Last week I was the trainer for a C# course . This was the first course I held since I really got bitten by the agile bug, and of course I had to try some principles on it.
The first thing I did was to completly ignore all the code examples Microsoft provides. I pointed them out to the class, so everyone could read them at home, but I coded everything from scratch when I showed code on screen, and kept the examples so that they never were longer than a single screen. This was the principle of simplicity in action.
Next, I tried to make the feedback loop shorter – instead of providing an opportunity at the end of the course for evalution and feedback, I asked (and pushed) for feedback throughout the course. Another difference is that in a normal course, the class usually rate my performance, but provide few hints on why they score me high (or low). In this way, the rating wasn’t as important, the high bandwith (oral, face to face) feedback dominated.
I learnt more from this course than I’ve learnt in all other courses I’ve taught. I goes to show – agile is not a way of programming, it’s a way of life.