Should You Take This: Professional Kanban I (And Will It Help w Predictable Agile Delivery???)

Learning New Things!

One of my key character traits is a love of learning. (See: Personal Maps: Getting to Know the Whole Human Being).  Recently my inner geek wanted to know more about predictable agile delivery.

Combine that with a passion for:

• Meaningful Agile Metrics
• Optimizing for Flow

Then… top things off with a webinar Getting Predictable Agile Delivery with Colleen Johnson…

It was no surprise that I found myself at ProKanban.org, “a community dedicated to creating a safe, diverse, and inclusive space where everyone can learn about Professional Kanban” looking to immerse myself in further study.

Putting My Toes in the Pro-Kanban Pool

ProKanban offers a wonderful range of training, certifications, assessments, and learning resources all helpful toward a path of understanding coaching for predictable agile delivery.

Much to my delight, they offer open assessments (i.e., no fee) that allow “one to assess their basic knowledge of Kanban, including metrics, and the steps of setting up and operating a Kanban system for continuous value delivery and improvement.”

So I jumped in and took the PK-1 Open Assessment. Cold. 30 questions that are randomly selected from a larger pool. 20 minutes.

I did not achieve a passing score… however, to my surprise, I was not embarrassingly far off. Bring on the self-study materials…

Predictable Agile Delivery Study Materials

I made a fresh pot of coffee and opened up the Kanban Guide online. Read thru it w pleasure. And then took the open assessment again.  How wonderful that the open assessment shared feedback on my incorrect responses.

Study, retest, coffee. Refill, repeat. By the end of the coffee pot, I was able to pass the open exam (30 Q’s, 20 mins) w flying colors. Mixing my metaphors. Sorry.

Then I had a good night’s rest, and the next day took the Professional Kanban I Certification exam.

80 questions this time. Some of ’em really made me think. I took my time and… (drum roll please) I passed the assessment! Even better got immediate feedback on my areas for improvement:

• Flow-based Analytics
• Flow-based Events
• Probabilistic Forecasting

What’s Next?

There are a number of candidates for my continuing study of all things predictable agile delivery via Kanban:

1. Professional Kanban II: Covers topics from multiple competencies and focus areas defined by a variety of resources. Will get me to think more about how I would apply Kanban within various contexts. Good stuff, me thinks.
2. Professional Applied Metrics: “How to apply metrics for forecasting.” They also offer an open assessment on the Professional Applied Metrics Assessment certification path. So I can know what I don’t know… and then study: Prokanban has a list of learning resources to help me up my game on probabilistic vs deterministic forecasting, as well as instructor-led workshops.
3. Professional Flow Metrics for Scrum: How to apply flow metrics to Scrum. PK offers curated learning resources along with workshops.

Gonna limit my WIP and pick one… and I’ll keep y’all posted.

In the meantime, check out the “Related Stuff” below.

Related Stuff on Predictable Incremental Delivery &Agile

Podcasts: Predictable Agile Delivery

Videos

Books