The Scrum Survival Guide™

Who is it for?

• Business and team leaders seeking common-sense, practical ways to enhance collaboration and productivity, thereby reducing the risk of project failure.
• Traditional Project Managers looking for a different way to approach projects and solve complex issues.
• Scrum and Agile practitioners needing to consolidate their knowledge and prepare for the Professional Scrum Master 1 (PSM1) certification.
• Creatives working in volatile, complex environments needing to manage uncertainty and deliver innovative solutions.
• Start-ups and enterprise teams seeking to understand Agile better and reduce risks in product and project delivery.

Definitions

An AGILE project – a lean and collaborative way to deliver a project using several frameworks like SCRUM, SAFe and DSDM.

Why AGILE vs Traditional methods – often the business does not know what it wants at the time of the initial brief, which usually causes complex issues for project teams trying to deliver.

The Agile framework enables project teams to plan, test and deliver in stages, taking feedback and using it to refocus and adapt to what the business now requires and sees as providing the most value.

SCRUM (an Agile Framework) – a collaborative way to develop complex products using the right people (their skills and know-how) to iterate and incrementally deliver a product/solution.

SCRUM MASTER – is the coach/leader of the project team with the objective to develop the team to be able to work independently, using Scrum, eventually without their Scrum Master

What's it all about?

Scrum is based on an empirical approach, which emphasises that knowledge and understanding come from experience, with decision-making based on what is known. This workshop will help you:

• Understand the theory that underpins Scrum thinking, helping you to adapt your project management methodology to this approach.
• Acquire a broad knowledge of Agile frameworks to identify the practical applications and limitations of Scrum.
• Address complex issues by planning upfront and making adjustments as necessary to deliver a successful project.
• Understand Agile projects and the roles of the Scrum team, including the Scrum Master and Product Owner, which are vital to project success.
• Learn the duties of a Scrum Master and the Scrum Framework according to the Scrum Guide.
• With practical exercises and role-play to develop and reinforce working knowledge.
• Understand the importance of building collaborative relationships between delivery teams and business stakeholders.
• Go back to your workplace and start working as a Scrum Master or in a Scrum team.
• Engage with your broader business community to promote Scrum and help stakeholders understand this approach to working.
• Gain a good understanding of the Scrum Guide to prepare for the Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master (PSM1) certification.

What will you get out of it?

The workshop will help you:

• Adopt a more Agile approach to managing projects.
• Apply the core values and principles of Agile and understand the origins of Agile frameworks.
• Facilitate Scrum events, including refinement, planning, daily Scrum, review and retrospective reviews.
• Implement the Scrum Master role, understand the responsibilities of the Scrum team, and learn how Scrum fosters collaborative relationships through coaching, facilitating and upskilling your project team.
• Evolve the skills to be a Scrum Master – so you can develop internal project teams so that they can confidently use Agile frameworks to deliver successful project outcomes.
• Enhance the work of your development team by enabling creativity and creating a focus on quality and early value delivery.
• Positively embrace feedback and change, reducing stress levels, especially in complex situations, by using a range of techniques that give you room to manoeuvre and deal with uncertainty.
• Expedite projects by using the complete skill set within the team and delivering little and often.

What will your organisation get out of it?

Improved individual and team morale, as well as having a go-to support point for projects.

Organisations will find that their project teams become more flexible, with the ability to deal with complexity and constant change. These confident Scrum Masters will be able to focus the project team on delivering the proper outcomes, reducing waste and saving time. The project team will adopt a continuous improvement mindset, developing competencies, refining working practices, enhancing productivity, and mitigating the risk of project failure.

Typical workshop content

What is Agile?

• Origins of Agile.
• Agile Manifesto and principles.

What is Scrum?

• Overview of the Scrum framework.

Complexity and empiricism:

• Empirical theory underpinning Scrum.
• How Scrum deals with complexity.

Agile projects:

• Project constraints in traditional projects versus Agile projects.
• Limitations of Scrum and a comparison to Agile project frameworks.

The Scrum team:

• Product owner - the voice of the customer and is responsible for return on investment.
• Scrum Master - responsible for facilitating and coaching the Scrum team.
• Development team - self-organising and responsible for delivering 'done' work during the Sprint.

Scrum Artefacts:

• Product Backlog - an ordered list of what is needed for the product.
• Sprint Backlog - the items the team agreed to deliver during the Sprint and a plan of how to do it.
• Product Increment - the total of the 'done' backlog items so far.

Scrum events (The five Scrum events):

• Sprint planning - to plan the Sprint.
• The Sprint - a fixed period to produce a potentially shippable product increment.
• Daily Scrum - a daily meeting for the team to synchronise activities.
• Sprint Review - to see what has been 'done', highlight any issues and review the Product Backlog and upcoming activities.
• Sprint Retrospective - after a Sprint, the team inspects itself and plans opportunities to improve in subsequent Sprints.

Scrum events (Backlog Refinement):

• Preparing and maintaining the Product Backlog.

Scrum events (Release Planning):

• Projecting a project or release timeline upfront, based on initial estimates.

Agile tools and techniques (things that are part of Agile, but not strictly Scrum):

• User stories.
• Estimating and prioritisation.
• Kanban boards and burn-down charts.