Another Edge of Training from the Back of the Room (TBR)

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As JP is returning to teach the class in February, it reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to share — what I’ve come to appreciate about Training from the Back of the Room (TBR) beyond workshops.

While there are many tools and frameworks I have yet to explore, there is one I keep coming back to when time is tight and clarity is needed: #Training from the Back of the Room (#TBR).

For me, it has become more than a facilitation framework. It’s a thinking structure I instinctively reach for when learning needs to happen quickly and meaningfully.

I first encountered Training from the Back of the Room many years ago. It’s well known in the Agile world — at least in the part of the Agile world I’ve been in. You see it widely used, including within #ICAgile, where the learning design itself is deeply influenced by TBR principles.

I’ve shared before how TBR changed the way I design workshops. What I haven’t shared much is how I use it beyond workshops.

Image resource: https://www.amazon.com/Training-Back-Room-Sharon-Bowman/dp/0787996629

Last year, I had several speaking sessions. Time was tight, and I needed a way to organise my thinking quickly. So I made a small twist — I used the 4Cs to design my talks.

Not in a perfect, textbook or theoretical way.

But in a way that worked for me, at least.

I was experimenting and structured my speech in the format of 4Cs:

• Connect — finding a quick way to connect with the audience, sometimes through an activity, sometimes by opening with a question

• Concept — making it clear what the talk was about

• Concrete — sharing real examples or outcomes

• Conclusion — helping people see what they could take away and apply themselves

I don’t present this as the “right” approach — but it helped me organise my thinking, and it worked!

4Cs

Image source: https://actineo.xyz/blog/how-to-create-engaging-training-with-the-4cs/

My experiment continues. I challenged myself: Can the 4Cs work in 5–10 minutes?

Because in real life, we often can’t wait for a retrospective or “the right time” to support learning. Some concepts are complex, but the world moves fast. Sometimes you only have 10 minutes — 15 at most.

So how do you help a team understand the Tuckman model and why it matters — quickly?

I nick a few minutes from a daily.

Yes, Scrum police — I’m not the Scrum Master from the book. I adapt. I experiment.

I put up the Tuckman graph and started with a simple question:

“Where do you think we are right now?”

That was the Connect.

Then I shared the Concept, explained what it is and why it mattered to us, and moved straight to what we could do next — a Concrete plan to move forward. We wrapped up with Conclude of where we want to be.

Obviously, I didn’t follow everything from the TBR book — forgive me, JP and Sharon.

But the #4Cs gave me direction.

It helped me stay focused.

It simplified complexity.

It clearly structured my thinking.

And it reminded me that TBR isn’t limited to workshops — at least, that’s how I experience it.

That’s why TBR stays with me.

Not as a framework I need to follow perfectly, but as a structure I can rely on when time, energy, and clarity are limited.

Thank you, JP, for introducing me to TBR.

Thank you, Kulawat, for bringing JP to the community.

Thank you, Nicole, for always being there — patiently answering questions from all over the world.

And thank you Sharon Bowman for bringing TBR to the world 🌎