format: "syllabus/v1"
kind: "course"
code: "PSM"
title: "Professional Scrum Master (PSM) Course with Certification"
items:
  - type: "session"
    session:
      id: 1
      title: Theory & First Principles
      duration: 120
      content: |
        Participants are able to evaluate the concepts of complexity and empiricism in their context and determine with others in their organization whether Scrum is appropriate for their environment.
      assignment:
        title: Complexity and Empiricism
        content: |
          **ASK**: _Facilitate a discussion within your organization about how your organization could benefit from Agile and Scrum and what would be potential hindrance tapping the full potential in the current environment. Share results from this discussion with the class and explain how you ensured that everyone had a good understanding of complexity and empiricism._
        examples: |
          - Explain complexity and empiricism by using the Stacey chart, Cynefin Framework or something else.
          - Use the exercise to identify parameters influencing a product development and how predictable they are.
          - Create a one-pager describing the goals that the organization wants to achieve by using Scrum and Agile.
          - Compare the evolution of various factors between the current situation and Professional Scrum and give some examples from your organization.
          - Describe how the group would envision their environment when empiricism is evident.
          - Collect a list of reservations people have in your organization about Agile and Scrum and how you suggest that these could be resolved.
          - Find a simulation for complexity on the internet and run the simulation with team members and stakeholders.
          - Analyze forecasts and plans from past projects or past period of your current project and interview people about their opinion about reasons for deviations from those plans.
          - Analyze your current plan and identify if it is mostly focused on goals, features or work and how much flexibility it allows to change directions to still being able to deliver value.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your stakeholders about what are the highest risks in your current project, how you can implement early signals and how you might react to these risks.
      learningResources:
        - title: The New New Product Development Game
          link: https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game
          duration: 20
          type: newspaper
          weight: 1
        - title: An Introduction to the Cynefin Model
          link: https://youtu.be/yjXRY0IbJw8
          duration: 5
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making
          link: https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making
          duration: 20
          type: newspaper
          weight: 1
        - title: Empiricism is an Essential Element of Scrum
          link: https://youtu.be/q603WTOSYDk
          duration: 5
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: The Cynefin Framework with David Snowden
          link: https://youtu.be/N7oz366X0-8
          duration: 10
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: Agile is constant change
          link: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/agile-constant-change
          duration: 3
          type: blog
          weight: 1
        - title: Transparency in the Trenches
          link: https://youtu.be/02eU5CEbJRE
          duration: 60
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: So What is Agile Really About?
          duration: 5
          type: blog
          draft: true
          weight: 1
          content: |
            Although the term “Agile” in the context of software development is quite well known, the definitions vary. Therefore I shared the most common descriptions of Agile, for example:

            - **Agile is a set of values and principles (Agile Manifesto).**
            - **Agile is a way of developing software that reminds us that although computers run the code, it’s people who create and maintain it (The Agile Samurai).**
            - **Agile is the courage to be honest enough to admit that building software is complex and it can’t be perfectly planned since requirements change.**

            Although these definitions offer some clarity, I still received some requests to explain what Agile really means in daily practice.

            Last week, during a training about Leading Agile Transformations, I stumbled upon the perfect answer. During the training, the 7 Principles of Continuous Innovation were briefly discussed. These principles are described in the book *The Leader's Guide to Radical Management* by Steve Denning. To me, these 7 principles describe what Agile is all about.

            The really cool stuff happened by watching the video *Nordstrom Innovation Lab - Sunglass iPad App Case Study* afterwards. In this 7-minute video, you'll see how the Nordstrom Innovation Lab created, tested, and built an iPad app in just one week. In this short video, every principle is put into practice. It's all about delighting clients, self-organizing teams, client- and value-driven iterations, radical transparency, continuous (self) improvement, and interactive communication.

            Below I've shared the 7 principles of Continuous Innovation in some more detail. If you want to see what Agile is really about...

            1. **Study the 7 principles of Continuous Innovation**
            2. **Check the video of the Nordstrom Innovation Lab**
            3. **Search for resemblances with the 7 principles and even connect it to the original Agile Manifesto.**

            When you're done, I hope you've seen what Agile means in practice. Of course, it would be even better when you'll experience it in real life. This video might encourage you to try an Agile experiment yourself!

            ### The 7 Principles of Continuous Innovation

            4. **Delighting Clients**
              - "Focus work on delighting the client."
              - "It all begins by getting the goal right: the purpose of work is to delight clients, not merely to produce goods or services or make money for shareholders."
              - "Once the goal becomes making money for the company, then people start thinking about making money for themselves, and collaboration and creativity tend to fall by the wayside."
              - "The key to an enduring future is to have a customer who is willing to buy goods and services both today and tomorrow. It's not about a transaction: it's about forging a relationship."

            5. **Self-Organizing Teams**
              - "Do work through self-organizing teams."
              - "I think it's hard for those who have never been on a high performance team to understand just how cool it is." - Kristin Arnold
              - "When we work together with people who have different interpretations, perspectives, ways of solving problems, we are often able to solve problems that we wouldn't be able to solve alone."
              - "A complex problem, like discovering ways to delight clients, is best solved by a cognitively diverse group of people that is given responsibility for solving the problem, self-organizes, and works together to solve it."

            6. **Client-Driven Iterations**
              - "Do work in client-driven iterations."
              - "That which is still small is easy to direct." - Lao Tzu
              - "Through client-driven iterations, companies are able to keep inventory and work in process as small as possible and customize their product not only to meet the customer's original perceived needs but also to adjust it to meet any changes in those needs."
              - "Client-driven iterations improve productivity for the organization by focusing work on the elements that really add value and eliminating work that doesn't add value. They also eliminate unproductive planning time and reduce risk by providing management not with unreliable progress reports, but with evidence of whether actual progress is made."

            7. **Delivering Value to Clients in Each Iteration**
              - "Deliver value to clients in each iteration."
              - "Client-driven iterations (and Radical Management) imply a mental revolution, a different way of thinking about work. The key to success is delivering value to clients at the end of each iteration."
              - "A small thing delivered sooner can delight more than a big thing delivered later."
              - "The primary focus is on performing at a level of quality that delights clients and then provides that sooner."

            8. **Radical Transparency**
              - "Be totally open about impediments to improvement."
              - "The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off." - Gloria Steinem
              - "Achieving the complex goal of client delight requires total openness about any impediments to the work: everyone levels with everyone else."
              - "Radical Management accepts the inevitability of failure and puts arrangements in place to learn rapidly from failure and so progress toward success."

            9. **Continuous Self-Improvement**
              - "Create a context for continuous self-improvement by the team."
              - "Continuous self-improvement is a deeply rooted set of values and attitudes focused on fixing problems as soon as they occur."
              - "Continuous self-improvement is fragile and therefore needs every day nurturing and attention."
              - "Continuous self-improvement is a top management responsibility."

            10. **Interactive Communication**
              - "Interactively share stories, questions, conversations."
              - "The modern organization cannot be an organization of 'boss' and 'subordinate': it must be organized as a team of associates." - Peter Drucker
              - "Traditional managers speak to employees as employees, and power is the currency of communication."
              - "The Radical Manager communicates as one human being to another. Hierarchy is present but in the background."

            In this blog post, I've shared my favourite definitions of Agile, the 7 principles of Continuous Innovation, and the video by the Nordstrom Innovation Lab that puts it all into practice. I hope it helped you grasp the concept of Agile Software Development better.

            *Taken from "So What is Agile Really About?" by Barry Overeem*
  - type: "session"
    session:
      id: 2
      title: The Scrum Framework
      duration: 120
      content: Participants will learn to interpret the roles, artifacts, and events of the Scrum framework, understand their purpose, how they relate to each other, and how they collectively help teams and organizations address complex problems.
      assignment:
        title: Are We Doing Scrum?
        content: |
          **Ask:** _Evaluate how effectively your current practices align with the goals defined in the previous assignment. Identify differences between your current process and the Scrum framework as described in the Scrum Guide. Develop a '15% solution'—a small, initial change that could improve your current situation—and gather feedback from others in your organization on this proposal._
        examples: |
          - Identify potential improvements to a specific Scrum event that will take place during the assignment period. Run an experiment to test how these changes affect the event's outcome.
          - Create a list of deviations between your current practices and the Scrum framework as defined in the Scrum Guide. Analyze how these deviations might impact your ability to achieve your goals.
          - Suggest improvements for a specific Scrum artifact, then run an experiment to assess the impact of these changes. Collect feedback from team members on their experiences with the adjustments.
          - Evaluate how well your current process supports empiricism and identify areas for improvement. Experiment with incorporating specific elements of the Scrum framework to address these opportunities.
          - Interview your Product Owner about their understanding of their role and compare it to the responsibilities outlined in the Scrum Guide. Discuss any differences and areas for improvement.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your Scrum Team(s) on how they perceive the Scrum Master’s role and how it could better support the team. Use this feedback to identify potential improvements.
          - Engage stakeholders in a discussion about the effectiveness of Sprint Reviews in creating transparency and fostering an environment of inspection and adaptation.
          - Facilitate a conversation with your Scrum Team(s) about the Scrum Values and how they can enhance collaboration within the team and with external parties. Identify specific actions to reinforce these values.
          - Assess the effectiveness of your Sprint Retrospectives in supporting transparency, inspection, and adaptation related to self-management and value delivery. Run an experiment to enhance the Retrospectives' effectiveness.
          - Review your Product Backlog Refinement process to determine if it is helping create a clearer vision of what to achieve. Experiment with new approaches to make the process more efficient and valuable.
          - Conduct a Scrum simulation with your team, ensuring that every element of the Scrum framework is used as defined in the Scrum Guide. Look for examples of such simulations online or design your own.
      learningResources:
        - title: The Scrum Guide
          link: https://scrumguides.org
          duration: 60
          type: handshake-angle
          weight: 1
        - title: Planning in Scrum
          link: https://youtu.be/08wArN-Tkhk
          duration: 5
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: The Daily Scrum is NOT a Status Meeting
          link: https://youtu.be/i7_RPceEIYE
          duration: 7
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: Effective Sprint Planning
          link: https://youtu.be/syXnhduPxqM
          duration: 5
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: Slaying Technical Debt
          link: https://youtu.be/vLRH0HCXZek
          duration: 5
          type: video
          weight: 1
  - type: "session"
    session:
      id: 3
      title: Done
      duration: 120
      content: Participants can interpret the relationship between the concept of Done in Scrum and its role in creating transparency for empiricism, and collaborate with their team to identify potential improvements in their current situation.
      learningResources:
        - title: The Definition of Done
          link: https://www.scrum.org/resources/definition-done
          duration: 20
          type: blog
          weight: 1
        - title: A Typical Sprint, Play-By-Play
          link: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/typical-sprint-play-play
          duration: 20
          type: blog
          weight: 1
        - title: Getting started with a Definition of Done (DoD)
          itemId: z18IcQhlD7I
          duration: 10
          type: blog
          weight: 1
        - title: Ethics in Scrum
          link: https://youtu.be/Tw1gwc7rAVg
          duration: 13
          type: video
          weight: 1
      assignment:
        title: Shift Left
        content: |
          **Assignment**: _Evaluate how consistently your team delivers a Done Increment and examine the level of uncertainty or surprises that these Increments may still include. Reflect on the current Definition of Done and its effectiveness in achieving consistent delivery. Identify areas for improvement, experiment with at least one change, and share your insights._
          These tasks aim to foster a deeper understanding of what Done means within your team and help drive continuous improvement by refining the Definition of Done.
        examples: |
          - If your team does not currently use a Definition of Done, facilitate a discussion to raise awareness of its importance. Work with your Scrum Team to establish an initial Definition of Done that can be continuously inspected and adapted.
          - Add criteria to your Definition of Done to reduce uncertainty and avoid last-minute surprises, ensuring higher quality and consistency.
          - Remove criteria from your Definition of Done that are not contributing to quality and are creating obstacles to frequent Done Increments.
          - Assess how transparent your team is about technical debt and undone work. Implement at least one improvement to address the accumulation of technical debt.
          - During a Daily Scrum, facilitate a discussion to help the team reflect on what is still required to reach a Done Increment based on the Definition of Done. Explore ways to organize work to achieve this as quickly as possible.
          - Discuss with your team how to achieve a Done Increment earlier in the Sprint. Conduct an experiment to test at least one approach in this direction.
          - During Sprint Planning or Backlog Refinement, facilitate discussions to slice Product Backlog Items (PBIs) into smaller, more manageable parts. Focus on vertical slicing to help deliver Done Increments earlier.
          - Run an experiment with Mob-Programming or Pair-Programming to see if it helps achieve a Done Increment more quickly and efficiently.
          - Try out Swarming to encourage the team to focus on building a Done Increment collaboratively.
          - Compile a list of reasons why team members struggle to achieve a Done Increment every Sprint. Choose at least one of these reasons and run an experiment to address it.
          - If QA processes are conducted at the end of the Sprint, run an experiment to start QA earlier and assess its impact.
          - If QA is handled exclusively by dedicated team members, experiment by involving other team members in the QA process, such as through pairing with QA personnel.
          - If QA is done outside the team, try conducting QA within the team and within the Sprint, and observe any changes in the process.
  - type: "session"
    session:
      id: 4
      title: Product Delivery with Scrum
      duration: 120
      content: Participants correlate the benefits of an empirical approach to product development to how the Product Backlog contributes to transparency. The student also understands how frequent inspection and adaptation of the backlog is crucial to achieving goals at various levels.
      learningResources:
        - title: "Scrum Myths: There is No Planning in Scrum"
          link: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/scrum-myths-there-no-planning-scrum
          duration: 20
          type: blog
          weight: 1
        - title: Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams
          itemId: Z3HzXH_nmmz
          duration: 20
          type: handshake-angle
          weight: 1
        - title: The Evidence-based Management Guide
          itemId: Rv0ZjvwYVy5
          duration: 10
          type: handshake-angle
          weight: 1
        - title: Small batch delivery & big batch finance how to speak the language of forecasting
          link: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/small-batch-delivery-big-batch-finance-how-speak-language-forecasting
          duration: 13
          type: blog
          weight: 1
        - title: When will it be Done - an introduction to probabilistic forecasting
          link: https://youtu.be/aG5Eet6BJTc
          duration: 60
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: Limiting Work in Progress (WIP) in Scrum with Kanban - What / When / Who / How
          link: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/limiting-work-progress-wip-scrum-kanban-what-when-who-how
          duration: 10
          type: blog
          weight: 1
      assignment:
        title: Empirical vs Waterfall
        content: |
          **Ask**: _Assess how much empiricism your team is using to plan product delivery and apply at least one experiment to make it even more empirical._
        examples: |
          - Assess if your team and your organization is more using a product or a project mindset for the product you are developing with your team. How is unpredictability currently handled? Have a conversation with some stakeholders how you could benefit from moving more towards a product mindset and which objections people have.
          - Assess if there is a proper Product Goal in place and if the Product Backlog is organized in a way that helps achieving the Product Goal.
          - Facilitate a Product Backlog refinement to improve understanding, granularity and transparency to help better achieve the Product Goal.
          - Reflect with your teams how and why you are doing sizing and estimation currently and if there are better options to help with Sprint Planning and forecasts and measuring progress towards goals in a complex environment.
          - Assess if your Product Backlog Items have a good size to be worked on during a Sprint and slice at least one bigger item into smaller ones by splitting it vertically.
          - Assess if your Product Backlog Items are structured in a way that they can deliver some business value on their own or if they depend on other items before a business value can be delivered.
          - Evaluate if your Product Backlog is creating transparency by interviewing various team members and stakeholders about where to focus next.
          - Interview your Product Owner about the current Product Goal and the next steps toward this by examining the current Product Backlog.
          - Interview team members about their understanding of the direction and next steps to evaluate if there is enough clarity and transparency provided by the Product Backlog.
          - Record situations when the team was approached in ways that impede empiricism and how the team handled the situation. Define at least one improvement. 
          - Evaluate if your Product Backlog is more used like a plan or if it is use to help with empirically achieving your goals. Suggest at least one experiment to the team how this can be improved.
  - type: "session"
    session:
      id: 5
      title: People & Teams
      duration: 120
      content: Participant can can defend the significance of collaboration as a key factor for efficiency and quality, and detect the different influencers that may impact collaboration within their Scrum Team.
      learningResources:
        - title: The Surprising Truth about what motivates us
          link: https://youtu.be/aJWH84Nwucc
          duration: 15
          type: video
          weight: 1
        - title: "From Now to New Right Here: Change-as-Flipping"
          link: https://www2.slideshare.net/npflaeging/from-now-to-new-right-here-changeasflipping-betacodex16
          duration: 20
          type: presentation
          weight: 1
      assignment:
        title: Collaboration is Key
        content: |
          **Ask** _Assess together with your team how they currently work together and what could be improved. Run at least one experiment that could help the team to become more collaborative. _
        examples: |
          - Facilitate a discussion about autonomy, mastery and purpose with your team(s) and identify how you as a Scram Master can help the team(s) to improve in these areas. Run at least one experiment with one improvement.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your teams how you could improve “Intrinsic motivation” and run at least one experiment in this area.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your teams how you could improve “Effective collaboration” and run at least one experiment in this area.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your teams how you could improve the use of the “Scrum Values” and run at least one experiment in this area.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your teams how you could improve “Professionalism” and run at least one experiment in this area.
          - Facilitate a discussion of pros and cons of various working styles and if there is a consensus that a collaborative working style is most beneficial for the team.
          Identify behaviors and characteristics of a great team together with your Scrum Team and identify areas where your team could improve.
          - Observe people's work to get a better understanding about the flow of their work and their ability to focus. Identify any interruptions and discuss with the team how those interruptions could be minimized. 
          - Identify any dependencies that are interrupting the team’s flow and identify experiments that could help reduce those dependencies.
          - Identify the value-stream of a new functionality to your product and the people that have to be involved to make this happen. Identify hand-offs and create a vision of how a different team-structure could increase the team’s autonomy and collect some feedback about this idea.
          - Identify a difficult situation and facilitate a discussion with your team where you tie this situation back to the Scrum Values and the assets of a collaborative team to identify potential improvements.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your team(s) about dependencies they have to other people to get their work done. Run at least one experiment to minimize one of these dependencies.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your team(s) about dependencies and if restructuring teams might help reducing these dependencies. Run an experiment to have a person from outside of the team to work as a team member for one day and discuss the differences this makes.
          - Facilitate a discussion with your team(s) how much the assets of a collaborative team are covered and run at least one experiment to improve one of the assets.
  - type: "session"
    session:
      id: 6
      title: The Scrum Master
      duration: 120
      content: Participant is able to assess their own behavior as a Scrum Master in terms of how they help teams achieve their goals, and assess their own ability to make deliberate choices about how to enable team growth.
      assignment:
        title: How to Become a Great Scrum Master
        content: |
          **Ask** _Create a plan of various activities that you could do to help your team to grow and become more agile and identify the skills that you should learn and traits that you should exemplify to support your team and your organization on this journey._
        examples: |
          - Hold a retrospective with your team to understand how they will describe the service you as a Scrum Master are providing for them and their expectations of how you could better support them.
          - Hold a retrospective with the stakeholders of your team to understand how they will describe the service you as a Scrum Master are providing for them and the organization as well as how they think you could help the team and the organization to improve the value delivered to customers.
          - Look back at the learnings from the class and create a “personal growth backlog” that describes topics you want to learn more about and skills that you want to acquire.
          - Look back at the learnings from the class and create a “team growth backlog” that describes various actions that could help your team and your organization to improve. Refine this “team growth backlog” together with your team.
          - Describe the Scrum Master that you want to be one year from now and identify first steps that bring you closer to this vision.
          - Once back at work, you will be busy with so many other things. Develop a strategy that your growth journey will not always take a back-seat and define counter measures how to make sure that you will be able to achieve your growth goals.
          - Arrange a meeting with your manager to learn more about their expectation how you should serve as a Scrum Master and about your personal development.
          - Find a local or online Scrum Master community that you can connect with to learn from each other.
          - Create a community of Scrum Masters and other Scrum enthusiasts within your organization which will meet frequently to share and learn from each other.
          - Continue the list of skills and traits of an effective Scrum Master and identify the areas where you want to grow.
          - Create a job description for a Scrum Master for your organization and review it with others to get feedback and identify misconceptions people might have about the Scrum Master accountability.
  - type: "session"
    session:
      id: 7
      title: Closing
      duration: 120
      content: As we conclude the Scrum Master course, this final session is designed to reflect on your learning journey, consolidate key concepts, and prepare you to apply your new skills confidently within your team. We'll revisit the course highlights, address any remaining questions, and provide guidance on the next steps to continue your growth as a Scrum Master.
      assignment:
        title: Take the PSM I assessment.
        content: |
          - Passing score: 85%
          - Time limit: 60 minutes
          - Number of Questions: 80
          - Format: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, True/False
          - Language:
            - English
            - 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese) available through www.scrum.org.cn
          - Free [Credly](https://www.credly.com/users/sign_in) digital credential included
          - Practice assignment[Scrum Open](https://www.scrum.org/open-assessments/scrum-open)
          - Passwords have no expiration date, but are valid for one attempt only
          - Lifetime certification - no annual renewal fee required
