Certified LeSS Practitioner in Vietnam Spring 2025

  James  7 mins read.

Express Interest

Certified LeSS Practitioner Course in Vietnam Spring 2025

Many people have expressed interest in my delivering an in-person Certified LeSS Practitioner in Vietnam. This includes people in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in Hanoi. I have spent several weeks working through the logistical details to make this possible.

The only significant barrier at this point is ensuring I have enough people for the course(s) to be viable. Most of the interest is coming from a small handful of companies, which are currently working through their budgeting process for 2025.

I have created this page so that my internal advocates will have a link they can share with their peers and management as they work to gather additional interest, and as they work to ensure sufficient budget is allocated to make the event possible.

I don’t currently plan to list the course on the LeSS Company website until I have a bit more clarity on the exact dates and venue.

Express Your Interest

If you are interested in going, please let me know by filling out this survey, and by reaching out to me on LinkedIn. You can also email me at james@agilecarpentry.com.

Video Introduction

Course Agenda

The morning of the first of three days will be used to establish the overall context of the system modeling activities which follow. This will be done through a small amount of lecture, combined with both small and large group discussions.

Once the stage is set, we will transition to thoughtful analysis of the impact of different organizational design decisions on adaptability and value delivery using system modeling. Following each incremental framework-agnostic advance in our understanding, we will map concrete aspects of LeSS into our increasingly enlightened understanding of organizational system dynamics. The system modeling brings deeper insight, while mapping this insight into LeSS facilitates better retention along with an understanding of how to act on what is being learned.

We will continue to incrementally advance our depth of understanding using system modeling for the majority of the three days. Towards the end of the third day time will be spent: coalescing the whole of our enhanced understanding; providing guidance on how to move forward; and orienting participants on how to navigate a wealth of additional information.

DAY 1: Setting the Stage

The first of three days will be used to establish the overall context of the system modeling activities which follow. This will be done with a small amount of lecture, but primarily via small and large group discussions and exercises. We’ll follow this thread through the entire 3-day event.

  • Introduction
  • Avoiding Taylorism
  • Estimates, not Commitments
  • People are Valuable
  • System Optimization, not Local Optimization
  • Discovering Value
  • Implications of multiple Product Backlogs

DAY 2: Seeing Simplicity through Systems Modeling

On the second day, we will take what we learned about Systems Modeling on Day 1 and use those tools to understand:

  • Benefits of Cross-Functional Teams
  • Product Breadth Considerations
  • Private Code Impedes Technical Excellence
  • Managing Cognitive Fullness
  • Requirement Area Sizing Considerations

DAY 3: Modeling decisions through Systems Modeling & LeSS

As we continue to advance our depth of understanding using system modeling, the third day will be spent coalescing the whole of our enhanced understanding, providing guidance on how to move forward, and orienting participants on how to navigate a wealth of additional information.

  • Product Breadth and Adaptability
  • Avoiding Middlemen
  • LeSS Complete Picture
  • Structure Drives Culture
  • Adoption in your organization
  • Extended Q&A

After course completion

Each participant will be a Certified LeSS Practitioner and will get an account on less.works. Here one can find additional information about LeSS, share course information, and stay in contact with the other course participants.

All participants get access to the book: Large-Scale Scrum: More with LeSS

Participant Testimonials

LeSS Adopters

LeSS Logo Sheet by Sector

When

The last two weeks of February 2025, although this could change based on the scheduling constraints.

Primary Scheduling Constraints

  • Internal advocates need time to work through their internal budgeting and approval processes.

  • I need at least 6 weeks to finalize logistics once enough people have signed up. Most of this is due to the 20 to 30 business days required to obtain the necessary educational event with foreign elements permit.

Secondary Scheduling Constraints

  • I would prefer to schedule the training during favorable weather. I am told the more pleasant dry-season in Ho Chi Minh City is from December to April. This seems to also align with reasonable weather in Hanoi.

  • Any minor date adjustments arising from event space availability.

Where

  • Ho Chi Minh City?
    • Event hotel in District 1 or District 3
  • Hanoi?
    • Event hotel in Ba Dính, Hoán Kiem, or Tây Hó.
  • Danang? (single central event location)
    • Extremely pretty yet inexpensive beach resorts near Danang

The abilty to run the course in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi assumes there will be enough people in attendance to justify doing so. With smaller numbers it will make the most sense to run a single event instead.

I have contemplated running a course somewhere in the middle of Vietnam easily accessible via train and air from both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. A beach resort hotel in Danang would one such option. Personally, I am willing to do whatever works best for people.

I have researched and obtained event space quotes from event hotels in all of the above locations.

Shilla Monogram Infinity Pool

Shilla Monogram Seating Area

VinPearl From Beach.

The Danang beach resort hotels are proving to be exceptionally compelling.

  • The natural beauty of the beach resorts around Danang are amazing. Less stressed students will have more time and energy to learn LeSS!

  • Lower minimum student thresholds are achievable due to significantly lower hosting costs than HCMC and Hanoi. Modest HCMC and Hanoi event hotels are still more expensive than the 5 star Danang area resorts.

  • The Danang airport has direct flights to a large number of destinations within Asia.

  • Danang is easily and inexpensively accessed by train from both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi as well as by air.
    • Soft sleeper prices on the Reunification Express trains
      • Hanoi->Danang: USD$38 (1,137,000 VND) each way
      • HCMC->Danang: USD$45 (969,000 VND) each way
    • By Air
      • HCMC <->Danang: USD$85 (2,154,750 VND) round-trip economy
      • Hanoi <->Danang: USD$102 (2,585,700 VND) round-trip economy
  • The resort hotels typically provide transportation to/from the airport and train station.

Pricing

With enough people, I should be able to keep the price to USD$2299/person.

After currency conversion you will find USD$2299/person to be on the lower end of public CLP course prices globally, including those elsewhere within Asia.

Electronic Visa

Vietnam has visa on arrival for some countries, and requires an electronic submission ahead of time for others.

One of many places you can check the requirements is CIBT Visa Central.

Here is one of many YouTube videos which explain the visa requirements. This is video is produced by iVisa, which is a competitor to CIBT.

Vietnam wants you to visit and spend money, so none of this hard. Just make sure to take care of it ahead of time.

Language

The course will likely be presented entirely in English.

It is possible to create a bi-lingual version of the course as long as one of the sponsoring companies is willing to help out with the translation efforts. I have done something similar in Spanish.

Express Your Interest

If you are interested in going, please let me know by filling out this survey, and by reaching out to me on LinkedIn. You can also email me at james@agilecarpentry.com.

Express Interest