Scrum 201 Course - Why?

Why the 'Scrum 201' course?

Problem:

This course addresses two problems. (A) how to get more success from Scrum. (B) how to advance your career. We are finding far too many teams are only getting 20% or so improvement with Scrum.  This is by far too low.  One way to address this problem is more education on the simple but complex thing called Scrum.  And education on the things around scrum that are necessary or typically helpful in bringing success.

Background:

The course is an intermediate course, somewhat more advanced than our intermediate CSPO course.  Participants must have a CSM or CSPO certification (or the equivalent).  The course lasts 2 days, and we strongly recommend the third day, which addresses mainly agile release planning with a real project per table. (For those who have already done this workshop with a CSM or CSPO course, we are expecting you to take it to the next level with the Team.) The course leads to a Scrum 201 certification from LeanAgileTraining. And leads to an additional 22 SEUs toward the Certified Scrum Professional certification from Scrum Alliance. And it provides 22 PDUs for the PMI.

How:

The idea is that interactive education can teach people to become more effective.  There are other methods (eg, coaching).  But we think this is a key element. Methods include lecture and discussion and exercises.  Just as we do in CSM courses, for example.  In addition, we expect attendees to engage more actively.  So, we expect everyone to propose a 10 minute segment on one topic, and to make that proposal before the course starts.  We will review the proposals, and select a few to use in the course. We also expect people to learn more in the small groups (tables) and then report back to the whole group. And do this more than in a CSM course. We also will allow participants significant leeway in deciding which topics we will address. And of course a lot of the work will include questions and answers. We will cover many topics, and many types of topics. We will generally address things in enough depth that you feel you have what you need to be effective. We will not spread peanut butter across too many topics. We will definitely review the basics, and discuss what we call Scrum-Butt.  We will discuss Jeff Sutherland's ideas on the 9 key patterns necessary for success. For more on the long list of topics we will pick from, see here. All subjects necessary to success are open for discussion.  This gives us a huge range of different types of subjects.  A few key words round areas we will address: technical issues, people issues, management, leadership, self-organization, decision-making, the flow of requirements, testing, disruptions, culture, metrics, business value, addressing the old culture or structure, managing change and getting change to happen, where does the X role fit in?, etc.

Who should attend:

Anyone interested in lean-agile-scrum.

• Managers
• Business people
• Implementers (eg, coders and testers)
• SMs
• POs
• People who want to Agile Coaches
• Others (ask)

Of course all the people in the team (this will be useful for every team member).  Whomever in your firm (or outside your firm) you need at the next level, to help everyone get to the next level. Together.

Advancing your career:

Our first goal is to improve your life, improve the life of your team, and to help you make the lives of your customers better. And, more specifically, advance your career. How? First, by giving you the knowledge to be more successful. Second, we provide SEUs toward the CSP.  We believe that for many of you, you will be given access to more opportunities to be effective with lean-agile-scrum if you have the CSP.  Or at least the knowledge that comes with it. Third, we think that many of the skills and much of the knowledge will help you in whatever direction your career takes.  Perhaps more if you stay in a lean-agile environment, but much no matter where you go.  For example, if you really learn servant leadership well, some of you will easily win many promotions as a manager.

The future:

We understand that the Scrum Alliance is thinking about defining a course that will be very close to this course.  We will keep you posted as we learn more. We hope you and your colleagues will join us for a Scrum 201 course soon. See here for a list of courses. Your comments on the Scrum 201 course and ARP workshop are welcome.