My name is Daam Grund. I lead major change processes within organisations and especially in the IT domain. I often experience and witness failing collaboration, particularly in the IT sector where methodologies for Agile working, such as Scrum, Devops and Safe are a huge hype and a trend. In order to implement those ways of working, everyone is sent to training courses and everyone has read their books about how Agile works in those different methodologies. But to me the basics are often ignored; meaning: how do we effectively build an effective team that will actually work Agile. What I mean is that too much attention is paid to the instrument of the Agile methodology and too little to who we actually are, what our common goal is? What can I expect from you, what can someone else expect from me? What is the role of the client, who is now called product owner? What should this person do and have mutual expectations been discussed? Besides organizing the daily stand ups in our agendas, have we made basic agreements on how we collaborate? To make ‘Agile working’ actually work requires that you become a team together. Then you will actually reap the benefits of the Agile way of working.

Twenty years ago, I attended the Core Skills training myself and – to say the least – to me it was a life changing experience. The entire training is like a large mirror in which you see yourself in your role and place within a team, as well as in your relationship with the outside world, such as “how do I actually deal with a customer?” And “am I really doing the right things that help my customer progress with his issues?”

The mirror was both quite confronting, and very educational. Therefore, I wholeheartedly recommend this training. For example, in a situation where Agile and Devops are applied, this training can be a very good contribution to properly adopt the working methods.