Certified Scrum Master Workshop

CSM_logo-bigWhat’s Scrum?

Scrum is an adaptive Product Development framework designed to add energy, focus, clarity, and transparency to software/hardware development, planning and implementation.

From the time Scrum was designed in the early 1990’s, the goal was to increase the productivity of teams by 5x to 10x. This is not always achieved, but is achieved often. Productivity increases of 2x are seen quite frequently where Scrum is done in a professional manner.

Properly implemented, Scrum will:

  • Increase speed of development
  • Align individual, team and corporate objectives
  • Create a culture driven by performance
  • Support value creation for the customer and shareholder
  • Achieve stable and consistent communication of performance at all levels Enhance individual development and quality of life

Achieving these goals requires developing a lean/agile mindset at all levels of the organization combined with inspect and adapt and continuous process improvement mechanisms built into Scrum. Coaching, men- toring, and training are needed at the management, project leader, and developer levels.

scrum

Scrum Certification Course Overview:

This two-day course not only provides the fundamental principles of Scrum, it also gives participants hands- on experience using Scrum. This course puts theory into action through a 59-minute Scrum, which simulates a Scrum project through a group exercise. This exercise has been designed to surface impediments slowing teams down, and during the course we will use Scrum to come up with a viable plan to remove the impediments. During the course, attendees will learn why a seemingly simple process such as Scrum can have such profound effects on an organization. Participants gain practical experience working with Scrum artifacts and activities such as the product backlog, sprint backlog, daily Scrum meetings, Sprint Planning meeting, and Burndown Charts. Participants leave knowing how to apply Scrum to all sizes of projects, from a single collocated team to a large, highly distributed team.

Following successful completion of the course and passing of the exam, each participant will be designated a Certified ScrumMaster. This certification includes a one-year membership in the Scrum Alliance, where additional ScrumMaster- only material and information are available.

Who Should Attend:

The CSM course was originally designed as training for prospective ScrumMasters. It has since been modified to address Team training, including the Product Owner. Everyone representing the cross-functional, multi-disciplined development team (including testers please) should attend. For this training we also recommend that any organizational transition team members also attend so that they can hear the “Impediments to Organizational Agility” as they are raised by the Scrum team members directly.

Participants Will Learn:

  • Practical, project-proven practices
  • The essentials of getting a project off on the right foot
  • How to write GOOD User Stories for the Product Backlog. Essential for the Product Owner to be able to order the backlog by the highest business value at the top of the backlog.
  • Why there’s more to leading a self-organizing team than buying pizza and getting out of the way
  • How to help both new and experienced teams be more successful
  • How to successfully scale Scrum to large, multi-continent projects with team sizes in the hundreds Tips and tricks from the instructors’ ten-plus years of using Scrum in a wide variety of environments

Certified ScrumMaster Workshop Agenda:

Why Scrum works

  • What Scrum is
  • Origins

Sprints

  • Potentially shippable
  • Architecture on a Scrum project
  • Sequential vs. overlapping work
  • Sprint length
  • Release sprints
  • Abnormal terminations

The ScrumMaster

  • Responsibilities
  • Scrum Master mindset
  • Situational Scrum Mastering
  • Scrum Master as team member

The 59-minute Scrum project

  • Plan to remove the top impediments of the firm with a 59 minute micro-scrum.

The Product Owner

  • Description
  • Responsibilities
  • Shaping and sharing the vision

Product backlog

  • Size of the items
  • User stories on the product backlog Splitting stories
  • Story writing workshops
  • INVEST in your backlog

Meetings

  • The daily scrum
  • Sprint review
  • Sprint retrospective

Sprint planning

  • Sprint prioritization
  • Sprint goal
  • Sprint planning meeting
  • Sprint backlog items

Release planning

  • Velocity
  • Sizing the product backlog
  • Release planning meeting

Progress is visible

  • Sprint burndown charts
  • Release burndown charts
  • Task boards
  • Happiness and AHaaa walls

The Team

  • Composition
  • Teams are cross-functional
  • Organizing

Scaling Scrum

  • The scrum of scrums
  • Focus of initial sprints
  • Shared vs. specific product backlogs
  • Scaling the product owner
  • Getting started

The course provides ample room for Q&A dialogue. We are open to customizing the course to the specific needs of firms or specific project situation. Please feel free to schedule a time to talk if this is desired.