Agile Training Survey October 2017

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So you do some Agile training – then what?  This is what we asked our 216 colleagues from across the campus who had taken part in one of our three Lean Six Sigma training courses between March 2017 and April 2017.

216 colleagues – 10 no longer work in UCD or on extended leave, 18 were out of the office and of the 188 that were available we got 49 responses, enough to give a reasonable impression of what is happening. We thank all of those who were able to take part.

Highlights

  • 75% are using their training
  • 77% are receiving encouragement
  • Variety of use/encouragement patterns – some are using their training even though note encourages, some are not using it even though encouraged
  • The most significant ‘encouragement’ is an established process improvement ethos
  • The biggest obstacle to using the training is lack of opportunities locally, and within this workload/lack of time are the blockers.
  • 60% are involved in collaborative working
  • Of those who answered the ‘What more from Agile’ question, 44% are looking for direct Agile involvement in what they are doing locally, 30% are looking for more training from Agile.

We take these to be very positive indicators of how individuals have taken the opportunities training provided and made use of them in their work.  There is a lot of useful detail which will shape how we develop our services and supports.

However, when you look at the broader picture painted by the categorised comments below, and inspired by some of the full comments we do not present here, there is a sense that there are few signs of systematic, top down, use being made of Agile training and, indeed, of those trained.  Activity is drive by local team, sometimes individual, enthusiasm and that kind of enthusiasm, in the longer term, is not sustainable – it needs systematic encouragement and support, as well as an intelligent appreciation of the value what is being gained. 

In short, we take the results to be a good indication that training is being used and the skills gained are valued by those who gain them but that, woven into the responses, is a real challenge to get a more systematic, supportive top down engagement. 

Where did those who took the survey come from and what training did they take?  36 respondents from central support units, 13 from the Colleges and Schools.  29 of the 49 had done the one day training (‘yellow belt’), 20 had done the half training (‘while belt’/’Lean Fundamentals’), and 6 had done the six day training (‘green belt’), with some people having taken more than one kind of training.

We looked at all the free text answers, split some of them out if more than one point was being made, and then iteratively put them into categories etc. both to allow a more condensed reading and to ensure the comments were anonymised.

Many thanks to those who contributed to the survey.  We are using your input to learn and to shape how we amend end extend what UCD Agile does for you in support of Strategic Initiative 6.

The detailed results of the training will be made available on www.ucd.ie/agile  by mid December 2017.

Michael, Olga and Nuria.

 

Positive Feedback from previous training session:

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the training. I thought the trainer was excellent and I’d love to do more agile training!!’

Colin Burke, UCD School of Psychology

‘Wonderful opportunity to learn by doing. Great tools and techniques to bring back to the workplace and fantastic to come away from a days training feeling empowered!’

Sheila Maguire, UCD Estates