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Industry News and Trends / University-Industry Collaboration @ the Heart of Knowledge-Based Economic Growth

« on: February 06, 2024, 04:14:33 PM »

The Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China offer 4 lessons for developing countries to strengthen their higher education systems and innovation capacities.



Educated and skilled human resources are the backbone that help to build innovative capacities in economies as they move from factor-driven to efficiency-driven and then to knowledge-driven economic growth. Investing in cadres of scientific personnel, researchers, and corporate research and development (R&D) staff creates deep capabilities needed for today’s knowledge-intensive economies. 

In the era of disruptive technologies and rapid technological progress, the role of universities must change too, at the same pace. The importance of universities has grown beyond teaching (first generation); to teaching and research (second generation), to teaching, research, and commercialization of know-how (third generation).

The fourth generation has seen universities become network hubs for education, research, open innovation, driving not just economic development, but also catalyzing solutions to social and environmental challenges. The vision for higher education has clearly expanded enormously.

The Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have demonstrated the value of university-industry linkages in promoting innovation and in commercializing research. Universities have played a pivotal role in their innovation ecosystem, supported by government policies, while the driving force of the private sector—partnering with universities—helped to rapidly commercialize research and take it to the market.

The experiences of Korea and the PRC offer four lessons to developing countries seeking to strengthen their higher education systems and innovation capacities.

  PRC, Korea promote innovation via university-industry partnerships

First, government funding—particularly in the early stages—plays a significant role in supporting university-industry partnerships. Substantial funding from the government facilitates long-term partnerships for high tech capabilities and for commercializing research.

Korea has one of the highest global levels of R&D spending; in 2017, it reached 4.5% of GDP. This has helped the country to catch up in a short span of time with other innovation heavyweights such as the US (2.7%), Japan (3.3%), and Germany (3%).

The PRC, rising from a low base of 0.9% of GDP in 2012, increased its domestic spending on R&D to 2.1% in 2017. Research funding from the government helped to catalyze funding from the private sector and other sources over time.

Second, university partnerships with enterprises help to increase employment prospects of students, while also creating competitive strengths in the marketplace. This can help developing countries to leapfrog in development as demonstrated by Korea and Singapore, and more recently by the PRC, within a relatively short period.

In Korea, this was accomplished through industry–university joint graduate programs, shared research facilities, and technology incubation programs. These were joint efforts by the Ministries of Education, Science and Technology, Commerce, Industry, Energy and SME administration that exemplify the degree of cooperation toward a common goal.


In the PRC, large global tech corporations located in Shenzhen such as BYD, Tencent, and Mindray have extensive collaborations with universities. Aside from universities, polytechnics and colleges have made exemplary progress in strengthening linkages with industries and assuring very high rates (over 90%) of employment to students.

The ADB-supported Hunan Technical and Vocational Education and Training Demonstration Project has helped build on the PRC’s aspiration to enhance the quality and relevance of higher-level technical and vocational education training. Hunan Industry Polytechnic has established cooperation with Fortune 500 companies like Siemens, Huawei and Bosch and has 117 new national patents.

Third, spurring an entrepreneurial culture in universities contributes to innovations that can be taken to the market. Higher education institutions in both countries have been thriving with a strong entrepreneurial culture.

Tsinghua University’s  Graduate School in Shenzhen, an offshoot of the main campus in Beijing established in 2001, attests to this. The school has 21 industry-university research alliances, and puts in 300-400 patent applications each year.

In Korea, universities have established flourishing programs of collaboration with large conglomerates, and are among world leaders in publishing research with industries.

Fourth, countries must enact clear regulations for sharing intellectual property rights that incentivize academic teams to invest in innovation and R&D that leads to commercialization. Flexible policies for higher education institutions to enter into partnerships—nationally and globally—also help create an ecosystem for innovation to thrive.

In the PRC, over time regulation has increased the incentives for universities to engage in R&D and innovation. As early as 1994, intellectual property rights could be held by universities on innovation arising from government funding. In 2002, universities were allowed to receive revenue from commercialization of these rights.

Alongside growing enforcement of intellectual property rights, the number of patent applications filed by PRC universities more than doubled from 6,000 in 2002 to over 13,000 in 2014. In 2018, further relaxation of regulation allowed universities to retain all earnings from technology transfer, with a more attractive reward system whereby no less than 50% of total earnings from the transfers go to major contributing research personnel.   

Developing countries in Asia are increasingly concerned with setting up world-class universities. It is crucial that adequate attention is paid to intensive university-industry collaborations that facilitate R&D, technical training, and research in areas of priority for national competitiveness and to address development challenges. 

Aligning education, industrial, and economic policies to strengthen innovation policies help to increase competitiveness. Singapore and Korea demonstrated this, and the PRC is on a similar trajectory.



By Brajesh Panth, Shanti Jagannathan



Source: ADB Blog
Original content: https://shorturl.at/dhDGS

2

Industry News and Trends / The Future of IT Training: Emerging Technologies to Watch

« on: December 29, 2023, 09:50:03 PM »

In the dynamic realm of Information Technology (IT), staying ahead of the curve is not merely an advantage but a necessity. As technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, the importance of robust IT training becomes increasingly apparent. In this blog post, we will explore the emerging technologies that are set to revolutionize IT training and shape the future of the industry. Join me on this journey as we delve into the transformative landscape of IT education.



The Rise of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR):
Imagine a world where IT professionals can immerse themselves in realistic, simulated environments to troubleshoot complex systems or practice cybersecurity protocols. This is the promise of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in IT training. These technologies are poised to redefine the traditional classroom experience by providing hands-on, interactive learning opportunities.

Consider an IT training institute leveraging VR to simulate network configurations or AR to overlay real-time data on hardware components during training sessions. This not only enhances the learning experience but also accelerates skill acquisition by allowing students to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical, risk-free environment.


Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Personalized Learning:
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in IT training heralds a new era of personalized learning. AI algorithms can analyze individual learning patterns, identify strengths and weaknesses, and tailor training modules accordingly. This adaptability ensures that each learner receives a customized curriculum, optimizing their time and effort.

For instance, an IT training institute employing AI might offer targeted modules on cloud computing for a professional looking to specialize in that domain. As the learner progresses, the AI system continuously refines the curriculum, adapting to the individual’s evolving skill set and career goals. This not only enhances the effectiveness of training but also contributes to a more efficient and personalized educational experience.


Blockchain for Transparent Certification:
In the world of IT, certifications play a pivotal role in validating skills and expertise. Blockchain technology is emerging as a game-changer in this regard. By leveraging the decentralized and tamper-proof nature of blockchain, IT training institutes can issue secure, transparent, and verifiable certifications.

Imagine a scenario where employers can instantly verify the authenticity of a candidate’s certifications by accessing a blockchain-based ledger. This not only eliminates the risk of fraudulent claims but also streamlines the hiring process. Blockchain’s role in ensuring the integrity of certifications is a testament to its potential impact on the future of IT training.



Cloud-Based Training Platforms:
The widespread adoption of cloud computing has given rise to cloud-based training platforms. These platforms provide a scalable and accessible infrastructure for IT training, allowing learners to access resources and participate in collaborative projects from anywhere in the world.

An IT training institute utilizing cloud-based platforms can offer a seamless learning experience, enabling students to engage with course materials, virtual labs, and collaborative projects in real-time. This flexibility not only accommodates the diverse schedules of learners but also facilitates a global learning community, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange.


Cybersecurity Simulations for Real-World Preparedness:
With the escalating frequency and sophistication of cyber threats, cybersecurity training has become a cornerstone of IT education. Emerging technologies, such as realistic cybersecurity simulations, are instrumental in preparing professionals for real-world scenarios.

Imagine an IT training institute incorporating immersive simulations that replicate cyber attacks and require participants to devise and implement defense strategies. This hands-on approach not only enhances technical skills but also instills a proactive mindset crucial for combating evolving cyber threats.


Conclusion:
The future of IT training is a tapestry woven with the threads of innovation and technology. Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud-Based Training Platforms, and Cybersecurity Simulations are just a few of the transformative technologies reshaping the landscape of IT education. As IT professionals strive to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry, embracing these emerging technologies will be pivotal in unlocking new dimensions of learning and skill development.

In the coming years, the most successful IT training institutes will be those that leverage these technologies to create dynamic, personalized, and immersive learning experiences. The journey towards mastering IT skills will not only be educational but also an adventure into the realms of virtual environments, AI-driven insights, secure certifications, cloud collaboration, and cyber battlegrounds.


#It Training
#Technologies
#Information Technology



Written by Instaily Academy


Source: Medium
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/dkIV5

3

Future Skills and Innovate Legal Training / New Trend Re-Brands ‘Soft Skills’ Into ‘Durable Skills’ For Career Success

« on: December 03, 2023, 02:49:37 PM »

Words matter. The term “soft skills”—kindness, compassion, empathy—has gotten a bum rap over the years. In the past, many business leaders considered soft skills to be unnecessary—warm and fuzzy emotions, hippie nonsense or a new age fad that serve no real impact on engagement or performance. Many leaders still adhere to the myth that soft skills create a team of smiling slackers. But the tides are changing, especially with the pervasiveness of artificial intelligence in our lives. As the crucial need for abilities such as empathy, collaboration and adaptability continue to grow, “soft” no longer encompasses the heavy significance of these skills. What businesses and universities are truly looking for are “durable” skills, according to experts. In a previous piece for Forbes, I identified five pivotal soft (renamed durable) skills necessary in today’s global market as compassion, employer-employee trust, empathy, connection and kindfulness.

More companies are starting to see that the ticket to performance, productivity and profit is the delivery of value through “human capabilities” or soft skills to build the organization and its bottom line. They are re-framing the way we look at soft skills, especially as businesses and universities continue to prioritize them in their hiring and admissions. According to Deloitte Insights, 92% of companies surveyed reported that human capabilities or soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills in today’s business world. In a recent piece in Fortune, even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella insists that characterizing empathy as “soft” understates its significance. He does not see empathy as a soft skill, instead saying, “It’s the hardest skill we learn.”

I spoke by email with Dr. Kelly Dore, co-founder and vice president of science and innovation at Acuity Insights and associate professor of medicine at McMaster University. She told me by email that soft terms are often called non-cognitive, which alludes to the inaccurate sentiment of “not thinking”—where in reality, durable skills are the key differentiator that impacts what we bring to the table as humans. If everybody in the room is given the same access to AI and knowledge bases, then what is it that we can add to the room instead?” she asks, adding, “Of course successfully navigating through courses is important, but the end goal is that we're creating compassionate, thoughtful leaders who can collaborate and solve the complex problems in our communities.”

Dore acknowledges that the focus in competitive markets is shifting from mere technical proficiency to the ability to adapt and thrive with evolving technology. “In our swiftly evolving tech landscape, the spotlight is shifting from today’s workforce having only traditional technical proficiencies and more toward the actual adaptability and agility required to thrive amidst these technological evolutions,” she notes. “For instance, AI and large language models like ChatGPT exemplifies this shift, signaling to the world that reliance on book smarts, base information or the mastery of specific frameworks can’t be our sole focus. Instead, the emphasis is on the ability to synthesize information, ensure its accuracy, work with others with different life experiences or skill sets and bring the human-elements into creative problem-solving.”

A survey of 5,164 talent professionals and hiring managers by LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends Report, reported that 80% of respondents said soft skills are increasingly important in today’s business world, 92% said human capabilities and soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills, and 89% of said when a hire doesn’t work out, it usually boils down to a lack of soft skills. Deloitte predicts that soft-skill intensive occupations will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030 and grow at 2.5 times the rate of jobs in other occupations.


Contributor:
Bryan Robinson, Ph.D.
Contributor
author of Chained to the Desk in a Hybrid World: A Guide to Balance.

Source: Forbes
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/qFQV6

4

Cloud Security and Infrastructure Security / Tips for Selecting the Right Tools for Your Security Operations Center

« on: October 21, 2023, 11:57:16 AM »

Tips for Selecting the Right Tools for Your Security Operations Center

Deciding when to invest in tools and selecting the right ones for the modern SOC is challenging. Can a tool serve multiple purposes or is creating robust processes the answer? Security and risk management leaders should use this research to make pragmatic decisions.


Overview
Key Findings

Security operations center (SOC) owners struggle to identify the right technology investments for their security requirements, instead chasing the latest and greatest technologies that may dilute, rather than enhance, the efficacy of their SOC.
Looking at peers with SOCs or trying to benchmark against others in a vertical is of limited use. Each SOC is constructed to meet its own organization’s nuances, security use cases and current and target maturity level.
There is a misconception that technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), or any that promise to fully automate your SOC, would magically transform an SOC from low maturity to high maturity overnight. Tools alone won’t solve all SOC challenges.
Security alert triaging is not just a challenge for the security operations center (SOC), but remediating an escalation is an organizational duty.
Your SOC needs trained staff, processes and fine-tuned workflows to use and operate tools that support its goals and capabilities.


Recommendations


Prepare the SOC team and relevant stakeholders for a process-driven evaluation with a “premortem” analysis to reduce the chance of failed projects.
Align the tool selection process according to the target operating model and goals of the SOC, avoiding premature investments in tools perceived as “advanced.”
Make technology investments that match business risk requirements, IT roadmap such as public cloud and SaaS adoption, available staff skill sets and enhance areas of the SOC with operational challenges.
Involve stakeholders beyond the security team when making decisions on security tools. There will be security alerts that will need other areas in the business involved to help rectify the escalations.
Be flexible during organizational and business changes because new workflows and tools to support changes to processes and capabilities might be required.


Introduction
SOCs are like snowflakes because no two are alike. Many have yet to achieve their desired maturity level and target operating model. For those who have achieved their ideal maturity level, they still must react to changes like more evolving threat landscapes; digital business initiatives; and mergers and acquisitions. These factors will influence the current and future technology investments required for a modern SOC (see Note 1).

However, SRM leaders may not consider these factors and instead purchase tools based on short-term needs or as rushed, reactive responses. An example is adding endpoint detection and response (EDR) for a ransomware event, as opposed to investing in security awareness and training to reduce the impact from employees launching malicious attachments sent via phishing emails.

Leaders need to consider how new tools contribute to the SOC’s mission and enhance, rather than complicate, the work performed by SOC staff, given the burdens already placed on these, typically short-staffed, teams (e.g., analysts, engineers, threat hunters and incident responders).


Analysis

Tip No. 1: Prepare the SOC Team and Relevant Stakeholders for a Process-Driven Tool Evaluation With a Premortem Analysis

Security leaders must educate stakeholders that new detection techniques or technologies do not mean that threat detection will be dramatically better. Many of these new techniques or technologies will be able to improve only a subset of the threat detection use cases required. They will not be able to completely replace the tools that are utilizing more common or traditional approaches (e.g., correlation-based analytics).


Before purchasing tools for the SOC, SRM leaders should understand why, where and how the SOC would benefit from the technology. Understand the organization’s use cases, what threats the business is concerned about and how the tools can help enable protection and additional benefits. Many different security technology tools enable the application of AI through the use cases required (see Infographic: AI Use-Case Prism for Cybersecurity).
Is the SOC using AI to enhance the level of threat detection through specific use cases, whether it is data loss prevention or insider threat?
Will the SOC be using AI to manage a required repeatable task for which resources are limited?


Then, they should perform an honest premortem assessment to determine whether they have the expertise to operate and use these tools over time. Conducting a premortem assessment will assist SRM leaders in identifying any future issues and reflect openly and honestly about any shortcomings in tools with the SOC and specific gaps in process or team structure.


Why do projects fail or not live up to their promises? It may be due to scope; the technology itself (e.g., vendor claims were not confirmed during a proof of concept); the implementation of the tool; or the lack of resources and expertise to run the tool once deployed.

For example, Gartner clients with an existing SOC that has reached an adequate maturity level commonly ask:
Do I upgrade to a modern security information and event management (SIEM) tool?
Should I buy X instead (EDR, NDR, CSPM, XDR)?
Should I build a data lake, create my own ML analytics capability and build my own security orchestration and automation on top of those other two components?


The unhelpful, but always true, answer is, “It depends.” As part of a project to bring tools into the SOC, a solid understanding of the scope, technologies being considered and affected processes is required.

SRM leaders can improve the odds of selecting the right tool for the organization by gaining consensus during a premortem analysis on what could go wrong and which success metrics should apply to a project. The premortem can also serve as an early-stage vehicle for collecting initial use cases and requirements. Those can be further refined as part of the formal project definition and approval cycles.

Types of questions that SRM leaders should be asking as part of the premortem analysis are:
What is the outcome we require for the selection of this security tool?
What are the requirements for planning this project?
Do we have to hire additional resources to complete this project?
Do we have the correct skills internally aligned to the security tool to implement and transition to support?
Are we concerned about the timelines of this project?
Could and how would we miss milestones within this tooling project?
Can we implement any lessons learnt from other tool implementation projects to apply to this?
How are we going to track this project?
What is the operational cost to incorporate a new security product in the program?
Can the adoption of the new security product displace current legacy security products and processes? If yes, what are the potential cost savings?

Tip No. 2: Align the Tool Selection Process According to the Target Operating Model and Goals of the SOC

Every SOC should have a defined target operating model that describes the mission, responsibilities and timelines for achieving various goals and levels of maturity (see Create an SOC Target Operating Model to Drive Success). SRM leaders should use the target operating model as the key reference document as well as the existing technologies, people with expertise, and plays (or processes) in a SOC playbook.

Armed with this, they should ask some key questions to determine which technologies would advance the mission and capabilities of the SOC, including:
What are our top priority concerns (i.e., risks, threats)?
Who will consume the security outcomes we are trying to deliver?
How can we identify known gaps in our SOC (see Table 2 in How to Build and Operate a Modern Security Operations Center)?
What are our SLA goals and what time frames should we set to reach them?
What technologies do we have already?
How well will the new technologies integrate with our existing toolset and processes?
Where is their headroom in the resources and expertise we have available?
Do we have applicable security use cases or processes? Are they well-documented? Are they optimized?

An organization building an SOC should prioritize technology purchases to get real-time monitoring capabilities to better understand what is happening when observing the consequences of the event. This first level of visibility, while potentially limiting the SOC to reactive activities, is necessary.

SIEMs used to be the first tool purchased when tackling a modern SOC journey.

Today, more focused tools, such as EDR or NDR, or alternate platforms, such as XDR, try to compete with SIEM as a first purchase of a nascent SOC. Simultaneously, SIEM technology expands, including capabilities from UEBA, SOAR, Log Management, Threat Hunting and case management products, creating a superset of SOC capabilities available in a single platform.

As the SOC matures and learns, it will build the processes to treat basic incidents, and it will start to differentiate alert treatment based on their impact. Additional tools might help at this stage to speed up initial assessment, with individual alerts being aggregated and augmented with additional context.

More mature organizations may need to strengthen their ability to perform root cause analysis of the incident and elimination of the threat. They want to ensure that when they close an incident, the risk of recurrence is properly handled.

Threat detection, investigation and response (TDIR) is a set of three core capabilities required by operational teams:
Threat detection: real time or near real time
Investigation: ad hoc, threat hunting and forensic
Response: manual and automated

The set of TDIR capabilities increasingly represents the real world requirements for how tools within a SOC should contribute to the SOC mission and strategy providing integration and efficient process execution. An example of how the requirement for TDIR is influencing SOC operations is in the evolution of the SIEM to become all-in-one SOC platforms.



Monitoring and threat detection
-Broad-based visibility and threat detection capabilities (e.g., an SIEM tool with advanced analytics like user and entity behavior analytics)

-Endpoints (e.g., EDR)

-Networks (e.g., network detection and response [NDR])

-Cloud (e.g., security service edge [SSE] and cloud-native application protection platforms [CNAPPs])

Threat Intelligence

Capabilities that deliver evidence-based knowledge about existing or emerging menaces or hazards to the organization’s assets
This information can be obtained by threat intelligence portals, indicators of compromise (IOC) or reporting delivered by the provider
Threat intelligence can also be intertwined with security alerts with other products to provide rich contextual information of the alert

Detection Engineering
-Automation; incident management and response; and threat intelligence (e.g., security orchestration, automation and response [SOAR])
Incident Response and Hunting
-Automated blocking of known threats when risk of false positive is negligible (e.g., extended detection and response [XDR])
Alert aggregation into correlated security incidents (e.g., EDR, SIEM and NDR)
Enriched search engine for in-depth investigation (e.g., SIEM and NDR)

[/list]

Tools for a New SOC or Converting From an Outsourced to Insourced Situation


Smaller or newly formed SOCs, or those that were previously outsourced where the technology was given by the provider, often start with SIEM or log management solutions. This is necessary to start seeing what is happening in the organization, leveraging logs from network and endpoint security controls already in place, and possibly from other sources based on criticality to the organization (e.g., domain controllers, cloud infrastructure, critical applications and externally exposed assets). Some cloud-native or cloud-first enterprises may prefer cloud security products such as CNAPP to address the needs (see Emerging Technologies: Future of Cloud-Native Security Operations).

The need to have a common repository of incidents could be addressed within an SIEM tool or within IT’s case management or service desk tool. Using the capabilities of an SOAR tool can be considered if the incident and case management capabilities in the SIEM do not have the correct integrations, or there are security and privacy concerns with using the IT service desk tool. Not every “greenfield” SOC will have the resources (i.e., budget, people and time) to implement a security incident response plan (SIRP) at the beginning. However, it should be strongly considered at the start of instrumenting the SOC, rather than trying to bolt it on later in the SOC building journey.

If security and privacy concerns make the IT service desk tool inappropriate and if the preferred SIEM tool lacks good enough case management capabilities, security leaders will face an early maturity bottleneck. They will have to consider an SIEM tool with more advanced case management capabilities, or leverage an SIRP tool or the SIRP capabilities of an SOAR tool, which would normally be beyond their current maturity level.

Tools for a Maturing SOC

As the SOC organization builds integrated processes for real-time and near-real-time investigations, additional use cases will become more important. Typically, this includes the ability to allocate resources on threat hunting, with the objective of reviewing the entire “kill chain,” find the root cause and avoid repetition of the same incident.

SOC teams face scalability challenges. Too many events and too much time spent on investigating complex incidents drive security leaders to seek tools for improving their SOC productivity. The security orchestration and automation and the threat intelligence platform (TIP) capabilities in SOAR tools can help automate many of the time-consuming activities of SOC and threat intelligence analysts, as well as support threat hunting activities.

Tip No. 3: Make Technology Investments That Align With Security Outcomes

Most organizations start their SOC journey with an evaluation of existing security controls. When they feel the need to purchase a specialized tool, they face a paradox of choices and too many possibilities in the market. Gartner sees many organizations select a tool primarily to solve the most recent security incident because they get a budget right after the event. They have the mandate to “make sure it never happens again,” and pick the shortest path.

However, even if the preferred tool might provide value, it might not be the right time to add more tools, given the current maturity of the SOC. One frequent reason is the lack of available resources and expertise on the team to leverage the tool. It might even affect the budgeting model for the SOC by spending too much in one area while neglecting others.

There are three categories of improvements where an SOC can invest in tools: visibility; analysis; and action, recovery and management. Investments can further be mapped as needed to items like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

Identify: The SOC is dependent upon reliable information about the risks, threats and environments being used, and assets of the organization (e.g., identities, employees and devices) to be successful. New tools such as cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) are emerging (see  Hype Cycle for Security Operations, 2022) that can be leveraged by the SOC to have visibility into organizational assets.

Protect: Modern SOCs are focused on performing threat detection and response but should coordinate with their security operations counterparts to help drive protection activities. Developing and then improving security use cases is critical to success.

Detect: This is where a majority of investments are made, regardless of the size, scope and maturity of an SOC. Common tools include SIEM solutions, as well as endpoint protection platform (EPP), EDR, CNAPP and NDR technologies. Capabilities like threat intelligence are one example in which being defensively prepared may require tool investments. Adding or maturing this capability could drive the adoption of TIP tools or SOAR solutions with TIP capabilities.

Respond: There are two components to response. Both are increasingly being addressed by SOAR tools, as well as tools like SIEM, EDR and full packet capture (FPC).

Triage: There is no security monitoring program that can avoid triage challenges when a security event or incident is identified. The SOC’s objective is to have insight into the priority events to investigate. They then need the relevant context for those events to determine the severity of the potential incident and required response.

Incident response: Improvements in incident response overlap with the triage work but quickly become a separate field in larger teams. Larger, better-funded SOCs have new requirements and responsibilities, such as finding the root cause, containing or disrupting a threat, and applicable remediation and recovery processes.

Continuous visibility and verification: While there is no magical tool to predict future attacks, continuous assessment of prevent and detect capabilities is a way to anticipate and quickly identify issues. This is typically the realm of analysts, engineers and responders in the SOC. Breach and attack simulation (BAS) tools can be utilized by the SOC for a variety of purposes, such as validating security controls (for both protection and detection) that are operating appropriately, or continuing test maintenance for content detection.

In the next few years, many SOCs will abandon at least one of the security monitoring tools they currently use due to a lack of resources and expertise to use the tools effectively. To avoid this eventuality, SOC leaders should align their investment with the ability of the tool to provide value over the long term, considering the benefits to the SOC’s mission. They should then evaluate requirements for resources and expertise.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is being leveraged by vendors, but with increasing adoption by end-user organizations, to demonstrate control coverage and threat detection efficacy. There is also the new MITRE D3FEND matrix that is used for cybersecurity countermeasures (see How to Use MITRE ATT&CK to Improve Threat Detection Capabilities).

Tip No. 4: Involve Stakeholders Beyond the Security Team

As an organization gets closer to selecting their security tools, or enhancing their existing incumbent, many of the basic principals get thought about last, which are the security alerts and incidents. How will the security alerts and incidents get reported; who will report them and where will they be reported; and how will they be integrated into the organization?

When purchasing new tools, the buyer will need to include other areas of the organization, but why is this? As noted in Tip 3, incident response is incredibly important for investigation, containment and remediation. The perception of adding an additional security tool into the security team is straightforward to the security professional, but without involving the other areas of the business can be a challenge where remediation is concerned.
Involving others within the business is key to a successful tool implementation because the escalation decision will be identified and the correct resolver group communicated with. There are no surprises, and the security team’s process will be adapted with the new tooling and the correct resolver group within the business identified. When incidents are escalated and resolver groups identified in the process, the recording of the security incident is streamlined with the process and the correct business resolver group identified.

Tip No. 5: Be Flexible in Case of Organizational and Business Changes

If there is one constant in modern organizations, it is that things are changing somewhere. It can be major changes like digital transformation initiatives, where IT is rapidly moving toward use of SaaS and IaaS; mergers and acquisitions; or new regulations. It can be a more minor evolution such as the desire to bring threat detection and response in OT environments into the SOC.

The key idea is to not treat the SOC as a closed system, but one that is vigilant of the changes to the environment outside of the SOC (for example, at the organizational level, the external business environment and sector it operates in). With this understanding, SOC leaders should then embrace change and new opportunities, when presented, to reengineer, or at least enhance and optimize, the SOC. This is similar to what other parts of IT might be doing when the business wants to “digitally transform.”

To treat the SOC like a living entity, there should be processes established to address change such as quarterly reviews that baseline and assess the SOC’s capabilities. Other opportunities may include assessing the required capabilities as new business initiatives and strategies are surfaced to security and risk leaders. These situations provide important opportunities to determine how the SOC can support these changes and whether the SOC will need investments to reduce risk to the business from these changes.

Finally, security leaders must seek out the critical inputs into any changes required in the SOC. These inputs should come from areas such as continuous performance monitoring of the SOC to uncover trends (both good and bad), postmortems from the completion of projects, strategic information from stakeholders across the business and evaluation of the changes in the external threat landscape.

“Achieving depth in defense for the most prevalent threat vectors is the foundational step of maturing the role of the organization’s SOC. Integrate continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) to ensure cross-team collaboration becomes standard.”
SOC leaders must find the balance in improving their detection and blocking capabilities. This should reduce the number of incidents and improve their response capabilities, ultimately to reduce attacker dwell time.


Source: Gartner, Inc.
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/ejQR6

5

Learn / AWS Cloud Institute: Become a Cloud Developer in One Year

« on: October 11, 2023, 02:35:40 PM »

Written by Amazon Staff





AWS’s structured virtual training program removes the guesswork from starting a career in the tech industry.


Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently launched AWS Cloud Institute, a new virtual training program that provides a prescriptive path to gaining the technical and professional skills needed to start a career as a cloud developer in as little as one year. AWS Cloud Institute is a 12-course training program that includes on-demand digital learning and live instructor-led courses, game-based learning, more than 100 interactive labs, two capstone projects, preparation and exam vouchers for two AWS Certifications, and career enrichment activities with notable AWS customers and partners, including Accenture and American Family Insurance.




In today’s world, the fastest growing roles are technology-driven, yet only 50% of workers have access to adequate training opportunities, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023. AWS Cloud Institute provides a way to help train a diverse, ready-to-hire workforce of cloud developers who have demonstrated that they can solve real-world business challenges.

“The scarcity of individuals with cloud skills is a major concern for organizations that want to innovate with cloud, and hiring the necessary talent continues to pose a real challenge to the industry,” said Kevin Kelly, director of AWS Cloud Institute. “AWS Cloud Institute brings new talent into the workforce with a low-cost training option that supports individuals for whom traditional education or training options may not be a good fit. We support all types of learners with a comprehensive training program that empowers them to develop the skills, confidence, and connections to pursue an in-demand cloud career.”


What is AWS Cloud Institute?


Built by AWS experts, AWS Cloud Institute is a structured program that includes hands-on, real-world training to help prepare learners to begin an in-demand career in a variety of cloud developer roles. The program includes 12 self-paced, digital training courses and a wealth of interactive educational resources—from hands-on, game-based learning to building applications through capstone projects. Learners also have the option to learn directly from AWS instructors during live courses, offered at U.S. West Coast and East Coast times, or watch the content on-demand as their schedule allows. The curriculum includes more than 100 interactive labs, two capstone projects, and the creation of a portfolio illustrating the learner’s technical knowledge and capabilities for potential employers.

AWS Cloud Institute is designed with input from AWS customers and partners who need cloud-skilled talent and are committed to engaging with learners through tech talks and other career services engagements.

“In partnership with AWS, we are helping our clients get more value from the cloud, and AWS Cloud Institute will accelerate that,” said Allison Horn, global talent lead for Talent & Organization at Accenture. “By focusing on real-life, industry-specific business problems, the program helps learners build technical skills and business acumen that will give them new pathways to in-demand jobs while giving employers the talent they need to move cloud adoption forward.”

https://youtu.be/lkrMiaGlHQ0


How does the curriculum help produce ready-to-hire developers?


Courses cover a range of foundational and industry-specific topics, including Business Foundations, Cloud Fundamentals, Developer Fundamentals, and Getting Hired. Course modules address topics such as computer technology, architecting on AWS, compute, databases, networking, security, storage, Python, machine learning, data analytics, generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) using Amazon CodeWhisperer, sustainability, and more.


The program’s capstone projects incorporate experiential learning by requiring learners to solve known industry challenges. Learners design and develop a working application that demonstrates their skills and ability to use AWS services and Python code to create cloud-based solutions that solve real-world scenarios.

Learners also receive exam preparation and two vouchers for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and AWS Certified Developer Associate certification exams, both of which help validate their technical skills to potential employers. Upon graduation, learners also earn an AWS Cloud Institute program certificate.





How will I build real-world skills and receive guidance from influential companies?


The program teaches learners technical skills and how to apply them to real-world tasks using scenarios based on actual customer use cases. With guidance from AWS expert instructors, learners also hone their skills in effective communication, problem solving, and teamwork.

A key component of AWS Cloud Institute is access and exposure to cloud experts from AWS customers and partner organizations. Learners hear directly from organizations, including Accenture and American Family Insurance, about cloud computing’s role in business innovation, projects cloud developers work on, and the skills and experience companies look for when hiring entry-level cloud developers. These organizations also provide networking opportunities to learners through recruitment events and job boards.

"We’re pleased to continue our collaboration with AWS on high-quality cloud computing training programs that are not only impactful, but also accessible and affordable,” said Sheldon Cuffie, American Family chief information officer. “American Family is committed to being purpose-driven, and that means providing opportunities so all can rise. We want learners, particularly those in communities that may be underrepresented or underresourced, to be able to prepare for successful technology careers. These training opportunities can lead to a highly qualified future talent pool as well as enhance the skills of our current employees.”


How much does the program cost?

The total cost for a learner who completes the program is $7,560 plus tax. Learners enrolled full time take three courses per quarter. Learners may also choose to enroll part time, taking one or two courses per quarter. Learners are billed in monthly installments depending on the selected course load—$210 for one course, $420 for two courses, or $630 for three courses.

A full-time learner taking three courses per quarter can complete the program in one year. A part-time learner taking one course per quarter can complete the program in up to three years.


How can I apply?

The program is currently offered in the U.S. to learners who are at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or equivalency (e.g., GED diploma, HiSET diploma, associate degree, etc.). When applying, learners confirm their eligibility and complete a brief introductory course.

Classes for the inaugural term begin January 8, 2024. The deadline to apply for the first term is January 5, 2024 at 5 p.m. PST. Accepted applicants will be invited to enroll on a first-come, first-served basis.

Learn more about AWS Cloud Institute and apply today. Organizations interested in participating in the curriculum or hiring from the program can contact us for more information.



Source : Amazon
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/oBDMO

6

Build Skills And Grow Career / Google Offers Free Online Courses with Certification, Apply now

« on: September 23, 2023, 08:26:53 AM »

Deva Priya
September 20, 2023





Unlock new skills with Google’s free online courses. Get certified and boost your career. Apply now!



Staying competitive in the employment market requires constant skill and knowledge upgrades in today’s fast-paced digital world. Fortunately, one of the biggest internet companies in the world, Google, is stepping up and providing a variety of free online courses with credentials. These courses cover a wide range of subjects, including project management, digital marketing, and IT assistance. Google’s free courses can be a game-changer whether you’re a new graduate hoping to jump-start your career or a seasoned professional hoping to keep ahead of the curve.

Here are some Google free online courses to become skilled in 2023:



1. Data Science with Python

Duration: 6 hours

About this course:

Learners who complete this Data Science with Python curriculum will have a thorough understanding of data analytics tools & methods. Learning Python can help you become more knowledgeable about data analysis, visualization, NumPy, SciPy, web scraping, and NLP. Anyone wishing to launch their career as a data scientist should use this curriculum as a kickstarter.

Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dpcsycgi



2. Data Science foundations

Duration: 5 months online course

About this course:

Imarticus Learning and iHUB DivyaSampark offer a 5-month online Data Science and ML course with expert faculty, enabling impactful decision-making and business growth. Certificate issued by IIT Roorkee and Imarticus under NM-ICPS, plus startup pitching and funding support. Weekend live classes.


Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/df59trED



3. Learn Python Basics for Data Analysis

Duration: 12-hour long course

About this course:

The Learn Python Basics for Data Analysis course is a comprehensive introduction to Python programming explicitly tailored for data analysis tasks. Whether you’re new to programming or looking to add Python to your skillset, this course provides a solid foundation.


Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dhdWsXh4



4. Google Workspace Administration

Duration: 4 hours (approximately)

About this course:

This course is the first step in empowering new Google Workspace admins to confidently manage and optimize their organization’s Google Workspace experience. Together with the upcoming courses in this series, you’ll gain the skills to efficiently use the admin console, control user access, configure security settings, and more. Get ready to embark on your journey towards becoming a proficient Google Workspace admin.


Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dnYg-KFb


5. Google UX Design Professional Certificate

Duration: 6 months at 10 hours a week


About this course:

Get professional-level training directly from Google, showcasing your expertise through portfolio-ready projects. Upon completion, earn a Google-recognized certificate, making you eligible for sought-after job titles like User Experience (UX) Designer, UI Designer, and Interaction Designer.

Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dccH-GRy



6. Fundamentals of digital marketing

Duration: 3 hours


About this course:

Master the basics of digital marketing with our free course accredited by Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University. There are 26 modules to explore, all created by Google trainers, and packed full of practical exercises and real-world examples to help you turn knowledge into action.


Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dkysMvc5


7. Google IT Support Professional Certificate

Duration: 6 months


About this course:

Get professional training from Google, prove your skills with portfolio projects, and earn a recognized certificate. Open doors to job titles like IT Specialist, Tech Support Specialist, and IT Support Specialist.


Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dsrYFaBR



8. Machine Learning Specialization

Duration: 3 months 9 hrs/week


About this course:

This beginner-friendly course empowers you with vital AI concepts and practical machine-learning skills. It combines theory and real-world application across 3 sessions, offering a comprehensive introduction to modern machine learning.


Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dW8V-b-K



9. Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce

Duration: 6 months at 10 hours a week


About this course:

Master digital marketing and e-commerce fundamentals, acquire skills for entry-level roles, attract customers through various channels, measure performance with analytics, create e-commerce stores, and enhance customer loyalty.


Apply link:

https://lnkd.in/dCAgMHyq



10. Machine Learning Crash Course

Duration: 25-hour long course

About this course:

The Machine Learning Crash Course is a beginner-friendly program offering comprehensive insights into machine learning. It covers fundamental ML concepts and practical skills, making it suitable for both beginners and those looking to refresh their knowledge.



Source: Analytics Insight
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/ehnDM

7

Agile team management and leadership / Maximizing Leadership Impact: How a Coach Elevates Your Leadership Skills

« on: September 19, 2023, 11:32:53 AM »

September 18, 2023


As a leader, staying ahead of the curve is vital, especially in the fast-paced, ever-evolving world we live in today. The ability to adapt, innovate, and lead effectively can be the difference between a stagnant career and one that soars to new heights. This is where a skilled leadership and executive coach like Chris March comes into play, offering a transformative journey towards maximizing your leadership impact and achieving greater success.





Introducing Chris March: A Dynamic and Innovative Leadership Coach

Chris March is not your average leadership coach. With over two decades of global leadership experience and mastery in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), he brings a wealth of knowledge and insights to the table. What sets him apart is his unique blend of experiences, including his profound insights gained from the travel industry, which have shaped his innovative approach to leadership development.

The SUCCESS Coaching Framework

At the core of Chris's coaching methodology lies the SUCCESS coaching framework. This meticulously designed approach redefines your understanding of success and expedites your journey toward achieving it. Chris believes that success is not a one-size-fits-all concept, and his framework is tailored to the unique needs and goals of each client.

Elevating Your Leadership Style

Chris March Coaching is geared towards individuals who are looking to optimize their leadership style. Whether you're a high-potential leader, seasoned executive or a business owner, Chris can help you identify areas for improvement and guide you in honing your leadership skills. Through his coaching, you'll learn how to lead with authenticity, inspire your team, and navigate the complexities of the modern business world.

Enhancing Team Performance

Effective leadership is not just about individual skills; it's also about creating high-performing teams. Chris March understands this and works with his clients to enhance team dynamics and productivity. By fostering better communication, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose, he helps leaders build teams that can achieve remarkable results.

Cultivating an Authentic Executive Presence

Executive presence is a critical component of effective leadership. It's about projecting confidence, authority, and authenticity. Chris's coaching helps clients cultivate their executive presence, ensuring that they make a lasting impression and inspire trust in their teams and stakeholders.

Navigating the Ever-Evolving Landscape of Leadership

In today's rapidly changing business environment, leaders must stay agile and adaptable. Chris March sets clear goals and milestones within the SUCCESS coaching framework, ensuring that his clients make continuous progress. He helps them stay ahead of industry trends, embrace change, and lead their organizations to success in the face of uncertainty.

A Respected Thought Leader

Chris March's expertise extends beyond coaching. He is a renowned speaker and thought leader in the field of leadership development. His articles have been featured in respected publications such as Digital Journal and Influencive, and his voice resonates through interviews and podcasts where he discusses leadership and personal development. His insights are sought after by those looking to excel in leadership roles.

Your Trusted Partner in Leadership Development

For high-potential leaders, seasoned executives and business owners seeking to elevate their leadership skills and achieve their loftiest goals, Chris March Coaching is the trusted choice. With his extensive leadership background, mastery of NLP techniques, insights from the travel industry, and a profoundly personalized coaching approach, Chris is ready to help you maximize and truly master your leadership potential.

Are you prepared to redefine your path to success, guided by the SUCCESS coaching framework, and elevate your leadership? Reach out to Chris today and embark on a transformative journey toward your loftiest goals. With Chris March Coaching, the future of your leadership success is brighter than ever.



Source:  Baystreet
Original ContentL: https://shorturl.at/iFJS8

8

Agile team management and leadership / Ways to Maintain Your Remote Team’s Productivity

« on: September 19, 2023, 11:29:10 AM »

September 18, 2023
by Timothy Alexander


In recent years, the business landscape has undergone a seismic shift due to various global circumstances, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented situation has compelled companies to reassess traditional work models and embrace remote work on an unparalleled scale. As of today, the ability to successfully manage and lead remote teams has become a crucial skill for businesses worldwide.

The transition from office-based work to a remote environment is not without its challenges. However, one aspect remains constant regardless of the work setting: the importance of maintaining productivity. In a remote work scenario, productivity is the engine that drives business success. It’s the invisible thread that connects diverse teams, bridges time zones, and ultimately, propels companies towards their objectives.

Maintaining productivity in a remote environment requires a strategic approach that goes beyond merely replicating the office experience in a virtual setting. It demands an understanding of the unique dynamics of remote work and the development of strategies tailored to this new paradigm.


In this article, we will delve into the various techniques and strategies that can help maintain and even enhance your remote team’s productivity. We will draw on the latest research, real-world case studies, and insights from leading experts in the field. By the end of this discussion, you will be equipped with a robust toolkit to ensure your remote team operates at peak performance, no matter the circumstances.






Understanding the Challenges of Remote Work
Remote work poses a unique set of challenges that can hamper productivity if not properly addressed. These issues range from communication difficulties and lack of direct oversight to the blurring of work-life boundaries, which can lead to burnout. As a business leader, understanding these challenges is the first step towards devising effective strategies to maintain your remote team’s productivity.


Communication Issues
In a traditional office setting, communication is facilitated by physical proximity. Employees can easily engage in spontaneous discussions, brainstorming sessions, or simply ask a quick question across the desk. However, this dynamic changes drastically in a remote work environment.

According to a study by Buffer, 20% of remote workers cite communication as one of their biggest challenges. The lack of face-to-face interaction can lead to misunderstandings, delays in feedback, and feelings of isolation among team members. Efficient communication is the backbone of any successful team, and it becomes even more critical in a remote setting.


Lack of Direct Oversight
In an office, managers can directly oversee their teams’ work, provide immediate feedback, and quickly address any issues that arise. This kind of direct oversight is not possible in a remote environment, leading to concerns about productivity and performance. A survey by PwC revealed that 38% of employees felt that their productivity dropped when working remotely due to lack of supervision.



Blurring of Work-Life Boundaries
Remote work often blurs the line between professional and personal life. Without a distinct separation between ‘work’ and ‘home’, employees may find it difficult to switch off, leading to longer working hours and potential burnout. In fact, a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the average workday increased by 48.5 minutes during the pandemic-induced shift to remote work.
Understanding these challenges is crucial for maintaining productivity in remote teams. In the next section, we will explore strategies to address these issues and create a productive remote work environment.



The Role of Leadership in Remote Productivity
Effective leadership is the linchpin that holds remote teams together and ensures their productivity. Leaders in a remote setting need to embrace a different set of skills compared to traditional office environments. As work-from-home becomes more prevalent, the importance of strong remote leadership continues to grow.

The key to effective remote leadership lies in flawless communication. Leaders must ensure that team members understand their roles, responsibilities, and deadlines clearly. This clarity can eliminate confusion, reduce wasted effort, and enhance productivity.


Another crucial aspect of remote leadership is fostering a sense of inclusivity and belonging among team members. Despite physical distances, leaders should strive to create a cohesive team culture. They can achieve this through regular check-ins, team meetings, and virtual social events.

Additionally, successful remote leaders focus on results rather than day-to-day activities. Micromanagement can be detrimental in a remote work setting. Instead, leaders should establish clear expectations and then trust their team members to meet them.

As stated by a leadership expert in Forbes, “It is paramount that a manager always maintains composure, more so in remote-work environments and when interacting with team members”. This statement underscores the importance of calm and composed leadership, particularly in remote work settings.



Strategies to Maintain Remote Team’s Productivity

Implementing Proper Communication Tools
In the realm of remote work, effective communication is the cornerstone of productivity. The absence of face-to-face interactions makes it crucial for businesses to leverage top-tier communication tools that can seamlessly connect team members across different locations.

Popular tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams offer a robust platform for instant messaging, file sharing, and collaboration. They help replicate the immediacy of office-based conversations, fostering a sense of unity among remote teams. These platforms also integrate with a plethora of other business tools, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity.

On the other hand, Zoom has become the go-to tool for video conferencing. It provides a platform for meetings, webinars, and virtual events, effectively bridging the gap created by physical distances.

A study by McKinsey & Company emphasizes that “the use of social technologies could raise the productivity of interaction workers by 20 to 25 percent”. This underscores the importance of implementing proper communication tools in a remote setting.

Setting Clear Expectations and Deadlines
Clear expectations and defined deadlines play a crucial role in maintaining productivity, especially in remote teams. Without the physical presence of a traditional office, clarity in tasks and deadlines becomes even more critical.

Research indicates that ambiguity in tasks can lead to procrastination, thereby affecting productivity. A well-defined task with clear instructions can significantly reduce this procrastination and enhance the efficiency of remote teams.

Moreover, specific deadlines are integral to goal attainment and job satisfaction. They provide a time-bound framework that helps individuals prioritize their tasks effectively. The absence of such deadlines can create confusion and hinder performance.

Another study emphasizes the role of task clarity and clear directions in effective virtual team leadership. Leaders who set clear expectations and provide precise instructions can drive their remote teams toward successful outcomes.



Regular Check-ins and Updates
Regular check-ins and updates are pivotal in sustaining productivity among remote teams. They provide a platform for team members to discuss progress, address issues, and stay aligned with overall objectives.

According to a study by Gallup, employees who receive regular feedback from their managers are nearly three times more likely to be engaged. This underscores the significant role of regular check-ins in fostering engagement and motivation.

Moreover, successful companies like Google make use of regular check-ins to keep their teams aligned and productive. Google’s re:Work initiative emphasizes the importance of frequent, structured check-ins for enhancing team performance.

Likewise, Atlassian, a leading software company, utilizes an agile methodology that incorporates regular updates and stand-ups to ensure everyone is on the same page. This practice not only keeps the team aligned but also helps in spotting potential roadblocks early on.


Encouraging Work-Life Balance
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is paramount in remote work settings. Remote work blurs the lines between professional and personal life, making it crucial for businesses to encourage a balance that fosters productivity.

According to a study by Stanford University, work-life balance can boost productivity by up to 13%. Furthermore, a survey by FlexJobs found that 37% of respondents believe a flexible schedule would increase their productivity.

World-leading companies like Microsoft have recognized this correlation. In an experiment, Microsoft Japan implemented a four-day workweek and reported a staggering 40% increase in productivity.

Promoting work-life balance not only benefits employees but also contributes to a company’s success. The Harvard Business Review reports that firms promoting work-life balance witness 25% less turnover.


Providing Opportunities for Skill Development
Upskilling and reskilling are vital tools in the arsenal of remote team productivity strategies. Continual learning and skill development can empower employees, leading to increased efficiency and productivity.

According to a LinkedIn Learning report, 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development. This suggests a direct correlation between skill development opportunities and employee retention, which is a key factor in maintaining productivity.

Companies such as PwC have embraced this approach by launching ‘Digital Fitness’ – an app that offers employees a chance to upskill in areas like AI and robotics. This initiative has led to a more competent and productive workforce.

Moreover, partnerships with online learning platforms like Coursera and Udemy have proven beneficial for businesses. For instance, Adobe partnered with Coursera to offer its employees access to over 3,800 courses. Such initiatives not only enhance employee skills but also foster a culture of continuous learning.


Leveraging Time Zone Differences
Time zone differences, often seen as a challenge in remote work, can be turned into an asset when managed strategically. Geographic diversity can lead to round-the-clock productivity, resulting in faster delivery times and improved customer service.

A study by Harvard Business Review found that well-managed dispersed teams outperform those that share office space. This highlights the potential advantages of leveraging time zone differences effectively.

A prime example of this strategy’s successful implementation is IBM. With a globally dispersed team across 170 countries, IBM has harnessed the power of geographic diversity to ensure continuous workflow and customer support. The company uses sophisticated project management tools and clear communication protocols to coordinate between teams in different time zones.

Furthermore, according to a report by McKinsey, companies with a geographically diverse workforce are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry median.


Measuring Productivity in a Remote Setting
In the realm of remote work, accurately measuring productivity is pivotal. It allows businesses to assess team performance and identify areas for improvement. Several metrics and tools can aid in this process.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as task completion rates, project delivery times, and quality of work can provide valuable insights into an employee’s productivity. Furthermore, regular check-ins and feedback sessions can help gauge employee engagement, another critical productivity metric.

To track these metrics effectively, businesses are turning to productivity measurement tools. For instance, Trello, renowned for its intuitive interface, enables teams to manage tasks and monitor progress visually. Asana, another popular tool, offers features like workload view and portfolio management, making it easier to measure individual and team productivity.

For software development teams, Jira by Atlassian is often the go-to tool. It provides detailed reports and metrics for agile teams, facilitating productivity measurement.

In 2017, Deloitte reported a 15% increase in productivity after implementing Asana for project management. This underlines the effectiveness of such tools in boosting remote team productivity.



Conclusion
In today’s ever-evolving business landscape, maintaining the productivity of remote teams has emerged as a paramount concern for leaders worldwide. Harnessing the benefits of upskilling and reskilling, leveraging time zone differences, and measuring productivity effectively are proven strategies that can significantly enhance remote team efficiency.

As highlighted by PwC’s ‘Digital Fitness’ initiative or IBM’s successful management of a globally dispersed team, these strategies are not just theoretical concepts but have demonstrated their effectiveness in real-world scenarios. Furthermore, the use of productivity measurement tools like Trello, Asana, and Jira, as endorsed by Deloitte, can provide invaluable insights into team performance.

Leaders should take note of these strategies and consider implementing them in their remote work policies. The statistical data speaks volumes: companies that invest in employee development see higher retention rates, and those with geographically diverse teams often outperform their competitors.

As we navigate the new normal, it’s clear that the future of work is remote. Let’s embrace this change and utilize these strategies to ensure our teams remain productive, engaged, and motivated, no matter where they are.



Source:  MyChesCo
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/dHMU4

9

Agile team management and leadership / In Bezos’s Image: Lessons From Amazon’s Leadership

« on: September 19, 2023, 11:18:31 AM »

Benham Tabrizi


Amazon’s continuing success shows that leaders can be effective even if they lack the brilliance and drive of an entrepreneurial founder.


For once, Amazon has stolen Apple’s thunder. In a recent earnings call, the e-commerce giant beat analysts’ expectations handily, while the iPhone maker had a mixed report, some good (rising revenue), some bad (declining phone sales). And it’s worth noting what an interesting comparison that is.

A decade ago, Marc Andreesen famously said that software would eat the world. It certainly ate Wall Street.  For years, financiers have been pouring money into startups with little more than some coding talent and an intriguing idea. “Pure” companies such as Google/Alphabet and Facebook/Meta, and even employee-light ones such as Uber, seemed to maximize the reward while minimizing the asset investment.

By that criterion, Amazon is in trouble. It employs over a million people and owns hundreds of warehouses. In recent years it has invested in its own fleet of trucks and other delivery assets, not to mention massive data centers. Surely such an old-fashioned emphasis on physical assets would eventually overwhelm its software chops.

But the opposite happened, mostly because founder Jeff Bezos wasn’t content with conquering the e-commerce world. He worried about complacency, and pushed his teams to go into other areas, even where they lacked expertise, with remarkable success: e-readers (Kindle), AI-driven speakers (Alexa/Echo), and cloud services (AWS). Even the failed Fire phone gave them valuable insights that went into developing Alexa.

Ok, said the critics, but Bezos was a remarkable entrepreneur and leader, with the authority and charisma to pull off those successes. His successors can’t help but slack off and become fat and happy bureaucrats, similar to what happened at Google after its founders retired. And when Bezos left in 2021, the stock dropped by half. It all seemed predictable that new CEO Andy Jassy would move to cut costs and drop several of Bezos’ innovation projects.

The recent announcement runs counter to that narrative. The stock has yet to regain its heights from before Bezos retired, but it has recovered more than half of the drop. Jassy indeed has cut costs and killed some projects, but he’s managed to keep revenues strong in all areas.

Something that gets less attention is that Amazon is working to keep up in adapting generative artificial intelligence to its products. On the earnings call, Jassy said that “every single one of our businesses has multiple generative AI initiatives going on.” Much of the buzz surrounding AI right now centers on Microsoft and Google, but it’s still early in the game. Maybe the seemingly conservative Jassy isn’t so different from Bezos after all.


Bezos’ Pygmalion Effect
I recently worked with a team of researchers at Stanford University to assess dozens of companies on their ability to carry out agile innovation—to keep coming up with successful new products despite ongoing disruptions. I was especially interested in how well they pivoted according to market shifts after their initial breakthrough. After we isolated firms that succeeded and those that didn’t, we identified eight drivers of agile innovation that seemed to make a big difference.

Some of those drivers didn’t surprise us, such as an existential purpose and an obsession with customers. But others did, especially one that we called the Pygmalion Effect. Similar to the Greek myth, this happened when founders and other leaders influenced how their colleagues ran the business. The clearest example was at Tesla, where the charismatic Elon Musk enabled his colleagues to put out cars so astoundingly good that the company’s market cap soared past its far larger rivals.

It seems Bezos did something similar with Jassy. Rather than conform to the usual successor model of rationally cutting costs and maximizing profitable growth (think John Scully after Steve Jobs first led Apple), Jassy has kept pushing the e-commerce giant into new areas. On paper, Amazon has no business competing with software giants like Google. How could its leaders possibly have the focus to succeed there when they’re busy running a business with billions in hard assets and resisting unionization? Yet they’ve already demonstrated their AI chops with Alexa, and the market has decided not to bet against the company again.

It seems that the discipline to succeed in an area actually matters more than what you have on paper. The Googles of the world may have more experience and software talent, but Amazon has a proven record of commercializing areas pretty far from its core. Agile innovation depends more on a deep-seated corporate passion for change than on the talents you already have.


Moving Gradually with AI
How do we know that Jassy’s bold talk on the earnings call has substance? While maybe not as flashy as ChatGPT, Amazon is about to launch upgrades to the company’s Alexa speakers to respond to queries with generative AI. The goal is to move Alexa from a transactional assistant to a conversational partner, which could be a breakthrough in delivering services and goods.

A narrower area is in quality control. Amazon ships millions of items, and sometimes those products are defective even before they go out. Pickers can screen out some of these, but the company wants to improve on these human checks. So it is employing AI with “computer vision” to assess products as they pass out of the warehouse. The machine learning model analyzes the scans to discover hidden patterns and compare these to normal products.

We won’t know for months whether these improvements actually work well in the scaled-up real world. But they’re evidence of the company’s ambitions and its attention to detail—even under supposed caretaker Jassy. Bezos was famous for “moving ferociously, gradually,” and it looks like Jassy is continuing that relentless push.


Takeaways for CEOs
Amazon’s continuing success shows that leaders can be effective even if they lack the brilliance and drive of an entrepreneurial founder. Here’s what CEOs can learn from its example:

• Take time to coach and mentor your colleagues: Even extraordinary leaders such as Bezos know they can achieve only a little on their own. They work closely with colleagues and gradually spread their points of view. It’s time well spent.

• Don’t believe the myth of decline. It’s conventional wisdom that companies can’t sustain an innovative culture over time. Success often makes people complacent and concerned about their own position and perquisites, as Google has found. But that doesn’t have to happen to your company.

• If you define yourself not by what you have, but by your deep-seated existential purpose and follow up with bold actions you can overtake seemingly better-equipped companies and start-ups and triumph in the marketplace.



Source: Chief Executive Group
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/jwBN5

10

Agile team management and leadership / How to build an enlightened workplace

« on: September 19, 2023, 11:13:08 AM »

by Matt Poepsel
September 18, 2023


An enlightened workplace is possible if we’re willing to evolve our leadership.



Talent management and learning professionals are feeling the squeeze. Executive teams are demanding rapid transformation to become more agile while simultaneously improving efficiencies and profitability. That combination is challenging in any environment, but it becomes a high-wire act when workers are already struggling with unprecedented levels of burnout, disengagement and imbalance. Complicating matters further are seismic workforce shifts including talent shortages, skills gaps, Gen Z employees pouring into the workforce and Return To Office (RTO) mandates.

In this new world of work, leadership at every level is more essential than ever.

Unfortunately, leadership techniques haven’t kept pace with the swirling changes in our work or within our workers. The way we work today is dramatically different than it was even three years ago. Our work is now hyper-connected and collaborative, and we seek to serve a variety of stakeholders—not just the bottom line.

The personal changes our workers are experiencing are just as profound. Our employees are looking for much more than a steady paycheck. They feel the existential tug of “unspoken” needs, including being able to show up fully as their authentic selves at work, a desire to create strong social bonds with co-workers and a quest for meaning and purpose.

As people leaders, this confluence of workplace disruptions has created an opportunity to teach our business leaders how to adopt an enlightened leadership approach.

Outdated attitudes and beliefs about leadership—those emphasizing command and control over humanistic and empathetic aims—have been relegated to the dark ages of management theory. An enlightened leadership approach puts people first and, somewhat counterintuitively for some, produces outsized business results in the process.

This may sound like a new development, but it’s been 2,500 years in the making. The enlightened workplace of the future is equally influenced by ancient Eastern philosophy and state-of-the-art Western organizational psychology.

An enlightened leadership roadmap unfolds across five progressive waves. Taking an enlightened approach means teaching every leader how to:

Lead yourself. We must encourage leaders to develop self-awareness, of course, but also to push further to embrace self-acceptance. There are no perfect leaders, but perfectionist tendencies from leaders often produce devastating consequences for all involved.
Lead others. Leaders must demonstrate the levels of empathy and servant leadership that modern workers demand. Fostering trust and recognizing the intrinsic connectedness between all workers and their outputs are no longer nice to have—these have become essential ingredients for effective working relationships.
Lead your team. We need to equip our leaders to elevate their influence by becoming better storytellers. We must show them how to cooperate—and concede where needed—by creating psychologically safe environments where team members can perform and thrive.
Lead your organization. Leaders need to see their opportunity and responsibility to reinforce alignment with the organization’s mission and culture. We must encourage them to practice self-care and help those around them feel comfortable to do the same.
Lead the world. We can’t be content to constrain our attention and efforts to the confines of our organization. We can help leaders expand their impact through positive contributions to their families, communities and beyond.
An enlightened workplace is possible if we’re willing to evolve our leadership. As business leaders adopt the above practices, the ripples they send into their teams and beyond produce increasingly higher levels of performance and engagement. This won’t happen, however, unless you are willing to lead first.

As talent leaders and learning professionals, be prepared to overcome conditioned skepticism on the part of your executives and business managers. It’s not their fault. While our business school curricula are chock-full of technical and operational instruction, people practices are often given short shrift. A large percentage of executives spend an extremely small percentage of their time on leadership development.

To garner executive attention and secure commitment, you’ll need to make a compelling business case. Fortunately, robust organizational psychology literature supports bottom-line drivers such as innovation, job performance, agility, speed and profitability.

As stewards of employee welfare, we can also take comfort in the fact that workers have been found to experience higher levels of job satisfaction, mental wellness and employee commitment among a long list of people-centric benefits of these same enlightened techniques.

With awareness comes responsibility. We can watch as a continuous evolution of our work and our workers erodes organizational performance and worker well-being, or we can equip ourselves to help our leaders adopt the new attitudes and behaviors that will lead to a more holistic and enduring form of success.

Let’s step into the light.


Source:  Talent Management
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/ksvNT

11

Scrum basics and concepts / Scrum Project Management: Advantages and Disadvantages

« on: September 19, 2023, 11:02:54 AM »

By Chandana
on Jul 24, 2023



What is Scrum?
Scrum project management is a technique that prioritizes iterative and incremental product delivery through constant feedback and collaborative decision-making. Scrum fixes time and costs to control requirements using collaborative ceremonies, time boxes, frequent feedback cycles, and a prioritized product backlog.






What Is Scrum Framework?

The product owner creates a product backlog (essentially, a wishlist of tasks that need to be prioritized in a project)


The Scrum team conducts a sprint planning session where the tasks necessary to complete items on the wishlist is broken down into small, more easily manageable chunks
The team creates a sprint backlog and plans its implementation
The team decides a time duration for every sprint (the most common intervals is probably two weeks)
The team gets together every day for a brief Scrum meeting (often referred to as a Daily Standup) where each member of the team shares daily updates, helping the team and the project manager assess the progress of the project
The certified Scrum Master guides the team and keeps them focused and motivated
The stakeholders and the product owner conduct a review at the end of each sprint
This is the cycle followed by a Scrum team in a product development project. The three roles mentioned above - the Product Owner, the Scrum Team, and the ScrumMaster together play a major role in exercising this framework.



What is Scrum in Project Management?
Scrum methodology entails a small team led by a Scrum Master, who is accountable for eliminating obstacles and ensuring timely completion of tasks. The team holds daily meetings to discuss allotted work and obstacles that must be dealt with. Scrum project management ensures quick development, rapid testing, and effective management of projects, particularly within a small team.



The Application of Scrum in Project Management
The Scrum project management technique is employed through meetings or ceremonies. Scrum ceremonies usually include the daily Scrum, sprint planning meeting, sprint review, and sprint retrospectives. The team works in time boxes that are the sprints. An optional aspect is the release planning meetings which enable the forecast and planning of various groups of sprints.

Sprint Planning Meeting
During the sprint planning meeting on the first day of each sprint, the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and team collaborate. The ‘what’ and ‘how’ are discussed in the meeting. The Product Owner shares the features that must be completed in the sprint while the team determines the required tasks.

The team then reviews its workload to assess if all features can be completed in the sprint. If not, lower-priority features are returned to the product backlog until the workload lessens for the team to commit to the sprint.

Tracking Progress
Following the sprint-planning meeting and team commitment, progress is tracked in Scrum project management through prominent information radiators such as the task board and burndown chart. The task board visually represents the tasks required for each feature, with columns typically labeled ‘To Do,’ ‘Doing,’ and ‘Done.’

The burndown chart shows the amount of pending work via trend lines. Daily scrum meetings are conducted at the task board, and adjustments are made as the team discusses completed tasks, tasks planned for the current day, and any obstacles faced.

Sprint Review
After the sprint’s completion, the team holds a sprint review meeting where stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the features demonstrated. The Product Owner documents and incorporates the feedback into the product backlog as necessary.

Subsequently, the team conducts a retrospective meeting without the stakeholders to reflect on their performance and determine areas of improvement. A plan of action is created, with items implemented during the following sprint and reviewed during the subsequent retrospective.

Release Planning
Release Planning is integral to Scrum project management, allowing for long-term planning over multiple sprints. During the release-planning meeting, the entire team attends as the Product Owner presents the desired features for the quarter. The team provides rough estimates to identify the feasible features per sprint and the total number of features that can be completed by the end of the quarter. Release planning can be feature-driven, time-driven, or cost-driven.




Advantages and Disadvantages of Scrum Project Management

Advantages of Scrum
Here's why the framework is so popular today:

Scrum can help teams complete project deliverables quickly and efficiently.

Scrum can help teams complete project deliverables quickly and efficiently
Scrum ensures effective use of time and money
Large projects are divided into easily manageable sprints
Developments are coded and tested during the sprint review
Works well for fast-moving development projects
The team gets clear visibility through scrum meetings
Scrum, being agile, adopts feedback from customers and stakeholders
Short sprints enable changes based on feedback a lot more easily
The individual effort of each team member is visible during daily scrum meetings


Disadvantages of Scrum
But like every framework, scrum also has few disadvantages.

Nothing is perfect, and the Scrum methodology is no exception. In some cases, Scrum is combined with other project management techniques that can help resolve some of these drawbacks:

Scrum often leads to scope creep, due to the lack of a definite end-date
The chances of project failure are high if individuals aren't very committed or cooperative
Adopting the Scrum framework in large teams is challenging
The framework can be successful only with experienced team members
Daily meetings sometimes frustrate team members
If any team member leaves in the middle of a project, it can have a huge negative impact on the project
Quality is hard to implement until the team goes through an aggressive testing process



Scrum Roles

The agile technique, which includes the Scrum framework, entails managing a project by breaking it down into several parts and going through the cycle of planning, carrying out, and assessing at each stage. The cycles of Scrum are known as sprints, and they normally span between two and four weeks. After each sprint, the complete body of work is reviewed. The participants play three different roles in the process: the product owner, who represents the organization, the scrum master, who serves as the project manager and a group of individuals who carry out the tasks.

Scrum is particularly helpful in the software development industry since it helps a team concentrate on a smaller goal before integrating it with the project's primary goal. However, its qualities can be used for a wide range of projects across numerous industries, particularly those that call for quick responses to urgent requests and a flexible project development team.


Comprehending the Role of Project Manager in Scrum – The Scrum Master vs. the Project Manager

In Scrum, the Project Manager is responsible for overseeing the entire project, which encompasses managing risks, budgets, and other aspects. The Scrum Master has a much more specialized role, ensuring that the team follows Scrum principles thoroughly and properly.

The Scrum Master is the Agile team’s guide, leader, and consultant. The Scrum Master acts as an agile expert. A Project Manager, on the other hand, negotiates project details, manages risk and time, and cooperates with the stakeholders, other project managers, and clients.


Scrum Project Management: Advantages and Disadvantages
By Chandana
Last updated on Jul 24, 202313217701
Scrum Project Management: Advantages and Disadvantages
Table of Contents
What is Scrum?What Is Scrum Framework?What is Scrum in Project Management?The Application of Scrum in Project ManagementAdvantages and Disadvantages of Scrum Project ManagementView More
Supercharge your career with CSM Certification at Simplilearn. Gain in-demand skills, boost your marketability, and unlock exciting job opportunities. Enroll now!

Scrum is a popular framework that works very well for innovative and complex product development projects. However, it has its disadvantages too. But before we jump into its pros and cons, let’s understand the what Scrum is.

Are you a professional who is aspiring to be a Certified ScrumMaster? Then check out the CSM Certification Training Course now!

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Certified ScrumMaster® Certification TrainingEXPLORE COURSEGet Up to $165k Salary After Passing CSM Exam
What is Scrum?
Scrum project management is a technique that prioritizes iterative and incremental product delivery through constant feedback and collaborative decision-making. Scrum fixes time and costs to control requirements using collaborative ceremonies, time boxes, frequent feedback cycles, and a prioritized product backlog.

Check out Simplilearn's video on "Introduction to Scrum Master Certification" curated by our industry experts that will help you understand what is scrum and its methodologies.



What Is Scrum Framework?
The product owner creates a product backlog (essentially, a wishlist of tasks that need to be prioritized in a project)
The Scrum team conducts a sprint planning session where the tasks necessary to complete items on the wishlist is broken down into small, more easily manageable chunks
The team creates a sprint backlog and plans its implementation
The team decides a time duration for every sprint (the most common intervals is probably two weeks)
The team gets together every day for a brief Scrum meeting (often referred to as a Daily Standup) where each member of the team shares daily updates, helping the team and the project manager assess the progress of the project
The certified Scrum Master guides the team and keeps them focused and motivated
The stakeholders and the product owner conduct a review at the end of each sprint
This is the cycle followed by a Scrum team in a product development project. The three roles mentioned above - the Product Owner, the Scrum Team, and the ScrumMaster together play a major role in exercising this framework.

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Certified ScrumMaster® Certification TrainingEXPLORE COURSEGet Up to $165k Salary After Passing CSM Exam
What is Scrum in Project Management?
Scrum methodology entails a small team led by a Scrum Master, who is accountable for eliminating obstacles and ensuring timely completion of tasks. The team holds daily meetings to discuss allotted work and obstacles that must be dealt with. Scrum project management ensures quick development, rapid testing, and effective management of projects, particularly within a small team.

The Application of Scrum in Project Management
The Scrum project management technique is employed through meetings or ceremonies. Scrum ceremonies usually include the daily Scrum, sprint planning meeting, sprint review, and sprint retrospectives. The team works in time boxes that are the sprints. An optional aspect is the release planning meetings which enable the forecast and planning of various groups of sprints.

Sprint Planning Meeting
During the sprint planning meeting on the first day of each sprint, the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and team collaborate. The ‘what’ and ‘how’ are discussed in the meeting. The Product Owner shares the features that must be completed in the sprint while the team determines the required tasks.

The team then reviews its workload to assess if all features can be completed in the sprint. If not, lower-priority features are returned to the product backlog until the workload lessens for the team to commit to the sprint.

Tracking Progress
Following the sprint-planning meeting and team commitment, progress is tracked in Scrum project management through prominent information radiators such as the task board and burndown chart. The task board visually represents the tasks required for each feature, with columns typically labeled ‘To Do,’ ‘Doing,’ and ‘Done.’

The burndown chart shows the amount of pending work via trend lines. Daily scrum meetings are conducted at the task board, and adjustments are made as the team discusses completed tasks, tasks planned for the current day, and any obstacles faced.

Sprint Review
After the sprint’s completion, the team holds a sprint review meeting where stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the features demonstrated. The Product Owner documents and incorporates the feedback into the product backlog as necessary.

Subsequently, the team conducts a retrospective meeting without the stakeholders to reflect on their performance and determine areas of improvement. A plan of action is created, with items implemented during the following sprint and reviewed during the subsequent retrospective.

Release Planning
Release Planning is integral to Scrum project management, allowing for long-term planning over multiple sprints. During the release-planning meeting, the entire team attends as the Product Owner presents the desired features for the quarter. The team provides rough estimates to identify the feasible features per sprint and the total number of features that can be completed by the end of the quarter. Release planning can be feature-driven, time-driven, or cost-driven.

Get Up to $165k Salary After Passing CSM Exam
Certified ScrumMaster® Certification TrainingEXPLORE COURSEGet Up to $165k Salary After Passing CSM Exam
Advantages and Disadvantages of Scrum Project Management
Advantages of Scrum
Here's why the framework is so popular today:

Scrum can help teams complete project deliverables quickly and efficiently.

Scrum can help teams complete project deliverables quickly and efficiently
Scrum ensures effective use of time and money
Large projects are divided into easily manageable sprints
Developments are coded and tested during the sprint review
Works well for fast-moving development projects
The team gets clear visibility through scrum meetings
Scrum, being agile, adopts feedback from customers and stakeholders
Short sprints enable changes based on feedback a lot more easily
The individual effort of each team member is visible during daily scrum meetings
Disadvantages of Scrum
But like every framework, scrum also has few disadvantages.

Nothing is perfect, and the Scrum methodology is no exception. In some cases, Scrum is combined with other project management techniques that can help resolve some of these drawbacks:

Scrum often leads to scope creep, due to the lack of a definite end-date
The chances of project failure are high if individuals aren't very committed or cooperative
Adopting the Scrum framework in large teams is challenging
The framework can be successful only with experienced team members
Daily meetings sometimes frustrate team members
If any team member leaves in the middle of a project, it can have a huge negative impact on the project
Quality is hard to implement until the team goes through an aggressive testing process
Scrum Roles
The agile technique, which includes the Scrum framework, entails managing a project by breaking it down into several parts and going through the cycle of planning, carrying out, and assessing at each stage. The cycles of Scrum are known as sprints, and they normally span between two and four weeks. After each sprint, the complete body of work is reviewed. The participants play three different roles in the process: the product owner, who represents the organization, the scrum master, who serves as the project manager and a group of individuals who carry out the tasks.

Scrum is particularly helpful in the software development industry since it helps a team concentrate on a smaller goal before integrating it with the project's primary goal. However, its qualities can be used for a wide range of projects across numerous industries, particularly those that call for quick responses to urgent requests and a flexible project development team.

Become a Skilled Agile Professional
PMI ACP Training CourseEXPLORE PROGRAMBecome a Skilled Agile Professional
Comprehending the Role of Project Manager in Scrum – The Scrum Master vs. the Project Manager
In Scrum, the Project Manager is responsible for overseeing the entire project, which encompasses managing risks, budgets, and other aspects. The Scrum Master has a much more specialized role, ensuring that the team follows Scrum principles thoroughly and properly.

The Scrum Master is the Agile team’s guide, leader, and consultant. The Scrum Master acts as an agile expert. A Project Manager, on the other hand, negotiates project details, manages risk and time, and cooperates with the stakeholders, other project managers, and clients.

6 Steps of Scrum Process
The following procedures make up the Scrum framework:

The product owner compiles a list of all the tasks necessary to complete the project, and is known as the product backlog.
The Scrum team reviews the product backlog and breaks down all significant tasks into more manageable, smaller ones.
The group then determines how to implement it and builds a sprint backlog.
Each sprint's length is chosen, with a typical duration of between two and four weeks.
For the period of a sprint, the team typically meets daily, with each member providing an update and the project manager assessing the project's progress based on the most recent information.
The product owner and the stakeholders of the organization examine the outcomes after each sprint.


Key Scrum Tools to Get You Through Your Next Sprint
Jira: One of the most well-known agile management tools is Jira by Atlassian. For major commercial enterprises as well as IT and software development firms, it is an excellent Agile project management alternative.
Trello: Without including Trello, one of the most popular task and project management tools globally, no list of Scrum tools would be complete. Trello is a clear and visible tool for seeing what has to be done. Built for teams of all sizes, it is an easy and quick method to get organized and boost team productivity. Trello is a fantastic tool for various projects and fields, from software development to recruiting and marketing efforts, thanks to its adaptability, many tools for diverse purposes, and customization choices. You can use this tool to improve process organization, whether creating new software, managing your social media presence, or arranging an email campaign.
Zoho Sprints: A cloud-based Scrum solution for project planning and tracking is called Sprints by Zoho. The program is easy to use and was created with agile methods in mind. Zoho Sprints is very simple to use and takes little time to get started with.
Despite its seeming simplicity, Zoho provides all the necessary agile tools for planning and successfully completing your projects. Use it to organize your content, assign tasks, schedule meetings, build dashboards and backlogs, and support other Scrum activities. Make sure to express gratitude and inspire your staff to keep everyone moving in the same direction in order to improve the process.
Active Collab: For creative workers, Active Collab is an all-in-one agile project management application. In addition to the standard features Scrum tools have, including adding and assigning tasks, several extra tools are available. You can use Active Collab to manage project budgets, keep a tab on time tracking and reporting tools, view the tasks as a calendar, boards, or lists while creating a mobile app or software, manage a tech company, or simply begin an internet business.
Scrumwise: Scrumwise, a straightforward and user-friendly application that enables you to concentrate on the important aspects of your project, is another option on our list of Scrum project management tools.
Scrumwise can be the ideal solution if you're seeking a comprehensive tool to handle your Scrum technique without more hassle. Simplify task management by organizing the tasks into checklists and monitoring the completion percentage so that you always know where your project is.


Becoming a Certified Scrum Master
Taking a CSM course with a Certified Scrum Trainer is the first step to becoming a certified scrum master. You can join Simplilearn's Certified ScrumMaster Certification Training Course to learn about the scrum framework during a two-day (14–16 hour) live training. You'll have to take an exam after finishing the course, and you'll need to get 37 out of 50 questions right. After passing your test, you will receive your CSM certification.


Source: Simplilearn
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/bksMT

12

Scrum basics and concepts / What is Scrum?

« on: September 19, 2023, 10:53:12 AM »

ByBen Lutkevich,
Technical Features Writer



DEFINITION
Scrum


Scrum is a framework for project management that emphasizes teamwork, accountability and iterative progress toward a well-defined goal. The framework begins with a simple premise: Start with what can be seen or known. After that, track the progress and tweak, as necessary.

Scrum is often part of Agile software development. It is named for a rugby formation in which everyone plays a role. Software development Scrum roles include the following:

Product owner. This person serves as the liaison between the development team and its customers. The product owner is responsible for ensuring that expectations for the completed product are communicated and agreed upon.

Scrum Master. The Scrum Master is referred to as the project facilitator. They ensure Scrum best practices are followed. They must be good leaders and project managers, skilled at collaboration, conflict resolution and process improvement.



Development team. Members of the Scrum development team work together to create and test incremental releases of the final product. Developers must know Scrum and Agile development practices.

Industry associations and other organizations provide training and certification for these key roles. Some examples of these include the following:

the Project Management Institute, which offers the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master certification;
the Scrum Alliance, which offers the Certified ScrumMaster certification;
Scrum.org, which offers Professional Scrum Master Training; and
Scrumstudy.com, which offers the Scrum Master Certified certification.





What is the Scrum process?
The Scrum process encourages practitioners to work with what they have and continually evaluate what is or is not working. Good communication is essential and is carried out through meetings, called "events."

Scrum events include the following:

Daily Scrum. This event is a short, stand-up daily meeting that takes place in the same place and time each day. In these meetings, the team reviews work accomplished the previous day and plans what will be done in the next 24 hours. This is the time when team members discuss problems that might prevent project completion.
Sprint. A Sprint is the time frame in which work must be completed -- often 30 days. New Sprints start right after the end of the previous one.
Sprint Planning Meeting. In these meetings, everyone participates in setting goals. At the end, at least one increment -- a usable piece of software -- should be produced.
Sprint Review. This is the time to show off the increment.
Sprint Retrospective. A Sprint Retrospective is a meeting held after a Sprint ends. During this meeting, everyone reflects on the process. A team-building exercise may also be offered. An important goal of this event is continuous improvement.



What are Scrum artifacts?
An artifact is something of historical interest that warrants being reexamined. In Scrum product development, artifacts are used to see what has been done and what is still in the queue.

It is useful to look at Scrum artifacts in Sprint Planning Meetings. Scrum artifacts include the following:

Product backlog. This refers to what remains to be done. During a product backlog grooming session, the development team works with the business owner to prioritize work that has been backlogged. The product backlog may be fine-tuned during a process called backlog refinement.
Sprint backlog. This is a list of tasks that must be completed before selected product backlog items can be delivered. These are divided into time-based user stories.
Product increment. This refers to what has been accomplished during a Sprint -- all the product backlog items -- as well as what's been created during all previous Sprints. The product increment reflects how much progress has been made.
Burn down. A burn down chart is a visual representation of the amount of work that still needs to be completed. A burn down chart has a Y axis that shows work and an X axis that shows time. Ideally, the chart illustrates a downward trend, as the amount of work still left to do over time burns down to zero.





Benefits of Scrum methodology
The core benefits of Scrum include the following:

Quality products. The Sprint retrospective part of the Scrum process builds in feedback and continuous improvement. As a result, development teams using the methodology deliver high-quality products.
Teamwork. Scrum creates cohesive software development teams that communicate effectively, meet deadlines and solve problems together. Members trust and respect one another and understand that their time is valuable. This might mean limiting the daily Scrum to a strict timeboxed window. Some software development teams include a hacking sprint in their process. It allows developers to work on new concepts, try out new ideas and take ownership of products.
Flexibility. With Scrum, teams have to adapt their tools and processes to new circumstances as they happen. Product definitions may change as development progresses, and effective teams deliver those changes within a few iterations. Regular product backlog meetings enable a team to rearrange priorities before products are moved into the sprint.
Reduced risk. Scrum focuses on a predictable, sustainable delivery pace and consistent feedback that gives teams a chance to mitigate risk early and often. Short sprints let teams fail fast if an idea doesn't work, keeping the risk of failure manageable.
Decreased time to market. Scrum aims to release products and their features in predictable increments using well-defined sprints. The entire product does not need to be done for features to be released. Sprints are designed to add shippable features at every increment. Complete products made up of those shipped features are known as complex products.
Higher return on investment (ROI). Scrum's combined benefits lead to a higher ROI. Constant feedback leads to less costly mistakes late in the process and a better product with fewer defects. Decreased time to market and incremental releases bring in revenue faster.



Scrum and Agile relationship explained
Agile is a development and project planning method. It has an overarching philosophy, or framework, that informs the methodologies under it, as explained in the Agile Manifesto. Scrum is one of several Agile methodologies.

Scrum can be thought of as a practical way to implement Agile. Like Scrum, Agile contains a set of values and principles. Development teams incorporate Scrum into their Agile strategy to add a layer of specificity.

One of the principles of Agile development is having team members regularly discuss how to be more effective and then adjust their behavior accordingly. Scrum incorporates a formal process to help teams do this. Daily meetings enable teams to reflect on work to do in the next 24 hours and change their approach based on obstacles expected or encountered.

Another principle of Agile is recognizing that the best work emerges from self-directed teams. Scrum Masters play a role in making this happen. They give teams what they need to do their work, and the freedom to set their own course. They then act as a servant leader, coaching teams to solve problems, reach goals and resolve conflicts.



The history of Scrum

The basis for the Scrum framework was introduced in 1986 in a Harvard Business Review article, "The New New Product Development Game," by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka. The authors described two approaches to managing product development. Some teams are like runners in a relay race, passing the baton along as they worked in a straight line. Other teams are like rugby players participating in a single game and passing things back and forth, as necessary.

Takeuchi and Nonaka concluded that the relay-race approach, as used in NASA's Phased Program Planning system, was outdated. The rugby approach would give companies the tools they need to compete in a multinational business world, they said.

Jeff Sutherland, John Scumniotales and Jeff McKenna then tried Scrum software development at Easel Corp., a software company, in 1993. In 1995, Ken Schwaber and Sutherland, working with others -- including McKenna and Scumniotales -- presented a paper, entitled "SCRUM Development Process." The result was a sea change that made developers question the effectiveness of the classic Waterfall software development model.

According to the Digital.ai's "15th State of Agile Report," Scrum is the most popular Agile methodology today. The survey of the global development community found that 66% of respondents said it was their chosen methodology and 15% said they used a Scrum derivative.

An updated version of the "Scrum Guide" by Sutherland and Schwaber was released in November 2020. The guide includes the official definition of Scrum.



Scrum pillars and values
The three pillars of Scrum are adaptation, inspection and transparency.

Adaptation. The team consistently revises its approach to problems and takes on new ones as they arise.
Inspection. The team consistently reflects on and evaluates its performance.
Transparency. The team works in an open environment, where all members have insight into each other's process and are aware of the challenges others face.
Scrum's five core values support the pillars. They are the following:

Commitment. The team is self-directed, and everyone is dedicated to doing the work that has been agreed upon.
Courage. The team operates as one entity and succeeds or fails together. Members do the right thing and take on tough problems.
Focus. Distractions are limited, and the team concentrates on the work that must be done today.
Openness. The team spends time sharing where it has succeeded and what must be improved.
Respect. Team members have different strengths, and each member's strengths are respected. No one is blamed when figuring out how to fix what is not working.





Scaling Scrum to multiple teams
Scrum and similar Agile methods are designed for one team. When IT organizations try to scale these frameworks across multiple teams, problems can occur. These methods don't provide guidance on how to work across teams at the end of a sprint, for example.

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) provides a set of principles, processes and best practices to address this problem. Comparing various SAFe methodologies can provide insight to help deal with Agile frameworks at an enterprise scale.



Source: TechTarget
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/puvR9

13

Scrum basics and concepts / What Is Agile Scrum Methodology?

« on: September 19, 2023, 10:43:30 AM »

Sean Peek


Agile and scrum are two similar project management systems with a few key differences.
Agile is more flexible and promotes leadership teams, while scrum is more rigid and promotes cross-functional teams.
Agile lets teams develop projects in small increments called “sprints” and allows for more effective collaborations among teams working on complex projects.
This article is for business owners and project managers who want to learn more about agile scrum methodology and how to implement it as a management process.
Agile scrum methodology is used by companies of all sizes for its ability to provide high-end collaboration and efficiency for project-based work. Agile and scrum are two different methods and can be used separately; however, their combined benefits make the agile scrum methodology the most popular use of agile. Here’s the complete guide to agile scrum methodology.


Did You Know?
Agile and scrum can be used separately, but their combined benefits make the methodology popular.



How does agile scrum work?
Agile scrum methodology is the combination of the agile philosophy and the scrum framework. Agile means “incremental, allowing teams to develop projects in small increments. Scrum is one of the many types of agile methodology, known for breaking projects down into sizable chunks called “sprints.” Agile scrum methodology is good for businesses that need to finish specific projects quickly.

Agile scrum methodology is a project management system that relies on incremental development. Each iteration consists of two- to four-week sprints, where the goal of each sprint is to build the most important features first and come out with a potentially deliverable product. More features are built into the product in subsequent sprints and are adjusted based on stakeholder and customer feedback between sprints.

Whereas other project management methods emphasize building an entire product in one operation from start to finish, agile scrum methodology focuses on delivering several iterations of a product to provide stakeholders with the highest business value in the least amount of time.

Agile scrum methodology has several benefits. First, it encourages products to be built faster, since each set of goals must be completed within each sprint’s time frame. It also requires frequent planning and goal setting, which helps the scrum team focus on the current sprint’s objectives and increase productivity.


What is agile?
Agile is a process that allows a team to more efficiently manage a project by breaking it down into several stages, each of which allows for consistent collaboration with stakeholders to promote steady improvements at every stage.


Key Takeaway
Agile lets a team manage a project more efficiently by breaking it down into several stages.


What are the values of agile?
Agile was first described in the Agile Manifesto in 2000 by a group of developers who sought out a new method of writing software. The manifesto cites four values:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan


What are the 12 principles of agile?
The Agile Manifesto also enacted 12 principles in reference to software development and was later reconfigured to fit a wider perspective of users:

Customer satisfaction
Early and continuous delivery
Embrace change
Frequent delivery
Collaboration of businesses and developers
Motivated individuals
Face-to-face conversation
Functional products
Technical excellence
Simplicity
Self-organized teams
Regulation, reflection and adjustment


What is scrum?
In short, scrum is a framework for effective collaborations among teams working on complex products. Scrum is a type of agile technology that consists of meetings, roles, and tools to help teams working on complex projects collaborate and better structure and manage their workload. Although it is most often used by software development teams, scrum can be beneficial to any team working toward a common goal.


Who can benefit from scrum?
While scrum can be useful for a wide variety of businesses and projects, these are the most likely beneficiaries:

Complicated projects: Scrum methodology is ideal for projects that require teams to complete a backlog. Scrum breaks down each process into bite-sized chunks that can make a complex project easier.
Companies that value results: Scrum is also beneficial to companies that value results over the documented progress of the process. This is because scrum is focused on efficiency and innovation to drive results, rather than a detailed, rigid process.
Companies that cater to customers: Scrum can help companies that develop products in accordance with customer preferences and specifications. Scrum is adaptable to change, making it key when responding to customer requests.


What are the benefits of agile scrum methodology?
These are some of the collective benefits of agile scrum methodology:

Flexibility and adaptability
Creativity and innovation
Lower costs
Quality improvement
Organizational synergy
Employee satisfaction
Customer satisfaction
The greatest benefit of agile scrum methodology is its flexibility. With the sprint-based model, the scrum team typically receives feedback from stakeholders after each sprint. If there are any problems or changes, the scrum team can easily and quickly adjust product goals during future sprints to provide more valuable iterations. This way, stakeholders are happier because they get exactly what they want after being involved every step of the way.

Compare this with traditional project management systems, in which stakeholders do not provide frequent feedback and time is wasted making changes to the product halfway through development – or worse, such as the teams needing to start from scratch after the product has already been built.

To implement agile scrum methodology, there must be either a scrum expert in the company or an outside consultant to ensure scrum principles are being applied correctly. Agile scrum methodology involves precise execution and could result in serious problems if not done properly.


What are the different roles in agile scrum methodology?

Agile scrum methodology consists of two sets of roles: core roles, known as “pigs,” and ancillary roles, known as “chickens.”

There are three core roles: scrum master, product owner and scrum team. All of these people are committed to the scrum project.

Scrum master: The scrum master is the facilitator of the scrum development process. In addition to holding daily meetings with the scrum team, the scrum master makes certain that scrum rules are being enforced and applied as intended. The scrum master’s responsibilities also include coaching and motivating the team, removing impediments to sprints, and ensuring that the team has the best possible conditions to meet its goals and produce deliverable products.
Product owner: The product owner represents stakeholders, who are typically customers. To ensure the scrum team is always delivering value to stakeholders and the business, the product owner determines product expectations, records changes to the product and administers a scrum backlog, a detailed and constantly updated to-do list for the scrum project. The product owner is also responsible for prioritizing goals for each sprint, based on their value to stakeholders, such that the most important and deliverable features are built in each iteration.
Scrum team: The scrum team is a self-organized group of three to nine individuals who have the business, design, analytical and development skills to carry out the actual work, solve problems and produce deliverable products. Members of the scrum team self-administer tasks and are jointly responsible for meeting each sprint’s goals.
Ancillary roles, on the other hand, are other stakeholders who are involved in, but not committed to, the scrum project. Typically, ancillary roles consist of customers, management and members of the executive team who are involved for the purpose of consulting, reporting progress and gathering feedback to better work toward delivering the highest value possible.


What is the training for scrum and agile?
Managers and employees can enroll in training for both agile and scrum through various online and in-person courses. Many educational training courses result in certification in agile or scrum methodologies. Agile training provides the trainee with the basic knowledge of agile and how to implement it to the rest of their team. Scrum provides similar training, including the basic agile overview; however, the training caters to the scrum framework.

To become a certified scrum master (CSM) or certified scrum product owner (CSPO), you must first prepare and learn the basic details of scrum through videos or a simple internet search. Next, find a suitable CSM or CSPO course, either through your workplace or another internet search. Once you’ve completed the course, you usually have to pass an exam to become certified. After certification, you’re able to lead your team through the scrum process or provide scrum product details.


What are the differences between scrum and agile?

Although scrum and agile are similar, they have some key differences:

Scrum values rigidity, whereas agile is more flexible.
Agile leaders play a vital role, while scrum promotes a cross-functional team that is self-functioning.
Agile involves face-to-face interactions between cross-functional team members, while scrum involves daily stand-up meetings.
Agile is meant to be kept simple, while scrum can be innovative and experimental.
Scrum delivers shorter, separate projects, while agile delivers everything at the end of the process.


Source: Business News Daily
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/ejzD9

14

Scrum basics and concepts / Scrum The Toyota Way

« on: September 19, 2023, 10:35:54 AM »

Key Takeaways

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to being agile, or to scaling Scrum
Lean and Agile are different things, but are great partners
You can be lean without being agile, and you can be agile without being lean
Executives must be fully engaged and part of the process
Understanding complexity and multi-team systems is critical for success


Toyota Connected uses Scrum combined with the Toyota Production System to deliver Lean Production, enabling teams to deliver rapid PDCA cycles. Scrum of Scrums, Meta Scrum, and the chief product owner, are some of the approaches used to scale Scrum for multiple teams and products. Agility is not the goal. It’s a result, an outcome.

Nigel Thurlow, chief of Agile at Toyota Connected, will talk about “Scrum The Toyota Way” at eXperience Agile 2018. This conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, on October 1 - 2.

InfoQ will be covering eXperience Agile with Q&As, summaries, and articles. This year’s conference theme, “Improving Through People,” is described below:

Discover the latest cutting-edge Agile practices by top industry leaders from around the world. eXperience Agile is more than just another Agile conference. This is an event that will highlight the most revolutionary applications of Agile being used today.

InfoQ interviewed Thurlow about how the DNA of Toyota connects to Scrum and agile, the challenges that Toyota Connected is dealing with, how they apply agile and what they have learned, the role of the product owner, how the C Suite fits into the agile world, and how Scrum and agile relate to the Toyota Production System and Lean Production.

InfoQ: What’s the DNA of Toyota and how does that connect to Scrum and agile?

Nigel Thurlow: Everybody at Toyota understands the customer-first promise and the founding principles of TPS and the Toyota Way. When we discuss the value of embracing new technology and the digital world, we always have our DNA giving us the reasons why we need to do it: our customers.

Customer First was first coined in 1946 by the first president of Toyota Motor Sales Japan, Shotaro Kamiya, and is the principle of considering the need and desires of the customer when determining direction and strategy.  Simply stated, it’s delivering the highest quality, in the shortest lead time, for the lowest cost.

Scrum is a framework to enable teams to deliver rapid PDCA cycles, where value is prioritized for the customer, and non value added work is eliminated.  It’s important to note that Scrum does not make you lean, and being lean does not mean you are doing great Scrum.

Agility is a result or outcome, and is not the goal.  Scrum is one way to help achieve that, in fact it’s the best way to codify PDCA I’ve worked with.  Everyone knows what PDCA is, but no one actually knows how long a PDCA cycle should last for.  What we are trying to do with Scrum is shorten that cycle.  The cycle to inspect customer feedback (check) and to adapt to that feedback (act).  I sometimes refer to this as PDIA, Plan, Do, Inspect, Adapt.

Just as Scrum does not make you Lean, being Lean does not mean you are Agile.  You can be Lean without being Agile, and you can be Agile without being Lean. They are different, yet very complementary concepts. We want to be Lean, delivering the flow of value the most efficient way possible, but we also want to be Agile by being able to respond rapidly to changes in customer or market demand, or responding to unknown events quickly.

InfoQ: What are the challenges that Toyota Connected is dealing with?

Thurlow: Toyota Connected (TC) was established as an agile startup to help Toyota respond rapidly to the changing connected-car technology space. We are not just talking about self-aware cars, but about providing a wide array of connected services to vehicle owners to serve their mobility needs. That’s the vision of Toyota’s President, Akio Toyoda, which we try to execute by leveraging the digital tools at our disposal -- from Artificial Intelligence to the Internet of Things -- enabling us to build the future of connected vehicle technologies.

We are working in an ever-fast changing world where time to market is no longer measured in years, but often in months, and soon even shorter durations.  As the ability to upgrade cars in real-time becomes an everyday occurrence, as well as the increasing levels of live data vehicles are now able to stream, we have to be able to deliver the benefits and capabilities our customers seek.  Whether that’s helping an insurance company set rates through accurate and meaningful driver scoring, or being able to correct an operational problem with an over the air update, to creating mobility options like the Hui car-sharing service in Honolulu in partnership with Servco Pacific Inc, and to integrating Amazon’s Alexa into Toyota vehicles and studying advancements in data science and AI.

InfoQ: How does Toyota Connected apply agile?

Thurlow: We practice and teach Toyota Production System (Lean) and Toyota Way principles, but we are also an agile company by design. TC was setup to behave like a startup, but with the stability and funding of a global corporation. We create an office environment for great engineering and technical excellence, that allows teams to thrive in a creative and open way. 

Our small (typically five to six people) collaborative teams sit very closely together in open-space offices, with obeya rooms, visual management and andon displays all around them. Whilst we use electronic tools, we teach and encourage visual management to enable transparency and openness and to enable real-time discussions at the gemba with leadership and key stakeholders.

We are focused on creating flow efficiency through eliminating bottlenecks and impediments to deliver value faster to the customer.  This involves studying multi-team science, something we have partnered with the University of North Texas to study, and conducting many experiments to define the repeatable patterns in many contexts to enable agility across the organization.  We are currently working on a number of scholarly white papers for publication in the coming months to share this learning with the agile world. 

A example of Multi Team Systems is Scrum of Scrums and Meta Scrum.  We define these as behavioral patterns, and it is through observing them we can identify what works and what struggles.  We can then experiment by adjusting the process and see the effect on the behavior.  As we refine these team interactions, we iterate and document them as patterns, both positive and negative.

Another example is the idea of creating a SoSM (Scrum of Scrums Master) and making them accountable for the release of the joint team's effort.  We find that this creates a command and control leadership style, as we now have a single person ‘telling’ the teams to deliver.  This dampens the collaboration between teams as they are now being measured and held accountable by a proxy manager.

We recognize that simply making a group of people use Scrum does not create a great team, and when we involve multiple teams we find the challenges are amplified.  Changing behaviors and teaching team skills is essential. 

Cynefin enables us to understand complex adaptive systems, and teams are indeed complex with many unpredictable behaviors.  It’s important to understand that it is task interdependence that determines if you need a team, and not people in a reporting structure who are necessarily a team, despite what the organization chart might say.  If individuals need to work consistently with other individuals to deliver something, then we consider them interdependent and we form a team, irrespective of reporting lines.  Those people work interdependently, adaptively and dynamically towards a shared & valued goal.

Studying the work of David Snowden with the professors at UNT, we are starting to define behavioral markers that teams can self identify against and then self correct against, together with close coaching and support from the team’s Scrum Master.

We are defining what agility means to Toyota as a global corporation. We have taken a lot of industry knowledge and we are giving back to the community by trying to find synergies between TPS/Lean and the agile world. We have recently launched a public offering called Scrum the Toyota Way, for example, and after successful beta tests we are now planning a wider public availability of this training.  We continue to learn new things and evolve as our understanding of this world deepens.

InfoQ: What have you learned?

Thurlow: We have learned that agility is hard, really hard. There is also no such thing as an agile transformation.  You fundamentally have to change your operating model, and undertake an organizational transformation to achieve the agility you desire.  Scrum is but one item in the toolbox to help you do this. You also need a sense of urgency. If the C Suite don’t see a compelling reason to change, chances are you’ll actually make things worse by messing with the current condition, and the resistance to change will be overwhelming, with no mandate to actually achieve that change.

I’ve also realized that not everyone needs to be agile!  If you’re shipping concrete slabs you probably don’t need to do that in two-week sprints, as the need to change rapidly is not there.  Sure, Scrum will give you a planning cadence, but Scrum was intended to work in complex domains and with complex systems.  These are areas where a linear approach and fixed thinking are not effective. 

If you are working in a domain that is fixed and varies little, then agility may not be as important as being Lean.  Optimizing the efficiency of product flow may be much more beneficial.  If however, you are working in a fast changing ever evolving market, then agility is crucial.  Remember, you can be lean and not agile, and you can be agile and not lean. I’d suggest that agility plus lean is a winning combination.  You could say that Agility is delivering the right thing, and Lean is delivering the thing right.

InfoQ: How successful is Scrum for you?

Thurlow: If you are a one team one product startup, Scrum is very simple to apply, and very effective.  If you put a group of highly talented individuals together in a room and provide the motivation and the challenge, they’ll create great things.  Scrum is highly effective at shortening the PDCA cycle and delivering rapid results, by enabling rapid response to change, a key agile tenet.

Scale that to one team with many products and the product backlog becomes a team backlog. Prioritization now becomes much more challenging as many stakeholders vie for the number one spot.  Making that team backlog visible to leadership is critical to enable real-time discussion and prioritization.  And when I say visible, I mean on a physical board across a giant wall or a series of whiteboards stitched together.  This is precisely what we are doing at Toyota Connected.

Scale that to many teams on the same product, and certain patterns become useful; patterns to enable higher level backlog and product management.  It’s here we start to use Meta Scrum for the management of backlog, as well as Scrum of Scrums for the management of delivery across multiple interdependent teams.  The coordination of multiple dependencies between teams and products is amplified and so the need to find pragmatic techniques to coordinate that collaboration is essential.

When you scale that to many teams on many products, the complexity scales exponentially.  Now throw in numerous dependencies, and constraints, whether that’s multiple partners or vendors, or built in constraints within a global corporation, and agility becomes far more complex to achieve.  The concepts are the same, the tools are the same, but the context alters everything.  This is where organizational design and the operating model have to change and evolve. 

We have clearly recognized that there is no one-size-fits-all scaling framework. Frameworks are context agnostic, but at scale context is everything.  Patterns, techniques, experiments, and empowered teamwork are all essential, but there is no silver bullet, not yet anyway.

InfoQ: How crucial is the role of product owner?

Thurlow: The product owner role is critical to the success of a Scrum team, but is also the most challenging to get right.  The Scrum Guide notion of the team doing the heavy lifting on creating the backlog is not workable in practice at scale. Developers do not always possess the skills or desire to be the owners of a product backlog, even if the PO is still accountable.  Being able to sell and market a product, as well as do the business analysis side of the role requires certain disciplines that are not plentiful in highly technical engineers, nor is it the best use of their skills and talents.  If that role does exist or evolves within the team, then the team effectively become a product owner anyway.  Of course, this depends on the way you define Product Ownership, and the bigger picture of Product Management.

Various scaling approaches attempt to remedy this through various means, but we have come to realize that we need a clear product owner in that role, and that while the role is singularly accountable, the role of product ownership is an activity that involves many people.  A single team concept does not scale without adaptation and without immense discipline, and such discipline is hard to achieve in a large corporation.

Through the study of the product owner role, we have realized that we needed to codify the actual work of creating the backlog.  Afterall, we need the backlog for the team to work on, and for the team to refine. Therefore we created an activity called Product Backlog Development.

Product Backlog Development is the act of creating Product Backlog Items. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner together with any required stakeholders create Product Backlog Items. Required stakeholders may include; Customers, Subject Matter Experts, System Users, Business Representatives and support from any group necessary to help the Product Owner develop backlog items. During Product Backlog Development the product vision, strategy and roadmap are created, reviewed and revised. Product Backlog Development occurs every Sprint.

It may seem simple, and probably others would argue not needed as the Scrum Guide defines this anyway, albeit less explicitly, but what we have found is that it does not define it well enough, so we simply did.

We do of course promote and enable open and effective communication between the teams and the actual customers, but often we found that the product owner being actively engaged is more effective day-to-day, especially where we have time zones, language, and technological limitations.  We also use the chief product owner concept when we have many teams working on the same product.  The chief product owner enables effective communication between many teams and a customer, as well as working with other product owners to ensure everyone is aligned and focused on the highest priorities.

InfoQ: How does the C Suite fit into the agile world?

Thurlow: Executive and senior leadership engagement is key once you start to scale the number of products, or the number of teams. At Toyota Connected we scale the role of product owner to the executive level and we conduct an Executive Meta Scrum monthly to review enterprise progress, ensure alignment to vision and strategy, and to make critical prioritization decisions. 

We also have an Executive Action Team (EAT) where the same senior executives meet frequently to review impediments (blocking issues) and self assign them for resolution.  This means the EAT behaves like a Scrum team, pulling impediments from a backlog and executing work to resolve them.  In larger more complex multi vendor or multi affiliate product delivery, we may also have an intermediate Leadership Action Team (LAT) to resolve impediments or to take more rapid action before it is escalated to the EAT.

If you don’t have this engagement, you will find the ability to change direction or priority quickly is diminished, and with it your agility and perhaps your competitiveness.

Executive engagement is also needed to tackle the silos that exist in large companies and organizations. It’s a challenge to eliminate the silos that evolve and protect their existence. This makes value stream design long and painful, and as Peter Drucker once said, “any innovation in a corporation will stimulate the corporate immune system to create antibodies that destroy it.” To truly transform an organization we must optimize the system for the flow of value, and this means looking at the whole system, and changing the whole system, if that is what is needed.

We must stop doing agile and start enabling flow and shortening the feedback loops.  Then we will become agile.

InfoQ: Toyota is known for the Toyota Production System and Lean Production. How does Scrum and agile relate to this?

Thurlow: Scrum, the predominant agile framework, was based on the Toyota Production System (what many refer to as lean, a term coined by the authors of the book, “The Machine that Changed the World,” the first major publication on how Toyota manufactures products) and, as I was recently told by Ken Schwaber, on DuPont’s influence to adopt an empirical planning approach.  In fact, Scrum is simply an empirical planning approach, with rapid feedback loops built in to enable certain behavioral characteristics in a team.  It is PDCA codified with time boxed steps.

How long should planning, doing, checking and acting last? And what is actually happening in each of these phases? Scrum codified this, providing discipline around PDCA.

TPS/Lean is the gold standard for lean product development.  Codifying PDCA using Scrum is providing a mechanism through which we can improve our responsiveness to change, and to constantly inspect and adapt the value we are delivering to our customers.

However, agile isn’t saving lean and lean isn’t saving agile; the agile movement is enabling companies that are already lean or may wish to be lean to make decisions faster. We are using frameworks like Scrum and tools coming out of the Toyota Production System to enable business agility, thus developing the ability to respond more quickly to market trends. “Agility is not the goal. It’s a result or an outcome”.

InfoQ: If InfoQ readers want to learn more about Scrum The Toyota Way, where can they go?

Thurlow: Right now we are testing a number of public classes. We have just held two beta classes and will be holding two more public classes, one in Portlandand one in Dallas.  We are also sponsoring Agile Camp. The event in Dallas is in final preparation and will soon be announced on various social media platforms by Agile Camp.

We also offer a 100% discount for our military veterans and serving members of law enforcement so they can attend and learn new skills for re-entry into the jobs market and help them serve the public more effectively. 



Source: InfoQ
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/ezFT1

15

Scrum basics and concepts / Personal scrum: Using agile techniques to manage your life

« on: September 19, 2023, 10:30:54 AM »

Yvette Francino
Agile Consultant


Scrum, a popular agile methodology originally used for software development, is now being successfully implemented in other business domains. In a unique twist, agile is now being applied to personal project management. Though some agile techniques may not apply, the concepts of iterative processes, continuous improvement, empowerment, and collaboration can be applied to many areas of personal life. These are just a few of the creative ways people are using agile techniques to manage daily life.





Agile for a happier family life

In his popular TED talk, Bruce Feiler describes today's families as "out of control" and relates how his family used agile project management to improve their lives. He opens his talk by sharing the results of a survey that revealed what kids really want for their parents: to be less tired and less stressed. Feiler then goes on to describe how using family standup meetings with morning checklists drastically reduced stress in his household.

"The week we introduced a morning checklist into our house, it cut parental screaming in half," he says.

By using retrospectives and empowering their children to provide input on rewards, consequences, and plans for the next "iteration," the Feiler family gained insights into their children's innermost thoughts and encouraged their children's independence.

"Three years later...we're still holding these meetings. My wife counts them among her most treasured moments as a mom," says Feiler.

He believes that families can find happiness by adapting an "agile family manifesto" with the following principles:

Adapt all the time: Experiment with new ideas, and be flexible and open-minded.
Empower your children: Let them plan their own goals, evaluate their own work, succeed on their own terms, and on occasion, fail and learn from those failures.
Tell your story: Define your mission and identify your core values as a family.



Agile as a personal productivity tool

Although many of the techniques and steps in agile methodologies center on collaboration, some of its concepts can be used even if you're a one-person team. Working from a prioritized product backlog, breaking work into iterations, limiting work in progress, and regular reflection are just some of the concepts borrowed from agile that people can use to better manage their personal lives.

Agile guru Mike Cohn says he uses scrum to stay productive, dividing his work into one-week sprints. Though he doesn't use velocity or burndown charts, he does have a weekly personal planning session during which he decides which tasks he wants to complete in the upcoming week. He then charts those tasks out using Things, an app by Cultured Code.

In the Lifehack article "Scrum for One," Dustin Wax describes how many of the elements of scrum can be adapted for individual productivity. Here are some of his examples:

Start before you have all the answers, and then be creative in finding solutions to obstacles you encounter.
Constantly self-reflect and adapt. Spend a few minutes each day planning, reflecting, and asking, "What's standing in my way?"
Work toward clearly defined short-term goals. Breaking big goals into short-term goals that are time-boxed will help create a sense of accomplishment and move you forward.
Sprint—stay focused on your goal. Block out times of the day when you can work free from distraction until you reach your goal.



Scrum-based event planning
Though agile techniques are being used in a variety of unique ways, one of the most creative I've seen is Scrum Your Wedding, a wedding planning business that educates customers on how to plan a wedding using scrum. The service includes a comprehensive guide and toolkit that outlines all the processes, rituals, and roles used in scrum, including product owners, scrum masters, sprint meetings, standups, backlogs, and retrospectives.

The scrum master owns the process and ensures that obstacles are removed, while the product owners maintain a prioritized list of tasks and decide how to spend time and money. The guide and toolkit include examples of how to choose roles; for example, the bride and groom could be the product owners and a wedding planner or friend could be the scrum master.

The guide goes on to step through the same processes that are unique to scrum, starting with creating a shared vision and moving on to developing a wedding backlog. Customers schedule sprint planning meetings and retrospectives to monitor progress and receive continuous feedback.

As with agile, the guide advises customers to begin the planning process by writing stories (wedding stories) that explain the outcome they hope to achieve but not the details of how to get there. Customers add tasks and acceptance criteria, such as budget constraints, during sprint planning meetings. During sprints, they perform tasks such as picking a caterer or other vendors. Finally, the guide explains the importance of using a daily standup to keep the project on track.



Agile for life
Though agile techniques may have originated as a way to better manage software development, some popular agile concepts are being used to help bring order, lower stress, and accomplish tasks in daily life. From planning a wedding to organizing your own personal backlog, it's time to move agile outside of the office. How can you apply agile to your personal life?


Source: TechBeacon
Original Content: https://shorturl.at/knqCF