Software and solutions company DVT will soon be running the last of its ICAgile Certified Professional in Business Value Analysis courses for 2017.  Deidré Forbay, Senior BA and Certified ICAgile BVA Trainer at DVT, discusses harnessing value with Agile.Working in a competitive organisation you’ve no doubt come across the concept of ‘value’. It’s probably baked into your DNA, running through each of your various processes, products and teams.That doesn’t necessarily mean that you prescribe to an Agile framework or methodology, in which case you’ll probably get even more value from your business by doing so.Strictly defined, business value is mainly concerned with the health and well-being of the organisation. Any organisation, no matter its objectives and goals, does whatever it needs to succeed — in other words, to maintain and improve its health. It does so primarily by delivering something of value: that its customers value, and that in turn adds more value to the organisation.That means as members of the organisation we want to be doing everything we do each day with value top of mind. The responsibility does not lie only with the Project Manager or the Business Analyst, but with every member of the team.Managing and measuring the flow of business value across the organisation’s entire ‘value chain’ is becoming more critical in all delivery spectrums, not only in the IT industry.Agile gives us very powerful tools that harness all of these aspects:  the setting up of a value-driven team, processes to guide us in continually delivering value, the ability to manage value-driven teams, right through to the delivery of actual value.Of all business methodologies, Agile is probably the most value focused. For a number of years now, business value has been in the top two or three measurement criteria of an Agile initiative’s success. As an Agile organisation, you’ll better understand the need for all projects to be value driven first and foremost, and as a steward of your organisation, you would have learned how to instil the principles of business value at every level. These are among the many benefits of shifting your business to Agile. However, even if your business is not yet Agile, or you’re not convinced that Agile is the way forward, there’s value to be had in learning the methods of adding value through Agile. DVT’s 2017 ICAgile Certified Professional in Business Value Analysis course in Cape Town and Johannesburg will cover:* How to change your thinking skills;

* Value management behaviours;

* Determining value in an initiative;

* Communicating the value;* Analysing to determine value;

* Exploring the solution;* Managing artefacts;

* Enabling valuable delivery.Although this certification course focuses on value-driven software delivery, many of the tools and techniques can be applied to any value-driven project.

DVT’s course facilitators are actively involved in the delivery of Agile products and can identify with many of the challenges experienced by our students. So if you are a Business Analyst, Product Owner, Product Manager, Software Tester, Test Analyst or Scrum Master, or just interested in the topic itself, this course is for you.