Agile methodology has shown very high potential and has become more commonplace. As companies continue to adopt agile methodology to manage projects, project managers and team members at all levels need to learn to effectively implement agile approaches. Agile development requires more than changes to project management techniques, the entire project team needs to change their approaches and methodologies.  In this interactive course, students participate in a series of simulations, providing an understanding of the agile process and practice implementing agile practices throughout a project life cycle. Topics also include adopting an agile mindset, and agile concepts like the minimum viable product (MVP), project envisioning, team velocity, estimating and prioritizing user stories, backlog and release, how to manage risk, effective techniques to identify key stakeholders and their success criteria, and best practices for leading agile teams.

Effective project team leadership is critical to the overall success of a project or initiative. A successful project manager needs to lead teams through all stages and processes of the project regardless of the development life cycle. This is recognized by PMI® as leadership is the second core competency of the PMI Talent Triangle®. According to PMI®, the leadership competency includes coaching and mentoring, influencing, team building and brainstorming, interpersonal skills and negotiation. Problem-solving and conflict management also fall under the umbrella of leadership abilities. In this course, students learn to lead teams to successfully complete projects, inspiring and motivating individuals to stay the course.

Atlassian’s Jira has emerged as the tool of choice for managing agile projects in the enterprise. Atlassian Confluence is a collaboration tool used to help teams to collaborate and share knowledge efficiently. This hands-on course provides a solid foundation for using Jira, Confluence, and Jira and Confluence together.