RLC uses a combination of online and in-person training courses to educate product development teams and managers, depending on the client’s needs.
This approach allows us to train client teams anywhere in the world and offers flexible course scheduling.
Our courses train team members in Rapid Learning Cycles and provide team leaders with an in-depth understanding of how the RLC framework is utilized to reduce product development cycle times.
Our courses earn students various certifications and often PDU credits as well.
Our Current Course Offerings
Rapid Learning Cycles Global Project Leader Certification
The Global Project Leader Certification is our flagship program.
Over a week, project leaders will learn what they need to know to succeed with the Rapid Learning Cycles framework the first time, for small- to medium-sized projects. We also require this class for project leaders who have engaged us for support with larger or more complex projects because it provides a strong foundation for work with our network of consultants.
All participants in this workshop receive reusable training materials they can use with their teams, upon completion of all course requirements. This includes a full kit of checklists and templates for running their own programs.
This certification also grants access to our library of templates for common tools like Miro, Mural, Confluence, Monday.com, Clickup and the best solution we've found for the Microsoft toolset.
Rapid Learning Cycles Experience for Startup Teams
This experience-based workshop adapts Rapid Learning Cycles to meet the needs of small startup teams working in pre-commercial development of new technologies.
These teams benefit from just the right amount of structure that helps the team stay coordinated without overburdening them with too many meetings and formality that they don't need at their size.
During this experience, participants will establish a lightweight version of Rapid Learning Cycles for their own startup team that will scale with them as they innovate and grow.
As a result, they will make the most of the funding they've received to deliver a more mature product faster — or they will quickly learn that their idea isn't feasible and they need to pivot. Both of these are good outcomes.
Rapid Learning Cycles Practitioner Training
This course is for teams embarking on their very first pilot project, and those who support them.
We teach this in a private session to an intact team right before they take part in their first Rapid Learning Cycles Kickoff Event. It provides them with the opportunity to learn key concepts before they have to apply the concepts directly to their own project.
Participants gain a foundational understanding of the framework and practice key skills that make their first Kickoff Event easier for them and for their Project Leader.
Rapid Learning Cycles Advanced Certifications
Rapid Learning Cycles Certified® Global Project Leaders may continue to gain in-depth knowledge about the framework through Advanced Certification classes designed to strengthen their skills in critical areas.
Upon completion of the full three-class Advanced Certification series and a project review, the participants earn the Rapid Learning Cycles Certified® Mentor or Coach designation, which comes with expanded rights for using our materials library with their own internal teams.
We offer public sessions of the required classes, and we also privately certify individuals who have completed train-the-trainer experiences with a member of our Global Consultant Network.
Rapid Learning Cycles Certified® Mentor
Our Mentor level certification is for senior project leaders assisting others by delivering standard RLC training and facilitating Kickoff Events.
Certified Mentors receive an editable kit of standardized materials which they can use to deliver basic training and facilitation support.
A license to edit and use the materials is granted to individuals who have completed the certification requirements.
Rapid Learning Cycles Certified® Coach
Our Coach level certification is for internal Rapid Learning Cycles trainers and coaches working to support a full adoption of RLCs in a larger organization.
Certified Coaches have the ability to customize materials for organization-wide distribution.
A company license to edit and use the materials is granted to the organization after the trainers have completed the certification requirements.
The Three Courses in the Advanced Certification Series
Drive Key Decisions
That Stick
Close Knowledge Gaps Rapidly, Effectively,
and Completely
Integrate Rapid Learning Cycles into Your PDP
This 8-hour program dives deeply into the Key Decisions — those high impact/high unknown decisions that are at the heart of the framework. Participants learn how to focus, develop a solid recommendation, communicate it effectively and work with decision makers to get their recommendation accepted and implemented.
This 8-hour program explores the four different types of Knowledge Gaps and tactics for closing them. Participants learn how to sharpen a Knowledge Gap question, how to design a learning plan to close the gap, how to communicate findings and develop a recommendation for next steps.
This 6-hour program goes into depth about the Agile and Lean principles behind the Rapid Learning Cycles framework, sharing the key breakthroughs along the way. Participants learn what's essential to the framework, where there are opportunities to adapt, and what others have done to optimize the integraion of RLCs into their specific product development system.
Victor Sluiter
Research Engineer,
Saxion University
I've been in industry, in academic research and in applied research. All this time I've been searching for development methods that fit the kind of job I'm working on. I've always been attracted to some kind of agility, but most software-based approaches aren't a nice fit with hardware.
In my time at Universiteit Twente I worked together with Cor Meijneke on a planning where he did the "agility" and I tried to keep track of long term planning. I still look back positively to what we did back then, but it had quite some drawbacks. I tried EVO (by Kai Gilb), which helped me greatly by using Planguage for requirements, and Impact Estimation Tables for mapping solutions, but in a very rapidly changing research environment, I missed a way to actually find what was important and still do some planning.
In 2019 I found a method "Rapid Learning Cycles" by Katherine Radeka, and in the past few years I've heard more companies we work with that use it. I think it fits the low-TRL-with-hardware-work we do as a research group really well.
Last December I took a course led by Ingvar Hendriks, and after doing my homework and taking an exam I managed to pass the exam, so now I'm officially "Rapid Learning Cycles Certified® Global Project Leader"! We're now doing our first pilot in the CHARISMA project."
