Certified Scrum Master® (CSM) Training

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• 1.1 Explain the 12 principles and 4 values listed in the Agile Manifesto. 
• 1.2 Demonstrate the benefits of “responding to change” in Agile over “following a plan” in traditional project management. 
• 1.3 Describe how the Scrum values (courage, focus, commitment, respect, openness) relate to the Scrum artifacts, events, and roles. 
• 1.4 List and explain the three pillars in Scrum ― Transparency, Inspection, Adaptation. 
• 1.5 Explain the differences between framework and methodology and understand why Scrum is called a framework. 
• 1.6 List 5 ways to develop an Agile mindset. 
• 1.7 Illustrate 2 differences between Agile and Scrum and explain why these two terms cannot be used interchangeably. 

     Topics covered 

• Agile Manifesto 
• 12 Principles 
• 4 values 
• Scrum Foundations (5 Scrum Values) 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Conduct a retrospective to list 3 techniques to improve the performance and turnaround time. 
• Explain the roles and responsibilities of a Scrum Master and a Product Owner. 
• List 3 differences between a Scrum Master and a Product Owner and understand why these two roles should not overlap. 
• Discuss how a product owner acts as a bridge between the development team and the stakeholders. 
• Understand why a Scrum Master is not an active participant but a facilitator in the Scrum events and ceremonies. 
• List 3 demerits of having a development team of less than 3 members or greater than 10 members. 

             Topics covered 

• Scrum Master roles and challenges 
• Product Owner roles and responsibilities 
• Development team roles and responsibilities 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Explain the “why” and “how” of sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, and retrospective. 
• Understand why the scope and duration of a sprint are fixed. 
• List 3 ways to avoid sprint backlog spillover. 
• Define sprint goals and discuss 5 benefits of having a sprint goal. 
• Understand how the Scrum Master and the Product Owner should coordinate with the team and list 5 points to improve such communications. 
• Discuss 3 damaging impacts of sprint cancellation and how to avoid it. 
• List 10 sprint anti-patterns (E.g. sprint cancellation, variable sprint length) and understand how these impact the delivery and turnaround time. 

              Topics covered 

• Sprint planning 
• Daily Scrum 
• Sprint Review 
• Sprint Retrospective 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• List and demonstrate 5 salient features of a well-formed product backlog (E.g. estimated, prioritized). 
• Discuss 2 responsibilities of the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the Development team in creating and maintaining a product backlog. 
• The objective of having a product backlog and best approaches to product backlog refinement. 
• Analyse and discuss the ideal time and capacity to be dedicated to product backlog refinement. 
• Demonstrate 3 activities (E.g. budget and timeline, release schedule) that take place during a sprint review. 
• List 5 sprint review anti-patterns (E.g. delayed   acceptance) and their negative impacts 

               Topics covered 

• Product Backlog 
• Sprint Backlog 
• Product Increment 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Explain the difference between resolution meetings and daily standups. 
• Explain the benefits of collaborations with product owners. 
• List 3 demerits of over collaboration of the product owners. 
• Demonstrate 3 ways to break the barriers and collaborate 
• Demonstrate creation of sprint burndown chart 
• Explain 3 approaches to increase efficiency in the team 

               Topics covered 

• Sprint Execution Planning 
• Flow management 
• Resolution meetings 
• Communication (Taskboard, Sprint burndown chart using story points, hours effort) 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Explain the importance of 15-minute timebox for daily scrum meetings. 
• List 3 differences between traditional meetings and daily stand-ups. 
• Describe 2 roles played by the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and the Development team in daily scrum. 
• List the 3 critical questions pertaining to the daily scrum agenda. 
• List 2 responsibilities of the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and the Development team during the sprint retrospective. 

               Topics covered 

• Activities in daily scrum 
• Activities in sprint retrospective 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Explain Definition of Done at three levels ― user story (e.g. writing code), sprint, and release (e.g. preparing release notes). 
• List 3 benefits of Definition of Done and explain why it can evolve over a certain period of time. 
• Prepare a checklist (with a minimum of 7 entries) of an ideal DoD. 
• Mention 3 risks associated with an ill-formed DoD. 
• List 5 characteristics of good acceptance criteria. 
• Understand who all should be involved in drafting the acceptance criteria. 
• List 3 negative impacts of not following the acceptance criteria. 

               Topics covered 

• Definition of Done for a feature (user story or product backlog item) 
• Definition of Done for a sprint 
• Definition of Done for a release 
• Definition of Done vs. Acceptance criteria 
• Done vs. Done-Done. 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Create an ultimate checklist of Definition of Done. 
• List 3 negative impacts of an ill-formed Definition of Done. 
• Identify at least 3 benefits of a shared Definition of Done for multiple teams working on the same product backlog. 
• List 2 ways to improve Definition of Done. 
• Clearly understand the differences between “done” and “done done”. 

               Topics covered 

• Definition of Ready for user story 
• Definition of Ready for sprint 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Define and understand the steps involved in release planning. 
• List 3 benefits of a well-organized release planning. 
• List 3 outputs of release planning. 

              Topics covered 

• Definition of release planning 
• Who takes part in release planning 
• Steps in Release planning 
• Output of Release Planning 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Define and understand sprint burndown chart. 
• List 3 primary reasons to use a burndown chart. 
• Learn how to create and calculate a burndown chart. 
• Explain how to adjust upcoming sprints based on the burndown. 
• List 3 critical information obtained from a burndown chart. 
• List 5 merits and 2 demerits of using a burndown chart. 
• Understand 5 common errors that lead to misleading information in burndown charts. 

               Topics covered 

• Definition 
• Why and when to use a sprint burndown chart 
• Information obtained from sprint burndown chart 

At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 

• Understand the importance of having a release goal (based on historical data and agreement). 
• Demonstrate the importance of release burn-up in understanding the current status. 
• List 2 differences between burndown and burn-up charts. 
• Explain how to adjust release planning (if needed) based on the burn down. 
• Tell one primary advantage of a burnup chart over a burndown chart.   

              Topics covered 

• Definition 
• Features 
• How to create a release burn-up chart (steps)

• What is product planning 
• What is product vision 
• How to create a product backlog 
• Product Roadmap  
• Minimum Releasable features (or) Minimum Marketable Features  
• Minimum Viable Products 

• At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 
• Define and explain user stories and understand the importance of user stories in real-time projects. 
• Explain the 3 Cs in user stories.
  
        Topics covered 

• What are user stories? 
• Structure/format of user stories 
• INVEST criteria 
• Discuss the importance of acceptance criteria and list 3 scenarios that might arise when the acceptance criteria are not met. 

• At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 
• List and demonstrate 5 benefits of Agile estimation. 
• Understand the 7 popular Agile estimation techniques and decide which one is the best for your project.     

                Topics covered 

• Definition 
• Benefits of Agile Estimation 
• Agile estimation techniques 
• Discuss 3 benefits of Relative Estimation and Planning Poker. 
• List and explain 3 common mistakes made while using Relative Estimation and their negative impacts. Discuss in detail the 5 critical steps in Planning Poker.  

• At the end of this activity, you will be able to- 
• List 5 benefits of planning poker estimation technique. 
• Decide the best sequence for the values (story points) on cards for your real-time projects. 

                       Topics covered 

• Definition 
• Benefits 
• Participants 
• How to play planning poker 
• Planning Poker rules 
• Discuss in detail the 5 critical steps in Planning Poker.  
• List 3 points to heed for employing planning poker for distributed teams.