The Advanced Scrum Master course is a full days training that expands on relevant Scrum Master related topics. The course seeks to further equip Scrum Masters to handle the inherent challenges and diverse tasks of the important Scrum Master role. The course adds on the original Scrum Master course with advanced theory, practice reflection, and opportunities for discussion and problem-solving. It is primarily for Scrum Masters with some experience, who have challenges they would like to receive help to resolve and a desire to help their teams, even more, to grow to their maximum potential.

Join this course to take your Scrum Master skills to the next level.  

Course Content

• Startup Reflection on Scrum Masterism

Serving the Team

• The Shu-Ha-Ri of Scrumasterism, intro to Psychological Safety
• Include one-to-one conversations with Team Members
• Overcoming non-engaged people, especially Team Members
• Getting OKR, PDSA and OODA feedback loops to work

Serving the Product Owner

• Keeping the PO, Team and Stakeholders on the same page
• Supporting the Product Owner’s objectives
  • Sensemaking of Stakeholder’s requests and needs
  • Understanding Team capabilities and constraints
  • Not to forget the Product Owner’s own need for psychological safety
  • Working with appropriate process and workflow for Requirements handling
• Acting as deputy to the Product Owner
• Getting PDSA and OODA feedback loops to work with the Stakeholders

Serving the Organization

• Working with the Organization to create clarity of goals, objectives, risks and roadmap.
• Working with the Organization to create transparency around progress, impediments, artifacts and meetings.
• Working with the Organization to create clarity around the working agreements between the different parts of the Organization: Delegations, escalations and sponsorship
• Getting PDSA and OODA feedback loops to work with the Organization

Advancing Psychological Safety and Trust

• Starting with the Team, establish the agreed simple rules of conduct and interaction, including non-threatening signals to stop up and reflect.
• Improving predictability and honoring commitments increases trust in the organization
• Establish clear and simple working agreements with the surrounding organization
• Dealing with a crisis:
  • Necessary endings. Sometimes a situation has to find an ending for the Team to move on

Advancing Transparency and Common Understanding

• Working on the Artifacts. There may be extra ones that might be helpful for the Team or the Stakeholders.
• Be aware of the interplay between trust and transparency without one the other cannot grow. What is holding transparency back?
• Engage with managers to establish an understanding of the necessity of this clarity in the organization also in their work. Without it delegating responsibilities is impossible.
• Techniques, templates and metrics for the toolbox.

Advancing Engagement, Learning and Growth  

• Establish an Operational Resolution Circle (Scrum of Scrum Masters) to resolve issues that are out the reach for single teams/Circles
• Establish Secondary Circles, communities of interest. Facilitate these in some detail, otherwise it might be abandoned easily.
• Establish ways of understanding people’s desires and aspirations, how can we help them get there? Or are we growing apart?
• Establish a forum for debating and clarifying leadership structures, mandates (who decides), how can people be involved for the benefit of all. It is so easy to fall back in the track of power and ruling by fear.

Physical courses start at 09:00 and end at approximately 17:00 and include meals and refreshments.