BUS 3900 · Project Management: Agile and Scrum

Led by Ohnoian Lean Simulacrum

Agile and Scrum through the Toyota lens — the seven wastes, sprint cycles, Scrum roles, user stories, and scaling Agile beyond the single team.

1. Module 1

   Where Waterfall Falls Short

   Led by Ohnoian Lean Simulacrum

   The question

   In Toyota terms, Waterfall is batch-and-queue production: large batches transferred infrequently with long feedback cycles. The seven wastes applied to software development diagnose the specific failure modes. Which waste is most significant — and what does Agile do differently?

   Outcome

   The student can describe the four Agile values and explain the Toyota lineage.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 1.1 The Seven Wastes in Your Project Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion
2. Module 2

   Agile Structure: Backlog, Sprints, and Ceremonies

   Led by Ohnoian Lean Simulacrum

   The question

   The kanban card signals what to build next. The product backlog is its knowledge-work equivalent. Sprint planning selects from the backlog. Velocity measures throughput. What does the sprint cycle look like from planning to retrospective?

   Outcome

   The student can describe the sprint cycle and ceremonies and produce a sprint plan.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 2.1 Sprint Planning Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
3. Module 3

   Scrum Roles and Responsibilities

   Led by Ohnoian Lean Simulacrum

   The question

   No traditional project manager. The Product Owner owns priority. The Scrum Master owns the process. The Development Team does the work, self-organising. When a company transitions to Scrum, what happens to the PM — and what is the most difficult organisational change?

   Outcome

   The student can describe the three Scrum roles and map an existing team into them.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 3.1 Role Assignment Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
4. Module 4

   User Stories, Epics, and the Product Backlog

   Led by Ohnoian Lean Simulacrum

   The question

   "As a customer, I want to see my transaction history so that I can track my spending." The user story is the atomic unit of Agile value — written from the user's perspective, sized for a sprint, validated by acceptance criteria. What makes a user story INVEST-compliant?

   Outcome

   The student can write user stories with acceptance criteria and size them in story points.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 4.1 Write User Stories Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
5. Module 5

   Scaling Agile and the Agile-Waterfall Decision

   Led by Ohnoian Lean Simulacrum

   The question

   Scrum was designed for one team of seven to ten people. SAFe, LeSS, and Nexus scale it to the enterprise. But Ohno's TPS also had failure modes — it took Toyota decades to develop. Where does Agile fail — and what does that tell you about the gap between Agile principles and Agile practice?

   Outcome

   The student can describe Agile scaling frameworks and analyse Agile's limits.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 5.1 Final Essay: Where Does Agile Fail? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion