, quality assurance testers\, usability specialists\, etc.\nManagers\, directors\, and others tasked with helping teams succeed with scrum and agile (very hard to do if you do not understand it)\nAnyone outside of software or IT: Our CSM class covers topics and examples that are applicable to those outside of software. We also offer training specifically geared to this group. See our Agile Beyond Software course for more information.\n\nWhat to Expect\nWe take training and learning seriously. We respect the investment of both time and money that you are making to advance your skills. As such\, we use the latest training approaches and techniques. We also bring energy and fun to ensure you have the best possible experience and learn as much as possible. In this course\, you can expect: \n\nBrain-friendly training to dramatically increase learning and retention (instructors are Certified Training from the Back of the Room Trainers).\nOpportunities throughout the course to focus on your real-world situations.\nIn-depth engagement with your instructors and fellow attendees. If you are looking for a dry lecture (we use zero slides)\, this class is NOT for you!\nInteractive\, fun\, and experiential learning — increasing safety and retention — laughing helps learning.\nChallenging work with others that focuses on your real organizational issues.\n\nLearning Objectives\n\nWhat is agile and why does it matter: Learn how to discuss agile and scrum with others in your organization and explain why agile is useful and in what contexts.\nDiscuss how complexity and empiricism impact our business decisions and impact our success.\nAnalyze agile principles and values as well as lean principles to understand which are most valuable to you and consider how you could apply them in real life.\nLearn the differences between doing agile practices and being an agile organization.\nPractice using scrum with a simulation where you work as a small team (3-6 people) to create a product.\nLearn the ins-and-outs of scrum events (sprint\, sprint planning\, daily scrum\, sprint review\, sprint retrospective).\nLearn how scrum artifacts and supporting practices help you be successful as well as tips and tricks for doing them well (product backlog\, sprint backlog\, sprint goal\, product goal\, definition of done\, definition of ready\, product increment\, etc.).\nUnderstand what each of the three jobs (not titles) in scrum are\, how they work together\, what they are accountable for\, and what to avoid.\nExplore why scrum values mean little without focusing on the behaviors that support them.\nTrue leadership and servant leadership – what does it mean to lead?\nReality – we expect you to ask the tough questions. We expect you to bring up situations where scrum did not work for you.\nUncover the role of the ScrumMaster regarding impediments and how to first ask the team to solve issues then make the costs transparent!\nReview additional approaches such as facilitation and professional coaching to understand new ways to engage people and teams.\nDiscuss reality: We don’t tell you to “trust us” or include “agile is cool” as a reason to use agile. We EXPECT you to ask hard questions\, as long as you are open to digging into the answers. Scrum is NOT a silver-bullet\, nor is agile. They still require hard work.\n\nWho Should Attend\nThis course should be attended by anyone who wants a foundational knowledge of scrum and what scrum is in practice. \n\nScrumMasters\, Agile Coaches\, Product Owners\nScrum team members\, agile team members\nArchitects\, business analysts\, database administrators\, developers\, operations and support\, quality assurance testers\, usability specialists\, etc.\nManagers\, directors\, and others tasked with helping teams succeed with scrum and agile (very hard to do if you do not understand it)\nAnyone outside of software or IT: Our CSM class covers topics and examples that are applicable to those outside of software. We also offer training specifically geared to this group. See our Agile Beyond Software course for more information.\n\nDetails\nCourse Length: 4 1/2 day sessions (2 full days total) 2-days + pre-work \nLevel: Introductory to Intermediate (ask about more in-depth versions) \nPrerequisites\n\nAn interest in learning and discovering new ideas\nFor the CSM Certification\, see the Certification Requirements section\n\nCourse Credit\n\n16 PMI PDUs\n16 Scrum Alliance SEUs\nQualified to take the CSM Exam (exam fee is included in the course fee)\n\nCertification Requirements\nThe course meets the learning objectives for the Scrum Alliance Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) Certification Training. This class is one of the requirements to receive the CSM certification from Scrum Alliance. To qualify\, you must: \n\nComplete the class prework.\nAttend and participate in the entire CSM class.\nComplete and pass the CSM exam after completing the class. We will submit your name to Scrum Alliance® after completing the class and you can create a profile and take the exam at that time. We cover everything you need to pass the exam in the course.\n\nCourse Facilitator\nJake Calabrese\nJake is a coach\, trainer\, and coach-consultant working to help organizations meet the promise of agile by going beyond agile practices to address culture challenges and help teams and leaders reach and maintain high performance. He has unique expertise as an Organization & Relationship Systems Certified Coach (ORSCC)\, a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)\, Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC)\, and Professional Certified Coach (PCC)\, and as a trainer and coach for Agile Companies (helping non-software organizations use agile). Jake created the AgileSafari cartoon series to introduce humor into the more challenging issues we have to tackle. Jake uses ideas from various areas of thinking such as: Lean\, professional coaching\, neuroscience\, psychology\, facilitation\, brain-based training\, improvisation\, agile\, kanban\, and scrum. Jake regularly speaks at local and national conferences including Mile High Agile\, Scrum Gathering\, and Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. \n\n\nCancellations and Transfers\nPlease email us to request a transfer or to cancel. Refunds will be provided with 30 days notice of cancellation. One-time transfer to a future class will be provided with 14 days notice\, for free. Transfers requests with less than 14 days of notice or additional transfers (after the first transfer)\, will incur a $250 fee.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/certified-scrummaster-csm-training-virtual-8/
CATEGORIES:Certified ScrumMaster,Courses
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/66bd8def056dc88d744b0f0e2c79a53f-kEaW7q.tmp_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230530T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230530T140000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230414T220829Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230414T220829Z
UID:10000155-1685451600-1685455200@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Getting Any (?) Agile Question Answered with Presentation Karaoke
DESCRIPTION:Challenge yourself (it’s fun) with a bit of play and practice by joining in a session of presentation karaoke. See what we can learn! Can you think on the fly and adapt to any agile-themed challenge thrown at you? Join the fun and find out! Presentation karaoke is fairly straightforward. If you volunteer to present a session (very short sessions of less than 2 minutes each)\, you will get a topic and then\, present about it\, on the fly to random slides that auto-advance! It will be entertaining as people present on a topic not knowing what image will pop-up next. Fun? Challenging? Interesting? YES! Come and enjoy! And you might just learn a few things along the way!
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/getting-any-agile-question-answered-with-presentation-karaoke/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Presentation-Karaoke-scaled.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Jake Calabrese":MAILTO:info@helpingimprove.com
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85041870370
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230525T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230525T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230414T215353Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230414T215435Z
UID:10000154-1685012400-1685016000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Testing Your Product's Most Critical Assumptions
DESCRIPTION:Every idea for a new feature\, product\, service\, strategy\, or business contains uncertainty\, assumptions\, and risk. Driving out uncertainty and reducing risk is an essential part of development. With well-designed experiments\, developers can test the theories behind these ideas. Not all assumptions are created equal\, however. Some will only require a minor change to your plans if they are proven wrong. Others will invalidate the entire idea. So how do you know what experiments to prioritize? In this session\, we will examine the types of risks that a development effort must address. We will also explore a method you can use to uncover the most critical assumptions to test first.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/testing-your-products-most-critical-assumptions/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/assumption_types.jpg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87075668532
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230518T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230518T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230413T205517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230413T205517Z
UID:10000152-1684411200-1684414800@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Exploring the Dream and Truth of Your Difficult Change Sponsor
DESCRIPTION:It can be exhausting to support people through change without an effective change sponsor to do their part as a leader. Change agents in this cycle of “leadership made the decision\, and my role is to execute it” can find themselves playing small with leaders and burning out over time. This session will explore the dynamics between change agent and sponsor roles—how we want it to be and how it is currently. Gain awareness into where you behave in a way that feels “off” around your change sponsor. Discover how the key to improving your working relationship may be in the very thing that makes them difficult to work with!
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/exploring-the-dream-and-truth-of-your-difficult-change-sponsor/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Balloons-fly-away-through-open-door-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88695504160
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230509T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230509T150000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230414T200535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230414T200838Z
UID:10000153-1683640800-1683644400@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Can the Principles of Fierce Conversations Fix Your Problems?
DESCRIPTION:Many people are familiar with Fierce Conversations (the book and model) by Susan Scott. The book contains 7 principles\, including “Master the courage to interrogate reality”\, “Tackle your toughest challenge today”\, and “Take responsibility for your emotional wake”. In this session\, we will review the principles and basic definitions of each. Then we will take a deep dive into them exploring when we follow the principles and when we don’t. Expect to get into some depth here because we will be looking for some easy examples as well as some challenging examples from everyone. We will have a few options for the challenging examples\, to make things safe\, since some folks may not want to share the most challenging example. My goal will be to share at least one of my very challenging examples of when I struggle to follow a principle – and what I am doing to start doing it more. Throughout this session and afterwards\, you can ponder\, “can these fix my problems?” and decide what to do next.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/can-the-principles-of-fierce-conversations-fix-your-problems/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Interrogate-Reality-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89235964982
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230504T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230504T110000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230413T195236Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230413T195236Z
UID:10000151-1683194400-1683198000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Amplifying Your Voice in the Community
DESCRIPTION:Does the thought of speaking in public make your palms sweat? Is there a voice in your head that saying you’re not “expert-enough” to present at a meetup or conference? In this session we’ll help you discover that you’re more ready to start public speaking than you might think. Leaders can engage with people to listen and explore—even as the featured presenter—to help them become what they can be. If you’re thinking about how to become a speaker in the future\, now’s a good time to start! Allison will share her experience as an introvert and lead activities to get you thinking about what you could share with the community.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/amplifying-your-voice-in-the-community/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Microphone-on-stage-to-give-a-presentation-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88938601071
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230502T083000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230504T170000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230113T192854Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230504T052927Z
UID:10000138-1683016200-1683219600@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Agile Leadership: Leading Amazing Teams [LAT] - Virtual
DESCRIPTION:Gain critical professional coaching tools\, techniques\, skills\, and ideas that help leaders enable high performing teams.\n\n\nAgile Leadership — Leading Amazing Teams for Breakthrough Results\nLeaders today face shifting challenges when helping teams succeed in our complex world. With increasing speed\, change\, and unknowns\, leaders can’t rely on ‘knowing everything’ — there is too much happening. While many leaders realize this\, acting on it to create an environment where teams can thrive and deliver is not simple. Leaders need to bring new and deeper levels of skill and engagement to meet these challenges. \nHigh-performance is more than a catchphrase\, it is a state where teams are self-organizing to solve problems and deliver value to customers. Self-organizing and self-managing are not the same. The process of helping teams reach and maintain high-performance state varies from team to team and organization to organization\, however\, the foundational skills leaders need do not change. \nLeadership – leading to create real empowered high-performance teams. While we want teams to solve many of their own challenges\, leaders play a critical part in this process by helping teams continue to improve and develop. Great leaders engage with people and teams to address issues like conflict head-on\, helping teams find ways to gain from conflict and improve. They don’t have the luxury of telling teams “you are empowered” and walking away – they must do ‘just enough’ to help teams thrive. This requires leaders to have the awareness and protocols in place to know when they might be limiting the team. Agile Leadership — Leading Amazing Teams brings critical tools\, techniques\, skills\, and ideas from professional coaching\, brain-based training\, neuroscience\, leadership\, change management\, and much more to help leaders succeed. \nWhat to Expect\nWe take training and learning seriously and take your decision to spend time advancing your skills and improving yourself seriously. As such\, we use the latest training approaches and techniques\, and bring energy and fun\, to ensure you have the best possible experience and learn as much as possible. \n\n Brain-based training to dramatically increase learning and retention (both instructors are Certified Training From the Back of the Room Trainers)\n Expect to be challenged and look at ways you need to change to help others improve\n Opportunities throughout the course to focus on your real-world situations\n Advanced and cutting-edge skills and techniques to deal with the specific challenges you are facing\n In-depth engagement with your instructors and fellow attendees. If you are looking for a dry lecture\, this class is NOT for you!\n Interactive\, fun\, and experiential learning — increase safety and retention – laughing helps learning\n Two Instructors — This course is co-taught as a partnership by two instructors (Tricia Broderick and Jake Calabrese)\, providing additional depth and insight\, varied experiences and learning opportunities\, and real-time lessons around co-leadership\n\nLearning Objectives\n\nUnderstand the connection between leadership and coaching to achieve high performance\nExplain the value of agile coaching and leading with coaching in today’s world\nExplore and practice using a coaching framework to find your leadership stance\nLearn to assess the level of coaching a team requires and when to ask for help\nDemonstrate how to kick off a new team and provide them with a foundation for success\nApply multiple coaching tools and techniques\, in various situations\, to help individuals and teams create and maintain a high performing team\nDispel common Agile Leadership Myths to address real team challenges\nLearn about and practice shifting your mindset to approach leadership challenges from new perspectives that empower teams\nExplore your ability and capacity as a coach and leader and determine what areas you need to improve\nExplore challenges with organizational agility and multiple teams — and opportunities to address the challenges\nExperience new ideas to help teams embrace healthy conflict as normal\nDemonstrate Training from the Back of the Room\, Brain-based training techniques that you can use as a leader\, manager\, or coach to help your teams continuously improve\nApply practices & skills from the field of Professional Coaching and learn how they are critical to your success as a leader\nEstablish and refine a leadership backlog to apply when you return to work\n\nWho Should Attend\n\nAnyone who is leading teams or groups in an organization\nLeaders involved with helping teams succeed\, including leadership teams\, delivery teams\, Scrum teams\, agile teams\, etc.\nDirectors\, VPs\, managers\, development managers\, agile coaches\, executives\, aspiring leaders (with team experience)\n\nDetails\nLength: 3-days + pre-reading assignments that we will use during class \nLocation: Virtual\, via Zoom with Miro for interactive exercises \nLevel: Intermediate to Advanced \nPrerequisites\n\nAnyone who is leading teams or groups in an organization\nLeaders involved with helping teams succeed\, including leadership teams\, delivery teams\, Scrum teams\, agile teams\, etc.\nDirectors\, VPs\, managers\, development managers\, agile coaches\, executives\, aspiring leaders (with team experience)\n\nCourse Credit & Certifications\n\n27 PMI PDUs\n27 Scrum Alliance SEUs\nICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC)\nScrum Alliance Certified Agile Leadership – Teams (CAL-T)\n\nCourse Facilitators \nLeading Amazing teams is co-trained by Jake Calabrese\, Helping Improve and Tricia Broderick\, Ignite Insight + Innovation. \nJake Calabrese\nJake is a coach\, trainer\, and coach-consultant working to help organizations meet the promise of agile by going beyond agile practices to address culture challenges and help teams and leaders reach and maintain high performance. He has unique expertise as an Organization & Relationship Systems Certified Coach (ORSCC)\, a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)\, Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC)\, and Professional Certified Coach (PCC)\, and as a trainer and coach for Agile Companies (helping non-software organizations use agile). Jake created the AgileSafari cartoon series to introduce humor into the more challenging issues we have to tackle. Jake uses ideas from various areas of thinking such as: Lean\, professional coaching\, neuroscience\, psychology\, facilitation\, brain-based training\, improvisation\, agile\, kanban\, and scrum. Jake regularly speaks at local and national conferences including Mile High Agile\, Scrum Gathering\, and Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. \n \nTricia Broderick\nTricia Broderick is a leadership and organizational advisor. Her transformational leadership at all levels of an organization\, ignites the growth of leaders and high performing teams to deliver quality outcomes. Tricia has more than twenty years of experience in the software development industry. She is a highly-rated trainer\, coach\, facilitator and motivational keynote speaker. Beyond her extensive knowledge and skills\, her biggest offering is inspiring people to believe anything is possible. Her aim is to create connections and environments that challenge and support people in an authentic\, vulnerable\, engaging and fun way. In 2020\, she founded Ignite Insight & Innovation. \n \n\n\nCancellations and Transfers\nPlease email us to request a transfer or to cancel. Refunds will be provided with 30 days notice of cancellation. One-time transfer to a future class will be provided with 14 days notice\, for free. Transfers requests with less than 14 days of notice or additional transfers (after the first transfer)\, will incur a $250 fee.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/agile-leadership-leading-amazing-teams-lat-virtual-6/
CATEGORIES:Courses,Leading Amazing Teams
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230427T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230427T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230320T164824Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230320T165142Z
UID:10000150-1682596800-1682600400@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Just Say "No" to Handoffs
DESCRIPTION:Many organizations want efficiency and seek to reduce waste. But as Allen Ward pointed out\, “What is the most fundamental waste in conventional companies? Hand-offs.” In their pursuit of efficiency\, most organizations actually increase the number of handoffs\, making things worse. This happens when people misunderstand the nature and cost of handoffs. In this session\, we will discuss what a handoff is and how it creates waste. You’ll learn to spot handoffs in your organization and explore what you can do to reduce them.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/no-to-handoffs/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/no_handoff.png
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82559284338
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230419T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230419T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230317T204430Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230317T233533Z
UID:10000146-1681905600-1681909200@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Facilitating a Product Priority Alignment Workshop
DESCRIPTION:One of the largest problems in organizations\, is a lack of alignment and prioritization around work. There are many challenges around solving this problem. Factors that impact the ability to align and prioritize include\, projects\, products\, the size of pieces of work people see as valuable\, budgeting processes\, alignment within the organization on direction – and many more. In this session\, we will walk through an approach to facilitating a multi-stakeholder Product Prioritization Workshop. This type of session can be used to start to find alignment across a department\, division and can be scaled to run for an entire organization. We will work through some key elements\, explore the challenges\, and discuss potential outcomes. Note that the scope of this session will focus on product management and minimum marketable features. We will point out some ways to use this outside of this scope\, as time allows.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/facilitating-a-product-priority-alignment-workshop/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/No-Prioritization-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82407770152
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230417T083000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230418T170000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230113T192849Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230418T174540Z
UID:10000134-1681720200-1681837200@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Advanced Certified Scrum Master [A-CSM] - Agile Facilitation
DESCRIPTION:Looking for an interactive\, fun\, interesting course focused not just on answers but on how to engage others and tap into their knowledge?\n\n\nAdvanced Certified Scrum Master  – Agile Facilitation\nWhen working in organizations\, we often hear the question\, “How do we help our teams improve?” Facilitation skills play a crucial role in this process. They help in more subtle and lasting ways than using positional power to tell people what to do. One of the critical challenges is learning how to help bring people together to deliver value without taking ownership. Bringing people together goes beyond getting consensus. Getting to collaboration means tapping into the knowledge and wisdom of the entire team. \nAdvanced Certified Scrum Master® (A-CSM℠) – Agile Facilitation helps ScrumMasters and other Agile leaders with the real day-to-day challenges of helping teams and organizations grow and improve. Throughout the course\, you will use hands-on\, engaging exercises to learn and expand your knowledge of how to: \n\nFacilitate better dialogue between the Product Owner\, team members\, customers\, stakeholders\, and executives.\nRespond confidently when encountering resistance to change\, lack of engagement\, low motivation\, and people’s unavailability.\nTroubleshoot agile challenges and issues – in ways that create more learning.\nIncrease engagement to encourage greater accountability\, commitment\, and buy-in.\nHave valuable agile scaling conversations.\n\nThroughout this course\, you will work through exercises based on common agile and organizational challenges. You will have the opportunity to design and facilitate sessions\, assess and explore conflict models\, assess areas for your own personal development (which is critical for leaders)\, and experience a live professional coaching session to begin to understand the power of professional coaching for leaders and ScrumMasters. \n\n\nWho Should Attend\nTypical attendees include ScrumMasters\, manages\, agile coaches\, project managers\, product owners/managers\, facilitators\, and agile team members. \nWe welcome anyone who wants to level up their facilitation skills or incorporate new leadership approaches\, including: \n\nLeaders and others in the organization who are looking for ways to tap into more of their people’s knowledge\nAnyone who wants to explore new approaches and concepts to help improve as a leader\nThose interested in learning how to use facilitation techniques to increase team engagement\nIndividuals who understand the basics of scrum and want to look at root cause issues behind surface level challenges\nPeople with an interest in improving themselves so they are not – inadvertently – the impediment to progress\n\n\n\nLearning Objectives\n\nUnderstand how facilitation helps leaders achieve high-performance teams\nExplain the value of facilitation and all aspects involved in great facilitation (and learn why it is not the same as ‘leading the meeting’)\nExamine common facilitation challenges to improve your results\nAnalyze challenges and break assumptions to identify the real issues slowing you and your team’s down\nIdentify key aspects of what it means to be a team leader and how you can leverage those skills\nDiscover what drives your team towards shared ownership\nDefine what it means to be a high-performance team and factors to focus on to help teams improve\nPractice designing\, facilitating\, and evaluating several events using multiple facilitation tools and techniques\nExplore key scrum challenges and gain techniques to deal with topics such as conflict\, listening\, collaboration\, and decision making\nRecognize various scaling approaches and discuss when to scale\nObserve and evaluate the differences between coaching and other approaches\nEvaluate how engineering principles and practices can help teams collaborate and deliver value\nLearn new ways to improve how you listen\, how you can stop blocking your listening\, and techniques to have hard conversations\n\n\n\nWhat to Expect\nWe take training and learning seriously\, whether in-person or virtual\, and respect the investment of both time and money you are making to advance your skills. We have significant experience creating engaging and valuable training experiences and believe in building instructor-led sessions that don’t rely on pre-recorded video or extensive slides. \nWhether you choose in-person or virtual instruction\, you can expect: \n\nBrain-friendly\, experiential training to dramatically increase learning and retention. Our aim is a class that’s extremely engaging\, interesting\, and applicable\, taught by instructors practiced in neuroscience-based training methods.\nColor\, in-depth printed workbooks provided for all students. For virtual courses\, we ship worksbooks direct to your home (or other location).\nLearning canvasses\, interactive discussions\, and answers to reality-based questions beyond the theory.\nOpportunities for challenging work throughout the course that focus on your real-world situations.\nIn-depth engagement with your instructor and fellow attendees. If you are looking for a dry lecture (or to watch your instructor click through endless slides)\, this class is NOT for you!\n\nWe’re happy to walk you through a live training session to illustrate how we teach and answer any questions.  We offer this course publicly and privately for your organization. Currently\, public classes are running virtually to accommodate people from multiple locations. If you are interested in a private class for your organization\, please contact us to discuss options. \n\n\nDetails\nLength\, Level & Credit\nLength: 2-days + prework \nLevel: Intermediate \nCourse Credit: \n\n16 PMI PDUs\n16 Scrum Alliance® SEUs\nQualified to apply for the Scrum Alliance – Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM)\n\nPrerequisites\n\nAnyone interested in learning these practices and ideas with a mindset open to new concepts (skeptical is still okay as long as you are open)\nFor the A-CSM Certification\, see the Certification Requirements below\n\n\n\nA-CSM Certification Requirements\nThe course meets the learning objectives for the Scrum Alliance Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM) Certification Training. This class is one of the requirements to receive the A-CSM certification. To qualify\, you must: \n\nHave an active Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification with the Scrum Alliance.\nComplete the class prework.\nAttend and participate in the entire A-CSM class.\nDocument at least 12 months of experience as a ScrumMaster on your Scrum Alliance Profile. Note: If you do not meet this requirement\, you can take the class and document the experience as you get it. You will not receive the certification until the documentation is complete.\n\nThe A-CSM is an advanced course on the path to certification as a Certified Scrum Professional. Read more about the A-CSM and Scrum Alliance Certification process or read all of the A-CSM Learning Objectives. \n\n\n\n\nCourse Facilitators \n\n\n\nJake Calabrese\nJake is a coach\, trainer\, and coach-consultant working to help organizations meet the promise of agile by going beyond agile practices to address culture challenges and help teams and leaders reach and maintain high performance. He has unique expertise as an Organization & Relationship Systems Certified Coach (ORSCC)\, a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)\, Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC)\, and Professional Certified Coach (PCC)\, and as a trainer and coach for Agile Companies (helping non-software organizations use agile). Jake created the AgileSafari cartoon series to introduce humor into the more challenging issues we have to tackle. Jake uses ideas from various areas of thinking such as: Lean\, professional coaching\, neuroscience\, psychology\, facilitation\, brain-based training\, improvisation\, agile\, kanban\, and scrum. Jake regularly speaks at local and national conferences including Mile High Agile\, Scrum Gathering\, and Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. \n \n\n\nCancellations and Transfers\nPlease email us to request a transfer or to cancel. Refunds will be provided with 30 days notice of cancellation. One-time transfer to a future class will be provided with 14 days notice\, for free. Transfers requests with less than 14 days of notice or additional transfers (after the first transfer)\, will incur a $250 fee.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/advanced-certified-scrum-master-a-csm-agile-facilitation/
CATEGORIES:Agile Facilitation Training with A-CSM,Courses
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230411T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230411T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230317T225651Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230317T225651Z
UID:10000147-1681210800-1681214400@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Don't Take Yes for an Answer
DESCRIPTION:Working together effectively relies on people being able to say both “yes” and “no.” But when was the last time you said “no” to your boss? And when was the last time someone gave you a “counterfeit yes” or the “corporate nod” and didn’t follow through with what they agreed to? This session will explore how power and positional authority affect people’s ability to say no. We will also introduce three techniques to help you know that when someone says “yes\,” they mean it.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/dont-take-yes-for-an-answer-2/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dont_take_yes.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82781999227
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230404T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230404T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230316T192928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230316T192928Z
UID:10000145-1680606000-1680609600@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Regenerative Change
DESCRIPTION:Are you sometimes tired from the effort needed to become more Agile? Do you or your team avoid improvements that require more than one sprint to make? Continuous improvement depends upon a willingness to change plus energy\, which changes frequently for us humans! A lack of energy or willingness to change can show up as resistance and be difficult to work with. What if improving could feel easier? In this session\, Allison Pollard shares a visual technique to see where the energy for a change is and help figure out what to do next. Learn how to work with your change style rather than against it\, and discover how to generate more willingness and energy for change within your team.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/regenerative-change/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AdobeStock_565159863-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84570009995
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230404T084500
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230405T170000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230113T192849Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230405T170006Z
UID:10000133-1680597900-1680714000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Certified ScrumMaster® [CSM] Training - Virtual
DESCRIPTION:Learn the core elements of Scrum and the ScrumMaster role and how Scrum helps teams thrive so they can deliver for customers.\n\n\nCertified ScrumMaster® Training \nA ScrumMaster is someone who works to help the Scrum Team and the organization continuously improve. This work includes helping to remove organizational impediments that slow the team down\, or making the impediments transparent (everyone agrees they are okay going slower). They are not a project manager\, given they are not accountable for delivery of a project. Instead they are accountable to help everyone on the team improve and help create an environment and structure where they can thrive and deliver for customers. \nStudents will work on engaging exercises and a simulation (to keep things fun and interesting) throughout the class. These activities provide opportunities to think and experience Scrum concepts by working on them in small groups. Throughout the course\, we will dig into real life situations and tackle tough questions. Our approach is reality based\, and we expect students to push back and challenge concepts that don’t work in their organization. Expect to work in various groups and be engaged throughout the course. We never use slides – so if you planned for a nap\, this is the wrong class for you. \nWhat is Scrum?\nScrum is an agile framework used to get work done. Scrum works in a variety of situations\, but it thrives when either the work or the environment is complex and not as predicable as we would like. Scrum focuses on delivering incrementally in small chunks\, to allow us to learn more and adapt\, rather than just continuing to deliver things that are no longer needed or perhaps never were. \nScrum is based on the principles of inspection\, adaptation\, and transparency. These three principles are the foundation to being success in the face of complexity. Transparency allows people to see issues\, challenges\, and places that can be improved. Inspection and adaptation focus on continuous learning and improvement. Scrum consists of a number of events\, artifacts\, jobs to be done\, and practices. You can read more about Scrum in the Scrum Guide\, which is free to read or download. \nWho Should Attend\nThis course should be attended by anyone who wants a foundational knowledge of scrum and what scrum is in practice. \n\nScrumMasters\, Agile Coaches\, Product Owners\nScrum team members\, agile team members\nArchitects\, business analysts\, database administrators\, developers\, operations and support\, quality assurance testers\, usability specialists\, etc.\nManagers\, directors\, and others tasked with helping teams succeed with scrum and agile (very hard to do if you do not understand it)\nAnyone outside of software or IT: Our CSM class covers topics and examples that are applicable to those outside of software. We also offer training specifically geared to this group. See our Agile Beyond Software course for more information.\n\nWhat to Expect\nWe take training and learning seriously. We respect the investment of both time and money that you are making to advance your skills. As such\, we use the latest training approaches and techniques. We also bring energy and fun to ensure you have the best possible experience and learn as much as possible. In this course\, you can expect: \n\nBrain-friendly training to dramatically increase learning and retention (instructors are Certified Training from the Back of the Room Trainers).\nOpportunities throughout the course to focus on your real-world situations.\nIn-depth engagement with your instructors and fellow attendees. If you are looking for a dry lecture (we use zero slides)\, this class is NOT for you!\nInteractive\, fun\, and experiential learning — increasing safety and retention — laughing helps learning.\nChallenging work with others that focuses on your real organizational issues.\n\nLearning Objectives\n\nWhat is agile and why does it matter: Learn how to discuss agile and scrum with others in your organization and explain why agile is useful and in what contexts.\nDiscuss how complexity and empiricism impact our business decisions and impact our success.\nAnalyze agile principles and values as well as lean principles to understand which are most valuable to you and consider how you could apply them in real life.\nLearn the differences between doing agile practices and being an agile organization.\nPractice using scrum with a simulation where you work as a small team (3-6 people) to create a product.\nLearn the ins-and-outs of scrum events (sprint\, sprint planning\, daily scrum\, sprint review\, sprint retrospective).\nLearn how scrum artifacts and supporting practices help you be successful as well as tips and tricks for doing them well (product backlog\, sprint backlog\, sprint goal\, product goal\, definition of done\, definition of ready\, product increment\, etc.).\nUnderstand what each of the three jobs (not titles) in scrum are\, how they work together\, what they are accountable for\, and what to avoid.\nExplore why scrum values mean little without focusing on the behaviors that support them.\nTrue leadership and servant leadership – what does it mean to lead?\nReality – we expect you to ask the tough questions. We expect you to bring up situations where scrum did not work for you.\nUncover the role of the ScrumMaster regarding impediments and how to first ask the team to solve issues then make the costs transparent!\nReview additional approaches such as facilitation and professional coaching to understand new ways to engage people and teams.\nDiscuss reality: We don’t tell you to “trust us” or include “agile is cool” as a reason to use agile. We EXPECT you to ask hard questions\, as long as you are open to digging into the answers. Scrum is NOT a silver-bullet\, nor is agile. They still require hard work.\n\nWho Should Attend\nThis course should be attended by anyone who wants a foundational knowledge of scrum and what scrum is in practice. \n\nScrumMasters\, Agile Coaches\, Product Owners\nScrum team members\, agile team members\nArchitects\, business analysts\, database administrators\, developers\, operations and support\, quality assurance testers\, usability specialists\, etc.\nManagers\, directors\, and others tasked with helping teams succeed with scrum and agile (very hard to do if you do not understand it)\nAnyone outside of software or IT: Our CSM class covers topics and examples that are applicable to those outside of software. We also offer training specifically geared to this group. See our Agile Beyond Software course for more information.\n\nDetails\nCourse Length: 4 1/2 day sessions (2 full days total) 2-days + pre-work \nLevel: Introductory to Intermediate (ask about more in-depth versions) \nPrerequisites\n\nAn interest in learning and discovering new ideas\nFor the CSM Certification\, see the Certification Requirements section\n\nCourse Credit\n\n16 PMI PDUs\n16 Scrum Alliance SEUs\nQualified to take the CSM Exam (exam fee is included in the course fee)\n\nCertification Requirements\nThe course meets the learning objectives for the Scrum Alliance Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) Certification Training. This class is one of the requirements to receive the CSM certification from Scrum Alliance. To qualify\, you must: \n\nComplete the class prework.\nAttend and participate in the entire CSM class.\nComplete and pass the CSM exam after completing the class. We will submit your name to Scrum Alliance® after completing the class and you can create a profile and take the exam at that time. We cover everything you need to pass the exam in the course.\n\nCourse Facilitator\nJake Calabrese\nJake is a coach\, trainer\, and coach-consultant working to help organizations meet the promise of agile by going beyond agile practices to address culture challenges and help teams and leaders reach and maintain high performance. He has unique expertise as an Organization & Relationship Systems Certified Coach (ORSCC)\, a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)\, Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC)\, and Professional Certified Coach (PCC)\, and as a trainer and coach for Agile Companies (helping non-software organizations use agile). Jake created the AgileSafari cartoon series to introduce humor into the more challenging issues we have to tackle. Jake uses ideas from various areas of thinking such as: Lean\, professional coaching\, neuroscience\, psychology\, facilitation\, brain-based training\, improvisation\, agile\, kanban\, and scrum. Jake regularly speaks at local and national conferences including Mile High Agile\, Scrum Gathering\, and Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. \n\n\nCancellations and Transfers\nPlease email us to request a transfer or to cancel. Refunds will be provided with 30 days notice of cancellation. One-time transfer to a future class will be provided with 14 days notice\, for free. Transfers requests with less than 14 days of notice or additional transfers (after the first transfer)\, will incur a $250 fee.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/certified-scrummaster-csm-training-virtual-7/
CATEGORIES:Certified ScrumMaster,Courses
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/969a11b325505cb1fc6d267abf1a2018-wHTxRk.tmp_.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230327T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230327T140000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230214T060423Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230214T061235Z
UID:10000143-1679922000-1679925600@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:How does 50 stakeholders + 1 Product Backlog = No Problem
DESCRIPTION:Okay\, it may be a problem\, but maybe not as big of a problem as you expected. This issue of so many stakeholders and so little time is and will always be a problem. We will always have more ideas than we will have people to attempt to act on them. A key part of managing this type of backlog situation is to start to engage stakeholders in the process. This session will look at what happens when one person tries to manage all of this themselves\, what it means to engage stakeholders transparently. We will outline a decent flow of work from stakeholders to the product backlog and what this means for priorities. Finally we will look at stakeholder backlog management and how that might lead to” “no problem” or at least less of one!
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/how-does-50-stakeholders-1-product-backlog-no-problem/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AdobeStock_124279995-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89249669613
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230321T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230321T110000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230209T134707Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230209T134707Z
UID:10000141-1679392800-1679396400@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Thinking Differently About Behavior Change
DESCRIPTION:Making your organization better requires people to behave differently. Whether it’s applying Test-Driven Development\, sending out meeting agendas in advance\, or putting the new cover sheets on their TPS reports\, there’s something that the people you work with could be doing to be more effective. Yet many change efforts fail because people don’t seem to buy in to these new ways of working (even after attending training). This session introduces a way of thinking about what influences behavior: What keeps the current ones in place and what could enable the new ones you want. We’ll explore ways to encourage people to “act their way to a new way of thinking” instead of the other way around.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/thinking-differently-about-behavior-change/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/old_ways_new_doors-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81121137226
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230316T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230316T110000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230216T210053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230216T210053Z
UID:10000144-1678960800-1678964400@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:3 Problems Everyone has with Working Agreements – How to Solve Them
DESCRIPTION:Your team created working agreements but doesn’t really use them. They have perpetual issues that working agreements don’t seem to help them tackle as a team. A new person joins the team after working agreements have been established. We’ll explore these common scenarios and how to level up your working agreements. An improved atmosphere of psychological safety and co-responsibility ARE possible!
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/3-problems-everyone-has-with-working-agreements-how-to-solve-them/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AdobeStock_472875002-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88542669703
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230307T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230307T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230214T052733Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230214T053049Z
UID:10000142-1678186800-1678190400@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Projects vs Product Management: Which is Best?
DESCRIPTION:Delivering value via projects can be quite different than delivering via product backlogs. Projects and products are often not clearly defined or even discussed clearly. In this session we will align on what projects and products (and product backlogs) are and how they relate. We will dig into the challenges that come from placing long term bets\, why having options is better\, and how to stop gambling. And yes that last part is ALL about products and projects.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/projects-vs-product-management-which-is-best/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AdobeStock_567937368.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88993579732
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230301T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230301T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230208T133130Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230208T133420Z
UID:10000139-1677672000-1677675600@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Don't Take Yes for an Answer
DESCRIPTION:Working together effectively relies on people being able to say both “yes” and “no.” But when was the last time you said “no” to your boss? And when was the last time someone gave you a “counterfeit yes” and didn’t follow through with what they agreed to? This session will explore how power and positional authority affect people’s ability to say no. We will also introduce three techniques to help you know that when someone says “yes\,” they mean it.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/dont-take-yes-for-an-answer/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dont_take_yes.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89279700774
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230221T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230221T110000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230112T025939Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230112T025939Z
UID:10000132-1676973600-1676977200@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Don’t Go Chasing Competitors’ Features Like a Waterfall
DESCRIPTION:Company X delivered an innovative new feature\, and now it’s a high priority for your team to deliver something similar. Seeing another company’s solution can push us to focusing on our speed of delivery. However\, neglecting discovery work can lead to a mediocre customer response to our feature launch. This session will look at idea validation speed and the 3 types of assumptions we make when trying to catch up to our competitors. Discover what these assumptions look like in feature delivery and how to recognize which ones are the riskiest.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/dont-go-chasing-competitors-features-like-a-waterfall/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AdobeStock_56613881-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84417494854
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230215T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230215T130000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230110T061249Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230110T173906Z
UID:10000128-1676462400-1676466000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Why Explaining Agile to Managment Doesn't Have to Suck
DESCRIPTION:The idea of explaining agile to management is tricky in many ways.  One of the first things to do is to clarify assumptions. What and who is “management”\, what do they understand about agile\, what do we understand about business\, and what is important to them. These are quite often assumptions\, not facts.  Then\, we need to look at options to explain agile in a way align with the facts we know and what is important.  Simple. And who knows… maybe “management” is not the issue. \n 
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/why-explaining-agile-to-managment-doesnt-have-to-suck/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Joy-scaled.jpeg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86437112960
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230213T084500
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230214T170000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20220805T224305Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230214T223921Z
UID:10000112-1676277900-1676394000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:Certified Scrum Product Owner [CSPO®] Training
DESCRIPTION:Learn the how the Scrum Product Owner (Scrum’s version of a Product Manager) engages with stakeholders & helps the Scrum Team deliver value.\n\n\nCertified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO®) Training\nThe product owner\, in scrum\, is accountable for maximizing the value for that product\, through the work of the scrum team. The product owner is scrum’s name for a product manager. The product owner engages with customers\, other stakeholders\, and the scrum team to create a product backlog and to prioritize the work in the product backlog. The scrum product owner’s approach to doing this work differs in a few key ways from older\, less flexible approaches. \nSpecifically\, the product owner: \n\nclearly articulates and communicates the product vision or goal. The scrum team\, which includes the people building the product or service\, understand what they are building and why.\nprioritizes the backlog by ordering all items against each other. There is not two “#1s” or ten. The backlog items are ordered as 1\, 2\, 3\, 4\, 5\, … 40 … and so on. They make decisions about what is more or less important.\ncreates transparency around the product backlog and the product backlog items\, so that it is visible and available to everyone involved.\n\nWhile these ideas are often what people aim for or espouse to\, the scrum product owner does them. Without transparency of work\, clear decisions on priorities\, and clarity of goal\, we can’t expect teams to be engaged and deliver. The scrum product owner understands this and is accountable to provide these to the scrum team and organization. \nThroughout the course\, you will have an opportunity to engage in practical\, reality-based work with small groups. Explore what the product owner is accountable for in the scrum framework\, learn new ways to engage customers to understand what they truly need\, and create product backlog items and refine them. You will have the opportunity to dig into the tough questions about project vs product thinking and create dialogue in your organization about the problem of too much work in process. \n\n\nWhat is  Scrum?\nScrum is an agile framework used to get work done. Scrum works in a variety of situations\, but it thrives when either the work or the environment is complex and not as predicable as we would like. Scrum focuses on delivering incrementally in small chunks\, to allow us to learn more and adapt\, rather than just continuing to deliver things that are no longer needed or perhaps never were. \nScrum is based on the principles of inspection\, adaptation\, and transparency. These three principles are the foundation to being success in the face of complexity. Transparency allows people to see issues\, challenges\, and places that can be improved. Inspection and adaptation focus on continuous learning and improvement. Scrum consists of a number of events\, artifacts\, jobs to be done\, and practices. You can read more about Scrum in the Scrum Guide\, which is free to read or download. \n\n\nWho Should Attend\nThis course should be attended by anyone who wants to understand what the product owner role is and how the product owner does their job. \n\nProduct Owners\, Product Managers\, Business Analysts\, QA Testers\nAgile Coaches\, Scrum Masters \nScrum team members\, agile team members\nManagers\, directors\, and others tasked with helping teams succeed with scrum and agile (very hard to do if you do not understand it)\nAnyone outside of software or IT: Our product owner training covers topics and examples that are applicable to those outside of software. We also offer training specifically geared to product management and product ownership outside of software\n\n\n\nWhat to Expect\nWe take training and learning seriously. We respect the investment of both time and money that you are making to advance your skills. As such\, we use the latest training approaches and techniques. We also bring energy and fun to ensure you have the best possible experience and learn as much as possible. In this course\, you can expect: \n\nBrain-friendly training to dramatically increase learning and retention (instructors are Certified Training from the Back of the Room Trainers).\nOpportunities throughout the course to focus on your real-world situations.\nIn-depth engagement with your instructors and fellow attendees. If you are looking for a dry lecture (we use zero slides)\, this class is NOT for you!\nInteractive\, fun\, and experiential learning — increasing safety and retention — laughing helps learning.\nChallenging work with others that focuses on your real organizational issues.\n\n\n\nLearning Objectives\n\nExamine where typical product owner (product manager) roles align with the Scrum Framework\nCompare the types of business decisions you and your organization make and decide if those are sufficient\nIllustrate how risks and assumptions are handled in Scrum by product owners (product managers); summarize how agile adds value and the types of value\nReview common reasons why visions and product goals are not motivating and discuss characteristics that make up good visions\nCompare types of stakeholders and contrast stakeholder analysis approaches\nLearn how customer segmentation is often done wrong and a better approach to understanding customer needs\nAnalyze a case study for stakeholders jobs\, pains and gains\, and review the impact in your work\nLearn the key attributes of a product backlog and analyze a bad product backlog and find errors\nExplore the differences between products and projects and how they impact risk\nUncover the simplicity and challenge of handling multiple products in one backlog with one or more teams\n\nTake an in-depth look at backlog refinement and what it means to have backlog items ready for sprint planning\n\nIllustrate the typical problems with ‘epics’ and why they don’t typically add any value; then learn about a better option to help slice epics\n\nAnalyze a project request for valuable features\, then create detailed assessments and a feature backlog\n\nBreak down features into stories and compile a list of user stories\n\nSlice user stories into smaller parts\, using multiple refinement approaches; explain what a vertical slice is and its value\n\nLearn exactly what the definition of done should be\, why it is challenging\, and understand the pros and cons of multiple definitions of done\n\nLearn why a product backlog is almost never sufficient and how roadmaps\, release maps\, and Product Boards present much more clarity and content for teams\, product owners (product managers)\, and stakeholders — and how to create one\n\n\n\nDetails\nCourse Length: 2 full day sessions  8:30AM-5:00PM (Verify the time zone listed for this class)  (a total of 2 days ) + pre-work \nLevel: Introductory to Intermediate (ask about more in-depth versions) \nPrerequisites\n\nAn interest in learning and discovering new ideas\nDesire to engage with other and participate throughout the course\n\nCourse Credit\n\n15 PMI PDUs\n15 Scrum Alliance SEUs\nQualified to become a CSPO (registration fee is included in the course fee)\n\n\n\nCourse Facilitator \n\n\n\nJake Calabrese\nJake is a coach\, trainer\, and coach-consultant working to help organizations meet the promise of agile by going beyond agile practices to address culture challenges and help teams and leaders reach and maintain high performance. He has unique expertise as an Organization & Relationship Systems Certified Coach (ORSCC)\, a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)\, Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC)\, and Professional Certified Coach (PCC)\, and as a trainer and coach for Agile Companies (helping non-software organizations use agile). Jake created the AgileSafari cartoon series to introduce humor into the more challenging issues we have to tackle. Jake uses ideas from various areas of thinking such as: Lean\, professional coaching\, neuroscience\, psychology\, facilitation\, brain-based training\, improvisation\, agile\, kanban\, and scrum. Jake regularly speaks at local and national conferences including Mile High Agile\, Scrum Gathering\, and Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. \n \n\n\nCancellations and Transfers\nPlease email us to request a transfer or to cancel. Refunds will be provided with 30 days notice of cancellation. One-time transfer to a future class will be provided with 14 days notice\, for free. Transfers requests with less than 14 days of notice or additional transfers (after the first transfer)\, will incur a $250 fee.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/certified-scrum-product-owner-cspo-training-3/
LOCATION:Live Virtual
CATEGORIES:Certified Scrum Product Owner,Courses
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/5d0f33e2a64bdfd257843e7833b903b9-Ey1u48.tmp_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230208T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230208T110000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20230110T173956Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230110T173956Z
UID:10000130-1675850400-1675854000@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:What Shape Is Your Backlog In?
DESCRIPTION:A well-managed backlog is one of the keys to effective workflow. Backlogs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are shaped by the beliefs and behaviors of the people maintaining them. Not all of these shapes\, however\, are beneficial. In this session\, we’ll explore some common backlog shapes along with their advantages and drawbacks. We will also look at how you can shift from where you are now to one that better fits your situation.
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/what-shape-is-your-backlog-in/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/what_shape_is_your_backlog.jpg
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85035232843
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20230131T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20230131T140000
DTSTAMP:20260425T205106
CREATED:20221215T191431Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221215T191431Z
UID:10000127-1675170000-1675173600@helpingimprove.com
SUMMARY:The Quest for Value - Can Epics\, MMFs\, MRFs\, and MVPs Help?
DESCRIPTION:Have you been on a quest to find a larger container of value beyond a user story? There can be value in grouping small slices of work (often user stories) into other “containers”. People do this to track work\, communicate progress\, see a big picture\, focus on the simplest possible value\, categories work\, etc.  The common terms we use (and hear) are epic\, feature\, minimum marketable feature (MMF)\, minimum releasable feature (MRF)\, minimum viable product (MVP)\, and maybe BFT.  These may add value or not – often it depends how they are being used.  We will review each of these terms\, define them\, and talk about common issues. We will also share what we prefer and how that approach connects to stories and story slicing!
URL:https://helpingimprove.com/event/the-quest-for-value-can-epics-mmfs-mrfs-and-mvps-help/
CATEGORIES:Learning Lab
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://helpingimprove.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/AdobeStock_305143295-scaled.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Jake Calabrese":MAILTO:info@helpingimprove.com
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82919698190
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR