Certified ScrumMaster - Seattle WA

The Basics

Scrum helps thousands of organizations improve their processes through Agility. As a Certified ScrumMaster, you’ll be an integral part of that success — without having to suffer through a single PowerPoint slide.

This training will teach you everything you need to know to effectively apply Scrum tools and techniques. You’ll also graduate prepared to pass your ScrumMaster Certification test — guaranteed. 99% of Adam’s graduates pass on their first try!

In terms of format, Adam uses Scrum to teach Scrum, combining your training with practical experience. The course is split into two focused work periods — or ‘sprints’ — each lasting a day. Each sprint has its own backlog (a detailed description of required accomplishments) and you’ll track your progress towards your certification using burndown charts.

Learning the language of Scrum is part of the course, so don’t worry if all that sounds jargon heavy.

All graduates receive:

• Adam’s Scrum Kickoff Planner
• Access to a regular series of open Q&A conference calls
• 14 Project Management Institute Professional Development Units (PDUs)*
• 16 Scrum Education Units from the Scrum Alliance
• A two-year Scrum Alliance Membership
• Additional mentorship, as needed, to pass the ScrumMaster Certification test
• Adam’s personal telephone number — If you run into a Scrum-related situation, he’s only a text away!

The training maintains a comfortable, sustainable pace as required by Scrum. Each sprint includes at least two mini-breaks (at around 10:30am and 2:30pm) and a longer lunch break (around noon). If you need a personal break at any other time, you’re welcome to take it. Just don’t miss more than 60 minutes of the two-day workshop or we can’t certify you.

What You’ll Learn

Adam’s CSM class covers all the topics required by the Scrum Alliance, including:

• Understanding Agile: Scrum is just one of many Agile approaches. We’ll discuss what all Agile approaches share in common and what makes an approach Agile.
• Scrum Framework Overview: We’ll teach you the Scrum workflow to build your understanding of the whole process and the details of each step.
• Scrum Artifacts: Discover how to use product backlogs, sprint backlogs, sprint burndowns, and release burndowns, plus other optional artifacts such as task boards.
• Scrum Roles & Responsibilities: What does a ScrumMaster do? What makes for an effective Product Owner? Get familiar with the roles required to run Scrum and learn how to tackle the responsibilities of each.
• Scrum Meetings: Learn the ins and outs of each scrum meeting type —sprint planning, daily standup, sprint review, sprint retrospective, and backlog refinement — along with tricks to make each run smoothly.
• Self-organization Techniques: Self-organization is a bedrock element of Scrum. These exercises help you experience how and why teams are better off managing themselves.
• Empirical Process Control: Transparency, inspection, and adaptation are the keys to remaining Agile. Taken together, they let us set aside detailed upfront planning in favor of a more effective method of development.
• Definition of Done: Scrum allows you to ship a working product at the end of each sprint. In order to do that, a team must have a shared understanding of how and when they consider something ‘done’.

Still have questions?

Do I need to know anything about Scrum before I attend class?

No prior knowledge of Scrum is required. If you’d like to make the most of our time together, however, we encourage you to complete these interactive training modules beforehand. Doing so should only take you about ninety minutes.

Where do I take the certification test?

After completing Adam’s course, you’ll receive a link from the Scrum Alliance to take the 50 question, multiple choice test online. There’s no additional fee and 99% of Adam’s graduates pass on their first attempt.

What if I’m terrible at taking tests?

Adam hates taking tests, too.

Understanding your trepidation, he’ll do everything he can to make the Scrum Alliance test as painless as possible. To start, you’ll get to take a full practice exam at the end of the training. If that test proves challenging for you, Adam will make himself available to coach you by phone, Skype, or email.

99% of Adam’s graduates pass the CSM test on their first try because they’ve been properly prepared. You will also be prepared. Properly.

Is food included?

Yes. And it is delicious. We provide a light breakfast, snacks, and a full lunch.

We will do our best to take dietary requests into consideration. You are also welcome to bring in your own food if you prefer.

Who should attend?

This two-day class is appropriate for anyone interested in applying the Scrum framework effectively and learning more about Agile. We welcome the technical and non-technical; absolute beginners and those with more experience; introverts and extroverts; managers, executives, owners, developers, designers, and most multicellular life forms.