Presenting the future of Agile Learning at 2022 Tools4Agile Teams, SAFe® Fellow Deema Dajani embraces the Agile process in developing new SAFe social learning initiatives. Immersive learning, multilingual offerings and stronger Agile networks should create sustainable added value. This raises the question of the extent to which multi-channel micro-learning will bring about the sustainable success of SAFe and what impact this will have on the Agile Coach era.
Deema Dajani is a product manager at Scaled Agile, Inc, the provider of SAFe®. She has been learning, coaching and practicing Agile since the early 2000s. A highly effective Agile transformation consultant for countless companies – ranging from pre-IPO start-ups to Fortune 500 – Dajani has made Agile both a career and her own modus operandi. Along the way, she’s learned and observed a thing or two about sustainably implementing and scaling Agile. She is, therefore, ideally positioned to advance the way Agile is taught and learned.
In her talk at the 2022 Tools4Agile Teams Conference on December 2nd, Dajani presented the origin and direction of her current work developing multi-channel learning products that reach beyond the classroom.
In the past, Dajani relates, a two-day SCRUM Master class would be followed by a brief period of coaching and end with a cold launch into practice. Over the years, feedback given by participants revealed there was a need for value-adding supplementary resources and training methods that meet the demands of constant environmental changes.
The humor and poise with which Deema Dajani presented her team’s solutions fostered an atmosphere in which participants could feel free to ask some hard questions. Acknowledging ”feedback as a gift”, Dajani explained that her purpose in developing new strategies for Agile training and implementation is not to replace trainers and coaches, but to expand on overall access to resources and enhance the interactions within the Agile community. She cites the Confucian proverb as her inspiration, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
Photo: Deema Dajani, Image: Carina Wagner, Seibert Media
Meeting the emerging needs of a variety of current and future workplace scenarios, new products will focus on supplementing classroom activities through immersive content, supplying relevant e-tools and resources as well as growing supportive networks within the SAFe community. These new value streams aim to foster deeper engagement with the Agile mindset and methodology through a pull rather than push system.
In her talk, Dajani illustrated the holistic approach she and her team have taken to identify and tailor products to the individual needs of Agilists. Based on the example of just one persona, Portfolio Manager ‘Paula’, Dajani walks us through a hypothetical scenario in which an Agilist might draw on a number of resources as needed.
After concluding her Agile training, ‘Paula’ would be able to download an e-learning guide should she need a reminder on how to define her next epic. She might also draw on archived best practice examples to help her create her next strategic themes. ‘Paula’ will have an easier time confidently choosing the optimal measurement tool once she has asked experienced Agile forum members to weigh in on her options.
Photo: Deema Dajani, Image: Carina Wagner, Seibert Media
By re-imagining the Agile journey as one that includes digital micro-learning supplements, Dajani hopes to enable Agilists to more fully “do and understand” practices learned. These multiple points of contact will also help ‘Paula’ become a more interactive member of a vibrant Agile community.
Acknowledging that a truly inclusive Agile community is one that is best served in its own language, Dajani concluded her talk with this big reveal: ‘The German Experience – Leading Safe’ will soon be available in the German language – the first to launch in a multi-language roll-out of Agile resources. This news was no surprise for the SAFe professionals at KEGON, as they were involved in the translation project. On 16 November, KEGON was able to announce the first German training for 12 December - read more here.
Saying goodbye with hopes of seeing everyone again at the 2023 summits in Prague and Nashville – Deema Dajani left her fellow Agilists with the words: “We are always evolving and transforming as we venture into a new world.”
