Agile Project Management with Scrum

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about? This immersive course is based on an authentic Agile project simulation, providing you with the knowledge and practical skills to plan, estimate, track and control a software project. You gain a solid foundation in Scrum, an Agile methodology. You learn Agile development principles including writing and estimating user stories, the self-organizing and self-managing software development team, organizational patterns relevant to the management of Agile software projects, and adopting best practices for successful Agile project management. What background do I need? A working familiarity of project management concepts is helpful but not required. Who will benefit from this course? This course is valuable for technical or project managers, software architects, project leads and programmers who want to learn how to develop software using proven Agile principles. Does this course teach me the skills I need to manage an Agile project? Absolutely! Scrum provides a framework for project management through three key roles: the Product Owner, the Scrum Master and the Scrum Team. This course focuses on the different management responsibilities of these roles and the interactions between them. You practice the techniques and skills and use the necessary tools to successfully manage an Agile project. What is Agile development? Agile development is a software engineering framework that produces working software in a reduced timeframe and meets business requirements. Agile methods-including Scrum-emphasize constant, open, honest and real-time communication between developers and their customers. Why should my team adopt Agile development practices? Agile stresses the need to build working software in frequent iterations to minimize risk. Each iteration-called a Sprint in Scrum-acts as a fully contained software project and includes the tasks needed for a product release: planning, requirements, analysis, design, coding, testing and deployment. The Scrum team has full authority to decide how to perform these tasks within a Sprint. Each Sprint ends with a demonstration of functionality to interested stakeholders. The frequency of iterations emphasizes the core principle of Agile development, which is the ability to react and adapt quickly to change and shift directions with minimal or no interruption to the project. What is Scrum? Scrum is an iterative, incremental and fully scalable Agile process for delivering business-relevant software. It is typically used to manage software development projects, often 'wrapping,' or including, other Agile practices such as XP. Scrum can also be used to run software maintenance teams or for program management. In this course, you learn about Scrum philosophy, the key roles of the Scrum Master, the Product Owner and the Scrum Team as well as how to utilize the practices and artifacts of the Scrum method. Is this course in line with the Agile Manifesto? Yes. Published in 2001, the Agile Manifesto forms the foundation for Agile development. Together with the twelve principles of Agile Development, it provides the guidance that distinguishes Agile approaches from "Masterplan" or traditional software development methodologies. Agile is as much a development philosophy as anything else, focusing on customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software and the close, daily collaboration between the business and the developers. Since the Agile Manifesto is intrinsic to this approach, it is intrinsic to this course. Its principles are woven through every phase of the course and are highlighted to emphasize the relationship between principle and practice, whether you are using Scrum or another Agile method. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Introduction to Agile project management 0.5 Fundamentals of Scrum for dealing with uncertainty and risk 2.5 Planning an Agile project 3.5 Fostering self-management within the development team 6.5 Managing change 3.0 Applying Agile throughout your organization 2.0 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. How is this course structured? The course is structured around a dynamic style of learning created by Learning Tree called Reality PlusTM-an immersive experience that engages you in authentic tasks within a simulated real-world context. Through simulation, role-playing and team-based tasks, you are immersed throughout the course in an evolving scenario where the decisions you make affect the outcome of the simulation. The Reality Plus learning method is presented in a safe environment where you gain new skills and practice the most effective techniques to bring back to your job. At the end of the course, you are prepared to immediately and successfully apply these new skills within your organization. What kinds of activities does this course include? Approximately 40 percent of class time is spent in immersive activities. This course is built around an authentic Agile development simulation with Scrum. Experiential activities include: Meeting with the Product Owner to list a project's functional and non-functional requirements Estimating the size of required features using Planning Poker to achieve consensus Running a daily Scrum meeting Turning user stories into implementation tasks Deriving the Scrum team's velocity to plan its 30-day Sprints Conducting Sprints Simulating typical scenarios a Scrum Master must handle Facilitating stakeholder feedback by demonstrating functionality in a Sprint Review Building the Scrum Team's knowledge and experience by conducting a Sprint Retrospective Programming tasks are not included in the activities, but implementation is simulated as closely as possible within the case study. How is this course different from Course 931, Agile Programming: Principles and Practices for Software Success? Course 931, Agile Programming: Principles and Practices for Software Success, covers how to plan, code and implement an Agile software project using methodologies like XP and Scrum. By contrast, this course does not focus on the actual coding or programming of an Agile software project but instead concentrates on the management of Agile projects. How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? The course is one of a number of Learning Tree courses that address Agile methodologies. In particular, it complements the following courses: 931, Agile Programming: Principles and Practices for Software Success  933, Introduction to Software Engineering: Skills for Success  The following courses may also be of interest: 340, Project Management for Software Development  218, User and System Requirements for Successful Software Development

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