Discovery Certified Scrum Master Course

We think the best introduction to agile and Scrum is our Discovery Certified ScrumMaster Course.

Why Discovery?  We will help you approach agile, Scrum, your Team, and the Product with a sense of discovery. A new world, Magellan!

Here is a slide deck that we use to introduce the course:  Intro to CSM-ARP V23

This course will enable you to start doing Scrum (whether you are a manager, a team member or the ScrumMaster.  If you are already a ScrumMaster, this will help you become a better ScrumMaster.

We also use it as team training, and as an introduction to Scrum for the Product Owner and related business people.  It will help your Team get a better start with Scrum.

It covers the basics of Scrum. You will be motivated to go out and use these ideas.  And this course will lead many to become a more effective ScrumMaster.

We like to combine the 1 day Agile Release Planning workshop with this course. The ARP workshop is described here.

Summary of the Course:

Through a combination of immersive team-based learning, exercises, and real-world case studies, you will learn:

  • To plan, initiate and lead a Scrum project
  • To establish a shared vision for the entire team
  • To generate an agile release plan utilizing user stories and story point estimation
  • To lead your Scrum team through planning, review, and retrospective sessions
  • To create an environment in which self-managing teams can flourish
  • To identify and remove impediments
  • To identify, engage and involve business stakeholders in your project
  • How to take most existing teams to the next level
  • Practical suggestions purchased expensively from the school of hard knocks

ScrumMaster training provides an applied understanding of the Scrum process and helps participants to develop the tools, insights, and skills required to apply Scrum on their projects and across their organizations.

Samples of What You Will Learn:

  • Practical, project-proven practices
  • The essentials of getting a project off on the right foot
  • How to write User Stories for the Product Backlog
  • How to help both new and experienced teams be more successful
  • The basics of scaling Scrum, perhaps to large, multi-continent project teams
  • Tips and tricks from the instructor’s 10+ years of using Scrum in a wide variety of environments

Who Should Attend:

This course is for all people interested in Scrum and Agile. It was originally created to train ScrumMasters, and is now used to train teams, and the managers around teams. It is particularly useful if a whole team (or group of teams) takes the course together; in any case, all team roles (coder, tester, analyst, Product Owner, ScrumMaster, etc) and managers as well as interested parties will benefit from attending. For example, the CEO of a 50-person firm attended with benefit for all.

While it is a beginner level course, it includes the practical knowledge to immediately start doing Scrum with a team.  You will also learn not just the how, but also the why. This course is intensive and you will be immersed. It includes practical, hands-on exercises, and small-group discussions.

Additional benefits: You can receive 16 Professional Development Units (PDUs) for this 2-day course and another 8 PDUs for the 1-day workshop. The course also fulfills the Agile PDU requirements of the PMI-ACP.  You will also receive the same number of SEUs toward Scrum Alliance requirements.

Course Materials:

Participants will receive a copy of the slide deck at the course.

There are updated materials and training exercises in the course which are invaluable.

We give each participant a free deck of Fibonacci cards.

Whatever notes or drawings we do in class (via an iPad Pro) we provide as a PDF to course attendees.

Each attendee gets a free copy of our book on Agile Release Planning.

Our website (and especially our blog) has lots of other information that may be helpful to you, either before or after the course.

Prerequisites:

  • Read the“Scrum Guide” by Sutherland and Schwaber. (About 18 pages. Free via download.)
  • Read one of Ken Schwaber’s or Jeff Sutherland’s books. We recommend for beginners: Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber, or Scrum by Jeff Sutherland. You must buy or obtain thos one yourself.
  • Read A Scrum Introduction by Joe Little (DRAFT).  Here.  Free via download.

Additional Information:

Assuming successful completion of the course and passing of the CSM Test (the test is not difficult) (and don’t neglect the license agreement), each participant is enrolled as a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM). This includes a two-year membership to Scrum Alliance, where additional ScrumMaster-only material and information is available.

Information on the Workshop is provided in a separate section.

The course typically runs from 8:30am-5:15pm each day. Breaks and lunch are provided.