Certified ScrumMaster™ (CSM)

Who Should Attend?

This course is recommended for all roles and backgrounds, you do NOT need to have any prior understanding or experience in Scrum to attend! The CSM course is designed to introduce you to the basics of Scrum, and as such all are welcome to join and achieve CSM Certification.

Professionals that would benefit from attending this course include Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Development Team Members, Agile Coaches, Development personnel (managers and staff), Testing personnel (managers and staff), Project Managers, and Program Managers. This is just a sampling of those that would gain something from this course.  We welcome students from all industries and experience levels to join us for this interactive and immersive learning experience!

Agenda

Below is a summary of the topics covered in our CSM course. The learning experience covers all elements of the Content Outline and Learning Objectives identified by the Scrum Alliance, presented in an interactive and exercise-based format. The design of the course has been refined over several years and focuses on developing a collaborative learning experience.

Foundations
Students will be introduced to the foundational aspects of agility, including an overview of Scrum. This module helps to form the basis for the rest of this course by focusing on the Agile Mindset, Values, Principles, and Practices. It is crucial that anyone using Scrum has a shared understanding of these topics in their organization, as a starting point for more strategic conversations.

Scrum Roles
Successful implementations of Scrum must have a clear understanding of the three Scrum Roles. This module begins with introducing the concept of the Scrum Team and its attributes. Students will then explore the activities and responsibilities of the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Developer to understand the differences and relationships between these three roles. They then put all the pieces back together into a cohesive picture of roles and responsibilities.

Scrum Artifacts
This module focuses on the artifacts used in the Scrum framework that represent work or value.  Students will be introduced to the concepts of the Product Backlog, Product Goal, and Product Backlog Items to form this foundation.  We will explore popular techniques to represent Product Backlog Items including Personas, User Stories, and Acceptance Criteria, tying these concepts together in the definition of the Increment and the Definition of “Done”.

Sprint Events – Part 1
We start exploring the events within Scrum by defining the concepts of a Sprint, a fixed time that provides the Scrum Team an opportunity to deliver value.  Then, looking at each event individually, we define what topics make up the Sprint Planning event, including the Sprint Backlog and Sprint Goal.  Students then are introduced to the conversation called the Daily Scrum.   For each event, we will discuss common pitfalls and behaviors to avoid, known as anti-patterns, along with their potential negative impacts.

Sprint Events – Part 2
This module continues through the cycle of the Sprint, focusing on the Sprint Execution, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective activities and anti-patterns. Students will explore techniques to capture feedback and ways to improve their own interactions and streamline their delivery.

Practical Application
Once the roles, artifacts, and events are defined, we spend several modules analyzing the relationships and connections of these concepts, looking at Scrum as a System. Students explore this “big picture” of the framework and the connections between the different aspects of the framework. Some highlights of these modules include exploring the impacts of adjusting the framework, scheduling activities within a Sprint, and breaking down the day-to-day activities of a Scrum Master. These modules culminate in a set of challenging activities that test the knowledge of students in understanding a more holistic picture of Scrum.