Agile for Teams
Who is this course for?
This course aims to equip teams to work well together and deliver good project outputs. It’s designed for groups of people from the same team attending together, and as such isn’t open to individuals. It’s best suited to cohorts of between 10 and 15 people, but if your team falls outside of these numbers please get in touch and we can discuss your requirements. We will deal with the lead council point of contact to arrange this.
Course summary
Agile for Teams introduces agile concepts and techniques for teams to understand and apply agile to their work. During the course, there will be the opportunity to apply the techniques with a ready-prepared simulation, which will help consolidate learning.
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- explain the origins of agile including the values and principles
- recognise agile ways of working in other areas
- demonstrate how to apply agile methodologies within their own team
Modules
- Agile principles
- Scrum overview
- User stories
- Agile estimating and planning
- Backlog refinement
- Kanban
- Project simulation
Duration
The course takes 3 working days. It usually runs from 9:30am to 4pm.
Dates
Your organisation’s representative will need to contact us to arrange a date for this course. There is an option for the trainer to travel to the council and deliver training on site.
There is limited availability for courses this quarter so please email skills@localdigital.gov.uk for a list of course dates and information on how to book.
Local Leaders Digital Accelerator
Who is this course for?
This course is for non-technical senior leaders and portfolio owners in local government.
It’s aimed at people in local government roles such as:
- Council leader
- Transformation and digital portfolio owner
- CEO/CFO/COO
- Head of service
This course is open to 100 ambitious local leaders, attending in cohorts of 15 at a time.
Course summary
This course has been designed to enable non-technical senior leaders and portfolio owners in local government to lead truly internet-age organisations. It will create a network of local digital leaders across the UK who are more confident in identifying the right digital solutions and asking the right questions of their technical teams.
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- describe the agile principles and methods adopted in government
- explain the importance of user research and user needs
- role model the change in culture and leadership that supports transformation
- create the right conditions to build services more quickly, flexibly and effectively
- explain the government digital landscape
The course will cover the cultural transformation that underpins the move to digital working, and the technical questions most relevant to senior leaders. The learning will include a group session with leading figures from digital government at an evening session where they will be able to discuss what has (and hasn’t) worked across the public sector.
Modules
- Welcome and introductions
- The Local Digital Declaration
- The Government Service Standard
- Introduction to digital
- Digital disruption
- Approaching agile
- Agile principles and culture
- Scrum overview
- Agile teams and motivation
- Case study analysis
- Technology code of practice
- Open source and open standards
- Building the business case
- User centred design
- Phases of delivery
- Procurement of services and products
- Changing mindsets and building team culture
- Takeaway actions to help you transform
Duration
This is a 2-day residential course, including an evening session with a guest speaker on day 1. The course timings are:
- Day 1: 10am to 5pm
- Day 1: Evening Session
- Day 2: 10am to 4pm
In addition, the cohorts will be provided with ongoing support, both access to new learning content and continuing support for the development of their virtual group.
Dates
We will update this page once new dates are available to book.
Introduction to User Centred Design
Who is this course for?
This course is for team members who want to understand how to carry out research and design in agile.
This course is open to any member of staff. You should not take this course if you have taken the Agile for Teams training.
Course summary
This course provides a high level of awareness of the importance of research and design. You will get the chance to explore techniques such as interaction design and content design, and see how they work in an agile team.
The aim of this course is to show how government carries out user-centred design to create inclusive services that are easy for people to use.
By the end of the course you will be able to explain:
- what user-centred design is
- why user-centred design is important
- how user-centred design is done in an agile team
- how the different disciplines in user-centred design work together
Modules
- Introduction to user-centred design
- User needs
- Disciplines in user-centred design
- Accessibility needs
- User research
- Designing simple services
- Prototyping
Duration
The course takes 1 working day, 10:00 – 17:00.
Dates and locations
We will update this page once new dates are available to book.
Delivery manager - working level
Who is this course for?
This course is for delivery managers who have already attended the GDS Academy Digital and Agile Foundation course, Agile for Teams, or have approximately 6 months’ experience in this role. It is also for experienced delivery managers who are new to local government.
This course is appropriate for associate delivery managers and delivery managers.
Participants are expected to have at least 6 months’ experience in their role. Applicants should be familiar with Scrum as an agile method. This could include working within a Scrum team or using an agile framework. A working knowledge of the agile values and principles is required.
Course summary
The aim of this course is to provide a deeper understanding of the role of a delivery manager and explore some of the techniques and methods commonly used on digital teams.
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- explain the role of the delivery manager, and the characteristics required of a good or great delivery manager
- describe different agile patterns and when they are typically used
- explain and implement effective agile ceremonies
- communicate the role of the delivery manager in forming high performing teams
Modules
- The role of the delivery manager
- Agile patterns
- Agile ceremonies
- Team forming
- Minimum viable product and story mapping
- Impact mapping
Duration
The course takes 3 working days. It usually runs from 9am to 5:30pm.
Dates and locations
There is limited availability for courses this quarter so please email skills@localdigital.gov.uk for a list of course dates and information on how to book.
Product manager - working level
Who is this course for?
This course is for product managers who have already attended the GDS Academy Digital and Agile Foundation course, Agile for Teams, or have approximately 6 months’ experience in this role. It is also for experienced product managers who are new to local government.
This course is appropriate for associate product managers and product managers. Applicants are expected to have a minimum of 3 to 6 months experience in the role.
Course summary
The aim of this course is to deepen knowledge of the product manager role and provide experience in a number of techniques.
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- describe the role of the product manager and identify the characteristics required to be a good or great product manager
- use techniques to develop a product vision
- understand how impact mapping, story mapping and hypothesis testing can be used on your team to generate a product backlog
- understand behaviour driven development and how this is used on digital teams
Modules
- The role of the product manager
- Developing a vision and a roadmap
- What makes a good Discovery, Alpha and Beta
- Sprint planning and backlog grooming
- Prototyping
- Preparing for a GDS service assessment
- Measurement and Google analytics
Duration
The course takes 3 working days:
- Day 1: 10am to 5:30pm
- Day 2: 9am to 5:30pm
- Day 3: 9am to 4:30pm
Dates and locations
There is limited availability for courses this quarter so please email skills@localdigital.gov.uk for a list of course dates and information on how to book.
Business analyst - working level
Who is this course for?
This course is for business analysts who have already attended the GDS Academy Digital and Agile Foundation course, Agile for Teams, or have approximately 6 months’ experience in this role. It is also for experienced business analysts who are new to local government.
This course is appropriate for existing business analysts who are about to start work on, or have recently joined, digital teams. A minimum of 6 months’ business analysis experience is required.
Course summary
This GDS Academy course focuses on the business analyst role within a digital service. It does not aim to cover all business analysis techniques (there is an assumed level of knowledge here).
The course is focused on business analysts’ understanding their role in digital projects and it does not cover traditional business analysis methods or techniques.
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- describe the role of the business analyst on a digital team
- explain how the business analyst works with other members of a multidisciplinary team and what the business analyst brings to the team
- develop user stories and acceptance criteria
Modules
- The role of the business analyst
- Talks from a user researcher, delivery manager, technical architect, developer, QA, experienced business analyst, product owner
- User stories, story mapping, story splitting
- How a business analyst impacts each phase
- The Three Amigos process
- Acceptance criteria
- Behaviour-driven development and continuous integration
Duration
The course takes 3 working days. It usually runs from 9am to 5:30pm.
Dates and locations
There is limited availability for courses this quarter so please email skills@localdigital.gov.uk for a list of course dates and information on how to book.
User researcher - working level
Who is this course for?
This course is for user researchers working in local government.
Course summary
This course aims to show how user research supports the user-centred design and development of digital public services that are easy for people to use. It will provide delegates with the understanding and confidence to start conducting research as part of an agile team.
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- understand what user research is and why it’s important
- understand how user research is done in an agile team
- understand how the different disciplines in user-centred design work together
- understand how to develop and maintain a research plan
- have practised a selection of foundation user research techniques
- understand how to analyse and prioritise user research findings with a team
- have an awareness of accessibility issues and how they relate to user research
- understand the key ethical and privacy issues relevant to conducting user research
Dates and locations
We will update this page once new dates are available to book.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government