Welcome Back, Digital Warriors! 🚀

In our last episode, we delved into the current state of the tech industry, with market disruptions and software failures making headlines. Today, we’re shifting gears to focus on a critical topic that’s all too often overlooked:

the limitations of traditional training programs in building high-performing software.

The Training Trap: Why Short-Term Gains Don’t Last

Many companies still rely heavily on traditional training sessions to upskill their teams. While these can provide a temporary boost in knowledge, the reality is that most of what’s learned in a workshop or seminar is forgotten within days. This phenomenon, known as the forgetting curve, reveals that up to 70% of new information is lost within 24 hours if not reinforced.

So, why does this happen? Due to ‘The Ebbinghaus Effect’

Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneering psychologist, discovered that without consistent reinforcement, new information quickly fades from memory. This is especially true for complex skills like Test-Driven Development (TDD) or agile practices, which require not just understanding but regular application to become second nature.

Imagine sending your team to a week-long training on agile methodologies. They return full of enthusiasm, ready to implement what they’ve learned. But when they try to apply these practices in the real world—where deadlines loom, legacy systems resist change, and old habits die hard—their new skills often wither. The environment simply doesn’t support their newfound knowledge.

The game changer: Continuous Active-Learning

You wouldn’t expect to build a city overnight, so why expect to transform a team with just one training session? Continuous active-learning is where real change happens. Research shows that consistent practice, coupled with ongoing mentorship, is essential for skill retention and mastery.

The SW Craftsmanship Dojo® is the first piece of the Unicorns’ Ecosystem to be deployed within your organization, targeting the core of modern companies—IT departments. This platform integrates agile, DevOps, and software craftsmanship directly into your team’s daily workflow. It’s not about dull theory but dynamic, gamified active learning that lets your team experiment in a safe, engaging environment. Over 14 years of research we refined the Dojo into something unique:

1. Real-World Scenarios: Unlike traditional training that often relies on theoretical examples, the Dojo tackles the real challenges your team faces, making learning immediately applicable by using simplified katas to match the students’ cognitive levels.

2. Mentorship and Coaching: Daily 30-minute mentorship sessions and continuous feedback from experienced coaches help reinforce learning, preventing mistakes from becoming ingrained habits or causing social friction.

3. Building Mastery Over Time: Continuous practice in a safe setting allows students and teams to progress from understanding concepts to mastering them, integrating best practices into their daily routines.

4. Holistic Curriculum: Unlike narrow training courses, the Dojo offers a comprehensive curriculum. It covers not just TDD, but the entire Agile and XP spectrum, linking product management, ATDD, BDD, LeanUX, DDD, DevOps, and DevSecOps. Traditional training can’t match this breadth, and trying to replicate it would be both super costly and disruptive.

5. Zero productivity lost: With advancements in remote and hybrid work technologies, the Dojo seamlessly fits into your team’s day, requiring only about 10% of their time. This approach offers even the most demanding departments a way to learn continuously and improve, leading to immediate boosts in productivity—far beyond what traditional training can offer.

Continuous active learning isn’t just a trend—it’s the future. By making training a daily practice, it drives growth and adaptability in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Why Quick Fixes Don’t Work to solve your lack of engineering

Let’s face it—recent tech meltdowns like CrowdStrike’s catastrophic outage and the -40% stock plummet, the volatile aftermath of tech giants’ earnings, and NYTimes’ 5000-secret leak reveal a common theme:

A lack of robust engineering practices! 💥

Quick fixes and bandaid solutions might offer an illusion or even a temporary relief, but without a foundation of continuous active-learning and improvement program with proper mentorship and coaching, these problems will persist and resurface. My dear CXOs, it’s time to rethink your strategy! Upskilling is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Investing in continuous active-learning programs like the SW Craftsmanship Dojo® is the key to truly evolving your team’s capabilities. Your company’s future hinges on this. Forget the generic training that barely scratches the surface. Instead, focus on bespoke, continuous learning initiatives that foster mastery, resilience, and adaptability, all tailored to your organization’s unique DNA and culture in a holistic manner.

Conclusion: Evolving Beyond the Status Quo

Studies like those in “Make It Stick” by Peter C. Brown emphasize the importance of repeated practice and feedback loops in skill acquisition. Furthermore, “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle illustrates how deep practice and focused mentorship lead to skill mastery. These principles are embedded in the Dojo’s design, ensuring that your team not only learns but thrives.

The tech industry is at a crossroads. As recent events have shown, the old ways of doing things are no longer sufficient. It’s time to evolve beyond traditional training and embrace a continuous active-learning model that equips your teams for the challenges ahead.

Are you ready to evolve? Join us at BriX Consulting and let’s embark on this journey together, building teams that don’t just survive but thrive in the digital age.

Stay tuned for the next episode where we’ll dive deeper into the SW Craftsmanship component of the Unicorns’ Ecosystem exploring how to lead your technical crew toward digital excellence. Until then, keep evolving! 🌟

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