The Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) is a very simple framework with hands-on applicability and full demonstrative usage of scaling using either Scrum or Kanban at the team level. In this post, I’ll outline the CIPSA Framework in a clock view.
The CIPSA Framework Clock
The below figure informs the CIPSA Framework Clock, or simply, the CIPSA Clock.
As shown in above figure and as it happens in a clock, we have the following activities associatd with each clock pointer.
Clock Pointer 1: Establish the Product Goal.
Here the Product Goal is created by the Chief Product Owner (CPO).
Clock Pointer 2: We have Cross-team Backlog Refinement.
The Cross-Team Backlog Refinement happens. The Product Goal drives the top ordered items (content) of the Product Backlog.
Clock Pointer 3: With CIPSA Planning, Build the CIPSA Backlog.
The CIPSA Backlog will be built by the CIPSA Team. The CIPSA Backlog will have the CIPSA Goal, which is in alignment with the Product Goal.
Clock Pointer 4: In the Sprint/Release, Execute the Work Items.
For scaled Scrum, in the Sprint, the work items are executed. For scaled Kanban, in a release – based on cadence – the work items will be executed.
Clock Pointer 5: Conduct the CIPSA Daily Stand-ups.
The CIPSA Daily Stand-ups happen in the Sprint or Release and the needed representatives from the CIPSA team participate.
Clock Pointer 6: Remove issues, impediments and mitigate risks.
This happens through the Sprint or Release.
Clock Pointer 7: Ensure Continuous Integration.
Integration is not a one-time work, but happens continuously cutting across the individual teams under the CIPSA Team.
Clock Pointer 8: Have the CIPSA Integrated Increment.
The CIPSA Integrated Increment is the sum of all work coming from the individual teams.
Clock Pointer 9: Conduct the CIPSA Review.
This meta-event is the second to last one and the CIPSA Integrated Increment is presented here.
Clock Pointer 10: Update the Product Backlog.
The Product Backlog can be updated based on the feedback received in the CIPSA Review meeting.
Clock Pointer 11: Conduct the CIPSA Retrospective.
This is the final meta-event for improvements.
Clock Pointer 12: Repeat.
As the pointer name tells, repeat the work!
Video Explanation: The CIPSA Framework Clock
The below video explains the CIPSA framework clock or simply the CIPSA clock. The duration is around 5 minutes [5m:32s]. Put your earphones (or buds) and go full HD in order to have a better experience.
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In summary, that’s what happens in the CIPSA Framework for scaling Scrum or Kanban teams. Yes, that’s all!
Isn’t it a very simple framework to learn and use?
Scaling frameworks need not be complex, heavy on documentation, but low on practical applicability and usage. In fact, for any real Scaled Agile practitioner, it should be the opposite!
However, worldwide, not a single framework tells how to scale with software tools. If at all they do, it becomes very cumbersome with multiple tools and high complexities.
The CIPSA Framework is not complex, but enables you to deliver work, which is complex!
The CIPSA Framework Clock demonstrates scaling in a simple manner. To know more on the CIPSA Framework, you can download the CIPSA Framework Guide.
In the CIPSA Framework, world’s only practical scaled agile framework, we have three backlogs: Product Backlog, CIPSA Backlog, and Team Backlog. Considering the CIPSA Kanban Framework, the CIPSA Backlog will be called the CIPSA Kanban Backlog. In this article, we will explore the differences between Product Backlog and CIPSA Kanban Backlog.
“In the CIPSA Kanban Planning meeting, a CIPSA Kanban Backlog is created with the Product Backlog items that can be delivered by multiple teams in the upcoming release. Post CIPSA Kanban Planning meeting, for each team, an individual team level Kanban Planning event takes place. This results in a Team Kanban Backlog for each team.”
Now, if the Product Backlog items are directly taken into the CIPSA Kanban Backlog, but we are actually executing the items in the Team Kanban Backlog, two questions come-up:
What is the need of CIPSA Kanban Backlog? We already have Product Backlog and Team Kanban Backlog.
If needed, what exactly are the differences between the Product Backlog and CIPSA Kanban Backlog?
First and foremost, we don’t execute the entire Product Backlog, but parts of it. Considering the Kanban framework, we have a CIPSA Kanban Backlog due to the following reasons:
We need to clearly segregate the items taken for the upcoming Release for all the Kanban teams.
We need to add the meta-events into a backlog where the CIPSA Team will not be executing the work items, but also a plan for the meta-events such as CIPSA Kanban Planning, CIPSA Daily Stand-ups etc.
Segregation of Kanban teams (human resources) need to happen. This can happen only at the CIPSA Kanban Backlog level.
Allocation of resources doesn’t happen at the Product Backlog level. It can only happen at CIPSA Kanban Backlog and Team Kanban Backlog level.
Hence, the CIPSA Kanban Backlog is created from the Product Backlog. It’s depicted in the figure below.
Next, let’s see the differences between the Product Backlog and the CIPSA Kanban Backlog.
Product Backlog Vs. CIPSA Kanban Backlog
Difference # 1: Product Backlog is a single one and stands on its own - separate, unique. CIPSA Kanban Backlog comes from the Product Backlog.
Difference # 2: The Product Backlog will have the product backlog items. Some of the product backlog items will be part of the CIPSA Kanban Backlog.
Difference # 3: Product Backlog is a live document and continuously updated. The CIPSA Kanban Backlog will be for a Release and when the Release is over, it’s discarded.
Difference # 4: The Chief Product Owner (CPO) owns the Product Backlog. The CIPSA Team owns the CIPSA Kanban Backlog. If a complex service is delivered, then the CPO role will be replaced by Chief Service Request Manager (CSRM).
Difference # 5: The Product Backlog doesn’t contain any meta-events. The CIPSA Kanban Backlog will contain meta-events such as CIPSA Planning, CIPSA Daily Stand-ups, among others.
These differences are noted in the below table.
Video Explanation: Product Backlog Vs. CIPSA Kanban Backlog
The video below [duration: 04m:38s], explains the diferences between the Product Backlog and CIPSA Kanban Backlog. For better experience, plug-in your earphones and go full screen with high-definition (HD).
Before we close:
Can you think of a few other differences? Give it a try!
Closing Remarks
I believe you tried the above question! Now, you’d be thinking if there are any similarities between the Product Backlog and the CIPSA Kanban Backlog. One can think of the following ones:
Like Product Backlog is one of the key artifacts in CIPSA Kanban framework, the CIPSA Kanban Backlog is also a key artifact.
Considering practical, hands-on approach (after all the CIPSA framework is mainly about that!), the Product Backlog Items and the CIPSA Kanban Backlog’s high-level items will be summary-level tasks.
To know more about the roles (accountabilities), artifacts and events/meta-events, you can download the CIPSA Framework Guide. When you go through it, you will discover more differences on your own!
I believe this article gives you more clarity with respect to the differences between the Product Backlog and CIPSA Kanban Backlog.
In the earlier post, I informed about a new Practical Scaled Agile framework and associated certification – Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA).
Today, I’m pleased to announce the public availability of the CIPSA Guide to Scaling Scrum or Kanban Teams with the MS Project Agile software. You can download the guide for free, read and use it.
Purpose of the CIPSA Guide
Building a large-scale product or service is complex work and involves multiple teams. Worldwide, a large number of scaled agile frameworks are available, but not a single one of them considers taking a practical, hands-on approach using software tools.
The Practical Scaled Agile (PSA) framework is built-upon the widely used Lean-Agile approaches such as Scrum or Kanban. The Lean-Agile approaches are documented in respective guides and beyond the scope of this guide.
Certified in Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) is the direct certification associated with Practical Scaled Agile (PSA) framework. Hence, going forward, I’ll call it CIPSA (sip-sa) Framework.
A CIPSA professional will have a deeper and much clearer understanding of CIPSA framework as the person would know in and out the Practical Scaled Agile using the software tool of MS Project Agile.
This guide contains the definition of CIPSA framework. Each element of the framework serves a specific part in order to help teams and organizations scale the benefits of two popular Lean-Agile approaches: Scrum and Kanban.
This framework has two objectives:
Scaling using either Scrum or Kanban at the team level and understanding various scaling aspects.
Strong emphasis with hands-on demonstration with software tools such as MS Project Agile. In fact, in the annexures you can find a number of real-world snapshots.
A number of Scaled Agile practitioners and authors at ManagementYogi.com contributed to the development of the CIPSA framework. In particular, Satya Narayan Dash would like to thank John P S Oliver, Lakshmi Narayan Dash and others at ManagementYogi for their contributions in the development of this guide.
CIPSA Definition
Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) is a framework, in which a set of Lean-Agile teams with interdependencies operate together to build products or solutions for complex problems using hands-on software tools such as MS Project Agile. In this framework either Scrum or Kanban can be applied at the team level and it can be scaled to multiple teams.
With the CIPSA framework and as a CIPSA professional, one can scale multiple teams to deliver a single large product or service. In it, the Chief Product Owner manages a Single Product Backlog with individual Team Product Owners focused on individual Team Sprint Backlog or Kanban Backlog.
This guide outlines various events, artifacts, commitments and accountabilities of the CIPSA framework. With scaling, multiple teams work on a single Product Backlog to build and deliver an Integrated Increment. The delivery can be within or at the end an Iteration (Sprint) as in Scrum or a cadence-based Release as in Kanban.
The CIPSA Guide
The CIPSA Framework Guide (20 pages) is embedded in this page. It’s free to view, download and read. To view, just scroll using the vertical bar to go through the guide.
You can directly download the CIPSA Guide from the below link:
The below video explains the guide and how to proceed with the guide, along with the contents. It's brief video, less than five minutes.
Final Words
This new Practical Scaled Agile Framework is radically different from others because it’s highly focused on practical applicability, hands-on usage while scaling and in-depth practical demonstration. All these will be part of the upcoming CIPSA Certification Course.
Below are some of the snippets taken from the above CIPSA Guide.
The cross-team refined Product Backlog with MS Project Agile software is shown below.
The multi-team, multi-Sprint view for the entire CIPSA Team is shown below.
The CIPSA Sprint Burndown Chart for the entire CIPSA Team is shown below. Individual team level Burndown Chart can also be drawn and it's informed as part of the CIPSA Guide.
You can check them all the available linked and downloadable document. Go on, it’s free to download and read. A CIPSA professional (CIPSA Certified) will know in and out of Scrum at Scale and Kanban at Scale using the CIPSA Framework and MS Project Agile software.
I welcome your feedback and inputs on the CIPSA Framework. It'll help many other Scaled Agile Practitioners.
I’m pleased to announce the availability of ManagementYogi'sPractical Scaled Agile Framework. The Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) certification course is based on this framework. With CIPSA (sip-sa), you can scale to multiple Scrum or Kanban teams and deliver complex products or solutions.
It's the only framework and certification in the world, which informs how to scale with software tool(s). It's practical and hands-on. No other framework and/or certification course in the world provides it!
The Practical Scaled Agile framework has been under development since March of this year. It has gone through multiple iterations, a number of prototypes with reviews and article publication before it’s made public today.
Why Non-Practical, Scaled Agile Frameworks are Ineffective?
Worldwide, a number of Scaled Agile frameworks are available. Unfortunately, not a single one of theminforms how to do scaling in a practical, hands-on manner with software tool(s). This, indeed, is a big problem. Many Scaled Agile Practitioners, with whom I frequently interact, really don't know how to do scaling in the real-world as they are certified in theories.
For example, considering multiple Scrum teams sprinting together or multiple Kanban teams working together on a Product Backlog, a number of questions come-up:
How do you to manage so many Sprints across multiple Scrum teams?
How do you synchronize multiple Sprints in a cross-team environment?
If Kanban is used at the team level, how would you scale?
Can you track multiple teams (say five Scrum or Kanban teams) together at scale?
Is it possible to see burndown/burnup charts for the entire scaled team and individual teams?
With ManagementYogi's Practical Scaled Agile framework, the answers to all the above questions are in affirmative – yes all of them! In addition, you can manage all the teams using a single software tool, which in our case is MS Project Agile. You can also manage assignment, planning, tracking, stands-ups, retros and reviews at scale.
With this background, let me introduce the framework used for the Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) course. As our Practical Scaled Agile framework is directly associated with the CIPSA certification, going forward, I’ll call it CIPSA framework.
The CIPSA Framework
The CIPSA framework extends the team level Scrum or Kanban, helps to solve dependencies and enables collaboration and cross-team management. It extends them in the following ways.
CIPSA Artifacts: All individual teams use a single and same Product Backlog. The Product Backlog items are visible to all the teams, but items are distributed across the teams. This backlog goes through refinement so that the individual teams can know which items to work upon in the next Sprint (Scrum) or Release (Kanban).
A CIPSA Backlog is built during the CIPSA Planning event and it's the sum of all work done by individual teams for the upcoming Sprint or Release.
The third artifact is the CIPSA Integrated Increment, which is the sum of all integrated work from all teams and is given at the end of (or during) the Sprint or Release.
CIPSA Events: There are multiple events in the CIPSA framework, namely, CIPSA Backlog Refinement, CIPSA Planning, CIPSA Daily Stand-up, CIPSA Review and CIPSA Retrospective. Each of these events plays a critical role in managing Agile at scale.
CIPSA Roles: There are two primarily roles in CIPSA complementing the accountabilities at the individual team level. They are Chief Product Owner and Principal Scrum Master (Scrum) or Principal Flow Master (Kanban).
At the individual Team level, there will be Product Owner, Scrum Master (or Flow Master) and Developers, some of whom play a major role in integration work. There is no separate integration team because developers are encouraged to be generalizing-specialists.
The CIPSA Framework – Graphical
The CIPSA framework is shown in the below figure. It shows the CIPSA artifacts and CIPSA events at scale. It also shows the artifacts and events at an individual team level, in dotted rectangles and circle.
The CIPSA Framework – Interactions
There is a single Product Backlog with ordered items and it’s continuously refined with cross-team members as part of the Cross-Team Backlog Refinement meta-event. The Product Backlog with the Product Goal is presented in the CIPSA Planning meta-event by the Chief Product Owner to the CIPSA team. In this meeting, a CIPSA Backlog is created with the Product Backlog items that can be delivered by multiple teams in the upcoming Sprint (Scrum) or Release (Kanban). In other words, the “what” part is decided here.
Post CIPSA Planning meeting, for each team, an individual Team Planning event takes place. The Product Backlog items taken for the respective team is broken down into individual tasks, which results in Team Backlog. A Team Backlog is available for every team. In other words, the “how” part is decided here.
Next, each team begins to work on the respective Team Backlog. A CIPSA Daily Stand-up meeting happens everyday with cross-team members to synchronize the work, identify cross-team dependencies, issues and risks. The CIPSA Daily Stand-up is preceded by Individual Daily Stand-ups for the individual teams.
In the CIPSA Review meta-event, a CIPSA Integrated Increment is presented for the entire CIPSA team and needed stakeholders. As the focus is on CIPSA Integrated Increment, CIPSA Review meeting replaces the individual Team Reviews.
In the last meta-event of CIPSA Retrospective, the CIPSA team reflects on the effectiveness of the CIPSA team as a whole and determines the improvements that can be taken-up. The CIPSA Retrospective is preceded by Team Retrospectives, which are specific to the individual teams.
The below video [duration: 7m] explains more on this new CIPSA Framework.
Conclusion
As you’d have noticed, at the team level in CIPSA, one can use either Scrum or Kanban, while most Agile at Scale frameworks take only one. Also, quite a few scaled Agile frameworks employ a large number of artifacts (also events or ceremonies and roles), which are in violation of one of the four values of Agile Manifesto:
"Working software or product over comprehensive documentation."
Above all, not a single Scaled Agile framework informs how to do scaling in a practical, hands-on manner.
As we just saw with the figure and explained interactions, the CIPSA framework is simple to follow and you can employ it in your organization or teams. And you can do the entire scaling with the hands-on software tool of MS Project Agile.
The CIPSA framework is free to use. However, when you use this framework or the concepts from this framework, I’d expect you to give due credit.
In a recent webinar series on Agile with respect to Kanban, there were discussions on customizing the needed commands for all Scrum or Kanban tools directly in the MS Project Ribbon. This saves time, makes the commands easier to find and operate for beginners, and is also quite useful.
You can watch webinar series on Practical Kanban below:
The content of this article will be applicable for Hybrid-Scrum, Hybrid-Kanban as well as plain Scrum and/or Kanban projects.
Now, before creating the customized Ribbon for your work, you need to know where the commands are consolidated together in the ribbon! These will be available in Backstage view > Project Options > Customize Ribbon tab > Customize Ribbon. Then select the Tool Tabs from “Choose commands from:”.
(If low visibility, please click on the images to enlarge)
Sprint Tools and Task Board Tools (Scrum and Kanban)
Now, under the Tools Tab of Customize the Ribbon:
For Scrum, you have the Sprint Tools.
For Kanban, you have the Task Board Tools.
The following commands are available in Sprint Tools and Task Board Tools.
As you can see, for Sprint Tools (used for Scrum projects), the commands are:
Views group > Task Board, Planning and Sprint commands
Sprints group > Manage commands
On the other hand, for Task Board Tools (used for Kanban projects), the commands are:
View group > Sheet command
Customize group > Customize Cards, Show % Complete Mapping commands
There are also Task Sheet related tools and commands, however, they are legacy commands.
Now, we are going to create one custom tab and two custom groups to manage Scrum projects.
Custom Tabs and Groups for Scrum Or Hybrid-Scrum Projects
To create the custom tab, you can go to “Customize the Ribbon:” on the right side of Project Options. There click on New Tab command, which will create one new tab with a new group.
Rename the newly created tab as Scrum Management and the group as All Sprint Commands. Also, add another group under Scrum Management as Other Commands. After you performed these operations, you will have the following view on the right side of Project Options > Customize the Ribbon.
Add the Necessary Commands
This step is about adding the necessary or needed commands into the newly created groups under the tabs. Under “All Sprint Commands” group, we will have:
Planning (from Sprint Tools)
Sprint (from Sprint Tools)
Task Board (from Sprint Tools)
Sheet (from Sprint Tools)
Customize Cards (from Sprint Tools)
Show % Mapping (from Sprint Tools)
To add them into the group, use the “Add >>” command in the middle. After you add, you will get the following view.
Similarly, for the “Other Commands” group, we will add the following commands:
Also, do note that you enable the checkbox for the Scrum Management custom tab. If you don’t, then the custom tab won’t be visible. Did you read the previous two lines? Those are important!
Visualization the (Hybrid) Scrum Management Tab
Finally, when you click OK on the previous window, you will find the newly created Custom Group of Scrum Management available in the ribbon. It’s shown below. If you are doing purely Hybrid-Scrum Management, you can just rename the tab as "Hybrid-Scrum Management". (click on the image to enlarge)
As shown, we have all the needed commands to manage are in the Scrum Management tab now and all these commands are directly available in just ONE TAB. Is not it easy, convenient?
Managing Hybrid-Agile Projects
I've shown a few frequently used commands in this post. When you manage Hybrid-Agile projects, you may have additional commands needed. These commands can be added into "Other Commands" group.
As noted earlier, initially it can be a good practice, when you are not very familiar with the location of all the commands available across the various tabs in the ribbon.
I decided to purchase this course after a lot of extensive research for a specific purpose after being tasked with building and managing a programme plan with Agile methodologies. I could not find any examples, templates, or learning anywhere and I was absolutely delighted when I came across ManagementYogi’s Mastering MS Project Agile course.
My task was to create an MS project plan template for my team which shows all aspects of agile and traditional waterfall and then from that provide a rolled-up view of a programme plan. When I contacted Satya, he advised me to start with this course. I am so pleased I made the decision to take this course, it has met over and above my basic requirements.
Unique Selling Point (USP)
This entire course is so unique. It starts from the beginner steps right the way through to where you become comfortable with how MS Project agile tools actually works and gets you into advanced concepts practically and theoretically.
The course covers in detail all the different boards and views available, how to get in and out, how to input the data, how to remove data, where it appears, how to sort the tasks, how to move them, how to create the custom views, all the reporting views, the terminology, there are many, many aspects to it.
Basically, the course takes from a beginner level to an advanced level and to the level of an expert.
What I Learned and How It Helped?
I’ll highlight the following things that I learned so far from the course:
I really now understand what agile projects are and what my team is working on. Nothing is missed out which means you really get to know the MS Project agile tool inside out.
I got a good grip on the various board and sheet related views of Scrum and Kanban, which view is used for what and how to get to them, various Agile/Sprint/Kanban fields and associated functionalities.
I learned how to build burn-down charts, burn-up charts. I learned how to create charts and how to make them presentable using all the extra tools and tips. It is very detailed which means you can very quickly become proficient and an expert in this.
It is definitely practically-led, nothing is left out. In my opinion, if someone is learning this for the first time or even if they know how to use the MS project software with Agile functionalities, it is still worth doing.
It has really empowered me. I can confidently speak about how the Agile plan(s) should be put together. I know when project managers themselves are not understanding how to plan their own deliverables with MS Project (Agile). I can definitely help guide them and apply best practice and industry standards after doing this course.
Providing all the exercise files were so helpful for me. You can easily follow along with the video and see how it should look in the actual file. And then can create your own files. This course’s solution files will give you the foundations to build your learning.
Agile in a hands-on manner with MS Project is a niche skill. I am in a Planning Manager role and MS Project Agile is a highly sought-after skill. This course definitely fast-tracked my skill set. It will make you stand out in whatever project management field you are in.
The explanations are simple, clear and understandable and one can grasp all the technical terms as well. The videos are well presented, everything is organised, neatly structured. You get all the materials, a course structure guide, which helps to know where you are and how many lessons and videos you have left. I really absorb Satya’s teaching style and format.
I received helpful answers to my queries when I had questions and I continue to get support for my learning. ManagementYogi’s work is such a useful resource for me and he has got me out of what was thought as an impossible task and I have definitely impressed upon my team.
I’m revisiting all I learned. Now I am finishing the last part of the course, i.e., Advanced Scrum and Advanced Kanban.
It is such a great investment in many aspects, in terms of your own time, your own learning, your own career path, nothing is rushed, you can pace yourself, and you can go over things. If you don’t get it in the first few videos, you soon start to pick it up as the steps and learning are repeated.
I really appreciate the full value and I am very much grateful to management yogi for sharing his expertise, knowledge and experience and for going into so much depth and making the user comfortably know what they are doing.
Recommendations
I am surprised at the very low cost for the high quality and amount of training one receives. You basically get more out of it than you would expect. In my opinion it seems too good to be true, but it is true. It covers the entire length and breadth of MS Project Agile.
Whilst you are learning you get all these extra tips, when something can’t be done in MS Project Agile, the bonus is that there is a way and there is always a work around and this course gives you that as well.
You are likely to come across in real life work and at least then you have a way to fix things and you are not left stranded. So, everything is covered in this course and again I am grateful to Satya for covering this in the course. Thank you so much ManagementYogi.
Wherever you are in your professional journey, I thoroughly recommend this course and would encourage you to just go for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Brief Profile:
Ravi O’Reilly: Planning Manager Role, Working in UK Government and Transport related programmes and projects and application of industry best practice planning standards.
I’m pleased to announce a complete update for the below unique, hands-on, practical oriented, comprehensive course:
CERTIFIED HYBRID-AGILE MASTER PROFESIONAL (CHAMP)
This course was available to Hybrid-Agile practitioners by the end of last year, 2021. Since then, it has been used by many professionals around the world. It’s a complete video course on Hybrid-Agile Management with both theory and practical, covering Hybrid-Scrum, Hybrid-Kanban and Hybrid-ScrumBan.
This is the only such course in the world with a very strong emphasis on hands-on, practical applicability and in-depth learning. Literally, there is no such certification in the world. You can make your search!
The updates have happened after months of preparation, inputs from users/learners of this course. A number of inputs have been taken from real-world Hybrid-Agile practitioners. Also, over the course of last year (2021) and this year (2022), I've published a number of articles which generated a number of questions and feedback. Hence, this update.
For existing customers of this course all the below updates will be FREE of cost.
What’s New in the Course – CHAMP Certification?
Below are the top highlights for the updates to this certification course.
1. The Course and Certification has been RENAMED.
Earlier the course was called “Certified Hybrid-Agile Master”. It has been renamed as “Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional” or simply CHAMP certification. It sounds better and post certification you can put it in your signature.
Note: There is no extra certification cost. It's part of the course package.
2. TWO NEW Full-length Question and Answer sets.
This certification course now comes with two full length question sets. In earlier edition, the question sets were not available. The question sets will have 50 questions each with detailed answers. This will help you master the concepts of Hybrid-Agile management.
3. A NEW Step-by-Step Guide for MS Project Agile installation.
MS Project Agile installation (MS Project Online Desktop Client) is a must to pursue this course. However, as seen in the last one year, quite a few struggle with the installation of the software. Hence, a step-by-step guide has been made available for all course subscribers.
The step-by-step guide will be downloadable for you.
You can learn the primary steps to install MS Project Online Desktop Client in this post. Detailed documentation for download will be available for course subsribers.
4. A NUMBER of NEW practice questions for every lesson.
In the earlier version of the course, no practice questions were available. Based on inputs from course subscribers, a number of practice questions have been added for every lesson.
You have to complete the videos, do the exercises and immediately attempt the practice questions. You will also have detailed answers available. This will help you master the concepts and prepare for the CHAMP certification exam.
5. A number of NEW Agile Tips and Tricks.
The course now comes not only with tips and tricks for MS Project, but also tips and tricks with MS Project Agile with emphasis on Hybrid-Scrum, Hybrid-Kanban and Hybrid-Scrumban management. Together now you have 140 tips and tricks. All of these will be downloadable.
Combining the tips given throughout the discussion of this course and new tips provided, you will have 100s of them.
6. NEW Notes for Theory part of CHAMP course.
A number of learners (customers) of this course wanted to have theory notes of this course. It is not available for the theoretical aspect of Hybrid-Agile management. The practical aspects are demonstrated with videos.
The theory notes will be downloadable for you.
7. Complete CHANGE for existing questions.
The questions are now mostly situational. The question also has a mixture of theory (20%) and practical (80%). With this, you will have a better understanding of real-world Hybrid-Agile management.
Do note that you have to take the Certification Exam, which is part of the course package. These questions are also now completely changed.
8. UPDATED Videos in the CHAMP certification.
Few videos are updated with more detailed explanations. The course has been informed to be very exhaustive by Hybrid-Agile practitioners. These additions will add more depth to the course.
9. UPDATED Course Index File.
As the course has seen a number of changes, the index file has also been changed. It’s available towards the end of this post with the latest changes and updates.
Top Features: Certified Hybrid-Agile Master with MS Project
Total Video Duration: 14+ hours [updated]
Number of Videos: 138 [updated]
Number of Lessons: 10 (+2) [1 new]
Two full-length Q&A Sets: Each set 50 Q&As [newly added]
Total Number of questions, including lesson-end: 150 (approx.) [newly added]
Total Exercises (Practical): 100+ [downloadable]
End-course exam and credential as a Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (or CHAMP)
140 of tips and tricks on MS Project and MS Project Agile [new, downloadable]
Step-by-Step installation guide for MS Project [new, downloadable]
In depth understanding of Hybrid Scrum, Hybrid Kanban, and Hybrid ScrumBan.
Ability to apply the concepts with the Hands-On tool of MS Project Agile.
Generate various reports such as Burndown/Burnup Chart, CFDs, Hybrid Sprint Reports, Histograms and Pie Charts, Earned Value reports, among many others.
A large number of exercise and solutions files (over 100), which you can download, use and practice.
A large number of tips and tricks points to know throughout the course.
The details on it this course, with information on additional features, are available also available at:
What is the Certification Offered by CHAMP Course?
This course comes with an end-exam with a set of questions, which covers both theory and practical of Hybrid-Agile Management.
The exam has 50 questions to be taken in 60 minutes (1 hour). To clear the exam, you need at least a 70% score.
With completion of the course and clearing of the end course exam, you will receive the unique credential: Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional or CHAMP.
What is Full Money Back Guarantee for CHAMP Certification?
The premise is simple.
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Applicability and Validity: CHAMP Certification
Theory Used: Hybrid-Agile Management combining Waterfall, Scrum and Kanban
Software Used: MS Project 2019 Online Desktop Client
Theory Pre-requisite: Project Management, Scrum and Kanban Frameworks
Software Pre-requisite: MS Project 2021/2019/2016/2013 and MS Project 2021/2019/2016 Agile
Course Duration: 3 or 6 months from the date of purchase
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Available since: November, 2021 (Updated December, 2022)
Primary Format: Video
Course Extension: As per your need (Price calculation will pro-rata)
Status: Available (accessible via laptop/desktop)
Updated Course Index: CHAMP Certification
The complete course breakdown for the CHAMP certification course is shown below, with the new and updated ones highlighted in green. It details the hours of learning, number of videos and practice questions, full-length question sets along with various hands-on exercise details. You can scroll to see the full content.
Conclusion
With this certification course, you will have mastery over Hybrid-Agile Management. This uniquely credential of CHAMP also establishes you as a solid professional in Hybrid-Agile management space.
Like Sprint or Release Burndown charts in Scrum, cumulative flow diagrams (CFDs) are frequently used in projects using a Kanban framework. This is because one of the fundamental aspects of Kanban is this: Manage the flow. With a cumulative flow diagram, we can manage the flow of work.
Imagine an Agile development team is delivering a number of features on-demand. The team is following a Kanban mode with Testing being a workflow state. If the team has many features developed, but is waiting to test, then the development band/state in the Kanban board will be narrow, and the testing band will be wide. A cumulative flow diagram assists.
The content of this article has been taken from these new courses:
The Cumulative Flow Diagram Basics *** UPDATED ***
A Kanban cumulative flow diagram shows work in progress in the Kanban board. As the name indicates, it is a flow diagram and is cumulatively represented. It gives insight into how many items are completed, how many items are remaining, and where the bottlenecks are in the process flow.
In the CFD below, I’ve taken the cumulative diagram for the number of issues coming to the development team on a weekly basis. There are three workflow states: “TODO,” “DOING,” and “DONE.”
Let’s interpret the diagram. Obviously the TODO items are getting added up at a faster rate, whereas the DOING and DONE are not able to catch up. TODO items in the graph are getting widening, and just below that, the DOING flow state is shown as narrower. This means that the bottleneck is in the DOING flow state. Also, the team is not able to move the DONE items well, either. From a technical standpoint, it may suggest that the items taken on may need to be broken up, or it may be possible that the team is unable to deliver on the issues taken up.
To understand more on how a CFD can help in finding the bottlenecks, you can refer the below video [duration: 03m:39s]. It's taken from ACP Live Lessons, Guaranteed Pass course. For the best experience, you may want to go full-screen in HD mode and plug-in your earphones.
With these basics, let's check our project scenario.
Our Project Scenario Our project is that of house renovation work, which is being done within the Kanban framework. There are a number of work items to be completed in the backlog, some in progress, and some done, as shown below in the Gantt Chart view.
We have planned for the capacity available for the team; however, some of the items are not planned at all. This can also be seen in the Task Board view (or the Backlog Board) view by going to View tab > Task Views > Task Board > Task Board command.
As shown in the above figure:
A couple of work items are in “Done” and “In Progress” states
One work item is in “Next up” state.
A number of items are in the Kanban Backlog state.
The project’s Status Date has been set for Monday, September 19, 2022, which is one week ahead of the Project’s start date. For this scenario, we are going to build our cumulative flow diagram from scratch.
Building a Cumulative Flow Diagram To create a CFD, first we have to go to the Report tab > View Reports group > New Report command and choose Blank report. The dialog box opens, and the report named, Kanban Cumulative Task Flow Report, as shown below.
Kanban Cumulative Task Flow Report To create the first-cut of the CFD, we go to Report tools > Insert > Chart command and insert an Area chart.
As you insert the chart, you will have your first view of a cumulative flow diagram with two fields:
Remaining Actual Tasks shows actual tasks remaining over the timeline of the project and is highlighted with a blue color.
Remaining Tasks shows tasks remaining over the timeline of the project and is highlighted in an orange color.
This is depicted below with the number of tasks in the Y-axis and the timeline by date in the X-axis.
Next, we are going to customize this chart to provide more clarity and understanding.
Customizing a Cumulative Flow Diagram
To customize the chart, I’ll enlarge the chart area, add the data labels for both Remaining Actual Tasks and Remaining Task fields, and apply associated color coding to have more visibility. You can learn how to do such steps in this article on Sprint Burndown and Burnup Charts.
After you customize the chart, it’ll be as shown below.
Note:
Data labels have been added for both Remaining Actual Tasks and Remaining Task fields.
Data labels have been formatted for both these fields, with light orange and light blue colors, respectively.
The Remaining Tasks start with a value of twelve and go down to zero when the project ends.
The Remaining Actual Tasks start with a value of twelve and go down to ten as on the Status Date, which we have set earlier.
Now, the main part is the analysis of this data according to the Status Date:
The Remaining Tasks are eight, whereas the Remaining Actual Tasks are ten.
It means we are not actually completing tasks as we have expected or planned.
We can see that we are somewhat behind our planned progress.
While this CFD shows the cumulative task flow report and informs on the progress of the tasks, it doesn’t inform on what is happening at the board level. In the earlier part of the article, I stated, that with CFD, we can find out where the bottleneck is in our workflow. We need to find out where the bottleneck is at the board level.
For that, we will use another cumulative flow diagram. There can be a number of variants, but we will focus on task workflow across the column states of the Kanban Board.
Cumulative Flow Diagram – Board Status To change the above CFD into a chart with Board Status, we have to apply the built-in grouping available in MS Project: Board Status.
We can rename this report in the Organizer by going to Report tools > Design tab > Report group and using the Manage command, or we can create a new CFD report entirely. Let’s create a new report and following the previously mentioned steps. The new “Kanban Cumulative Flow – Board Status Report” is shown below:
To create this report, we had to apply the “Board Status” built-in group. This can be done by going to the Field List command pane (as you select the chart area) and changing the Group By setting to Board Status (under Tasks). It’s highlighted in the figure. Next, I’ll customize this chart by adding, formatting, and adjusting the data labels, etc. See below.
Let’s interpret the above figure, as of the Status Date of September 19, 2022:
The work items in the “Done” board state (at the bottom of the chart) are progressing properly.
The work items in the “In Progress” board state (just above the “Done” state) are also on track.
The work items in the “Kanban Backlog” board state are not moving as expected.
For this board state, the Remaining Tasks are highlighted in light blue, and the Remaining Actual Tasks are highlighted in green.
As on the Status Date, the Remaining Tasks are seven, but the Remaining Actual Tasks are five in number.
Looking at the above CFD, one can say that movement of work items is not happening from the “Kanban Backlog” state to the “Next up” state. The “Next Up” board state is also having a narrower band. Hence, the bottleneck is there.
There can be many possible reasons for it. A few are listed below:
Perhaps the team is behind on analysis to be done before moving the tasks from the “Kanban Backlog” state to the “Next up” state.
Maybe the team has been occupied by some other work, hence the items from the “Kanban Backlog” state are not being moved out faster.
This has to be analyzed by the project manager (PM), the Kanban Flow Master, or whoever is in a similar role. Kanban explicitly doesn’t prescribe a particular role, but indicates respect the current roles, responsibilities, and titles.
Determining the ‘Work in Progress’ Another advantage of Kanban CFD is the ability to determine the work in progress (WIP) for the project. This is in-line with another fundamental aspect of Kanban: Limit the work progress. Let’s do a little bit more customization for the above chart by keeping only the Remaining Actual Tasks in the view. I’ll also change the date range from project Start Date to Status Date below:
As shown, we can now quickly determine the total number of work items in progress:
Done state = 0
In progress state = 2
Next up state = 1
Kanban Backlog state = 7
Hence, the following is true:
WIP = 0 + 2 + 1 + 7= 10
Kanban emphasizes limiting this work progress for the purpose of smoothing the process flow. The WIP limit is usually driven by the organization’s policy and can be adjusted for the project under consideration.
Demonstration and Analysis To demonstrate the charts that we just created and analyzed, take a look at the below video [duration: 10m: 37s], which I’ve prepared in support of this article. The content of the video is from my course, Mastering MS Project 2019 Agile.
Conclusion As noted earlier, the main purpose of using a Kanban cumulative flow diagram is its assistance in managing the flow of work. Unlike Scrum, where you have Sprints, in Kanban, flow is emphasized. A CFD also helps in visualizing the workflow, understanding the work in progress, and identifying necessary process policies. One can also use a cumulative flow diagram to analyze other Kanban metrics, such as:
Cycle time
Lead time
Response time
Little’s law, etc.
Remember to be judicious while using cumulative diagrams. For example, it does not inform how big or small the tasks are. Also, I’ve seen Kanban practitioners using the scale in X-axis on days when a high number of issues or work items are being worked upon. If you do that, you won’t get any value out of it. Another scenario is working with Hybrid-Agile projects. Some practitioners create CFDs for the entire project, which gives no value. You need to customize your CFDs only for the work items, which are pulled-based and just-in-time with an on-demand delivery pattern.
I hope that this article has given you have a fair understanding on how to work with cumulative flow diagrams within MS Project. Your comments are welcome below.
