On October 4, 2024, expert in Strategic Communications Oles Dmytrenko, a volunteer at the Ukrainian School of Elites, conducted the Increasing Productivity training session for the Kyiv’s New Life Evangelical church community during a retreat and rehabilitation weekend in the Cherkasy region in Ukraine.

During the training, participants were introduced to such concepts as Agile, Kanban, and the incremental and iterative approach (used in the IT sector, particularly in Scrum), as well as the specifics of how the human brain operates in terms of “task switching.”

Mr. Dmytrenko conducted an empirical experiment that revealed excessive time and effort wasted by the human brain during task switching. At the same time, he identified a method to eliminate “switching” and focus on completing similar tasks to increase productivity—allowing for a greater volume of tasks to be completed in less time.

Oles Dmytrenko is a founder of uMOVA EdTech StartUp. He represents the Business Coalition of the World Evangelical Alliance in Ukraine. Since 2023, Oles managers Government Relations at CFC Big Ideas and volunteers for the Ukrainians School of Elites.

Oles has two higher educations, in Languages and International Economic Relations, followed by professional managerial training in Germnay (Academy for International Economic Relations in Berlin) and the U.S. (Indiana School of Philanthropy, Indianapolis, IN, USA), and 20 years of managerial experience.

Representing the Ukrainian School of Elites, Oles shared his valuable knowledge and experience with those members of the New Life community who came to the weekend for restoration, but also seek ways to increse their work productivity and find work-life balance.

In total, nearly 300 people received spiritual and psychological support during the event. For our school, it was an honor to participate in this event by conducting this and one more activite, a Mental Care Training titled “Self-Care” and conducted on the following day by Psychologist Olga Dmytrenko, who also serves as a volunteer at the Ukrainian School of Elites.