The Core FLEX Curriculum

FLEX provides a large curriculum for workshops. The heart of this curriculum is comprised of three workshops:

Adopting FLEX. This is a 3-day on-site or online workshop over 3 months. It teaches the FLEX framework and discusses how to create a tailored version and roadmap.
Tailoring FLEX. This is a 2-day, online only workshop that provides options for each of the modules of FLEX.
Implementing FLEX. This is a 2-day on-site workshop that has been tailored for an organization.

Comparing FLEX workshops with SAFe courses

The Adopting FLEX and Tailoring FLEX is Net Objectives’ equivalent of the SPC workshop. It is more advanced, however, because it includes how to tailor FLEX to an organization. implementing FLEX is the equivalent of Leading SAFe.

FLEX Consultants and Trainers

There are four levels of consultants and trainers:

FLEX Fellows can deliver the 3-day Adopting FLEX workshop and the Tailoring FLEX workshops.
FLEX Sr Consultants can create the 2 day Implementing FLEX workshop for clients. (SPC Equivalent).
FLEX Internal Consultants who can create the 2 day Implementing FLEX workshop for their own company (SPC Equivalent). The skill set missing for internal consultants compared to Sr Consultants is the ability to go into another company and discern what’s really going on.
FLEX Internal Trainers can deliver the 2-day implementing FLEX workshop a higher level consultant created.

How do I become a FLEX consultant or trainer

Achieving any of the levels above is based on your abilities, not courses you’ve taken.

FLEX Sr Consultants should be experienced Lean-Agile consultants who understand Flow before starting their training / certification process. It is impossible to become competent as a consultant by taking a course or two. You also need to have worked as a consultant in a few companies other than where you are an employee. This creates the ability to discern what is really happening in a company you are not initiatially familiar with.

FLEX Internal Consultants have a similar bar except that they don’t need to have consulted in companies outside of where they have worked. This is why they are limited to consulting within their own organization.

FLEX Internal Trainers need to attain a level of competency in training set materials as well as a solid understanding of Flow, Lean and Agile.

Comparing FLEX certification with SAFe certification

FLEX certifies based on a person’s ability, not just on the workshops they’ve taken. An apples to apples comparison is therefore not possible. But FLEX Fellows are somewhat equivalent to an SPCT, while FLEX Sr and Internal consultants are somewhat equivalent to SPCs.

Listing of FLEX Fellows, Consultants and Trainers

Fellows

Al Shalloway is the founder and CEO of Net Objectives. With over 40 years of experience, Al is an industry thought leader in Lean, Kanban, product portfolio management, SAFe, Scrum and agile design. He helps companies transition to Lean and Agile methods enterprise-wide as well teaches courses in these areas. Al is a former SPCT, contributor and gold partner with SAFe. Al is the developer of FLEX, the only comprehensible and extensible Agile for all scales that focuses on business agility. He is a popular speaker at prestigious conferences worldwide. Al is the primary author of Design Patterns Explained, Essential Skills for the Agile Developer, Lean-Agile Software Development, the Lean-Agile Pocket Guide for Scrum Teams, and The Leanban Primer. Al has worked in dozens of industries over his career. He has a Masters in Computer Science from M.I.T. and a Masters in Mathematics from Emory University.

Sr Consultants

Sameer Patil is a Lean Agile Transformation & Executive Coach with over 17 years of experience in the technology industry with leadership positions in program management and software development management. He worked for clients in the Telecom, Logistics, Healthcare, Information Media and Entertainment, Retail, Banking and Finance and Manufacturing space. Sameer coaches, trains and transforms mid-size to large companies domestically and internationally. He has been a facilitator of change and transformation to an agile approach using Agile & Lean practices for fortune 500 companies. Sameer’s career passion has been around leadership & building high performing teams. As a coach he has led and witnessed the transformation of people, attitudes, hearts and minds towards high performance using agile practices, he is passionate about being of service to help teams and organizations get there!!

Sameer is associated with Cognizant and leading Artificial Intelligent Analytics Agile CoE with a base in Virginia Beach USA. Sameer have established local Agile groups with intent of service to the Agile coaching community who would like to enhance their skill set, share ideas, and take their coaching careers to help clients dramatically improve their outlook on work and life, while developing leadership skills and unlocking potential.