Agile for Learning

It’s a well-known fact, and well accepted too, that there is a significant gap between the industry’s expectations vis-à-vis what they actually get from fresh graduates from the universities/colleges. This is especially true in case of the software/IT industry in India which I have seen very closely for over 25 years now. The gap or chasm is not only in terms of the technical capabilities (mainly driven by the fact that curricula are outdated and the teachers not in tune with the latest in the industry) but also around industry readiness. Industry looks for soft skills (communication, team work etc.), life skills (ability to handle pressure, empathy etc.), entrepreneurial traits (critical thinking, ownership, hard work etc.) and understanding of processes (Agile, DevOps etc.) among other things.

While Indian IT industry is still groping with this chasm, the ground realities are changing very fast. Driven by automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, the job definitions are shifting rapidly. While the skillsets required are changing fast, the mindsets required are changing faster. We need people who can think and act beyond just coding and have greater skills around domain, usability and ability to abstract problem statements to a higher level. We need people with great learnability, the ones who can not only pick up new technologies rapidly but can also take care of a problem statement rather than work to the specifications.

Essentially, the expectation levels are going up while the academia is still trying to deal with the current levels. It’s akin to asking to fly while you are still learning to walk. This calls for the need of learning models that can not only deal with the current gaps but also with the newer needs. We need learning models that lend themselves to the agility and nimbleness required by industry.

This is where Agile for Learning comes into picture (not to be confused with learning Agile). Agile has traditionally been used for software development and lately for testing. For me, Agile means speed & agility, iterative improvement and tools & techniques. These are exactly the characteristics required in today’s learning models. We need to identify, develop & deliver learning in quick and effective ways to keep up with the rapidly shifting technical & business landscape. Apart from this, we need to build the basic foundation of learnability in the formative years of workforce.

We, at GradMener Academy (www.gradmeneracademy.com), are trying to use some of the Agile principles to design and deliver our learning programs (we are also applying Design Thinking principles to make the programs more exciting, attractive and likeable to the participants but that’s the topic of a separate blog!). These are early days and we are committed to make Agile for Learning as the way of learning in the long term. In order to attain maturity, the framework developed needs to go through iterations and tested against more and more actual learning deliveries. We are looking at the Agile community to pitch in and help us in this journey to create a solid Agile for Learning framework. We also need to excite the academia to adopt the Agile for Learning principles.

In conclusion, I believe Agile for Learning is the way forward to deal with the skill gaps in the rapidly moving technical & business landscape.