Agile Bootcamp Using Scrum

Length:

In-person classes – 3 days / Virtual (Live online) – 6 sessions

Overview: 

This three-day interactive workshop provides everything the Scrum team will need to get started.  The course enables participants to understand their role within the Scrum team structure and equip them with the knowledge, skills, and tools to successfully implement Scrum.

One approach to Scrum training is to train the Scrum Master who will then transfer their knowledge to other members of the team. The danger of this tactic is that the Scrum Master often lacks expertise and experience, the team is inadequately trained and the agile adoption initiative carries a high risk of failure.

This introductory course focuses on team-based learning to ensure all participants gain practical experience working with the important Scrum ceremonies and artifacts.  These include the product and sprint backlog, release planning, sprint planning, daily meetings, reviews, and retrospectives.

Pre-requisites: There are no specific prerequisites for this course.  However, in order to derive the best value from the course, participants should have work experience that has exposed them to some aspects of the system development process.

Skill Level: Basic

Audience:

This course is appropriate for project professionals, including Business Analysts and Project Managers, working in organizations wanting to move to an agile development environment.  While Scrum is not the only agile framework, it is the most popular agile approach and is, therefore, an ideal environment in which to introduce Agile methods within an organization.

The course is designed to build competencies across all key roles required on an agile team.  These roles include the Product Owner, Scrum Master, team member, and other peripheral stakeholders (users, SMEs, technical specialists and management.) 

Given that the above roles are defined around the new Agile/Scrum paradigm, typical participants from a traditional project environment would include:

System development and IT project managersBusiness Analysts, systems engineers, and developersTechnical specialists such as systems architects, DBAs, and quality assurance personnelBusiness managers, Product Owners, and users who are responsible for, or contribute to system development.
 

CEUs: 2.1 ($75.00)

Certificate Programs:

  • Certificate in Agile Business Analysis
  • Certificate in Agile Project Management

Format: 

The course delivery includes extensive practical exercises for both the group and the individual.  Interactive games stimulate participation and discussion; workshops reinforce the learning experience.
 

Content:

Agile Basics

  • What’s wrong with the traditional SDLC?
  • Understanding Agile, its Core values and Principles
  • Introduction to Agile Methodologies

The Scrum Framework

  • Scrum Process
  • Roles and responsibilities
  • Scrum Ceremonies and Artifacts

Planning in a Scrum Environment

  • Product, Release and Sprint levels of planning
  • Envisaging the Product

Developing and Grooming the Product Backlog

  • Discovering and defining PB items
  • Prioritising the PB
  • Writing user stories and acceptance tests
  • Sizing PB items – story points and ideal days
  • Estimating with planning poker
  • Velocity and Burndown

Sprint Planning and Execution

  • Decomposing stories into tasks; estimating tasks (hours or ideal days)
  • Populating and managing the Task Board
  • Daily Scrum meetings
  • Sprint Reviews
  • Sprint Retrospectives

Putting it All Together

Given a case study, participants self-organize into Scrum teams and simulate the Scrum process from Envisaging through  the Sprint Retrospective. The simulation is fully debriefed through feedback and discussion.

Scrum Adoption – Critical Success Factors

Self-Organizing Teams - understanding the importance of the core values of commitment, focus, openness, respect and courage that underpin Scrum

 This outline is subject to change.