Growing Effective digital enterprises with agile and OKRs
Services by Allan Kelly
Making technology teams more predictable & more effective using OKRs and agile
Partnering with frustrated technology teams to shed inefficient ways and create predictable, sustainable, work environments with happier employees. This typically involves agile approaches, and increasingly OKRs.
Want to adopt a more agile style of working? What to deliver faster, better, cheaper?
Struggling with deadlines? backlogs? or quality?
Think OKRs might help you connect strategy with delivery?
Advice and mentoring for managers and teams in using agile approaches and OKRs to accelerate delivery, meet deadlines, and execute against strategy. These approaches benefit businesses and create more fulfilling work environments for people.
Allan is an excellent trainer and expert in agile methodologies. Really enjoyed his Product Owner / User Stories training. He is also an excellent author and speaker. Thanks Allan!
Provides great insight and a good kick start / refresh for those needing to create effective user stories. I especially liked the fact Allan allowed adaptation to the situations attendees found themselves in.
Great courses, Allan is an excellent instructor, courses are full of great material which people new to, or experienced with, agile will find interesting. Allan gave both the product owner and developer courses at our company, and they've had an immediate impact with the team, both process-wise, starting to become more efficient with our time, and culturally.
Just attended one of Allan's online master classes (User Stories), it was one of the best classes I have taken for some time, Allen is a great teacher and it shows in how he can teach so much in such a short amount of time.Allan took the class from the basics to quite a high level, he also touched on complimentary practises which was very helpful, you will come away knowing what a good user story looks like also how user stories fit into other methodologies.Also no question was too difficult for Allen very helpful chap.
Allan provides excellent training and consulting which will stimulate the right conversations and improve business outcomes. I have worked with Allan a number times and always feel that myself and the team have come away with a new perspective and better equipped to tackle the problem in hand
Allan worked with me to help transform a development team of around 120 developers, testers, PM's and business analysts into multiple cross-functional agile teams. Allan developed and ran a number of workshops introducing agile concepts to the teams utilising hands-on activities that really helped to ensure the concepts stuck. He then worked with each team 1:1 over a few months to advise and mentor individuals as the became confident with the different approach to working.The outcome was fantastic, we had very few challenges with our agile transformation. The teams were excited with the new way of working and the changes led to better software delivery and more excited individuals.Allan was instrumental in helping us achieve these benefits. I would highly recommend anyone to work with Allan if you have any agile challenges.
Allan's insights into agility at the strategic level and his lightweight approaches to challenging business situations have helped me a lot over the years. I have recently taken his two online classes on OKRs. These have de-mystified the subject for me, and made it very clear where the difference to other, tactical level cadence and planning artefacts. Practical OKR writing exercise and moderated discussions took away the initial "OKR writer's" block.Every video I could find on youtube of Allan's talk made me look in new ways at routine problems in agile software development and the tensions between the business and engineering.Highly recommended!P.S. His "Continuous Digital" is also a superb source for inspiration for software practitioners frustrated with the "Project" approach to software engineering
Having just gone through a Product Owner course with Allan, I must say he is one of the best trainer I have had. His ability to take concrete examples happening during the course to teach some of the concepts is excellent and it helps you understand why, and in which context, you would use the different technique presented.I am looking forward to using his sevices again once we have had the experience of a few Agile teams running for a few weeks / months and call him back in for a review of best practice /fine tuning advice.I would recommand to anyone serious about Agile development training to consider Allan Kelly.
I recently attended Agile Development Product Owner training conducted by Allan Kelly. The training was excellent. There was a good mix of discussion and exercises to reinforce the training. The training was never boring and was very engaging. I would highly recommend Allan should you need training in Agile Development.
I’ve worked with Allan on a number of projects and with various agencies and clients over the years. Allan’s knowledge and passion for all things Agile is infectious. But his training and coaching provides much more than sheer enthusiasm. Allan’s involvement in any initiative provides practical advice and experience, whilst also continually challenging behaviours and assumptions which are often deeply ingrained. My current project is proving to be extremely successful. And when I talk to my team and clients, without exception they say that the defining factor behind this success was Allan’s initial (and ongoing) training that we all attended. Highly recommended.
Very good experience with USM training! Whether you habe read or not the book the course is very insightful and the format (half a day) makes it easier to absorb. Thanks again Allan!
Been attending an excellent series of sessions with Allan on Value. Relaxed, clear, engaging and interactive, Allan brings his wealth of knowledge to each session facilitating those present to bring out key learning points that can be taken back int the workplace. Highly recommended.
Currently enjoying a series of discussions led by Allan on value. He is making us all think about what value really is and why we need to consider it a lot more when prioritising work to be done. Allan comes highly recommended.
I attended Allan's User Story Masterclass and I definitely took something valuable away from each session. It was great to step back and take a look at this topic again with fresh insights. I can see why it would be useful for many roles, not just product owners.Doing this online worked really well with whole group discussions and one on one exercises with the other participants. Some great learnings shared.It's not just someone delivering training to you, it's a more interactive and engaging format. The structure worked well for me too - one short session every week was easy to fit into my diary, particularly as it was online so no travel involved.I would definitely recommend Allan for his training/consultancy.
Just attended his workshop on User Stories and Value. Lots of interaction, exercises and discussion in the workshop. Allan is very insightful and shares his knowledge with humor and great examples. I highly recommend Allan and his workshops/seminars etc. I brought away many insights to use in my work.
I had the opportunity to join Allan's "Adding Value to User Stories in Agile". Really well delivered over Zoom, inclusive and full of participation and good conversations.
Attended the Adding Value workshop. Fantastic experience, and great to revise the things that define value, as well as how complex planning can be to get the maximum return on investment (again, it's all based on value). Recommended.
Allan Kelly is a natural at explaining the principles of Agile and how User Stories in particular should be constructed. His training is relaxed and inclusive, with room for plenty of discussion and willingness to listen to the audience. Highly recommended!
Ongoing mentoring with individuals and teams to improve working environment and deliver valuable outcomes.
Coaching Product Owners to work & backlogs, evaluate request, work with the team and taking a more strategic view.
Consulting
Advising managers and team members on adopting improving workflow, agile working and OKRs.
“Health check” reports on teams to identify opportunities for improvement.
Training
In person and online options available
Live interactive and on-demand online courses
Workshops include: Agile Software Development for Teams, Strategic Product Owner and OKRs – full list below
Improvement Programmes
Objective Driven Agile programme: combining OKRs with stripped down agile to meet objectives and make software delivery better for all team members.
Delivery Improvement Days motivate successful teams to step up to the next level, from good to great. Teams use improvement days to reinvigorate and reboot stalled initiatives which have not delivered the promised productivity and effectives. Exercise-based days are offered, either individually or as part of a package – download a full description.
Live and iteractive training (online or in person)