Lean into your Learning

Agile is effective because it supports human learning and adapting

Lets take the good bits from Agile methods and apply them to (our) learning

Presentation for Lean Agile Scotland 2012

Transcript

1. Lean Into Your Learning Wesley Gorman @wesg Note: This talk isn’t about Lean, I just couldn’t resist the pun.
2. Developer
3. Associate Lecturer
5. Sure, no problem! • http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Ricky-OMG.gif
6. Teaching a Course on Short Notice • http://chronicle.com/article/Adjuncts-Working-Conditions/133918/
7. Teaching a Course on Short Notice • http://chronicle.com/article/Adjuncts-Working-Conditions/133918/
8. Teaching a Course on Short Notice • http://chronicle.com/article/Adjuncts-Working-Conditions/133918/
9. Motivation • No point in doing it unless it’s done well • Team - maintain the standard • Students - Investing time and money
10. Students
11. • http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/f.gif
12. Define the Problem • Need to learn how to lecture • Need to learn the syllabus (what to teach) • Need to prepare materials for the course • Need to support students to do well
13. Identify Potential Solutions • Since I had no previous lecturing experience and not enough time to learn in detail • Need to base how I manage the work and achieve success on what I do know
15. Waterfall • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model
16. Waterfall • Iterative Waterfall - in my first job out of college • Better (and how it was meant to be) but still sucks!
17. • http://share.kyleneath.com/captures/skitched-20090515-123210.jpg
18. • http://www.extremeprogramming.org/map/images/project.gif
19. • http://xprogramming.com/images/circles.jpg
20. • http://agilemanifesto.org/
21. • http://javamaster.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/scrum1.png
22. • http://www.ammc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/project-management.jpg
23. • http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html
24. • http://www.stevenpressfield.com/the-war-of-art/
26. "Inspiration is like bathing, its effective, but only for a short period of time - that's why we recommend it every day" - Anon
27. Make a Decision • Follow Agile Principles • Manage my work using Scrum like process
28. Make a Decision • Timebox unknowns • Retrospective at end of every week • Incorporate talking with students as part of Retrospective
29. • http://agilemanifesto.org/
30. Implementing Scrum for My College Work • 14 week semester, logical (to me at least) to make each week an iteration • Module descriptor as acceptance criteria & product backlog
33. Implementing Scrum for My College Work • Retrospective each week (informal q&a with students) • What worked well • What works not so well
34. Implementing Scrum for My College Work • Retrospective at end of semester • Talk with students • Ask for advice for incoming students on Moodle forum (very useful)
35. Implementing Other Agile Practices • Release Early, Release Often (notes, answer questions, tutorials, screencasts) • Pairing with students on work in tutorials (worked well first time, harder with bigger class) • Share Responsibility - give students stuff to get done - set expectation that it’ll be done
36. Why do you care? • See one, do one, teach one • The learning process
37. • Agile methods work for software development because it supports our learning and adapting
38. Well, this can be applied to your learning too • Have a high level goal/target (like a system metaphor in XP) • Break learning down into smaller units (like a product backlog) • Take a couple of small things to do and nail them in a set period (iteration backlog)
39. Well, this can be applied to your learning too • Review how things went with those tasks (Retrospective) • Timebox your learning on topics (if it’s not going well try another topic and come back) • Drop practices that don’t produce value
40. Well, this can be applied to your learning too • Red, Green, Refactor • Something i don’t know, learn the basics, use it (often) • Definition of Done
41. “If you know the Way broadly you will see it in all things” - Miyamoto Musashi • http://www.badassoftheweek.com/musashi.gif
42. tl;dr • Agile is effective because it supports human learning and adapting • Lets take the good bits from Agile methods and apply them to (our) learning
43. Thank You!