Certified ScrumMaster^® (CSM^®) Training

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A ScrumMaster is someone who works to help the Scrum Team and the organization continuously improve. This work includes helping to remove organizational impediments that slow the team down, or making the impediments transparent (everyone agrees they are okay going slower). They are not a project manager, given they are not accountable for delivery of a project. Instead they are accountable to help everyone on the team improve and help create an environment and structure where they can thrive and deliver for customers.

Students will work on engaging exercises and a simulation (to keep things fun and interesting) throughout the class. These activities provide opportunities to think and experience Scrum concepts by working on them in small groups. Throughout the course, we will dig into real life situations and tackle tough questions. Our approach is reality based, and we expect students to push back and challenge concepts that don’t work in their organization. Expect to work in various groups and be engaged throughout the course. We never use slides – so if you planned for a nap, this is the wrong class for you.

This course is designed for anyone who

Wants a clear, no-nonsense understanding of how scrum and agile work and what it will actually take to be successful
Is looking for ways to improve how they deliver for customers and how the organization can focus on the right work
Wants to get team members more involved in decisions and tap into their knowledge
Enjoys learning, challenging themselves, and has an interest in finding ways to improve

What is Scrum?

Scrum is an agile framework used to get work done. Scrum works in a variety of situations, but it thrives when either the work or the environment is complex and not as predicable as we would like. Scrum focuses on delivering incrementally in small chunks, to allow us to learn more and adapt, rather than just continuing to deliver things that are no longer needed or perhaps never were.

Scrum is based on the principles of inspection, adaptation, and transparency. These three principles are the foundation of success in the face of complexity. Transparency allows people to see issues, challenges, and places that can be improved. Inspection and adaptation focus on continuous learning and improvement. Scrum consists of a number of events, artifacts, jobs to be done, and practices.

Learning Objectives

What is agile and why does it matter: Learn how to discuss agile and scrum with others in your organization and explain why agile is useful and in what contexts.
Discuss how complexity and empiricism impact our business decisions and impact our success.
Analyze agile principles and values as well as lean principles to understand which are most valuable to you and consider how you could apply them in real life.
Learn the differences between doing agile practices and being an agile organization.
Practice using scrum with a simulation where you work as a small team (3-6 people) to create a product.
Learn the ins-and-outs of scrum events (sprint, sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospective).
Learn how scrum artifacts and supporting practices help you be successful as well as tips and tricks for doing them well (product backlog, sprint backlog, sprint goal, product goal, definition of done, definition of ready, product increment, etc.).

Understand what each of the three jobs (not titles) in scrum are, how they work together, what they are accountable for, and what to avoid.
Explore why scrum values mean little without focusing on the behaviors that support them.
True leadership and servant leadership – what does it mean to lead?
Reality – we expect you to ask the tough questions. We expect you to bring up situations where scrum did not work for you.
Uncover the role of the ScrumMaster regarding impediments and how to first ask the team to solve issues then make the costs transparent!
Review additional approaches such as facilitation and professional coaching to understand new ways to engage people and teams.
Discuss reality: We don’t tell you to “trust us” or include “agile is cool” as a reason to use agile. We EXPECT you to ask hard questions, as long as you are open to digging into the answers. Scrum is NOT a silver-bullet, nor is agile. They still require hard work.

Who Should Attend

This course should be attended by anyone who wants a foundational knowledge of scrum and what scrum is in practice.

ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, Product Owners
Scrum team members, agile team members
Architects, business analysts, database administrators, developers, operations and support, quality assurance testers, usability specialists, etc.
Managers, directors, and others tasked with helping teams succeed with scrum and agile (very hard to do if you do not understand it)
Anyone outside of software or IT: Our CSM class covers topics and examples that are applicable to those outside of software. We also offer training specifically geared to this group. See our Agile Beyond Software course for more information.

Certification Requirements

The course meets the learning objectives for the Scrum Alliance Certified ScrumMaster^® (CSM^®) Certification Training. This class is one of the requirements to receive the CSM certification. To qualify, you must:

Complete the class prework.
Attend and participate in the entire CSM class.
Complete and pass the CSM exam after completing the class. We will submit your name to Scrum Alliance^® after completing the class and you can create a profile and take the exam at that time. We cover everything you need to pass the exam in the course.

What to Expect

We take training and learning seriously. We respect the investment of both time and money that you are making to advance your skills. As such, we use the latest training approaches and techniques. We also bring energy and fun to ensure you have the best possible experience and learn as much as possible. In this course, you can expect:

Brain-friendly training to dramatically increase learning and retention (instructors are Certified Training from the Back of the Room Trainers).
Opportunities throughout the course to focus on your real-world situations.
In-depth engagement with your instructors and fellow attendees. If you are looking for a dry lecture (we use zero slides), this class is NOT for you!
Interactive, fun, and experiential learning — increasing safety and retention — laughing helps learning.
Challenging work with others that focuses on your real organizational issues.
Our training is currently happening virtually in most cases. We use extremely interactive tools, learning canvases, and methods to boost the fun and learning. If you are looking for in-person training at your location, please contact us to discuss options.
We have specifically designed all of our training for live-instructor, virtually led classes. We know there are (still) virtual training skeptics. Some have tried virtual training and just watched piles of videos or listened as people clicked through slides (we never use slides).
We work through in-depth and fun (really) exercises throughout the course in small groups.
But don’t just take our word for it – we are 100% glad to take you through a live lesson and show you how we teach. If it works for you, great! We can see about moving forward. If not, we can point you to someone that is a better fit based on your needs – no joke!
Additionally, we send every student (direct to their home or shipping location) a color, in-depth course workbook and materials. We considered just sending some electronic files, but we have had way too many students reach out to thank us for something “real” in a virtual world.

Details

Length & Level

Length: 2-Days + pre-work
Level: Introductory to Intermediate (ask about more in-depth versions)

Course Credit

16 PMI PDUs
16 Scrum Alliance SEUs
Qualified to take the CSM Exam (exam fee is included in the course fee)

Prerequisites

An interest in learning and discovering new ideas
For the CSM Certification, see the Certification Requirements section

Contact Us or Sign up for a Public Class

Contact us to set up a time to answer your questions or to see a sample of how our virtual training works! Or feel free to download a PDF of the Course Brochure to review or share with someone.