Crawl Before You Leap - An Introduction To AGILE Methods
Date: 2nd July 2008 or 8th Oct 2008
Cost: £180 (conc. £162)
Course Description: Are you involved in the specification, purchase, project management or delivery of an IT or web-based project? If so, you need to know about Agile methods.
Agile methods, are a group of new techniques which make it easier to deliver IT and web-based projects in environments of uncertainty and constant change. Did you ever try to plan a project but things didn't go quite as you expected? Agile methods are designed to deal with that kind of experience. They emphasise the delivery of projects in short iterations: the end of each iteration, priorities can be re-ordered or new ones can be added making sure that you are always delivering to the client the things that they value most.
This introductory course will give you an immediate feel for the difference that working using Agile techniques can have for the IT projects that you work on.
Attending this course will allow you to: Provide the most value in the work that you do for you client, Plan your work in short iterations, Deal with new and unexpected information and changes as a project progresses, Improve your estimates of how long work will take, Deliver what you say you'll deliver, when you say you'll deliver it.
Suitable for people working as either a Producer or Project Manger or Software Developer in any software development environment. Also suitable for people involved in the specification and procurement of software. No programming skills required.
Technical Aspects of Agile
Date: Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th July 08
Cost: £395 (£350)
2 day course that covers some of the crucial technical aspects of Agile.
For people who are comfortable programming in Java.
Pair Programming. To many people, especially in senior management, pair programming seems completely counter-intuitive. Surely, by getting two people to do the job of one person you're just halving your productivity? This course would cover the very good reasons for introducing pair programming and how to deal with some of the potential objections. It would also deal with how to start pair programming - what are the do's and don'ts and provide course participants with some hands-on experience of programming with other people.
Test Driven Development. The practice of writing a failing automatic test for each piece of software functionality that is added to a system, together with a script that can run all of these tests has many beneficial effects on the process of software development. This course would give participants experience of writing tests and then coding against them using a well-known testing framework such as JUnit.
Re-factoring. As software development progresses on a project, code gets messy and changes in one place cause unexpected breakages in overs. Re-factoring accepts the reality that code gets messy over time and builds on the advantages of TDD (test-driven development) to allow principled clean up of code. Course participants will be given a chance to clean up the kind of horridly entangled bits of code they might experience and be shown the possible benefits of re-factoring for the ongoing support of the codebase.
Tutor: Matthew Gould. Is a consultant with Agile Lab. Previous to this he was Director of Learning at Soda Creative LTD, developing the company's profile, project and product portfolio within the learning sector. Matthew has also worked for Media and Creative Partnerships, as well as Programme Leader for a skills sharing and partnership building programme for Creative Partnerships and Libraries and Museums Association
Tutor: Mark Stringer. Mark has previously worked as a project manager for Soda Creative. Previous to this, Mark worked for ten years in various development and project management roles in the software industry. Mark has also worked as a researcher in Computer Science at Cambridge University and for Xerox Research Centre Europe. Web: http://www.agile-lab.co.uk/
About 01zero-one: An innovative media space in the heart of Soho.
01zero-one, in Soho, has established a reputation as a centre of excellence for training and skills development across the converging sectors of London’s audio visual and interactive digital media industries. It provides short courses and masterclasses in film, TV, interactive and digital media.
TO BOOK: Contact Lydia Manu on 020 7025 1985, or email lydia.manu@westking.ac.uk, or apply online at http://www.01zero-one.co.uk/courses_apply.htm.
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