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.
Certification:
Upon completion of the class, your information will be submitted to the Scrum Alliance and you will become eligible to take the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) online exam. To be eligible for the exam, you must be present for the full duration of the two days of training and participate during the training session. Passing this exam will earn you the Certified Scrum Master designation.
Highlights:- Details on Scrum roles: Team Member, Product Owner, ScrumMaster
- Foundational/critical concepts of Scrum with our Certified Scrum Trainer? instructional program
- How to apply empirical thinking to your project work
- How a team's productivity can be adjusted to account for its composition
- Importance of organizational agreement on software readiness
- Why the ScrumMaster role can be the most satisfying as well as the most difficult job on a project
- Conflict resolution's critical role in Scrum
- Work on a real-world Scrum project live in the classroom
- Learn, practice, and utilize the Scrum Framework
- Knowing when software is "Done" under Scrum
- Critical characteristics a ScrumMaster must have to succeed
- Get to the heart of the matter with Scrum, coaching, and team productivity
- Compare traditional and Agile project estimating and planning
- Conduct decomposition to estimate a Scrum project
- Practice Scrum meetings including: Sprint planning, Daily Scrum, Burndowns, Sprint review, and Sprint retrospective
- Achieve the first step in Scrum Alliance?-recognized certifications, enabling you to advance to higher levels of recognition
- A framework to operate large projects using Scrum
- How to maximize your returns using Scrum
Audience:- Those practicing or looking to practice the art of the ScrumMaster or anyone involved in Scrum (managers, team members, product managers, etc.)
- Team members not certified, including business customers, users, or partners, product owners, team members, acting ScrumMasters who are not certified
- Those interested in becoming Scrum certified, including project managers, leads, or sponsors, IT managers/directors, business analysts, developers/programmers
Agenda
Part 1: 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.
- How Manufacturing has Influenced Software Development
- The Origins of Agile Thinking
- The Agile Manifesto
- The Complexity of Projects
- Theoretical Vs. Empirical Processes Overview
- The ôIron Triangleö of Project Management
Exercise: The ôArt of the Possible.ö This is an opportunity to understand how small changes in behavior can have a large impact on productivity. This also turns our thinking towards new ideas and a willingness to change for the better.
Part 2: The Scrum Framework
Here weÆll ensure that weÆre all working from the same foundational concepts that make up the Scrum Framework.
- The Different Scrum Roles
- Chickens and Pigs
- Iterative Development vs. Waterfall
- Self-Management Concepts
- Full Disclosure and Visibility
- The Scrum Framework Overview
Exercise: The 59-minute Scrum Simulation. This popular exposure to Scrum asks us to work on a short project that lasts for just 59 minutes! WeÆll walk through all of the key steps under the Scrum framework as we work in project teams to deliver a new product.
Part 3: Implementation Considerations
Moving beyond ScrumÆs foundational concepts, weÆll use this time to dig deeper into the basics of implementing Scrum. WeÆll also use this time to begin a discussion of integrity in the marketplace and how this relates to software quality.
- Traditional vs. Agile Methods Overview
- Scrum: The Silver Bullet?
- The Agile Skeleton
- A Scrum Launch Checklist
Part 4: Scrum Roles
Who are the different players in the Scrum game? WeÆll review checklists of role expectations in preparation for further detail later in our session.
- The Team Member
- The Product Owner
- The Scrum Master
Exercise: Understanding customer expectations. This exercise is the beginning of an extended exercise involving agile estimating and planning. During this first portion of the exercise, weÆll work with a fictional customer who has a very demanding schedule and understand how our assessment of project work plays a significant role in customer satisfaction.
Part 5: 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. WeÆll also take a look at some Scrum Team variants.
- The Agile Heart
- Bruce TuckmanÆs Team Life Cycle
- Patrick LencioniÆs Five Dysfunctions of a Team
- Team Ground Rules
- Getting Human Resources Involved
- The Impact of Project Switching
- The Scrum of Scrums
- Large Scale Scrum (LeSS)
- The Importance of Knowing when Software is ôDoneö
- Dispersed Team Consideration
Part 6: Agile Estimating and Planning
Although Agile Estimating and Planning is an art unto itself, the concepts behind this method fit very well with the Scrum methodology an agile alternative to traditional estimating and planning. WeÆll break into project teams that will work through decomposition and estimation of project work, and then plan out the project through delivery.
- Product Backlog Features
- Relative Weighted Prioritization
- User Stories
- Relative Effort
- Velocity
- Planning Poker and Story Points
- Projecting a Schedule
- Why Plan in an Agile Environment?
Part 7: The Product Owner
The driving force behind implementing Scrum is to obtain results, usually measured in terms of return on investment or value. How can we help ensure that we allow for project work to provide the best value for our customers and our organization? WeÆll take a look at different factors that impact our ability to maximize returns.
- The Priority Guide
- Product Backlog Refactoring
- Release Management
Part 8: The ScrumMaster Explored
ItÆs 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 weÆll talk about the characteristics of a good ScrumMaster that go beyond a simple job description.
- The ScrumMaster Aura
- Characteristics of a ScrumMaster Candidate
- The Difficulties of Being a ScrumMaster
- A Day in the Life of a ScrumMaster
- The Importance of Listening
- Common Sense
Part 9: Closing Topicsá á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á WeÆll wrap up with direction on where to go next with your Scrum experience, some recommended reading, Scrum reference sites, and our graduation ceremony.
Meetings & Artifacts Reference Materialá á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á á While most of this material was discussed in previous portions of class, more detailed documentation is included here for future reference.
- A Chart of Scrum Meetings
- The Product Backlog
- Sprint Planning
- The Sprint Backlog
- The Sprint
- The Daily Scrum
- The Sprint Review
- Why Plan?
- The Ideal Team Day
- Scrum Tools
Audience
- Those practicing or looking to practice the art of the ScrumMaster or anyone involved in Scrum (managers, team members, product managers, etc.)
- Team members not certified, including business customers, users, or partners, product owners, team members, acting ScrumMasters who are not certified
- Those interested in becoming Scrum certified, including project managers, leads, or sponsors, IT managers/directors, business analysts, developers/programmers