The Professional Scrum Master (PSM) Course provides information and tools that you can use to ensure that Scrum is understood and enacted well by your team.

This course covers Scrum basics, including the framework, mechanics, and roles of Scrum. But it also teaches how to use Scrum to optimize value, productivity, and the total cost of ownership of software products. Students learn through instruction and team-based exercises, and are challenged to think on their feet to better understand what to do when they return to their workplaces.

Ken Schwaber initially designed the PSM course in 2009 as a significant update of the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) course that he created in 2002. Since 2009, the PSM course has been maintained and regularly enhanced by Scrum.org through contributions from Ken and other experts in the Scrum.org network of Professional Scrum Trainers. Scrum.org maintains the defined curriculum and materials for the Professional Scrum Master course and selects only the most qualified instructors to deliver this course. Each instructor brings his or her individual experiences and areas of expertise to bear, but all students learn the same core course content. This improves their ability to pass the Professional Scrum Master assessments and apply Scrum in their workplaces.

NOTE: This course is delivered over four consecutive days as an online Live Virtual Course. Day timings are per the course description but are usually 9am to 12:30pm (UK Time zone)

What Will You Learn?

This course gives you a deep foundational understanding of Scrum so that you can:

• Work as a Scrum Master for a Scrum Team
• Be an effective Scrum Team member
• Explain and promote the Scrum framework to the organization
• Understand how to apply Scrum in the work place (co-located or remote)

Who Should Attend

The Professional Scrum Master course is specifically targeted to Scrum Masters, but the lessons are applicable to anyone in a role that supports a team’s efficiency, effectiveness, and continual improvement. If you are responsible for the successful use and/or rollout of Scrum in a project or enterprise, this course is likely to be a good fit.

Roles That Will Benefit From This Course

• All managers and leaders (especially those embarking on a Scrum application)
• Scrum Masters
• Agile Coaches
• Team Leaders
• Development Team Members (irrespective of specialisation)
• Project Managers
• Product Owners
• Product Managers

What’s Different About Live, Online Course Delivery?

Delivering any training course online requires a different set of technology and skills than an in-person course does. For example:

• Exercises have to be re-written or replaced while training objectives are still maintained
• Delivery style has to be adapted for an ‘audio/video delay’ environment
• Audience engagement has to be achieved in different ways
• Technology must be simple enough for students to use, powerful enough for the trainer to use, and invisible enough not to impede learning

Addressing this new environment requires a deep investment. Even before Covid-19 affected the way training is delivered, Derek had invested hundreds of hours in creating online video courses. The experience of doing this has helped enormously in re-providing his in-person course as a live, online, course.

As a result of the global lockdown, and the demand for training delivery online, Derek attended online courses delivered by experts in the field, to learn the craft of online delivery. He then devoted additional hundreds of hours to converting his in-person course before even thinking about live, online delivery.

What Does the Course Offer?

As well as the course content, delivered as described above, there are exercises, quizzes, puzzles and simulations where delegates work as part of small teams within virtual breakout rooms to cement the information and techniques taught

After the course, delegates receive a .PDF document of the material and the exercise outcomes.

What Equipment is Needed?

• A computer, or tablet, with audio, video and microphone (please use a headset or earphones to avoid feedback)
• A fast and secure internet connection
• An excellent browser (Google Chrome works best, Internet Explorer does not work)
• If you can, download and install the Zoom application

What Will You Receive?

Professional Scrum Master Certification upon successful completion of the short online certification assessment

Unlike other Scrum certifications that require only class attendance, Scrum.org certification requires a minimum score on a rigorous assessment. The Professional Scrum Master course has two associated assessments with two levels of certification: PSM I and PSM II. While these assessments are available to the public for purchase, if you complete the Professional Scrum Master course you will receive a password to take the PSM I assessment one time within a 14-day period following the course. If you pass this assessment you will receive the industry-recognized “PSM I” certification and your name will be posted on the Professional Scrum Master I certification list

Sixteen Professional Development Units (for PMI Project Management Professionals)

Course materials (in .PDF format)

 

Agenda

Course Outline

Here’s your course outline:

• Scrum Basics. What is Scrum and how has it evolved?
• Scrum Theory. Why does Scrum work and what are its core principles? How are the Scrum principles different from those of more traditional software development approaches, and what is the impact?
• Scrum Framework and Meetings. How Scrum theory is implemented using time-boxes, roles, rules, and artifacts. How can these be used most effectively and how can they fall apart?
• Scrum and Change. Scrum is different: what does this mean to my project and my organization? How do I best adopt Scrum given the change that is expected?
• Scrum and Total Cost of Ownership. A system isn’t just developed, it is also sustained, maintained and enhanced. How is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of our systems or products measured and optimized?
• Scrum Teams. Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional; this is different from traditional development groups. How do we start with Scrum teams and how do we ensure their success?
• Scrum Planning. Plan a project and estimate its cost and completion date.
• Predictability, Risk Management, and Reporting. Scrum is empirical. How can predictions be made, risk be controlled, and progress be tracked using Scrum. Discussion starts with “Done and Undone” and continues with Quality Assurance in Scrum.
• Scaling Scrum. Scrum works great with one team. It also works better than anything else for projects or product releases that involve hundreds or thousands of globally dispersed team members. How is scaling best accomplished using Scrum?

 

Your Trainer – Derek Davidson

Derek has been applying agile ways of working since before the Agile Manifesto. In 1999, he started with Extreme Programming. Later, he began using and then went on to earn his Professional Scrum Trainer licence and his Certified Scrum Trainer licence. At time of writing, he is the only person in Europe dual licenced as both a CST and a PST.

During his twenty years as an agilist, Derek has lived by the motto ‘Practicing what I teach’. He spent considerable time applying Scrum as a contractor and consultant, in the role of both Product Owner and Scrum Master. He brings these experiences with him to every course that he teaches.

Before becoming an agilist, Derek spent 18 years working with the Armed Services. He learned the art of leadership at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell and applied those lessons over the rest of his career working with senior leadership in the Armed Services, Government and Commercial sectors.

Between the Armed Services and becoming a Scrum Trainer, Derek has worked at all levels in the software industry from programmer to CTO. More recently, he has been working with non-software teams, especially internal audit.

This rich set of experiences and knowledge uniquely qualifies Derek to teach Scrum and to help you make the best investment in your Scrum journey.