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It’s the sequel the HR community has been waiting for. Brought to you by global recruitment partner, BPS World, and People & Transformational HR, Labs Live is back! And we’re taking another adventure into Agile to demonstrate how Agile methodologies can benefit HR teams.
‘Labs Live: Agile 2 – This time it’s Rituals’ will be an immersive and collaborative session designed to deep dive into Agile Rituals and Ceremonies.
What are Rituals and Ceremonies?
Once considered the preserve of software development teams, Agile principles have become more widely adopted amongst other industries and business units.
This includes HR, where Agile is beginning to take a foothold as the profession drives business transformation within a post Covid-19 climate.
At its heart, Agile is a philosophy designed to help teams find more inventive, iterative and inclusive ways to solve problems and deliver projects.
Rituals and Ceremonies play a huge part in the workflow process. They enable project teams to be more flexible, responsive and inclusive.
To put it simply, this is where the ‘work gets done’.
So, what are they?
You may have heard of ‘Scrum’, a well-known term that encompasses Ceremonies, and is generally used to describe the way to implement Agile.
Before we delve into the four Ceremonies, let’s take a look at the main Scrum roles.
These are:
Product Owner: They’re the representative of the ‘client’, or business, and they prioritise the items from the Product Backlog (the tasks assembled for the Sprint, i.e – stuff you need to do).
Scrum Master: The glue of the operation. This role involves ensuring everyone has what they need to deliver and they’ll also arrange meetings and communicate progress. Like a project manager, but working through scrum.
Development Team: A group of trusted, cross-functional team members. They will work together but be self-organised and dedicated to the project in hand.
The four Ceremonies
Sprint Planning: Once the product objective (Story) and intended users have been defined, along with associated tasks, planning can really begin. A Sprint – a specific parcel of work - will typically last 1-2 weeks and this stage is where the team meets to decide what they need to complete. These meetings take place over 1-2 hours.
Daily Scrum/Stand-Up: As the name suggests, this is a short (15-minute) meeting where the team get together, ‘stand-up’, and ensure they’re all rowing in the same direction.
Sprint Review: This is where the team demos what they’ve ‘shipped’ (created) in the sprint. This is a full review of the work done so there’s no specific timeframe. This stage gives each team member the chance to show what they’ve developed and also the opportunity to congratulate each other and boost morale.
Sprint Retrospective: What went well and what didn’t quite go to plan? This (usually) 1-hour session is designed to identify successes and areas for improvement in future sprints.
READ MORE: A beginner’s guide to Scrum ceremonies.
To truly embrace Agile requires a good understanding of the role played by Rituals and Ceremonies.
Following these methodologies is key to ensuring projects remain on track. Project teams need to feel empowered, not stifled.
At their most effective, Rituals and Ceremonies drive the delivery of results in short, sharp sprints whereby collaboration and feedback is essential.
However, it’s important to stick to the game plan and keep your objective in sight to avoid key milestones going off-track.
Ultimately, Ceremonies are put in place to facilitate great communication across the team.
What to expect
This virtual event is our second focused on Agile and will once again be facilitated by Agile HR expert, Perry Timms.
With over 30 years’ experience in people, learning, technology, organisation change and transformation, Perry is an international and two-time TEDx speaker and award-winning author and HR strategist.
We guarantee you'll leave with practical examples and understanding of how to use Rituals and Ceremonies in your Agile projects.
You don’t need to have attended the first Labs Live: Agile session to join but you do need a foundation level understanding of Agile Principles.
Check out Labs Live: Agile - The Results for more background information.
Collaboration is key. You'll work within a small group to whiteboard, sticky note and jot down your solutions before feeding them back to the wider group.
Simply bring your buzz and come prepared with ideas.
Key information
Who's it for?
HR, L&D and Change leaders with a foundation understanding of Agile principles (Roles, Kick-off, Roadmap).
What will I be doing?
It’ll be an immersive and collaborative workshop where we'll take a common scenario and work through how to use Rituals and Ceremonies to deliver the project!
When is it?
Thursday 10 June, 1.30 - 3.30pm BST.
What is Labs Live?
Labs Live is HR problem solving – in real-time.
We invite full audience participation and delivers actionable insight and practical outcomes that HR leaders and their teams can take back into their businesses.
Facilitated by our talent experts and invited guests, we take a topic and work with the HR community to produce actionable insight and solutions.
This is then fed back in the form of The Results, your living, breathing action plan.
Sign-up and book your place before it's too late. There's limited availability so come and grab your seat.
