Introducing More Happy Days to Scrum Masters Everywhere Courtesy of a Course From The Scrum Academy

Kyle just left a meeting when his tablet buzzed. It was a simple message from Sylvia, "Thanks for being our Scrum Master."

Four months ago, Kyle’s team was struggling. Quality was poor. Morale was low. Productivity was down. Everyone had lost their inspiration, including Kyle. Something needed to change, but no one knew where to begin. Kyle’s manager suggested he sign-up for a Certified Scrum Master® (CSM) course.

Course Size Limited to Twelve People

If Kyle was going to spend $845 and two days away from work, he wanted to get the most out of the experience. He didn’t want to be just another black square in a Zoom call of fifty people. He wanted a course where he could ask his trainer questions and learn from the other participants.

As he did his research, Kyle discovered The Scrum Academy was the only provider to cap enrollment at twelve people. Confident that he found a trainer that cared about his learning and success, he signed up for the next course.

An Immersive, Interactive Experience

Within the first five minutes, Kyle noticed this experience was going to be different and better than he had anticipated. One, it had no PowerPoint. Two, the instructor, Carlton, taught the course using a variety of interactive activities, games and exercises. Three, it was fun!

Later, Kyle would tell his Scrum Team, “This was the only training where I couldn’t split my attention between the class and my regular work… and I didn’t want to!”

Real-life Examples, Valuable Insights, Practical Tools You Can Use

As the course started, Carlton said to the group, “We’ve never worked together before. So we need to create a set of working agreements to make visible our unspoken assumptions about how we want to work together.” As the group completed the exercise, Kyle discovered his first insight. His team struggled because they never talked about how they wanted to work together.

Answers to Your Real World Questions

Prior to the course, Kyle had watched some videos about Scrum on YouTube and read a few articles. While he had a basic understanding of the vocabulary and theory, what Kyle’s team struggled with was applying the theory to their work. So Kyle brought his questions to Carlton and Carlton answered them.

Sometimes, Carlton shared an anecdote based on his consulting work. Other times, he used an interesting metaphor to make a deeper connection to an abstract idea. Occasionally, he would refer to Scrum Guide. To every question, Carlton offered a clear, concise answer that blended theory and practice. By the end of the first day, Kyle had two pages of new ideas to try with his team.

Exam Fee Included in the Course

At the start of the second day, Kyle began thinking about the CSM exam. He had heard the CSM exam was hard. Sensing people might be anxious about this topic, Carlton kicked off the second day by answering every question about the CSM exam. Kyle summarized the main points in his notes.

1. You have one hour to complete the exam. You can take it at a time and date that is convenient for you.
2. The exam is open book, open Internet. You can use any resources you want while you take the exam, including Carlton’s book.
3. To pass the exam, you need to correctly answer thirty-seven out of fifty questions.
4. If you don’t pass the exam on the first try, you can retake the exam for free.
5. Ninety-eight percent of the students from The Scrum Academy pass the CSM exam on the first try.

As Carlton had predicted, Kyle passed the CSM exam on the first try with a high score, 96%. What Kyle didn’t know at the time was that Carlton was part of the team who helped maintain the CSM exam.

Learn More Than the Mechanics, Get Inspired

As you know, the mechanics of Scrum are easy to learn. But what Kyle and his team needed was the ability to reflect on their behavior and tools to help them start improving. Kyle now understood what his team lacked was the Spirit of Scrum. The team struggled because they were just going through the motions.

Armed with this second insight, Kyle returned to work inspired and motivated to help the team grow. The Spirit of Scrum gave Kyle a vocabulary which allowed him to explain why the team needed to grow and what changes they needed to make. By talking about values and principles, rather than rules, people listened to him with an open mind. By adopting an attitude that put people first, he was able to change minds.

You Do Better Scrum When You Use the Entire Framework

Going into the course, Kyle knew his organization didn’t use all of Scrum. In fact, they omitted multiple pieces. Now that he had a fuller understanding, Kyle realized leaving those pieces out made it harder for the business to achieve its goals.

For instance, Kyle’s team didn’t have a Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal is the singular objective for the Scrum Team. It’s the common thread that unites all the work in a Sprint and gives the work meaning. Without a Sprint Goal, the Developers were not a team; they were just people doing random stuff. This was Kyle’s third insight and he was going to use it to create change.

Small Experiments to Try on Your Own

The following week, Kyle encouraged the team to try an experiment - commit to identifying a Sprint Goal for the next three Sprints. And the results were surprising.

This small change gave the team a reason to collaborate. Instead of a boring meeting about assigning work, Sprint Planning became a collaborative discussion about how the team would collectively solve a problem. Instead of a series of monotonous status reports that could be done via email, the Daily Scrum became a quick check-in about the team’s collective progress towards their Sprint Goal. Instead of a messy Product Backlog, the Product Owner organized the Product Backlog around themes and objectives desired by the business.

Get Noticed for the Right Reasons

As the experiment progressed, it was clear something was different. People began working together as a team. Stakeholders could see progress against goals they defined. Quality went up as bugs went down. Sprint-by-Sprint, the team became more productive and started winning again. This increased morale and stakeholder satisfaction.

One afternoon, a senior director inquired about what motivated the change within the team. Kyle answered, “My CSM class convinced me that to get better results we had to act differently. The team agreed, so we decided to run an experiment.”

Carlton has Twenty-Five Years of Experience

When people ask Kyle about Carlton, he tells them that Carlton is extremely knowledgeable, focused on practical solutions, personable and caring. In addition, he emphasizes Carlton’s broad experience working in the software industry as a programmer, Scrum Master, product manager, consultant and executive. This variety of experiences, at multiple levels of an organization, makes Carlton stand out.

Eleven Additional Benefits Included with Your Enrollment

1. All exam, certification and membership fees included in the price.
2. Two-year free membership with the Scrum Alliance.
3. Additional post-course mentoring until you pass the CSM exam.
4. Digital copy of your course workbook and any other course materials.
5. Practice exam to test your knowledge before you take the CSM exam.
6. Free copy of Carlton’s book, Fourteen Observations of Good Scrum Practice, an excellent study guide to help you prepare for the CSM exam.
7. Comprehensive recommended reading list of books to supercharge your continuing education after your course.
8. Lifetime of professional support and guidance, just call or send an email if you need some additional help.
9. Hassle-free cancellation and flexible rescheduling.
10. Sixteen PDU (for PMP or PMI-ACP).
11. Sixteen SEU (for Scrum Alliance).