This week we’ll introduce the four major jobs of software development and help you think through where to focus on each of them for successful outcomes. Then we’ll step through the leading agile methodologies--Scrum, XP, and kanban. You’ll finish the week with a deeper understanding of how to pair your project’s most important facets with the best of what agile has to offer.

One of the major promises of agile is to manage the complexities of software development for the best possible outcomes and working environments. Part and parcel of that is strong interdisciplinary collaboration paired with lightweight self-organizing management practices. This week, you’ll learn practical tactics from scrum and XP to promote faster learning and smarter decisions, and how you can use kanban to improve your workflow.

This week we’ll dive into the jobs of building software and the core management jobs in running an agile team. Agile--and XP in particular--offers a rich body of work on specific coding practices. We’ll step through a few of the most prominent and discuss key linkages with the other concepts and practices you’ve learned. On the job of managing, we’ll dive deeper into what that means and what works in an agile context. We’ll close with ideas and case studies for introducing (or reintroducing) agile to your organization.