Certified ScrumMaster Class Outline

Course Description

Even projects that have solid, well-defined project plans encounter some degree of change and waste. Shifting market conditions, budget cuts, staff restructuring, or any number of influences will disrupt the best plan while contributing to customer dissatisfaction and staff discouragement. Moreover, projects that begin with changing or unclear requirements make it difficult to even establish project expectations. Scrum is the agile development process that allows teams to deliver usable software periodically throughout the life of the project, absorbing change and new requirements as the project proceeds.

Beginning with the history of agile development and moving through the disciplines promoted by Scrum, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the Scrum methodology while specifically reviewing the behaviors expected of a ScrumMaster. This 2-day class is suitable for those practicing or looking to practice the art of the ScrumMaster, but is highly valuable for anyone involved in Scrum (Managers, Team Members, Product Managers, etc.).

After successfully completing this class participants will be registered with the Scrum Alliance as being eligible to take the required on-line self-assessment. After taking this “test,” participants will be registered with the Scrum Alliance as Certified ScrumMasters. PMPs can also claim 15 PDU's with the PMI, and at least another PDU for reading outside of class.

Detailed Course Outline

Short, five-minute exercises and case studies will be scattered throughout the two-day session.  Longer exercises are detailed below.  Time spent on each topic will vary depending on the composition of the class and the interest in particular areas.

  1. How manufacturing has influenced software development
  2. The origins of agile thinking
  3. The Agile Manifesto
  4. Scrum Values
  5. The complexity of projects
  6. Theoretical Vs. Empirical processes overview
  7. The “Iron Triangle” of Project Management

Agile Thinking: In order for us to understand the benefits of Scrum and the nuances behind its framework, we begin with the history of agile methods and how relatively new thoughts in software development have brought us to Scrum.

The Scrum Framework: Here we’ll ensure that we’re all working from the same foundational concepts that make up the Scrum Framework.

  1. Understanding the difference between a framework and a methodology
  2. The different Scrum roles
  3. Chickens and pigs
  4. Iterative / Incremental Delivery vs. Waterfall
  5. Self management concepts
  6. Full disclosure and visibility
  7. The Scrum framework overview
  1. Being a servant leadership beyond the development team
  2. ScrumBut
  3. Agile facilitation
  4. Agile coaching

The ScrumMaster Explored It’s easy to read about the role of the ScrumMaster and gain a better understanding of their responsibilities. The difficulty comes in the actual implementation. Being a ScrumMaster is a hard job, and we’ll talk about the characteristics of a good ScrumMaster that go beyond the overly simplistic and incorrect comparison to a project manager.

Exercise: The 59-minute Scrum Simulation

This popular exposure to Scrum gets you working on a Scrum Team to deliver a product in just 59 minutes! We’ll add more time as we walk through all the key aspects of the Scrum framework in great detail.

Scrum Roles: Who are the different players in the Scrum game? We’ll review checklists of role expectations in preparation for further detail later in our session.

  1. The Team Member
  2. The Product Owner
  3. The Scrum Master
  4. The "Agile Manager"
  1. Traditional vs. Agile methods overview
  2. Scrum: the silver bullet?
  3. The Agile skeleton
  4. A Scrum launch checklist

Implementation Considerations: Moving beyond Scrum’s foundational concepts, we’ll use this time to dig deeper into the reasons for pursuing Scrum. The key concepts of “empirical thinking” and “done” will be presented. We’ll also use this time to begin a discussion of integrity in the marketplace and how this relates to software quality.

The Scrum Team Explored:

Since the ScrumMaster is looking to protect the productivity of the team, we must investigate team behaviors so we can be prepared for the various behaviors exhibited by teams of different compositions. We’ll also take a look at some Scrum Team variants.

  1. The Agile Heart
  2. Bruce Tuckman’s team life cycle
  3. Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team
  4. Team ground rules
  5. Getting Human Resources involved
  6. The impact of project switching
  7. The Scrum of Scrums
  8. Large Scale Scrum (LeSS)
  9. The importance of knowing when software is “done”
  10. Dispersed team consideration

Exercise: Agile Estimating and Planning

Anyone can plan out the next week or two of work, but how do you plan months of work and maintain your agility? Work with your Scrum Team with the agile alternative to traditional estimating and planning that includes decomposition, estimation, and schedule projection.

  1. Product Backlog Features
  2. Relative Weighted Prioritization
  3. User Stories
  4. Relative Effort
  5. Velocity
  6. Planning Poker and Story Points
  7. Projecting a Schedule
  8. Why Plan in an Agile Environment?

Live Long and Prosper!

Some final recommendations of things to be aware of as you head out into the brave new world of Scrum!

  1. The ScrumMaster Aura
  2. A Day in the Life of a ScrumMaster
  3. Characteristics of a ScrumMaster Candidate
  4. The Importance of Listening
  5. Management's role as part of a scrum implementation
  6. Common Sense


Closing Topics

We’ll wrap up with direction on where to go next with your Scrum experience, some recommended reading, Scrum reference sites, and our graduation ceremony.

Click here to review our upcoming classes, and If you would like to learn more, call us at 954-784-3674, or use our live chat below to discuss our courses in more detail!