Adaptive Agile Project Management Training Course

Duration 10 days 19 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Programme Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PM-054

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience contributing to or managing projects, workstreams, products or change initiatives.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Adaptive projects face changing priorities, uncertain requirements, interdependent teams and governance demands that cannot be managed through a fixed plan alone. Project managers need to make informed tailoring decisions, establish useful controls, protect delivery flow and give sponsors credible evidence of progress. This course addresses the practical challenge of directing adaptive work while maintaining accountability for investment, risk, quality and outcomes.

Participants learn Disciplined Agile project management practices for selecting and combining ways of working rather than applying one framework by default. The course covers adaptive planning, Scrum and Kanban delivery, Lean flow, stakeholder engagement, value-based prioritisation, release planning, risk management, governance, metrics and team coordination. Participants learn how to assess project context, define a fit-for-purpose delivery approach, manage dependencies and use evidence to guide decisions.

Teaching combines instructor briefings, case analysis, facilitated group work, delivery simulations and structured application planning. Participants progressively develop a delivery approach for a realistic project scenario, using artefacts that can be adapted to their own work. They leave with an adaptive project delivery pack containing a context assessment, tailored ways-of-working model, outcome roadmap, release plan, governance design, risk approach and measures.

The course suits experienced project practitioners working on digital, operational change, product, policy, service improvement and transformation initiatives. It is particularly relevant where teams must respond to emerging information without losing sponsor confidence or organisational control.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess project context using Cynefin, complexity factors and delivery constraints
  • Tailor an adaptive delivery approach using Disciplined Agile decision guidance
  • Create outcome roadmaps and release plans using value-based prioritisation
  • Establish Scrum and Kanban operating models for cross-functional delivery teams
  • Apply Lean flow metrics to identify bottlenecks, delays and work-in-progress risks
  • Design governance cadences, decision rights and evidence-based status reporting
  • Manage dependencies, risks and stakeholder expectations through adaptive planning
  • Present a complete adaptive project delivery pack for sponsor review

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible tailoring decisions instead of applying Agile practices mechanically
  • Build credible plans when requirements, priorities and dependencies change
  • Run delivery conversations using outcome, flow and risk evidence
  • Improve sponsor confidence through proportionate governance and transparent reporting
  • Produce reusable project artefacts for adaptive and hybrid initiatives

For your organisation

  • Reduce delivery delays caused by excessive work in progress and unmanaged dependencies
  • Improve investment decisions through outcome-based roadmaps and release evidence
  • Create consistent governance across Agile, hybrid and predictive project approaches
  • Identify delivery risks earlier through flow measures and frequent stakeholder reviews
  • Increase team alignment around priorities, decision rights and acceptance criteria

Course modules

19 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain when adaptive project management is appropriate and identify its core controls.

  • Adaptive delivery principles: empiricism, flow, learning and value hypotheses
  • Project constraints reframed as scope, schedule, cost, quality and risk
  • Complexity assessed using Cynefin domains and probe-sense-respond decisions
  • Tailoring choices documented through context factors and explicit trade-offs
  • Governance distinguished from command-and-control task assignment and status reporting
  • Working agreements establish decision rights, escalation paths and team norms

Participants can select and justify a delivery approach for a defined project context.

  • Disciplined Agile context assessment identifies constraints, risks and delivery options
  • Choose predictive, iterative, incremental or continuous-flow delivery approaches
  • Lifecycle selection considers uncertainty, compliance needs and stakeholder availability
  • Hybrid delivery designs combine stage gates with iterative product development
  • Team topology considers skills, locations, suppliers and decision latency
  • Document assumptions behind tailoring decisions for sponsor and PMO review

Participants can define outcomes, value measures and manageable scope boundaries.

  • Outcome statements connect strategic intent, user needs and measurable change
  • Benefits mapping links deliverables, capabilities, outcomes and investment rationale
  • Minimum viable product boundaries distinguish essential learning from optional features
  • User story mapping sequences needs, releases and operational capabilities
  • Acceptance criteria define observable conditions for valuable completed work
  • Prioritise scope using MoSCoW, cost of delay and weighted shortest job first

Participants can build rolling plans that connect strategic outcomes with near-term work.

  • Outcome roadmaps show hypotheses, milestones, dependencies and decision points
  • Rolling-wave planning separates committed work from forecast work and options
  • Release planning balances value, capacity, risk and operational readiness
  • Planning horizons distinguish portfolio intent, release goals and iteration commitments
  • Forecast dates using throughput, cycle time and probabilistic ranges
  • Replan transparently when evidence changes assumptions, priorities or constraints

Participants can structure, refine and prioritise a delivery backlog.

  • Product backlogs organise epics, features, stories, defects and technical work
  • INVEST criteria improve story quality, testability and delivery readiness
  • Backlog refinement clarifies scope, dependencies, acceptance criteria and estimates
  • Cost of delay exposes urgency, value decay and risk reduction
  • Weighted shortest job first compares economic value against job size
  • Definition of ready prevents premature commitment of ambiguous work

Participants can establish Scrum roles, events and artefacts for project delivery.

  • Scrum accountabilities clarify product ownership, facilitation and delivery responsibility
  • Sprint goals focus team effort on a coherent near-term outcome
  • Sprint planning converts prioritised backlog items into realistic commitments
  • Daily Scrum examines progress, impediments and adaptation needs
  • Sprint review gathers stakeholder evidence against working product increments
  • Retrospectives identify experiments for improving team practices and outcomes

Participants can use Kanban to visualise work and improve delivery flow.

  • Kanban boards visualise demand, workflow stages, blockers and completed work
  • Work-in-progress limits expose bottlenecks and encourage finishing before starting
  • Pull systems authorise work only when capacity becomes available
  • Service level expectations set transparent expectations for request completion
  • Cumulative flow diagrams reveal queues, instability and constrained workflow stages
  • Cycle time scatterplots support forecasting and identify unusually delayed items

Participants can estimate work appropriately and create capacity-based delivery forecasts.

  • Relative estimation uses story points, affinity sizing and planning poker
  • Throughput-based forecasting avoids false precision from individual task estimates
  • Capacity plans account for availability, support work, leave and specialist constraints
  • Monte Carlo forecasting produces probability ranges for delivery dates
  • Velocity trends interpreted cautiously when teams, work types or conditions change
  • Estimation assumptions recorded alongside confidence ranges and material uncertainties

Participants can incorporate quality, assurance and compliance work into adaptive delivery.

  • Definition of done includes testing, documentation, controls and operational readiness
  • Acceptance testing confirms outcomes against agreed user and business criteria
  • Quality risk analysis prioritises assurance effort using likelihood and impact
  • Technical debt registers make deferred engineering consequences visible to sponsors
  • Compliance controls embedded within workflows rather than deferred to project closure
  • Traceability links requirements, decisions, tests, approvals and released capabilities

Participants can manage uncertainty using visible risks, experiments and decision thresholds.

  • Risk registers distinguish threats, opportunities, assumptions and emerging issues
  • Risk exposure prioritised through probability, impact, proximity and controllability
  • Spike work reduces uncertainty before major scope or architecture commitments
  • Risk burn-down charts show changing exposure across planned delivery periods
  • Decision thresholds trigger escalation, contingency action or scope reconsideration
  • Issue management assigns owners, due dates, decisions and stakeholder communications

Participants can plan stakeholder engagement around decisions, evidence and delivery cadence.

  • Stakeholder mapping identifies influence, interest, impact and engagement needs
  • Communication plans match information needs with decisions and delivery cadences
  • Personas clarify user groups, operational needs and adoption barriers
  • Demonstrations replace abstract progress claims with visible evidence of value
  • Feedback loops capture stakeholder learning, concerns and changed priorities
  • Escalation messages frame decision required, options, consequences and recommendation

Participants can identify, manage and reduce dependencies across teams and suppliers.

  • Dependency mapping identifies predecessor work, interfaces, approvals and shared resources
  • Dependency boards make commitments, dates, owners and blockers visible
  • Integrated planning aligns team cadences, releases and operational transition activities
  • Interface contracts define responsibilities, data exchanges, service levels and acceptance
  • Coordination forums resolve cross-team decisions without duplicating team-level planning
  • Decouple work through modular design, sequencing and clear ownership boundaries

Participants can design proportionate governance that supports timely adaptive decisions.

  • Governance cadences align sponsor decisions with delivery evidence and risk exposure
  • Stage gates test investment assumptions rather than demand speculative certainty
  • RACI matrices clarify accountabilities for decisions, approvals and escalation routes
  • Information radiators provide visible status, flow, risks and outcome measures
  • Assurance reviews examine controls, evidence, unresolved risks and decision quality
  • Tailored reporting distinguishes committed delivery, forecasts, assumptions and options

Participants can select meaningful measures and produce decision-focused delivery reports.

  • Outcome measures track benefits, adoption, service performance and behavioural change
  • Flow metrics include throughput, cycle time, work-in-progress and ageing
  • Sprint burndown charts show remaining work but not delivered value
  • Leading indicators reveal delivery health before milestone failure becomes visible
  • Metric gaming prevented through balanced measures and qualitative evidence
  • Executive dashboards present decisions, confidence, risks, trends and required actions

Participants can plan operational transition alongside iterative project delivery.

  • Change impact assessments identify affected roles, processes, systems and controls
  • Readiness criteria cover training, support, data, communications and operational ownership
  • Pilot releases test adoption assumptions before wider implementation commitments
  • Transition plans sequence handover, support, acceptance and benefits tracking
  • Service design considers user journeys, failure demand and frontline capability
  • Post-implementation reviews capture outcomes, lessons, defects and follow-up actions

Participants can create conditions for accountable, collaborative and continuously improving teams.

  • Servant leadership removes impediments while retaining clear delivery accountability
  • Psychological safety supports early risk disclosure, challenge and learning
  • Team charters establish purpose, boundaries, behaviours and decision mechanisms
  • Conflict management addresses task disagreement before it damages working relationships
  • Communities of practice spread methods, lessons and reusable delivery patterns
  • Improvement backlogs convert retrospective findings into owned, measurable actions

Participants can manage external suppliers through adaptive scope, evidence and collaboration.

  • Supplier engagement models distinguish fixed scope, capacity and outcome-based arrangements
  • Statement of work structures define objectives, constraints, governance and acceptance
  • Incremental acceptance reduces late surprises in outsourced delivery arrangements
  • Commercial checkpoints review evidence, forecasts, risks and contract assumptions
  • Shared backlogs coordinate client priorities with supplier delivery commitments
  • Contract change control records scope decisions, commercial effects and approvals

Participants can diagnose delivery problems and select practical recovery actions.

  • Delivery health checks assess value, flow, quality, risks and stakeholder confidence
  • Root cause analysis uses five whys and fishbone cause categories
  • Constraint analysis identifies limiting resources, approvals, skills or workflow stages
  • Recovery options compare scope reduction, sequencing, capacity and risk consequences
  • Reset plans establish revised goals, assumptions, milestones and communication commitments
  • Sponsor conversations address difficult trade-offs using evidence and explicit choices

Participants can build, review and present a complete adaptive project delivery pack for a sponsor decision.

  • Context assessment defines complexity, constraints, stakeholders and delivery assumptions
  • Tailored ways-of-working model selects lifecycle, roles, cadences and controls
  • Outcome roadmap connects benefits, releases, dependencies and decision points
  • Prioritised backlog demonstrates value choices, acceptance criteria and sequencing
  • Governance design specifies measures, forums, thresholds, reporting and escalation
  • Risk and dependency analysis identifies exposure, owners, mitigations and actions
  • Sponsor presentation explains delivery confidence, trade-offs, requests and next decisions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Adaptive project context assessment template
  2. Tailored ways-of-working design canvas
  3. Outcome roadmap and release planning model
  4. Prioritised backlog and acceptance criteria pack
  5. Adaptive governance and reporting checklist
  6. Project risk, dependency and decision register

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need practical controls for adaptive delivery commitments
  • Programme Managers — coordinate dependent projects using shared planning and governance
  • Product Owners — prioritise outcomes and work with delivery teams effectively
  • PMO Managers — establish proportionate assurance for Agile and hybrid projects
  • Business Change Managers — connect adoption activities with iterative delivery plans
  • Delivery Team Leads — manage flow, dependencies and stakeholder commitments

Skills and tools covered

Adaptive delivery designValue-based planningFlow managementAgile governanceDependency managementOutcome reporting

Tools and standards

Disciplined Agile, Scrum Guide, Kanban Method, Cynefin Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case work, facilitated group exercises, delivery simulations and individual application planning. Participants assess project scenarios, choose fit-for-purpose practices, build planning artefacts and review decisions against changing conditions. Discussions examine common tensions between delivery teams, sponsors, PMOs and operational stakeholders. Trainers use examples from technology, public service, financial services, infrastructure and organisational change, adapting case emphasis to the cohort.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience contributing to or managing projects, workstreams, products or change initiatives. They should understand basic project concepts such as scope, schedule, budget, stakeholders, risks and status reporting. Familiarity with Agile terminology is useful but not essential; key concepts are established during the course. Participants do not need Scrum certification, software development experience, formal project management certification or prior knowledge of Disciplined Agile. The course is most useful when participants can bring a current or recent project challenge to consider during application planning.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand basic project concepts and have experience of projects, workstreams, products or change initiatives. Prior Agile certification and software development experience are not required.

Bring details of a current or recent project, including its objectives, stakeholders, major constraints and delivery concerns. Sensitive information can be anonymised for discussion.

It is designed for project managers, programme managers, product owners, PMO professionals, change leaders and delivery leads. It is most useful for people responsible for projects with uncertainty, changing priorities or cross-team dependencies.

The course goes beyond a single team framework by addressing tailoring, governance, roadmaps, dependencies, suppliers, risk and organisational controls. It also differs from fixed-plan project management by teaching rolling planning and evidence-based adaptation.

Participants leave with templates and a structured delivery pack that can be adapted to an active initiative. The methods support Agile, hybrid and iterative projects rather than requiring a full organisational method change.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes adaptive planning, delivery and flow practices; the second week covers governance, coordination, transition, recovery and the capstone presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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