DevOps Culture (with Lego and Chocolate) Workshop
Testimonials from our Customers
"Dana’s facilitation training for the DevOps chocolate and LEGO game was extremely valuable. The game makes the WHY of DevOps very obvious and is super engaging. Dana’s experience in this space along with her facilitation skills made for an extremely rich learning experience and gave me a very useful tool to help inform clients on their Agile and DevOps journey."
Deb Pontes
"We were first introduced to Dana at a Meetup where she ran the "Intro to DevOps with Chocolate, LEGO & Scrum" game. Though we chuckled at the silly name at first, at the end of the Meetup we were amazed at how many light bulbs went off in our brains, as we had our own A-Ha Moments relative to our roles as Scrum Master and Manager of DevOps, and realized the benefits of running this game could provide to our own organization. We later acquired training from Dana so we could facilitate the game for the Blink Fitness Technology dept. We ran the game on a Friday afternoon and experienced the same magic we felt as players of the game. With each sprint, the players felt the pain, realized the bottlenecks, and on their own were inspired to work together to improve the process, thinking up solutions we would have never expected. In fact, the group requested to stay late and play a 4th sprint with new experimentation in the process, with even the Business Owners jumping in as developers. The dept was so enthused with how fun the game was to play and how it could serve as a mental model to experiment and improve our own delivery and deployment process, that we are now considering to run the game quarterly."
Scott Zillitto
"I attended Dana's course on a whim … I had the time open and the email notice tickled a problem my team has been experiencing recently with on time deployment delivery. This was my first detailed exposure to the DevOps concept. The game was a very powerful, fast, and effective way to learn and experience the pain and opportunity of better understanding DevOps. I made 3 changes in my team’s workflow the 2 weeks following this event. Within 30 days my team experienced increased throughput, better predictability, and less stress with our clients and stakeholders. Immediate value. It was almost like magic. Highly recommend this game, the facilitator Dana, and the books she recommended to me following the game."
Scott T. Reese
"Thank you Dana Pylayeva for a great Legos & Chocolate Intro to DevOps workshop at Dealertrack. It was a great eye opening experience for everyone!!! Looking forward to more from you! #coxautomotive #greatjob"
Michael Levitis
"The whole workshop is full of "aha moments" and solid content. You can see and feel that every cycle of the simulation is carefully design to give all the participants the full "flashback" to their day to day live, on any kind of corporate environment, and the debriefs or retrospectives between them, very rich in coaching moments, relaying back always to the theory and principles of DevOps. For us, Agilists and DevOps advocates from JPMorgan Chase, gave us a lot of insights and experience of the emotions and barriers that people face every day during a transformation process. And for the team members of different roles that also participate on the workshop, they could see how transformation is possible with small increments of improvements, based on early feedback."
Leonardo Mattos
Agile Facilitation/Training with Liberating Structures (virtual)
"Thanks again for the amazing workshop. You are truly a pro facilitator and you have a gift at explaining and anticipating the nuance that comes up with learning something new! I am really impressed by the amount of material covered. My goal of obtaining confidence with using LS has been accomplished!"
Tina Story
"If you’re a coach or Scrum Master finding that your online sessions aren’t working so well or are stuck in a rut running the same old formats again and again, Dana’s “Agile Facilitation/Training – Virtual Edition” course is likely to be the boost to your facilitation toolkit that you need. Dana has figured out lots of clever tricks to use tools such as Zoom, Mural and Mentimeter to create highly engaging collaborative workshops and training. Even better, you’ll gain techniques for many of the rich Liberating Structures in the virtual world. You even get to design workshops that string several structures together to achieve surprising results. I took many small and large techniques away from this course that I’ll be applying straight away."
Rowan Bunning
"I have loved being on Dana's course. Online courses can be difficult to run but Dana's has been engaging, fun and I've learnt a lot. If you have an open mindset and want to get better you can't go wrong with Dana's course. Well worth the money and the price point is very reasonable. Love the time slots too. A lot of thought has gone into it!"
Rominder Dodd
"I LOVED your course and the method of learning that you provided. The fact that we got to experience each of the structures you explained was amazing. I was afraid about taking this course; however, I have now learned so many ways to facilitate any type of meeting – not just an Agile related meeting."
Laurie Schwalb
"Dana’s Agile Facilitation/Training with Liberating Structures kept me enraptured until 2am - four days in a row. I am based in the U.K. but honestly every moment was full of learning and insights with the chance to apply them in a safe fun environment. Dana’s own facilitation skills, are plain to see with every aspect of the course and her depth of knowledge seems to know no bounds. Dana’s ability to pack so much in without overwhelming you must be her super power. I can not wait to apply what we covered and get another opportunity to learn from such a wonderful teacher."
Emma Armstrong
"For anyone looking to develop your skills and create effective virtual content delivery, Dana is a brilliant teacher who has developed an outstanding course. It will teach you Liberating Structures, introduce you to some elements from Training from the Back of the Room and you'll leave with actionable tools and skills to better serve your teams and your stakeholders. This is a highly engaging course, delivered virtually and it never once felt like we weren't in the same room. Sign up."
Catherine Hyams
"The course not only taught, through the Liberating Structures tools, how to run effective and engaging collaboration, facilitation and training sessions, but how to do that online, too (using Zoom, Mural and Google Sheets). On top of that, Dana Pylayeva demonstrated in running the course how to run any training / meetings exceptionally well, particularly in the online environment, for virtual or distributed participants. I thoroughly recommend the course to anyone else, and imagine that any of Dana's training would be run equally well. Thanks, Dana!"
Andrea Benton
Unleashing Leadership Program
Coaching Clients Testimonials
“I feel so lucky to have Dana as my coach. I emerge from our sessions energized and confident about myself and my capacity to achieve my personal and professional improvement goals. Dana knows what questions to ask, which tailored activities to suggest, when to listen (to my silence too), in an environment where one feels safe. She helps me shine the light on my emotions and thoughts, analyze situations through different lenses, come up with sensible practice and action plans. She encourages me and assists me in noticing my progress: I feel better at handling stress inducing situations, recognising my triggers and emotions, taming my imposter voice, staying truthful to my values, recognising my worth... For me, there is a "before and after Dana", and my life is brighter with Dana.”
Emilie F.
“When I approached Dana for the first time for coaching sessions, she made it so easy, comfortable and her style of coaching put me at ease instantly. I had a glass ceiling to break, lot of confusion regarding what I want and how to achieve and was going through a difficult period in my life. Each session with Dana was like peeling off the unwanted layers and blockers I had, supported with incredible visualization exercises that I still find useful and use them even months after the sessions have ended. Every advice, exercise and direction led to the same place I.e my values. This helped me make real valuable changes in my personal life as well as professionally. I’m so grateful that I booked this time to talk to Dana and completed the sessions with her. It has definitely been the best use of time , money and most valuable.”
Seema P.
“Dana is a phenomenal coach with a vast tool box. She has had exactly what I needed at every interaction. I've gotten immense value from every session with Dana over the past several months. Every session was about me and what I needed at that moment. I recall one of the initial sessions where I wanted to work through a problem but on that day I was mourning a great loss, she held the space to let me feel what I needed to feel and that eased the pain. There many tears, going to places I was afraid to go to, working on problems I hadn't felt capable of solving. Being coached by Dana and working on myself and loving myself in the midst of a pandemic has been the greatest gift I've ever received. I could have easily spiraled downward, having the support and encouragement from Dana has ensured that I grow and thrive. Working with Dana has helped me personally, it has improved my relationship with myself, my family, colleagues and the greater community. I highly recommend working with Dana, she is phenomenal and will make you believe that you are too!”
Yogini M.
“Coaching with Dana was an incredibly rewarding journey of personal and professional exploration. With Dana's help I was able to tackle areas where I had been stuck for quite a while. She helped me get clarity, taught me techniques that I will continue to use, and helped me build a plan to move ahead. I especially enjoyed the way Dana brings her unique brand of play and fun to the coaching engagement. Thank you Dana, for the coaching and for helping me find a path forward! So grateful!”
Laura R.
“I am grateful for the coaching provided by Dana, She helped me with self awareness and self worth issues. Her technique of not giving answers but rather making me find answers was very helpful. She has an abundance of tools and games that were very useful for me, e.g. Wheel of Life served great since I was over-focused on my weaknesses. I realized what is out of balance in my life and what my priorities are. I started to recognise patterns that hold me back, and was able to build some alternative ways to think about problems I got stuck in. Dana made me think and clearly articulate my values, and why I do what I do. It came out so powerful and inspiring, that I was proud and got another great impulse and lasting energy to work. I realized these values are meaningful for similar minded people I want to attract, so they really help with my communication and business development. Overall Dana's work was and is very important to me, reflecting where I am now, where I am heading and why. It is amazing to feel the support and commitment for your success coming from your coach.”
Yulia O.
“Dana is a phenomenal Professional Coach and thought leader. It has been truly satisfying to witness her in action as she improves people's lives with such passion and professionalism. Dana coaches with knowledge and a level of energy that sets her apart from the rest. Her dedication and drive make it easy for her to motivate others. Dana believes that adapting to change is a continuous journey and will thoughtfully and strategically help you unpack and discover your true potential.”
Korrin M.