Teamwork with agile methods
Learn to organise work in short cycles, make blockers visible and review priorities through practical agreements your team can use in its daily work.
Find your starting point
A good fit when you need agreements for coordinating work and reviewing priorities, regardless of the tool your team uses.
Another option to consider
Agile methods applied with MiroIf you want to work on those agreements directly in Miro boards, choose the programme focused on that tool.- Hours and sessions
- 8 hours live · 4 sessions of 2 h.
- Group size
- Up to 12 participants per trainer as a reference, adjusted to the practice and feedback.
What you will learn
- 01
Turn a work need into tasks with clear completion criteria.
- 02
Define a board, work limits and a review routine.
- 03
Identify a blocker and propose an adjustment in a retrospective.
A proposed programme
You will simulate a week in a service team that receives requests while finishing work already under way. Turn unclear requests into visible work, agree how much to start and review what to do when a delivery becomes blocked. The practice works with physical cards or an agreed tool; the focus is on the team's decisions.
We adapt the selection and depth of the modules to the group's starting point and goals.
01From goals to visible work
Priorities, tasks, completion criteria and workflow visualisation using examples from your team.
You will work on
- Separate a request's objective from its proposed solution and write a task with a result that can be checked.
- Order requests around the week's objective, making decisions and exclusions explicit.
- Define where work starts and finishes and what each board state means.
- Practice
- Turn a fictional service team's requests into cards with a result, owner and completion criterion, then order the initial queue.
- How you will check it
- A board with understandable states and cards another person can interpret; the group explains what it prioritises and why.
02Plan and coordinate
Work cycles, useful meetings and agreements for managing capacity, dependencies and blockers.
You will work on
- Agree a work-in-progress limit for the simulation and distinguish started work from waiting work.
- Make a blocker visible, identify who can resolve it and agree the next step without hiding the task.
- Review the flow in a short meeting and decide what to finish before taking on new requests.
- Practice
- Manage a round of requests with a blocked delivery and an urgent request; decide how to protect capacity and explain any exception to the agreement.
- How you will check it
- A visible blocker with an action and an owner, and a capacity decision that follows or explicitly changes the group's agreement.
03Review and adjust
Work reviews and retrospectives with small actions, clear owners and follow-up.
You will work on
- Review deliveries against completion criteria, distinguishing finished work from work still awaiting acceptance.
- Compare observations from the simulation with the assumptions made during planning.
- Choose a small improvement to test, assign an owner and decide when to review it.
- Practice
- Close the simulation, review a delivery with another participant and run a retrospective that ends with a specific change for the next round.
- How you will check it
- A reviewed delivery and an improvement experiment with an owner, review date and observable signal for judging whether it helps.
An urgent request arrives when the team is at capacity
Teaching example
You will design a board and a working routine for a chosen process with your team, then review them through a guided simulation.
Fictional classroom case. A team is preparing a service proposal and a welcome guide. The proposal is waiting for clarification from the requester. The simulation's agreement allows two started tasks, including blocked work, and a third urgent request arrives.
- Starting point
- Two tasks are already started and one is blocked. The urgent request arrives in a message but is missing from the board; no one has agreed which delivery can wait.
- First attempt
- The first attempt starts the urgent request and removes the blocked proposal from the board so that only two cards appear in progress again. The outstanding work still exists, even though it is no longer visible.
- What we review
- The trainer asks the group to return the proposal to the workflow, record who will request clarification and assess the urgent request with the person setting priorities. The group decides to finish the guide before starting another task; any exception would need to be agreed and made visible.
- Result
- The proposal retains its blocker and a follow-up action. The urgent request is first in the waiting queue, with the decision explained. Once the guide is finished and reviewed, the team can take on the next task without hiding work.
Finish before starting more
Waiting
Urgent request
First in the queue · start when capacity is available
In progress · limit 2
Service proposal
Blocked · Ana requests clarification
Welcome guide
Luis · check steps and links
Review
Before closing
Another person checks the completion criterion
Teaching illustration of a fictional case. States and the limit are agreed for the simulation.
Before calling it complete
- Started tasks remain visible even when blocked.
- The urgent request has an agreed position and has not been started by default.
- The blocker has a follow-up owner and the guide has a completion criterion.
Four sessions to put it into practice.
Reference edition · 8 h live
Reference edition: 8 live hours across 4 sessions of 2 hours. The simulation and review take place during the sessions; the tool, sequence and examples are adapted to the group. Any preparation or additional work is agreed before the programme starts.
- Session 12 h
Turn requests into clear work
Define the week's objective, break down requests and write completion criteria using the service-team case.
By the endA prioritised queue of tasks the team can interpret.
- Session 22 h
Agree the workflow and capacity
Design simple states, decide where work starts and finishes and practise a work-in-progress limit.
By the endA board with agreements for starting, moving and finishing work.
- Session 32 h
Coordinate when work changes
Simulate an urgent request, a blocker and a short review; decide what to finish and what should wait.
By the endA priority decision and a blocker with a next step and an owner.
- Session 42 h
Review a delivery and improve
Check results, exchange feedback and choose an adjustment for the next round of work.
By the endA reviewed delivery and an improvement that can be tested and followed up.
If your team needs to go further
- Configuring or implementing a management tool requires a different scope; this programme practises team agreements and decisions that can be adapted to your working medium.
- Organisational transformation, extended coaching or exam preparation requires a separate programme.
Learn with someone who designs work systems.
Guillermo Mascaraque Piña
Work systems consultant
Over two years of experience designing systems for companies across industries and sizes.
Guillermo is the planned trainer for this programme. Dates, language and his availability are confirmed when the edition is agreed.
With guidance, practice and support.
Each delivery includes working materials, feedback on practical work and assessment against the agreed objectives.
Materials you can keep
Downloadable, versioned guides, exercises and review criteria for internal use.
To prepare and complete the delivery
A short recommendation, an editable communications kit and a group learning report.
TOF’s own certificate
A certificate of achievement after the agreed assessment. It is not a vendor certification.
A month of email support
On the content covered, up to two accumulated hours for the whole group.
Your team carries out the practice. Implementation services are agreed separately. See the scope →
