Gladwell Academy

"The trainer was excellent - knew the content inside and out, and brought his significant experience to the class. Could improve screening students, as we had a significant number of students who were brand new to SAFe. This made learning a little more challenging. The third day the instructor broke out the class by experience for the exercises which helped. Also, the registration process was a bit confusing, as I was registering using USA currency, but the indicator showed UK flag. This caused confusion and I almost did not register as I was uncertain of the cost." - 07-10-2019 00:00

"I liked the interaction with all attendees. I would like to trim some extra unnecessary exercises and focus on actual material that would help in real life as well as Test." - 03-10-2019 00:00

"1. The course structure and the training is for current RTEs who would like to get SAFe certified. This is currently not tailored for the members who arent working as RTE and who would like to move to that role." - 02-10-2019 00:00

"The instructor was extremely knowledgeable and provided interactive and engaging exercises for the class. There were a lot of attendees who did not meet the minimum requirements for the class, which dragged down the overall conversation and experience. The instructor did his best to improve the remainder of the class for the more experience attendees." - 01-10-2019 00:00

"Content was good, however it would have fit better in 3 days than 2. Some topics had to be rushed through. I missed a bit the positioning of this training in the test of the SAFe training portfolio. Trainers were experienced and well into the topic. I would have appreciated more real-life examples. The venue was ok, the room was inconvenient for the amount of attendees." - 01-10-2019 00:00

"The training was good! However I already did the leading SAFE so for me there was a bit too much focus on leading SAFE. More focus can be given to the Implementing SAFE. Sometimes too much discussion on details and basics of scrum." - 30-09-2019 00:00

"I enjoyed this class and though Yuval was an exceptional trainer. He encouraged active participation and utilized multiple formats/training tools on the fly to fit the classess needs. In contrast, the extreme knowledge/experience gap in the class was the biggest challenge and the most frustrating part of the training. Yuvals improvising helped to mitigate problem each day, but I wouldve gotten more out of the class from Day 1 if all participants had the required prerequisites and experience. This should be enforced when registering for the class." - 30-09-2019 00:00

"I think the website information needs to have a clear and defined path of which classes to start with, and what to take next. As well as pre reqs of things to know before going to one of these classes" - 26-09-2019 00:00

"The training is comprehensive and adapted to my knowledge of the topic (Scrum practitioner). It provides a good overview of the foundations (principles, mindset, values), the benefits, the structured layer (team, program, solution, portfolio) and some roles.
It could benefit from two main additions:
1- Clearer explanation of new roles (from SCRUM), expected impact and deliverable (e.g. RTE, PM, Enterprise Architect).
2- The portfolio layer is not detailed enough and its is hard to understand from SAFe how we cascade the strategy to the execution." - 26-09-2019 00:00

"I liked the fact that the training was interactive and that there was a lot of room for (pragmatic) questions.

What could be improved was more supporting documentation/information of real life examples (both successes and failures (and the lessons learned)" - 26-09-2019 00:00

"Very good training but too much information for 2 days. PI planning and events explanations were very clear.
I think that this training should be extended to 1 or 2 additional days or content split over different trainings. Im a bit frustrating at the end of the training that I have the feeling that I didnt clearly understand some parts. Ex:
=> too fast on the SAFe principles. Would be interested to explain better why these principles have been defined, compared to scrum / compared to traditional
=> would be interesting to better explains how strategic theme, epics, capability, features are linked together, flows together. With examples of the different kanban perhaps?
=> LPM explanation was blurry but I have understood that its "normal", and that we expect it to be better detailed in further version of SAFe...
" - 26-09-2019 00:00

"Great teachers, able to use practical examples to enrich the theory.
All materials were made available in due time, and the course details and required prep were clearly communicated.
One point of attention: a hard copy book format of the info on the website would be appreciated. I consider that a very useful addition to the course materials!" - 24-09-2019 00:00

"Trainers and training were excellent. Full of cases and user experiences plus practical activities. Fun, engaging. The training material can be improved (printing in color would add significance to many areas) Leaving some of the participants questions for the parking lot review time may make the training more even dynamic." - 24-09-2019 00:00

"Great trainers, interesting content, planning and location very much OK. Not sure if the training material provides enough support to prepare fully for the test (which I have yet to do)" - 24-09-2019 00:00

"I am impressed about the level of the trainers, the planning and the location. The trainers were able to educate me well on a topic I didnt have any knowledge of and keep me engaged the full four days. I got especially engaged, when the trainers applied the knowledge to their own experiences. This made the content tangible.

Besides this I would recommend the trainers to try to stimulate more input from the audience. Because I think people can learn a lot from other peoples experiences and mistakes." - 23-09-2019 00:00

"good: very experienced, friendly trainers, positive vibes, group exercises
to improve: announce on beforehand that there will be a drink to get acquainted on first night, PI-planning exercise: receiving the features en stories the night before would improve the efficiency of the exercise" - 23-09-2019 00:00

"Niels is een prima trainer, weet alles helder uit te leggen, deelt ervaringen en reageert goed op vragen.
De cursus is sterk op de methode gericht, verwacht niet het oefenen van persoonlijke skills als faciliteren, coachen en dergelijke." - 20-09-2019 11:53

"training voldeed geheel aan mijn verwachtingen. Geen saaie powerpoint cursus, maar doorspekt met praktijkvoorbeelden en videomateriaal. Mijn leerdoel is ruimschoots behaald met deze cursus.

Mocht je aan de slag willen met het implementeren van SAFe in jouw organisatie dan is deze cursus eigenlijk een must." - 20-09-2019 07:57

"Training was very well organized. No powerpoint show, but lots of examples of real life. Many videos and exercises. Both the trainer are adding value to the course by their knowledge and enthousiasm. The Novotel hotel is a good place, great lunches ( mayby too great ,-))" - 20-09-2019 00:00

"The fact that the "Implementing SAFe" course is targeted towards people intended to become SPCs, it meant that most of attendees in the course were people having already a certain level of experience in transformation and exchanging views with them was really useful (mostly because I got insights/confirmations on challenges Im encountering in my particular context). Location (accommodation) was fine except starting hour was very challenging for someone like me who cannot do else than going to brussels by car. Trainers were entertainers in addition of being SMEs." - 19-09-2019 00:00