Dion Stewart

Pull back the curtain on organizations’ strategic plans and you’re likely to find one or more transformation initiatives to adopt and implement modern engineering practices, DevOps, Agile and/or Lean, API design, microservices, and cloud architectures. In addition, you may also find initiatives focused on innovation and product design in the form of Design Thinking, Lean UX, and Customer Development.

Adopting all these practices requires a cultural shift that is hard to achieve through typical approaches to training. Most organizations adopt short, “sheep-dipping” training and workshops, despite their lack of effectiveness in forming new habits and ways of working that stick.

One solution is the dojo - where teams undergo six-week immersive learning experiences to learn new practices and processes, applying them while delivering real-world products and services, all within the constraints of their organization. The dojo is both a physical space and a way of learning and practicing.

There are over 30 companies who are running dojos or are in the process of creating them. Dion has coached in dojos in a large home goods retailer and a leading national telecommunications company. He has advised other organizations and taught their coaches how to create their own dojos.

Dion will cover:

• An overview of the entire dojo lifecycle including intake process for teams, chartering dojo engagements, the format of the engagements, and post-dojo coaching
• Defining your initial set of dojo offerings
• Designing your dojo’s physical space and determining equipment needs
• Marketing the dojo inside your organization
• Defining metrics you will use to show the value your dojo provides
• Approaches for growing dojo coaches