Gladwell Academy (DE)

"Michael S was sensational (eventhough he said he was still recovering from an earlier covid exposure which - I guess - nobody noticed). The combination with Christian H as trainer tandem with his Migros examples was value adding. Also, I think it is neccessary to have 2 trainers with 30 participants. I also liked that additional Gladwell people were there to deal with organizational details in the background. I liked the Gladwell box with all the surprises inside. Maybe rethink the T-shirt size and put a larger T-shirt in, so they are good for the big guys (which we have many in IT) and the slim guys alike. The participants were highly motivated, so the atmosphere was great. As Michael "warned" us earlier, the PI Planning exercise was a bit chaotic. Would have helped if we had gone through https://www.scaledagileframework.com/pi-planning/ in a bit detail before actually running the meeting. The fact that the trainers stayed after the official end of the training in case someone had questions was highly appreciated y many participants. ----- All this would be a full 10/10. (... and with my 25 years of experience in PM en Training, I surely dont say that everywhere). However there were 2 things that I didnt like: 1.) The air quality and temperature in the room which made me sweat and fall asleep in the afternoons and the noise from outside (busy city-center street, participants from other trainings during their breaks) 2.) Upon completion of the Test exam it was possible to see where your answers were correct/incorrect. So, my implicit expectation was that after the real Exam, this would also happen, which it didnt. By the way, I perceived the test exam as serious but quite easy, the real Exam, however, I had about 5 questions, where I would not even know where to find the answer. " - 05.08.2022 00:00

"In general I liked the training and was able to get a lot of new input and learnings. However, I think the group was quite big (35 ), which was good on the one hand, as the PI Planning simulation worked out quite nicely with such a big group. On the other hand, due to heavily varying experience level of the participants, there were a lot of fundamental questions which were not really relevant to me, having already 4 years experience applying the framework in daily work.
Im also not super happy about ScaledAgiles design of the SPC course, requiring the participants first to do Leading SAFe and only then the actual Implementing SAFe course. But I think if the group would be basically split into two (no experience at all and *some* practical experience), then all participants could have had a bigger benefit (more time for fundamental questions for the beginners AND more time for advanced, practical questions/discussions for the more advanced participants).

Overall, Im still satisfied with the training, this would just be one improvement idea. " - 25.07.2022 00:00

" Trainers: the wide experience of the trainers raises the rating from 8 to 10. Its their huge knowledge of implementing SAFe that they share with the class by giving examples from the praxis.
Content: good mix of Leading SAFe (ca. 2,4 days) and Implementing SAFe (ca. 1,6 days). I thought this would give us hard 2 last days but in the end it made sense to stay at some subjects a little bit longer. Mix of theory and praxis was very good.
planning/location: perfect. I applied on friday 07/15 for the training and I had the confirmation and access to the preparing material on the same day. Very lean internal processes, I have to commit!

- Training class: bringing too many participants (>20 procent) from one firm I personal find critical: I attend these open classes because its much more interesting to discuss with other people with complete other background.
- The gift box: nice idea, but I had to let most of it in the hotel as I had no place in the lugage. And I see that in a lot of workshops, sommer events, ... everyone does that right now. It doesnt add value to the training. (except the small book edding I used a lot:-) " - 25.07.2022 00:00

"Content very stuffed but necessary to get full picture, excellent skill level of trainers and availability of trainers during course. Location good - but room setting not optimal due to corner of room --> one big room better to have a chance to see and hear all participants. " - 03.05.2022 00:00

"Der Kurs hat den Erwartungen entsprochen, ich habe eine guten ?berblick ?ber die verschiedenen Schritt bekommen die notwendig sind um SAFe in einem Unternehmen zu etablieren.
Ich bin ?berzeugt, dass das erlernte Wissen bei der Erstellung von neuen ART sehr hilfreich sein wird. " - 20.07.2021 00:00

"Trainer waren super kompetent. Die 4 Tage waren sehr intensiv. Die 4 Tage waren f?r den Inhalt fast zu knapp, 5 Tage w?ren wahrscheinlich besser gewesen. War positiv ?berrascht, dass solch ein Training auch Remote sehr gut funktioniert. Ein Physisches Training h?tte ich nat?rlich bevorzugt. " - 20.07.2021 00:00

"Dr. Brandhuber is an excellent trainer, he knows a lot about SAFe - not only in theory but also in practice. Quality of sound and video was very good. Maybe a 4 day course would be a good idea for die RTE training. " - 15.07.2021 00:00

"Content was extraordinarily well explained by an eloquent, nice, and enthusiastic trainer. The technical setup (remote training) was flawless with an especially good audio and video quality of the trainer. The trainer responded to feedback rapidly and enduring, and left space for open questions and talks about experiences and case studies. I will definitely recommend 10 out of 10 to other colleagues that this course is a great contribution to the personal learning journey as Release Train Engineer! " - 14.07.2021 00:00

"The material was trained in a well-structured manner. The trainer was very competent and was able to deepen and supplement the material in the discussions with additions and best pratices. " - 11.06.2021 00:00

"A bit to much of just presenting the slides of the SAFe Workbook.
And a bit to much general discussions without much new insights.
In the other hand very helpful as a preparation for the exam. " - 08.06.2021 00:00

"I think more planned interruptions would be good
the presentation was very good
I like this form of training, but next I would like to visit Amsterdam for training. :) " - 08.06.2021 00:00

"The trainer, Michael Stump, was very experienced in SAFe, he was able to explain the concepts very well, and his training setup was very professional.
I liked the 5-minute-breaks after half an hour very much. Very good idea.
I also liked the interactive parts of the training. The exercises and the whiteboards were very well prepared.
One thing that could be improved: There are still hundreds of slides in the training. There are other ways to let people learn, e.g. training from the back of the room.
However, the training exceeded my expectations, because I expected even more power point presentations. " - 05.05.2021 00:00