About the Workshop

Our Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) workshop is an intensive deep dive into the world’s most popular Agile method: Scrum. It is an immersive learning experience emphasising hands-on participation through a mix of interactive seminars, group discussions, team activities, games and role-plays.

Participants will learn:

• The philosophy, values and principles that guide you in becoming more Agile.
• The nature of principles such as Empirical Process Control, Iteration, Timeboxing and Self-organisation that provide an effective model for working in a complex environment.
• The Scrum roles in-depth and how they fit together to address Project Management.
• How to establish an environment to foster high-performance agile delivery including creating a Definition of Done and keeping a Product Backlog in a well-groomed state.
• Techniques for facilitating and participating in highly effective agile meetings each iteration and each day.
• How to leverage review and retrospective activities to produce better fit solutions and continuously improve our Scrum delivery capability.

About Certification

Established in 2003, the CSM certification with its globally recognised accreditation from the Scrum Alliance is by far the most popular Agile training offering worldwide. After completing the require pre-reading, the CSM training course is the second of three setups in gaining the CSM accreditation from the Scrum Alliance. The final step is successfully completing the CSM certification exam. For further information, see www.scrumalliance.org/pages/CSM

Workshop Backlog

The following initial workshop backlog provides an outline of major topics. In addition to this, there are numerous group discussions and exercises throughout. The Scrum framework is employed to manage the workshop as a two day Scrum project.

Sprint Goal/Learning objective 1: I can describe all components of the Scrum framework and how they fit together.

Agile: As someone interested in Agile, I want to understand what Agile really is, so that I can help my organisation be more Agile. Topics:

• Agile Values
• Agile Principles

Scrum Framework: As a Scrum practitioner, I want to understand the Scrum framework holistically, so that I can identify opportunities to improve our Agile implementation. Topics:

• Scrum Framework Overview
• Draw Scrum using Scrum
• Incrementing and Iteration

Scrum and Lean Principles: As a Scrum practitioner, I want to understand the most relevant principles underlying Scrum and Lean so that I can leverage these to get the most out of Scrum. Topics:

• Lean Batch Size Simulation
• Picking the Right Process for the Job
• Empirical Process Control

Sprint Goal/Learning objective 2: I can describe the key attributes of each of the Scrum roles and the personal characteristics that are helpful in playing them well.

Roles: As a Scrum practitioner, I want to understand each of the Scrum roles and how they fit together, so that I can play my role well and understand how to interact with others in their roles. Topics:

• Self-organisation
• Scrum Roles in Depth

Project Management: As a Scrum practitioner, I want to understand how Scrum covers the activities of Project Management so that I can explain this to my colleagues. Topics:

• Project Management with Scrum

Feedback: As a workshop participant, I want clarity on where my understanding of Scrum is at, so that I can identify what gap to start filling during the second day of training. Topics:

• End of Day 1 Trial Exam
• Workshop Retrospective

Sprint Goal/Learning objective 3: I can describe how to manage value and plan work effectively in an Agile environment.

Managing Value: As a Scrum practitioner, I want techniques to help create and maintain Product Backlog and Definition of Done in a collaborative manner, so as to establish an environment that fosters effective value delivery. Topics:

• Case Study
• Product Backlog Grooming
• Definition of Done

Planning: As a Scrum practitioner, I want to be able to help my Team plan effectively, so as to have productive and successful Sprints. Topics:

• Sprint Planning
• Plan a Sprint

Sprint Goal/Learning objective 4: I have can describe how to facilitate a team to high performance in an Agile environment.

Sprinting: As a member of a Team, I want techniques for co-ordinating and tracking progress, so that we can keep well organised as a Team. Topics:

• Daily Scrum
• Daily Scrum Role Play
• Tracking Progress

Continuous Improvement: As a facilitator, I want to some techniques for conducting effective Sprint Review and Retrospective meetings, so that we continuously improve both our product and our process. Topics:

• Sprint Review
• Continuous Improvement exercise
• Sprint Retrospective

ScrumMastering: As a ScrumMaster, I want to understand how a good ScrumMaster operates, so that I can play the role well. Topics:

• ScrumMaster in Action
• ScrumMaster Checklist
• Living the Scrum Values

Next Steps: As a participant, I want some actionable next steps, so that I can start making use of what I have learned immediately back at work. Topics:

• My Next Steps
• Change Exercise

Audience

This workshop is particularly suitable for those taking some level of leadership in respect to people and agile process. This includes, but is not limited to:

• ScrumMasters,
• iteration managers,
• development managers,
• project managers,
• team leads,

This workshop is also relevant to those involved hands-on in agile delivery who wish to have an in-depth understanding of the Scrum process and how to get the most out of it. This includes:

• business analysts,
• developers,
• testers,
• user experience designers,
• architects,
• technical writers.

This workshop may qualify Project Management Professionals for 14 PDUs as approved by the Project Management Institute.

Pre-requisites

There are no formal training pre-requisites for the CSM workshop other than the pre-reading outlined below. Participants are however, expected to have had significant experience in a project or product development work environment and have at least a high-level understanding of project management and systems development concepts.

As the Scrum Alliance website says, “Students are expected to attend the CSM course with a working knowledge of Scrum. This knowledge can be obtained by reading books, articles, and web info about Scrum." A good starting point is the Scrum Student Resources page ( tinyurl.com/scrumresources ). At minimum, it is expected that participants are familiar with the material in the Scrum Primer ( tinyurl.com/scrumprimer - 3.2 Mb PDF). Participants can expect to get more out of the workshop having read one or more of the books on Scrum written by Ken Schwaber.

Endorsements

“A great course. Excellent facilitation & presentation.”

“Very insightful and enjoyable.”

"I thoroughly enjoyed the course and thanks for facilitating it in such an agile and participative way."

"Thank you again for the trainings. I am now more confident running the Scrum projects at work."

For more testimonials see: scrumwithstyle.com/testimonials

Pre-reading

As the Scrum Alliance website says, “Students are expected to attend the CSM course with a working knowledge of Scrum. This knowledge can be obtained by reading books, articles, and web info about Scrum." A good starting point is the Scrum Student Resources page.

Price

NZD $1800 per person. This includes:

• Two full days training with a highly experienced agile practitioner and Certified Scrum Trainer.
• Printed handouts and worksheets to take away.
• Full catering during the course including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
• Access to the Certified ScrumMaster certification exam following the course.
• 2 years membership with the Scrum Alliance for participants who successfully complete the certification exam.
• A letter of course completion that may be submitted to your employer and/or a professional body (PMI/ACS) for Professional Development Units (PDUs) (available upon request).

Registration

Please select the "Register Now" button to secure your place on the course.