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PeopleCert Scrum Master I (Study Guide)
PeopleCert Scrum Master I (Study Guide)
PeopleCert Scrum Master I (Study Guide)
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Closed book
60 minutes
40 questions
Multiple choice
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Exam Details
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Table of Contents
Module #1
An Introduction to Agile
Project Management
Learning Objectives
▪ Define the term "agile" as an adjective used to describe a flexible, iterative project management style and
identify key terms used to describe Agile approaches like iterative, incremental, and adaptive.
▪ Describe the benefits of Agile project management related to three aspects of value: cost; quality; and speed.
▪ Differentiate between the attributes of predictive and adaptive project management and differentiate between
project attributes that best suit a predictive versus an adaptive project management approach.
▪ Explain the main goal of Agile frameworks.
▪ Describe the key factors in the success of Agile project management.
▪ Describe the waterfall methodology and explain its disadvantages.
▪ Define the Agile Manifesto.
▪ Identify the four values outlined in the Agile Manifesto.
▪ Identify the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto.
Adaptive Empirical
Planning Knowledge
Evolutionary Continual
Development Improvement
Agile Alliance. “Agile Glossary”. Last modified: 2011. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary
Layton, Mark. “10 Ten Key Factors for Agile Project Success.” Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.dummies.com/careers/project-
management/10-ten-key-factors-agile-project-success/ PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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An Introduction to Agile Project Management
The Three Characteristics of Value
The business objectives for becoming more agile and using Agile development practices is ultimately connected
to providing more value to the customer as well as the organization. More value means growing sales, remaining
competitive, continual improvements, and continual innovations. Specifically, the target is to shorten the overall
development and delivery cycle, decrease cost associated with the development, and increase quality. Using
Agile development practices will deliver on all three value dimensions.
In terms of Speed, keep in mind that you need to keep your time-to-market short!
Predictive development models, also known as traditional, sequential, linear, or – most famously – as waterfall
approaches are less flexible because they take an entire deliverable through large phases of requirements, design,
development, integration, testing, and deployment. Progress flows steadily downwards through the linear phases.
▪ Development is phase-based and sequential with the assumption that all the correct information has been made
available from the very start.
▪ The batches are large, and the cost of delay is rarely considered.
▪ The primary means of achieving a good result is considered conformance to the plan.
Iterative Development
Adaptive Development models are iterative and
“A developmental approach to managing
incremental in their approach to planning, developing,
projects that focuses on intentionally allowing
and delivering. These models use collaboration as a
for the potential “revisiting” of work for rework,
foundation to their success. These models are seen as
changes, and improvements.”
circular and repetitive because they break a large
deliverable into smaller, more manageable deliverables
Incremental Development and they also circulate the development through the
“A style of development where each repeated activity of requirements, design, development,
successive version of the product is usable integration, and testing. Deployment is a separate phase
and each version builds upon the previous that follows iterative development.
version by adding user-visible functionality.”
Volkerdon.com. “Agile Glossary”. Accessed October 30, 2019. https://www.volkerdon.com/pages/agile-glossary PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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An Introduction to Agile Project Management
Avoiding the Hand-Off Syndrome
Volkerdon.com. “Agile Glossary”. Accessed October 30, 2019. https://www.volkerdon.com/pages/agile-glossary PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study
Guide 12
An Introduction to Agile Project Management
The Disadvantages of Traditional Waterfall Development
The traditional way to build software, used by companies big and small, was a sequential life cycle of which there are many
variants (such as the V-Model). Commonly, it is known as “The Waterfall”.
1. It typically begins with a detailed planning phase, where the end product is carefully thought through, designed, and
documented in great detail.
2. The tasks necessary to execute the design are determined, and the work is organized using tools such as Gantt charts and
applications such as Microsoft Project. The team arrives at an estimate of how long the development will take by adding up
detailed estimates of the individual steps involved.
3. Once stakeholders have thoroughly reviewed the plan and provided their approvals, the team starts to work.
4. Team members complete their specialized portion of the work, and then hand it off to others in production-line fashion.
5. Once the work is complete, it is delivered to a testing organization (some call this Quality Assurance), which completes
testing prior to the product reaching the customer. Throughout the process, strict controls are placed on deviations from the
plan to ensure that what is produced is actually what was designed.
This approach has strengths and weaknesses. Its great strength is that it is supremely logical – think before you build, write it
all down, follow a plan, and keep everything as organized as possible. It has just one great weakness: humans are involved.
Hence a lot of problems occur:
• Creativity is inhibited
This approach requires that the good ideas all come at the beginning of the release cycle, where they can be incorporated into
the plan. But as we all know, good ideas appear throughout the process – in the beginning, the middle, and sometimes even
the day before launch. A process that does not permit change will stifle this innovation. With the waterfall, a great idea late in
the release cycle is not a gift, it’s a threat.
Sutherland, Jeff. Jeff Sutherland’s Scrum Handbook. Scrum Training Institute, 2010.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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An Introduction to Agile Project Management
What’s Wrong With Traditional Software Development? 2/2
• Bad timing
Something else that happens when you have humans involved is the hands-on “aha” moment – the first time that you actually
use the working product. You immediately think of 20 ways you could have made it better. Unfortunately, these very valuable
insights often come at the end of the release cycle, when changes are most difficult and disruptive – in other words, when doing
the right thing is most expensive, at least when using a traditional method.
• No crystal balls
Humans are not able to predict the future. For example, your competition makes an announcement that was not expected.
Unanticipated technical problems crop up that force a change in direction. Furthermore, people are particularly bad at planning
uncertain things far into the future – guessing today how you will be spending your week eight months from now is something of
a fantasy. It has been the downfall of many a carefully constructed Gantt chart.
• Sub-optimized results
A rigid, change-resistant process produces mediocre products. Customers may get what they first ask for (at least two
translation steps removed), but
is it what they really want once they see the product? By gathering all the requirements up front and having them set in stone,
the product is condemned to be only as good as the initial idea, instead of being the best once people have learned or
discovered new things.
Many practitioners of a sequential life cycle experience these shortcomings again and again. But, it seems so supremely logical
that the common reaction is to turn inward: “If only we did it better, it would work, and if we just planned more, documented
more, resisted change more, everything would work smoothly”. Unfortunately, many teams find just the opposite: the harder
they try, the worse it gets! There are also management teams that have invested their reputation – and many resources – in a
waterfall model; changing to a fundamentally different model is an apparent admission of having made a mistake.
Sutherland, Jeff. Jeff Sutherland’s Scrum Handbook. Scrum Training Institute, 2010. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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An Introduction to Agile Project Management
Agile versus Waterfall
The major value difference in the two approaches is that the traditional Waterfall
side is mostly calculated, controlled, managed, and focused on the
schedule. Fundamentally different, the Agile approach is focused on
delivering maximum value to the customer by collaborating on the
release backlog and sprint backlog work items.
Agile
Adapted from Layton, Mark C. Agile Project Management for Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2017:45-46 PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Sutherland, Jeff. Jeff Sutherland’s Scrum Handbook. Scrum Training Institute, 2010.
An Introduction to Agile Project Management
Adaptive versus Predictive Development
Traditional development models are best suited to Adaptive development models are best suited to
predictive projects and products where the requirements chaotic projects and products where requirements and
and scope are fixed, the product itself is firm and stable, scope will evolve over time, and/or the product itself will
and the technology is clearly understood. Traditional evolve over time, and/or the technology will evolve over
development models are well suited to situations where time.
contracts are involved and are of a fixed price and scope.
Unknown
an assessment of the
predictability of
requirements and the
complexity of the
technology. The
predictability zone is
best suited to traditional
Predictable development
approaches, while the
chaotic zone is best
Known
suited to adaptive
development
approaches.
Known Unknown
Requirements
James, Michael and Luke Walter. “Scrum Reference Card.” Accessed August 12, 2019. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
http://scrumreferencecard.com/scrum-reference-card/
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PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #2
An Introduction to Scrum as
an Agile Framework
Learning Objectives
What is Scrum?
“A framework within which people can “The word "framework" means that much is not
address complex adaptive problems, while specified and must be devised by those using the
productively and creatively delivering framework. I equate Scrum to the
products of the highest possible value.” game of chess. You can read the
official rulebook for chess. The
moves, players, sequences,
The Five Scrum Values
scoring, etc. are all specified.
Learn them. Then you can play
chess.” - Ken Schwaber
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017.
Krish, Venkatesh. Techwell “A Brief history of Scrum”. Last modified October 15, 2012. Accessed August 13, 2019. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study
https://www.techwell.com/techwellinsights/2012/10/brief-history-scrum Guide 19
An Introduction to Scrum as an Agile Framework
The Uses and Benefits of Scrum
Scrum has been used extensively, worldwide, to: The Key Benefits of Scrum
▪ Develop and sustain cloud (online, secure, on- ▪ Encourages dialog about feature
demand) and other operational environments for implementation instead of static specifications
product use
Green, David. Sitepoint.com “Power Up Your Team by Using Scrum Properly”. Last modified: May 22, 2016. Accessed: October 31
2019. https://www.sitepoint.com/introducing-scrum/
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Accessed August 12, 2019. https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/the-scrum-guide 20
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #3
An Introduction to the
Scrum Framework
Learning Objectives
▪ List each of the Scrum practices: roles; events; and artifacts, and provide examples of each.
▪ Define "artifact" and each of the three main Scrum artifacts: product backlog, sprint backlog, product increment.
▪ Define empirical process control and define each of the three pillars of Scrum: adaption; transparency; and
inspection.
▪ Explain the importance of artifact transparency.
▪ Describe the three pillars of Scrum: inspection; adaptation; and transparency and explain their respective
purpose.
▪ Identify the purpose of roles, artifacts, and events in Scrum.
▪ Describe the impact of artifacts that are not fully transparent.
Master
Adapted from Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, 2013, 14. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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A Walk-Through of the Framework
Adaptation
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
24
An Introduction to the Scrum Framework
The Three Pillars of Scrum - Transparency
Transparency
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Doshi, Hiren. Scrum.org. “The Three Pillars of Empiricism (Scrum)”. Last modified December 4, 2016. Accessed August 13, 2019. 25
https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/three-pillars-empiricism-scrum
An Introduction to the Scrum Framework
The Three Pillars of Scrum - Inspection
Inspection
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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An Introduction to the Scrum Framework
Scrum Artifacts
What is a
Scrum
artifact?
Scrum relies on transparency. Decisions to optimize value and control risk are made based on the
perceived state of the artifacts. To the extent that transparency is complete, these decisions have
a sound basis. To the extent that the artifacts are incompletely transparent, these decisions can be
flawed, value may diminish, and risk may increase.
The Scrum Master’s job is to work with the Scrum team and the
organization to increase the transparency of the artifacts. This work usually
involves learning, convincing, and change.
Module #4
Scrum Roles
Learning Objectives
▪ Define the terms "Product Owner", “Scrum Master” and “development team” and describe the characteristics of
each.
▪ Identify the responsibilities and accountabilities of a Product Owner, Scrum Master, and development team within
Scrum.
▪ Define the term "self-organizing team" and describe the characteristics of a self-organizing team.
What is
a role?
SCRUM MASTER
“A set of
responsibilities,
activities, and
authorities granted to
a person or team.
PRODUCT OWNER The role is defined in
a process or function,
and one person or
team may have
multiple roles.”
Adapted from: Layton, Mark C. Scrum for Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2015: 13
AXELOS. ITIL® Glossary of Terms English v.1.0. Last modified: 2011. Accessed October 30, 2019. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
https://www.axelos.com/Corporate/media/Files/Glossaries/ITIL_2011_Glossary_GB-v1-0.pdf 29
Scrum Roles
The Development Team
Characteristics of a
Successful
Development Team
T-shaped
The Development Team skills
The development team is accountable and responsible for:
Self-
organizing
▪ Being united and completely aligned with the goal of the project
Musketeer
▪ Being completely aligned with operational support and attitude
Plan the maintenance as well as the achievement of the service level
sprint. targets High-
bandwidth
communications
Help ▪ Developing, supporting, and maintaining the product Cross-
grooming the
functionally
product
▪ Responding to event alerts and acting upon incident, problem, diverse and
backlog.
and request tickets, as well as performing scheduled sufficient
Perform the maintenance, tuning, and update procedures
sprint Long-lived
execution.
▪ Owning, creating, and maintaining the sprint backlog artifact
Focused and
Inspect and committed
▪ Prioritizing the work in the sprint backlog
adapt.
Transparent
▪ Carrying out the five main sprint events of: communication
• Sprint planning
Deliver a potentially • Sprint execution Works at a
releasable increment sustainable Right-sized
• Daily Scrum
of “done” product at pace
the end of each sprint. • Sprint review
• Sprint retrospective
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Education, 2013.
30
Scrum Roles
What Is a Self-Organizing Team?
Self-Organizing
“Self-organizing teams choose how best to
accomplish their work, rather than being
directed by others outside the team.”
A self-organizing team is a group of motivated individuals who work together toward a goal, have the ability and authority to
make decisions, and can readily adapt to changing demands. Important characteristics include:
▪ They pull work for themselves and don't wait for their leader to assign work. This ensures a greater sense of ownership and
commitment.
▪ They manage their work (allocation, reallocation, estimation, re-estimation, delivery, and rework) as a group.
▪ They still require mentoring and coaching, but they don't require "command and control."
▪ They communicate more with each other, and their commitments are more often to project teams than to the Scrum Master.
▪ They understand the requirements and aren't afraid to ask questions to get their doubts clarified.
▪ They continuously enhance their own skills and recommend innovative ideas and improvements.
Mittal, Nitin. Scrum Alliance. “Self-Organizing Teams – What and How”. Accessed: July 12, 2019.
https://scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2013/january/self-organizing-teams-what-and-how
Visual Paradigm. “How Scrum Team Works? - A Brief Guide”. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.visual-paradigm.com/scrum/how-scrum-
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
team-works/ 31
Scrum Roles
The Correlation between Self-Organizing Teams and Scrum Values
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PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Scrum Roles
The T-Shaped Professional
The only possible way for this team to possess all the skills needed are for the team members to be cross-
functional. The latest term to describe having multiple and cross-functional skills is to say that technical team
members have “T-shaped” skill sets. In the “T” shape, people have one or more very proficient and deep skills
(the vertical part of the “T”), such as being an experienced programmer or tester. In the horizontal part of the “T”,
people have multiple secondary skills and experience, which makes them
broad-based and cross-functional, such as a tester also having basic PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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skills for coding, business, analysis, training, and deploying.
Scrum Roles
The Development Team – Ideal Size
The optimal development team size is between three and nine technical people.
9 This range keeps the team small enough to remain nimble, yet large enough to complete
significant work within a sprint.
A minimum of three people is needed for basic synergy; and more than nine people
should be avoided as they require too much coordination.
3 The size of the team depends largely on the range of the combined cross-functional
skills of its members, where low cross-functional skill sets result in teams at the larger
end of the size range.
The team size should be six plus or minus three, excluding the Product Owner and
Scrum Master.
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. Accessed August 12, 2019.
https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/the-scrum-guide PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Moghaddam, Yassi et al. “T-Shaped: The New Breed of IT Professional”. Last modified: September 26, 2016. Accessed: October 31, 2019. 35
https://www.cutter.com/article/t-shaped-new-breed-it-professional-492976
Scrum Roles
The Product Owner
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017.
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Accessed August 12, 2019. https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/the-scrum-guide 36
Scrum Roles
The Product Owner
▪ The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the product backlog.
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
37
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013, 172.
Scrum Roles
The Scrum Master
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the
Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017.
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Education, 2013.
38
Scrum Roles
The Characteristics of a Successful Scrum Master
Servant Leadership
Overeem, Barry. Scrum.org. “The Scrum Master as a Servant-Leader”. Last modified July 20, 2015. Accessed August 12, 2019.
https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/scrum-master-servant-leader
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013.
39
Scrum Roles
The Characteristics of a Servant Leader
While traditional leadership styles accumulate a great extent of power at the top rungs, servant
leadership puts other people’s need first and shares power with them.A servant leader actively
contributes in the personal development and performance of their team. Here are 10 characteristics and
traits that distinguishes a servant leader from the more traditional ones.
1. Empathy: A servant leader has the ability to recognize and understand feelings and emotions that are
experienced by their team. Such a leader will care for other people and will deeply experience emotions
that match what others are feeling. Since they understand others so deeply, their actions are motivated
by a genuine desire to help others.
2. Listening: By paying complete attention to what others are saying, servant leaders are able to get a
complete understanding of all interpersonal situations that they are dealing with. They use active
listening to resolve conflicts, counsel others, and also to impart training.
3. Awareness: Many people in positions of power are blissfully ignorant of their shortcomings, but not
the servant leader. They are completely aware of their strengths, weaknesses, values, emotions, and
feelings. This self-awareness allows the servant leader to understand personal biases and set them
aside while making decisions.
4. Healing: Followers typically desire for a leader who has a sincere interest in fostering their emotional
and spiritual well-being. By taking an active role in promoting the mental and emotional strength of their
employees, servant leaders typically inspire an exceptional level of trust and faith from others.
6. Persuasive: It is easy for a servant leader to influence the opinions and actions of others through
persuasive skills. This quality comes in handy in negotiations with business partners, customers, and
stakeholders. Since servant leaders are committed to the welfare of others, they use this ability only to
influence others positively.
7. Stewardship: A servant leader acts as a steward for the organization’s resources. They assume
complete responsibility for planning and managing all available resources for the betterment and
prosperity of the organization, employees, and stakeholders.
8. Foresight: Everything is connected – the past, the present, and future. Servant leaders have an
intuitive ability to predict what is likely to happen in future, based on the past and the present. This
foresight enables these leaders to plan ahead.
9. Community building: Under a servant leader, people come together for a common purpose. They
are able to create a feeling of belonging to something bigger than each individual, and foster team spirit
and a sense of community. Servant leaders also deeply care for this community that they create.
10. Committed to growth of others: A servant leader takes it upon themselves to develop others. They
are likely to help employees chart out a clear career path and provide them with resources to progress
from one level to the next.
▪ Ensuring that goals, scope, and the product domain are understood
as much as possible by everyone on the Scrum team
▪ Finding techniques for effective product backlog management
▪ Helping the Scrum team understand the need for clear and concise
product backlog items
▪ Understanding product planning in an empirical environment
▪ Ensuring the Product Owner knows how to arrange the product
backlog to maximize value
▪ Understanding and practicing agility
▪ Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed
Sutherland, Jeff. Jeff Sutherland’s Scrum Handbook. Scrum Training Institute, 2010 PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide 43
Scrum Roles
The Scrum Master's Service to the Organization
The Stakeholders
Layton, Mark C. Scrum for Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
45
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Scrum Roles
Transitioning to Agile: How the Roles May Evolve
46
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Scrum Roles
Transitioning to Agile: The Roles and Skills Education
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PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #5
Multilevel Planning
Learning Objectives
Adapted from:
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013 PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Berteig, Mishkin. “The Agile Planning Onion is Wrong”. Agile Advice. Last modified April 24, 2011. Accessed August 12, 2019. 49
http://www.agileadvice.com/2011/04/24/agilemanagement/the-agile-planning-onion-is-wrong/
Multilevel Planning
The Planning Onion
A third dimension to the planning onion illustrates the frequency of activity at each layer. At the top layer, the frequency
between strategy generation activities is quite long, perhaps once per year. Progressively, the activities become more
frequent and of shorter durations, down to the most frequent planning activity of day planning through the daily Scrum event.
Overall, the planning onion is a great tool to visualize the larger workings between the Scrum roles, artifacts, events, and
rules. It also illustrates how Scrum adheres to the Agile values and principles for value-based, iterative, incremental, and
business-/customer-focused delivery. The result is a faster time to market, better delivery predictability, increased customer
responsiveness, and the ability to change direction by managing changing priorities, as well as enhanced software quality
and improved risk management.”
My Agile Mind. “What does the Planning Onion Mean to You?” Last modified October 28, 2011. Accessed August 13, 2019.
myagilemind.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/what-does-the-planning-onion-mean-to-you/
Doshi, Hiren. Scrum.org “The Three Pillars of Empiricism (Scrum)”. Last modified December 4, 2016. Accessed August 13, 2019. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study
https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/three-pillars-empiricism-scrum Guide 50
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #6
Preparing the Product
(Planning Level) 1/2
Learning Objectives
▪ Identify the attributes of a product backlog and describe its purpose in Scrum.
▪ Explain how the product backlog can evolve as the product and environment evolves.
▪ Define the terms "product backlog item (PBI)", "requirements statement", "user stories", "acceptance criteria",
“increment”, and "conditions of satisfaction“.
▪ Identify the characteristics of an effective PBI.
▪ Define the terms "epic" and "feature" in relation to ensuring that a PBI is small during the product backlog
grooming.
▪ Describe the difference between an "epic", "theme“, and "user story“.
▪ Describe the role and structure of a user story including methods used to effectively gather them.
▪ Identify each of the elements in the DEEP mnemonic: detailed appropriately; emergent; estimated; and
prioritized, and describe its purpose.
Module #6
Preparing the Product
(Planning Level) 2/2
Learning Objectives
▪ Identify each of the elements in the INVEST mnemonic: independent; negotiable; valuable; estimable; small; and
testable during the product backlog grooming.
▪ Describe the overall purpose, process steps, and roles of the Scrum team involved in the product backlog
grooming.
▪ Define the term "story points" in relation to ensuring that a PBI is estimable during the product backlog grooming.
▪ Differentiate between the three referencing techniques of single reference story, triangulation, and affinity
mapping.
▪ Describe the Fibonacci sequence as a valid approach to estimating story points.
▪ Define the terms "development work", "timeboxing", "velocity", "visual management" and "information radiators"
related to a sprint (in Scrum).
▪ Identify estimation techniques used to calculate velocity and its purpose.
▪ Define the term "capacity" in relation to sprint planning including the various factors that influence a team's
capacity.
Adapted from Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013, 14. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
The Product Backlog
Agile Alliance. ”Agile Glossary”. Last modified: 2011. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/ PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
The Product Backlog
▪ new features
▪ changes to
existing features
▪ bug fixes
▪ infrastructure
changes
▪ other activities
that a team may
deliver to achieve
a specific
outcome of a
product
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Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
The Product Backlog
A product backlog is never complete. The earliest development of it lays out the initially known and best-
understood requirements. The product backlog evolves as the product and the environment in which it will be
used evolves. The product backlog is dynamic; it constantly changes to identify what the product needs to be
appropriate, competitive, and useful. If a product exists, its product backlog also exists.
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. 56
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
A Key Artifact: Product Backlog Items
Epic
An epic typically describes an entire workflow and is large and
broadly defined.
Epics are broken down into smaller PBIs (features and user
stories) when it is time to plan the work into sprints.
An epic can span more than one project if multiple projects are
included in the board to which the epic belongs.
Epics are useful when starting a product for the first time or
Months
when gathering a new set of requirements for a release update.
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study
Guide 57
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Product Backlog Items
Feature
A collection of related user stories
User Story
A story describes a discrete part of the overall product’s
functionality. These act as the building blocks for the product.
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Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
What to Do with Epics After Splitting Them: Themes
▪ A theme is a large business functionality that acts as a category or grouping of user stories (epics
through to the small user story).
▪ Themes are used for structuring and understanding what the product looks like from the business
functionality point of view and, as such, is a key for release planning.
▪ Typically, a theme starts as an epic user story. Once that epic is split into smaller stories, the epic is
no longer needed as a PBI. Therefore, we keep the epic and features as themes to build the
product structure.
▪ The rule in Scrum is to use themes only when needed by the Product Owner.
Graffiius, Scott. AgileScrumGuide.com “Techniques for Gathering User Stories”. Last modified; October 25, 2017. Accessed: October 31, 2019.
https://agilescrumguide.com/blog/files/Techniques-for-Gathering-User-Stories.html PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Roman Pichler “10 Tips for Writing Good User Stories”. Last modified March 24th, 2016. Accessed August 13, 2019.
https://www.romanpichler.com/blog/10-tips-writing-good-user-stories/
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
The Types of Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance Criteria ▪ Come from the users who specify the requirements
“Can be thought of as the conditions ▪ Must state the intent, not the solution
necessary to pass user testing in the ▪ Should be in relatively simple language
development process” ▪ Are used to demonstrate the requirement to the user
during the sprint review event
Lowe, David. “Using Scrum & Kanban in the Real World. Acceptance Criteria and Conditions of Satisfaction”. Last modified October 26, 2015.
Accessed August 13, 2019. https://scrumandkanban.co.uk/acceptance-criteria-and-conditions-of-satisfaction/ PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Segue Technologies “What Characteristics Make Good Agile Acceptance Criteria?” Last modified September 3, 2015. Accessed August 13, 2019. 62
https://www.seguetech.com/what-characteristics-make-good-agile-acceptance-criteria
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Product Backlog Grooming
Product Backlog The Scrum event of backlog grooming (also called backlog
Grooming refinement) is an ongoing activity. It relates to the Agile characteristic
of the release and product backlogs that they are always dynamic and
always capable of changing. This is often called emergent
“Product backlog grooming is when the requirements gathering or, more traditionally, as progressive
Product Owner and some, or all, of the elaboration.
rest of the team refine the backlog on a
regular basis to ensure the backlog Product backlog grooming occurs regularly and regardless of whether
contains the appropriate items, that they there is a defined release. The first aspect of backlog grooming is the
are prioritized, and that the items at the result of constant collaboration with all the product stakeholders who
top of the backlog are ready for delivery.” can bring a new PBI, or a request to modify or remove an existing
PBI, to the Product Owner at any time. Such requests may include:
▪ A technical bug (an ITIL problem) that needs to be investigated
• Agile often calls these bugs “escaped defects” when they
are found in the operational environment
▪ A quality improvement work item to refactor code that is not
extensible
An ongoing process where the Product ▪ A new customer feature request
Owner and the development team ▪ A change to an existing customer feature request
collaborate to add detail, estimate, and ▪ A process improvement that will benefit future sprints
order the PBIs in the product backlog. ▪ A learning opportunity that will benefit the product and/or future
sprints
The Product Owner can update items at any
time. The second aspect to backlog grooming is the act of reviewing and
revising existing PBIs. Again, backlog grooming occurs regularly and
The development team is responsible for regardless of whether there is a defined release.
estimating the PBIs.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Agile Alliance. Agile Glossary. Last modified: 2011. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/]
63
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
When Product Backlog Grooming Happens
An acronym coined by Roman Pichler and Mike Cohn for remembering a set of criteria used to evaluate the quality
of a product backlog. The criteria are detailed appropriately, emergent, estimated, and prioritized.
Cohn, Mike. Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2010. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
66
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
MoSCoW Prioritization
ProductPlan.com. “Product Management: MoSCoW Prioritization”. Accessed: October 30, 2019 PeopleCert Scrum Master I - Study Guide
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/moscow-prioritization/ 67
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Criteria for Prioritizing Product Backlog Items
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Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
INVEST in Good Stories
Large epic-sized The Product Owner Each PBI must All PBIs require A PBI should be Testing can be
PBIs to the smallest is responsible for relate to the three types of sized so that a team thought of as a way
all need to be negotiating and business value to estimates in order to could complete it of clarifying PBIs.
independent of each discussing the justify why it is make them with a few days of
other. INVEST principles needed, and in what manageable: effort, effort. Testing is done from
with stakeholders. priority. cost, and benefits. many perspectives
PBIs that can The extent to which including the
potentially be The higher the This business value Effort estimates are we break large epic- functional testing of
developed, tested, negotiability, the is what determines preferred in Scrum sized PBIs into their features and
and deployed more it allows for the order and over time estimates. smallest component functions and non-
separate from each changing sequence in the is determined by functional testing for
other and have a requirements later. product backlog. Cost and benefit considering each quality,
unique value estimates should be INVEST principle. manageability,
proposition to one One of the highest Value is defined by: translated into security, and
or more objectives when benefit, cost, risk, financial terms. The smaller the PBI, usability.
stakeholders. negotiating the and learning. the more likely it is
INVEST principles to be accurately The smaller the PBI,
PBIs that can be is the value to the estimated, valued, the easier it is to
prioritized and business. and tested to be define and carry out
sequenced relative correct. the testing activity.
to one another.
When estimating the size of product backlog items it is important to consider technical dependencies.
Brown, Roger. “Managing Technical Dependencies”. Agile Coach Journal. Last modified April 26, 2012. Accessed August 12, 2019. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
https://www.agilecoachjournal.com/2012-04-26/managing-technical-dependencies 70
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Combining User Stories
A product backlog full of such minor stories will appear overwhelming when
in fact it is not.
Good Practice:
The best and most common approach is to put all errors, bugs, and
problems into a separate task board called the bug list or defect board.
This allows these items to be prioritized against each other without
cluttering the product backlog.
Fault Tree
Affinity Hypothesis
Brainstorming Analysis
Mapping Testing
(FTA)
Technical
Ishikawa
Observation
Diagrams
Post (TOP)
The team should collaborate on
understanding the root cause of any
problems and agree on team
improvement actions to tackle them.
Sologic
Five-Why’s
Method
Chronological Fault
Analysis Isolation
74
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Delivering a High-Quality Product Increment and Reducing Technical Debt
Conditions of
Sprint Acceptance Definition of Good Practice:
satisfaction
backlog criteria done (DoD) Bug list board
(CoS)
By including a bug list board, the Scrum framework also ensures that technical debt is
managed down.
Agile thinking is to not waste time on guesses and to avoid padding of estimates.
Agile estimates are effort-based (or size-based) instead of time-based, and are
user story-based instead of separate tasks-based. This does not mean that we
can’t speak about time and end dates, but that we do not make an estimate into a
commitment and guarantee. It becomes simply a number assigned to a
requirement (PBI) that can be compared to other requirements (PBIs) and their
respective numbers. This is a fundamental difference and a key to success for
Agile project management: Agile estimates can be compared to one another for
accuracy.
Agile Alliance. ”Agile Glossary”. Last modified: 2011. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/ PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Estimation Concepts
Coach and
▪ Estimate as a team facilitator
Story Points
Ideal Time The advantage of using story
points is that there is no
The time estimated to complete a mention of time. Thus we
user story in a perfect situation
avoid all the inherent and
traditional problems with time
Story Point
estimates becoming
“In simple terms, a story point is a number that tells the team about commitments to that time,
the difficulty level of the story. The difficulty could be related to and the resulting padding and
complexities, risks, and efforts involved.” blame.
Story-point estimating requires one or more sample user stories that have already The disadvantage of using
been completed. It’s an estimate relative to a known reference point. These stories story points is that there must
need to be assigned a size – called the story point – such as size one to 13. be previous and known work
that the development team
Like ideal time, the team that makes the estimation does not have to factor in risks
has already completed
or unknowns or any source of possible delay.
together.
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013.
Visual Paradigm. “What is Story Point in Agile? How to Estimate a User Story?” Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.visual- PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study
paradigm.com/scrum/what-is-story-point-in-agile/ Guide 78
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Estimation Techniques
Agile estimating techniques are designed to be fast The Benefits of using the Fibonacci Sequence
and simple. They reflect the realization that estimates
An exponential scale (one that grows at an increasing rate)
are guesses and that guesses do not require fine
provides more detail for smaller tasks, and forces uncertainty for
tuning (such as estimating 1.5 ideal hours or story
larger tasks. This helps build your estimates with increasing
points). As a result of this thinking, we like to talk
uncertainty as the time estimates get longer, creating a more
about creating standard “buckets” of ideal time and
efficient and effective estimation.
story points.
More accurate estimations and optimal user stories.
There are different scales that can be used to assign
estimates. The key to any scale used is that there are
sufficient gaps between the numbers or sizes so there
is no wasted time in discussing insignificant “It is better to be
differences. Note that most scales have a zero roughly right than
number included. This number allows very short and precisely wrong.”
simple efforts, such as adding a new field to a form to
be estimated without skewing the primary scale John Maynard Keynes
British Economist
beginning at one.
Ilan Goldstein
Velasquez, Robert. eLearning Industry “5 Reasons Using the Fibonacci Sequence Makes you Better at Agile Development”. Last modified
November 7, 2017. Accessed August 14, 2019. https://elearningindustry.com/using-the-fibonacci-sequence-makes-better-agile-development-
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5-reasons
Guide 79
Goldstein, Ilan. Scrum Shortcuts without Cutting Corners: Agile Tactics, Tools, & Tips. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2014.
Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Planning Poker
Owner
Goldstein, Ilan. Scrum Shortcuts without Cutting Corners: Agile Tactics, Tools & Tips. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2014, 72.
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Preparing the Product (Planning Level)
Triangulation Estimation
As PBIs (user stories) move higher up in the product backlog, they are split into NEW, smaller, and more manageable PBIs.
Each new PBI (user story) needs to be estimated by the development team.
In this way, epic PBIs (user stories) are re-estimated and become
more accurate as they rise in priority and get split apart in the
product backlog.
The development team will discuss the item further and break it
into the basic tasks needed for completion.
Module #7
Scrum Artifacts
Learning Objectives
▪ Define release planning, describe its goal, and identify the steps required to complete it.
▪ Identify the timing, participants, and process steps involved in the release backlog.
▪ Define "fixed-scope release" and "fixed-date release“.
▪ Identify the correct length of time for a sprint.
▪ Define the terms "conditions of satisfaction", “definition of done (DoD)”, and “definition of ready”.
▪ Differentiate between DoD and the acceptance criteria.
▪ Define technical debt and distinguish between its types: naïve; unavoidable; and strategic debt, and explain the causes of
technical debt and the consequences of poorly managed levels of technical debt.
▪ Define the terms "development work", "timeboxing", "velocity", "visual management“, and "information radiator" related to a
sprint (in Scrum).
▪ Identify estimation techniques used to calculate velocity and its purpose.
▪ Define the term "capacity" in relation to sprint planning including the various factors that influence a team's capacity.
83
Scrum Artifacts
A Key Artifact: The Release Backlog
Release Backlog
“The release backlog
is the collection of
PBIs that have been
selected or will be
selected for the
current release work
effort.”
Sutherland, Jeff. Jeff Sutherland’s Scrum Handbook. Scrum Training Institute, 2010. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Scrum Artifacts
Release Planning
FIXED
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Scrum Artifacts
The Release Strategy
An aspect of the release strategy is to choose an appropriate point to deploy the completed increments of the release.
Note that regardless of the strategy chosen, there is nothing to release until the end of the sprint event when work items
are determined to be completed and accepted.
88
Scrum Artifacts
The Release Planning Steps: The Factors Affecting the Length of a Sprint
Lacey, Mitch. The Scrum Field Guide: Agile Advice for Your First Year and Beyond.. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2016, 84. 89
Scrum Artifacts
The Factors for Selecting a Sprint Length
Frequency required
Product Risk and Scrum Team Risk
for improvement and Scrum Team Risk Work in Progress
Uncertainty and Uncertainty Work in Progress
feedback cycle and Uncertainty
The more frequent this What is your product’s What’s happening in your Generally, the longer the
improvement and feedback technical and business organization? Is this a busy sprint, then the more work
cycle is, the shorter the environment? Are you period where team items are added to that
sprint length should be. working on changes that are members are in short sprint. Too many work items
technically innovative or supply? Are teams become too much work in
Does the customer require complicated? Are you constantly reforming with progress, which distracts
frequent updates? working on products whose new or outgoing members? the technical team from
Does the technical team feel business requirements and Each team change affects being able to focus and be
disconnected from the value change often? There team productivity, as will be productive.
overall release? is more risk and uncertainty evidenced by the team’s
with more volatile velocity. As with the product
environments. This is best environment volatility, team
managed with short sprint volatility is best managed
lengths. with short sprint lengths.
These are the additional details that are typically discovered in subsequent conversations.
Conditions of Satisfaction can be seen as part of acceptance criteria, which are part of a user story.
Lowe, David. Scrum & Kanban in the Real World. “Acceptance Criteria and Conditions of Satisfaction”. Last modified October
26, 2015. Accessed August 13, 2019. https://scrumandkanban.co.uk/acceptance-criteria-and-conditions-of-satisfaction/ PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Scrum Artifacts
The Definition of Done (DoD)
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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https://www.visual-paradigm.com/scrum/definition-of-done-vs-acceptance-criteria/#:~:text=Definition%20of%20Done%20(DoD)%20is,software%20is%20working%20as%20expected.
Scrum Artifacts
The Three Levels of the Definition of Done
Goldstein, Ilan. Scrum Shortcuts without Cutting Corners: Agile Tactics, Tools, & Tips. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2014. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
93
Scrum Artifacts
Technical Debt
Technical Debt
“Technical debt (also referred to as Shipping first-time code is like going into debt. A little debt speeds
design debt or code debt) refers to development so long as it is paid back promptly with a rewrite….
the work that teams prioritize lower,
omit, or do not complete as they The danger occurs when the debt is not repaid. Every minute spent
work towards creating the primary on not-quite-right code counts as interest on that debt. Entire
deliverables associated with the engineering organizations can be brought to a stand-still under the
project’s product. Technical debt debt load of an unconsolidated implementation…
accrues and must be paid in the (Cunningham 1992)
future.”
Letouzey, Jean-Louis and Declan Whelan. “Introduction to the Technical Deb Concept”. Agile Alliance. May 2016. Accessed August 12, 2019.
https://www.agilealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/IntroductiontotheTechnicalDebtConcept-V-02.pdf
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013.
SCRUMstudy.com. “Technical Debt”. Last modified: November 18, 2013. Accessed: October 13, 2019. http://blog.scrumstudy.com/technical-debt/
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Scrum Artifacts
The Causes of Technical Debt
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Scrum Artifacts
The Definition of Ready (DoR)
Care must be taken not to make this DoR bureaucratic and a stage-
gate that stops stop work from happening.
Cohn, Mike. Mountain Goat Software. “The Dangers of a Definition of Ready” Last modified: August 9, 2016. Accessed: October 31, 2019.
https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/the-dangers-of-a-definition-of-ready
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. 96
Scrum Artifacts
Velocity
To reiterate, velocity is a metric for how much planned work gets done. The word
“planned” is added in the definition because in Agile and Scrum, one doesn’t revise
Velocity
estimates during the sprint work cycle. Revising estimates after work has started,
causes too much overhead and a waste of time. When done, work effort is credited as
“At the end of each iteration,
the planned amount upon start.
the team adds up their effort
estimates associated with
Velocity is a key concept and driving factor for success in Scrum estimating and
user stories that were
planning. It’s simple, easy to understand, and easy to use. Velocity is specific to each
completed during that
development team as it is a measure for how much of their planned work they get done.
iteration. Velocity is a metric
Thus, velocity is not used to compare one team or project (release) to another. It is
for how much planned work
simply used to measure how well each development team is working and how well the
gets done.”
project (release) is progressing. What counts is that the velocity is steady or increasing.
A critical aspect to using velocity is knowing how to credit “work done” to calculate velocity.
97
Agile Alliance. ”Agile Glossary”. Last modified: 2011. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/ PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Scrum Artifacts
Capacity
Capacity
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013, 341.
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PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #8
Iteration Level Planning
Learning Objectives
99
Iteration Level Planning
The Scrum Practices
Master
Adapted from Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013, 14. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
Timeboxing
Coaching the Scrum team and organization to keep activities in strict timeboxes and maintaining Scrum events is one
of the major responsibilities of the Scrum Master role. The main benefit for timeboxing is productivity – teams can
focus better and work faster when they have regular routines and a regular cadence for these routines. A quote from
Mike Cohn states the benefits of timeboxing: “Teams benefit greatly from having a rhythm to their projects. Any
regular iteration length can provide this rhythm.”
Cohn, Mike. Mountain Goat Software. “Selecting the Right Iteration Length”. Last modified March 4, 2006. Accessed August 13,
2019. https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/selecting-the-right-iteration-length PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
The Sprint Contains and Consists of the Following Time-Boxed Events
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Iteration Level Planning
Work Not Completed
For work not completed, it goes back into the release backlog for the next
sprint planning event (which is typically the next business day).
Due to its previous priority, it will more than likely be picked up again for the
next sprint.
When we bring it into the sprint, the technical team will estimate the effort left
to complete the story (which is necessary to determine how many stories can
fit in the sprint). However, the story will retain its original effort estimate. When
it is completed according to the definition of done (DoD), it is credited with the
full and prior estimate.
Sprint Backlog
“The sprint backlog is
the set of product
backlog items selected
for the sprint, plus a
plan for delivering the
product increment and
realizing the sprint
goal.”
Agile Alliance. ”Agile Glossary”. Last modified: 2011. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/]
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study
Guide 105
Iteration Level Planning
The Sprint Backlog
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Accessed August 12, 2019. https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/the-scrum-guide 106
Iteration Level Planning
The Evolution of a Product Backlog Item
The development team determines how to achieve the sprint goal and develops the
actual sprint backlog of supporting tasks.
As new work is required, the development team adds it to the sprint backlog. As
work is performed or completed, the estimated remaining work is updated. When
elements of the plan are deemed unnecessary, they are removed.
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
Sprint Planning
Master
(2-week sprint)
Sutherland, Jeff. Jeff Sutherland’s Scrum Handbook. Scrum Training Institute, 2010.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017.
111
Iteration Level Planning
The Product Owner’s Role in Sprint Planning
▪ Make sure the product backlog is well groomed – its items prioritized and its high-priority items
detailed.
▪ Help the team understand what must be done – describe what they want to see built for the next
sprint.
Do not tell the team how much work should be pulled into the sprint, or
identify tasks on behalf of the team.
Sprint Goal
“The sprint goal is a high-level summary
of an objective set for the sprint that
can be met through the implementation
of the product backlog.”
Completing all items in the sprint backlog is always a development team goal, but there are quite often additional goals to be
accomplished. Such additional goals might include:
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
The Approaches to Sprint Planning – Two-Part Sprint Planning
Determine the
capacity
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
Sprint Execution
Inputs: Participants:
§ The Sprint backlog
Master
ScrumMaster
§ The Sprint goal Standard
Workday
Sustainable Development Team
Outputs: Pace
§ A potentially
shippable product
increment Time-Box
Adapted from Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. 348. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
Daily Scrum
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
Daily Scrum
Master
Lacey, Mitch. The Scrum Field Guide: Agile Advice for Your First Year and Beyond. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2016. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
The Rules of Daily Scrum
The meeting should be held in the same place at the same time.
The Scrum Master teaches the development team to keep the daily Scrum within the 15-
minute time-box.
Any impediments raised during the meeting are recorded and the team moves on.
Anyone with the knowledge or skills to discuss potential solutions to the impediments
waits until after the meeting, “taking it offline”.
• Improves communications
• Eliminates other meetings
• Identifies impediments to development for removal
• Highlights and promotes quick decision-making
• Improves the development team’s level of knowledge
• Optimizes team collaboration and performance by inspecting the work since the last
daily Scrum and forecasts upcoming sprint work
• Optimizes the probability that the development team will meet the sprint goal
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
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Iteration Level Planning
The Sprint Review
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Iteration Level Planning
The Sprint Review
Master
(2-week sprint)
“This meeting at the end of each and every sprint ensures that the
stakeholders have a fantastic forum for delivering feedback directly to
the Product Owner, with the development team listening in.”
Marc C. Layton
Scrum for Dummies
Layton, Marc C. Scrum for Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2015. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
123
Iteration Level Planning
The Inputs and Outputs of the Sprint Review
Lacey, Mitch. The Scrum Field Guide: Agile Advice for Your First Year and Beyond. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2016. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
124
Iteration Level Planning
The Sprint Review Steps
The following steps outline the flow, content, and roles involved in the sprint review:
The Product Owner explains what The development team A review of how the marketplace or
product backlog items have been demonstrates the work that it has potential use of the product might have
“done” and what has not been “done” and answers questions changed what is the most valuable
“done”. about the increment. thing to do next.
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
126
Iteration Level Planning
A Potentially Shippable Product Increment
Potentially
Shippable Product
Increment
Agile Alliance. ”Agile Glossary”. Last modified: 2011. Accessed: October 30, 2019. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/agile-glossary/ PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
127
Iteration Level Planning
The Sprint Retrospective
Retrospective means
to look back, reflect,
and learn to improve
moving forward. The
The sprint retrospective is retrospective should be
an opportunity for the conducted as a
Scrum team to discuss brainstorming activity,
and the Scrum Master
what’s working and what’s should encourage all
not working, and agree on team members to
changes to try and speak and contribute.
improve.
Further reading on this subject: Cohn, Mike. Mountain Goat Software. “Sprint Retrospective”. Accessed: October PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
30, 2019. https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/meetings/sprint-retrospective 128
Iteration Level Planning
The Sprint Retrospective
Master
(2-week sprint)
The retrospective should be conducted as a brainstorming activity, and the Scrum Master should encourage all team
members to speak and contribute. We ask three basic questions that are centered around four basic performance
elements, as follows:
Regarding (1) people and relationships, (2) Scrum processes and techniques, (3) supporting Scrum tools, and (4) the
definition of done (quality):
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
131
Iteration Level Planning
Inspect and Adapt
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
132
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #9
Staying in Control with
Information Radiators
Learning Objectives
133
Staying in Control with Information Radiators
Information Radiators
Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide 134
Staying in Control with Information Radiators
The Types of Information Radiators
136
Lacey, Mitch. The Scrum Field Guide: Agile Advice for Your First Year and Beyond. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2016, 431.
Staying in Control with Information Radiators
The Scrum Board
Scrum Board (Task Board, Kanban Board, Sprint Wall, or Sprint Backlog Wall)
Method:
1. Written sticky notes or index cards are placed in
the first two columns for the PBI user stories and
their tasks.
138
Lacey, Mitch. The Scrum Field Guide: Agile Advice for Your First Year and Beyond. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2016, 431.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #10
Scrum Rules
Learning Objectives
139
Scrum Rules
Scrum Rules
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017, 183.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the 140
Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. Accessed August 12, 2019. https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/the-scrum-guide
Scrum Rules
Scrum Rules and Canceling a Sprint
4. The goal is to produce a potentially shippable product increment by the end of every sprint.
5. Once the sprint has started, no change is permitted that would affect the sprint goal – except for the decision to cancel it.
6. Product backlog items are sized by the team who will implement them.
7. The daily Scrum occurs every day in the same place at the same time, unless it clashes with another critical Scrum event.
8. At the daily Scrum, team members discuss only what they have progressed with and what is blocking progress.
9. All stakeholders are invited to attend the sprint review.
10. A Scrum team includes only the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and delivery team members.
11. A delivery team has between three and nine people.
12. Team membership cannot be changed during the sprint.
13. The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that everyone follows the rules of Scrum related to a project.
The sprint should end immediately and all items that are completed as per
the definition of done should be reviewed.
Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In Easy Steps Limited, 2017, 183.
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide
Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the 141
Game. ScrumAlliance, 2017. Accessed August 12, 2019. https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/the-scrum-guide
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I
Module #11
Introduction to Scaled
Scrum
Learning Objectives
142
Scaling Scrum
What Does “Scaling Up” Mean?
The purpose of
Team scaling Scrum is to
Location
The Scrum move from a single team and
Framework Team small product combination to
Location a combination of one or more
Product
teams and/or a medium or
large product combination.
Product
Scrum Desk. “Chief Product Owner Role”. Accessed Jan 23, 2020. https://www.scrumdesk.com/start/manual-for-
scrumdesk-start/chief-product-owner-role/
PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide 145
Cohn, Mike. Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum. Addison-Wesley, 2013.
Roles in Scaling Scrum
Scaled Product Owner and Scrum Master Roles
Addressing
impediments that
impact more than
one Scrum team
Team C
Team A
Integration
Team
Team B
Schwendler, Tom. “The Importance of Sharing the Same ‘Definition of Done’ with Your Software Development Partner”.
Ascendle. Last modified August 21, 2019. Accessed March 2, 2020.
https://www.ascendle.com/insight/blog/the-importance-of-sharing-the-same-definition-of-done-with-your-software- PeopleCert SCRUM Master I - Study Guide 150
development-partner/.
Suggested Reading
Suggested Reading
▪ Goldstein, Ilan. Scrum Shortcuts without Cutting Corners: Agile Tactics, Tools, &
Tips. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2014
▪ Lacey, Mitch. The Scrum Field Guide: Agile Advice for Your First Year and
Beyond. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2016.
▪ Layton, Mark C. Scrum for Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
▪ Morris, David. Scrum in Easy Steps – an ideal framework for agile projects. UK: In
Easy Steps Limited, 2017.
▪ Rubin, Kenneth. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile
Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013.
▪ Schwaber, Ken and Jeff Sutherland. The Scrum Guide™, the Definitive Guide to
Scrum: The Rules of the Game. ScrumAlliance:
2017. https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/the-scrum-guide
For a complete bibliography,
see the course syllabus.