Emergn Launches Kanban Learning Pathway

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emergn, a global services consultancy, today announced that it has launched a Kanban Learning Pathway, the first of many new learning pathways that will be added to its recently launched Value Flow Quality (VFQ) Education learning program. Delivered by an expert community of practitioners, VFQ is the industry’s first work-based learning program, which includes a wide range of Agile and Lean-based learning methodologies.

“The VFQ course explores the rationale behind the focus on lead time, and gives detailed explanation of flow theory including bottlenecks, queues, batching and the effects of WIP – as well as all the tools, practices and methods that will help you manage them.”

The Kanban Learning Pathway consists of 12 session booklets filled with activities and accompanied by presentation slides, a personal ‘toolkit’ of techniques and one page summaries to share around the business. The course leads people through the ideas that will enable faster product development cycles using the Kanban method.

For many companies, the promises of reduced cycle time are tempting, but the reality of trying to implement changes that fundamentally alter the structure of departments, teams and interactions can be daunting. The course is designed to ensure everyone within the organisation understands why to implement a change, what exactly to change, and how to develop skills through work-based activities.

Step-by-step, the VFQ Learning Pathway helps teams develop the tools they need, from prioritisation techniques to streamlining processes, to create a working implementation. Proving the philosophy through each successful small step reduces resistance, enabling companies to transform the way they deliver software in an incredibly cost-effective and low-risk manner.

“The ideas behind Kanban are simple, but radical. They include implementing ‘pull’ systems, rather than push; doing less in order to do more, and embedding shorter feedback loops to encourage continuous improvement. This is the change the manufacturing industry went through in the 80s and 90s being applied to the world of software and product development now. No manufacturer works without Inventory management processes, a just-in-time philosophy or a continuous improvement mindset. If they did, they wouldn’t last long. By using the Kanban Learning Pathway individuals and team can finally gain a firm footing on this topic by applying a work-based learning approach on real work,” said Alex Adamopoulos, Chief Executive Officer of Emergn.

“As Kanban becomes more accepted in the market, it’s vitally important to help organizations understand how to leverage the practices that dramatically improve the development of software based products and services,” said Paul Dolman-Darrall, Executive Vice President for Strategy at Emergn. “The VFQ course explores the rationale behind the focus on lead time, and gives detailed explanation of flow theory including bottlenecks, queues, batching and the effects of WIP – as well as all the tools, practices and methods that will help you manage them.”

About VFQ from Emergn

VFQ helps practitioners meet the challenges of delivering IT-based projects, products and services today by focusing on a critical analysis of solutions that can then be implemented in day-to-day work. Unlike existing courses on the market, this approach challenges the ‘status quo’ of traditional Agile and Lean training by exploring the thinking and principles behind the most popular methodologies, rather than focusing on a series of ‘how-to’ instructions.

VFQ is a modular course that can be accessed in several ways, including various learning pathways and qualifications for specific roles or methodologies. VFQ also qualifies practitioners by measuring how well they understand current principles and can apply them through a series of extended workplace assignments.

About Emergn

Emergn is a global professional services consultancy that blends agile and lean principles to optimise the way organizations develop and deliver solutions across the enterprise. By offering a unique blend of agile and lean methodologies, Emergn operates as a thought leader in helping enterprises solve their complex organisational and IT business problems. As the leader in providing enterprise-wide enablement, Emergn has secured a strong benchmark of revenue and forecasted growth, and has earned an impressive list of partners, including British Airways, Maersk, UK Public Sector, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Standard Life, Thomson Reuters, and British Telecom.

Emergn is based in Boston, New York, London and Dublin.

For more information, visit www.emergn.com or follow emergn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emergn