Agile (agile, English “flexible”) is an approach to software development project management. Developed in the mid-2000s (or even earlier). The Agile approach includes several techniques:

• Scrum (suitable for organizing interaction between Business and IT);
• Kanban (suitable for organizing multitasking in an employee’s work; goes well with Scrum);
• XP (principles of extreme programming);
• Lean (principles of lean development).

We offer Scrum because... This is a great way to build a project that requires the participation of both Business and IT departments.

Scrum is actively used in large companies and corporations.

The main essence of the process is as follows:

• the project is carried out in short iterations (so-called sprints), each of which lasts from one to 4 weeks;
• there are only 3 roles in the project: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Team. The roles interact effectively with each other and are collaborative.
• Scrum has only 4 artifacts (documents): Product Backlog (product requirements), Sprint Backlog (requirements that will be implemented in the sprint), Sprint Goal (sprint goal, iteration), BurnDown Diagram (work burndown diagram).
• Scrum has only 4 rituals. But it’s better to read about this in the corresponding article.

The team conducts the “ritual” of the Daily Meeting

Advantages of the Agile approach:

• fast delivery of the highest priority functionality;
• reducing uncertainty in requirements through prototyping and iteration;
• desire to reduce the volume of documentation;
• quick response to changes;
• orientation towards cooperation with the customer.

Scrum implementation service

We offer a service that results in the emergence of Agile (flexible) project management processes in your company. Upon completion of the project you will receive:

1. Trained managers of your company. We will provide training for all employees who take part in software development projects from both the Business and IT sides. Training will be conducted several times: Business and IT, only IT, only Business, only the “pilot” project team, etc. There will be at least 5 sessions in total.
2. A trained Scrum team. We will help you form a team that will be the first to work on a pilot project and use an example to demonstrate the effect. We will assess the availability (capacity) of the team, suggest its focus factor, suggest how to distribute resources between different projects, and take into account other dependencies.
3. Launching a “pilot” project, where we will show how the process works “from start to finish”. This is the most important part of our work. The example of a pilot project reveals all the hidden problems that prevent your business from developing (resource conflicts, lack of analysts, inability to quickly make decisions, etc.). We will tell you how to properly avoid conflicts that have arisen and prevent similar cases in the future.
4. Instructions for teams and masters. A simple and accessible document that describes the basic actions required by the team and its environment to correctly carry out all processes in Scrum.
5. IT environment. If you have project management software, we can help you use it correctly in Scrum projects.

How does the implementation project work?

Our implementation approach is based on two-week stages. We are ready to complete the project in just 3 stages:

1. Training and preparation for implementation. We train your employees, evaluate your processes, and help you choose a pilot project. We also recommend signing a Scrum Implementation Project Charter so that the entire enterprise has the same understanding of the scope of implementation.
2. Implementation of Scrum on a pilot project. We help launch the process on your pilot project. We provide additional training for the team and product owners. We take into account the actual workload of the team, the influence of other projects, etc. We also develop instructions for Scrum teams.
3. Support for your pilot project. If necessary, we provide repeated training for the team. Every day we check whether your employees are performing the Scrum rituals correctly? Identified errors are corrected on the spot.

Before starting our work, we agree on a detailed work schedule for the first stage and a recommended schedule for stages 2 and 3.

How is Agile different from Scrum?

In short, Scrum is one of the Agile methods.

Scrum is suitable.

• for product teams who want to increase the speed of work and increase the business value of the product they create;
• for outsourcing teams - if the requirement to implement Agile/Scrum comes from the Customer, we will help you understand how best to organize the work process;
• for organizations that want to establish interaction between IT and business within the framework of internal automation projects.

Price and implementation cost

We offer a typical implementation of 6 weeks. The cost will be from 13 to 15 thousand dollars. The cost of a typical implementation depends on the complexity of your organization and the number of people who will participate in the implementation. The location of your business also plays an important role. Travel expenses are paid additionally.

• Decide which pilot project will be the first to move to Scrum. This should be an important project for the company, but not the most critical (the risk of stopping the project should be acceptable).
• select a Scrum Master. This should be a tactful and non-conflict person who will not put pressure on the pilot project team. The master must understand the specifics of the project, but does not have to be a technical person.
• Find a Product Owner who is truly interested in the implementation project's outcome and impact. Do not choose top managers who have a lot of things to do besides the project itself. It would be ideal to find an employee whose effectiveness and bonus directly depend on the speed of the product’s appearance on the market.
• Make room for the project team where they can work without being interrupted by other employees. Let the team focus only on work.
• As a project customer, be constantly close to the team to be able to quickly solve problems.

The Project Office company is the only company in Belarus that trains and implements “agile” software development methods.

We help:

• choose the most optimal way to implement changes;
• select people - key participants in the process (in agreement with the customer);
• achieve implementation goals and provide customer support after completion of the project.

The issue of Scrum Master certification is the most common issue on the subject of all Scrum certifications and trainings. Almost every second visitor to my trainings or long-term Scrum training plans to be certified in the future as a Scrum Master.

If we divide all Scrum certifications according to the timeline, then they come in several types - short-term (2-3 day courses) or long-term, in which you need to confirm your experience in Scrum, but it is not necessary to undergo long-term training.

I myself have undergone training and received certificates from the most famous Scrum schools. Now I want to talk about the most famous certifications for Scrum Masters, including my opinion on them.

We will omit my opinion on short-term certifications in this article, and although I consider long-term training for several weeks or months with homework and further analysis of questions from my work as the most effective way to learn Scrum, the number of fans of short-term certification is huge.
The demand for long-term Scrum certifications is much less, but such certifications are present in all well-known Scrum certifying schools and do not have the words “Scrum Master” in their name.
Trainings and certifications that have the words Scrum Master in their name are mainly short-term certifications. That is, in order to receive a Scrum Master certificate, you need to either attend a 2-day course or pass an online test without completing training.
But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. You can't do it without preparation.

In this article I will look at the certifications of two schools - Scrum Alliance and Scrum.org. Why only these two? I consider these organizations to be the most valuable because they were either founded by Scrum co-founders, are the most well-known in the market, or provide the strongest evidence of Scrum knowledge. At the same time, these schools, unlike most online certifications, in their test questions do not contradict the official view of Scrum, described in the Scrum Guide - the most important guide to Scrum.

So, let's go through the certifications in order.

1. Certifications from ScrumAlliance

ScrumAlliance is the largest Scrum school and the most widespread school in the world, which is the most famous and recognizable Scrum certification organization.
Of course, this is not a school, but the largest association of Scrum fans, managers of near-Agile areas, Scrum trainers, Scrum coaches and organizations involved in Scrum training.
Among the founders of ScrumAlliance in 2001 were the founders of Scrum - Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, who then founded their own certification companies also involved in Scrum certification, which I will discuss below.

It is impossible to obtain a Scrum Master certificate from this school without first attending an offline training. Scrumalliance trainings are usually quite expensive (rarely seen less than $700 per ticket)

Certifications from ScrumAlliance come in 3 types for entry level: Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner and Certified Scrum Developer, and an advanced certificate that requires experience in Scrum - Certified Scrum Professional.
To become a Scrum Master, you need your first certification.

CSM (Certified Scrum Master)

Despite the fact that there are relatively few active Scrum Masters in our market, this is the most popular certification from ScrumAlliance. Many people consider it necessary to start their journey with Scrum with this certification. Therefore, the course materials often resemble general educational Scrum training (see requirements for covering course topics for trainers). But this does not mean that the trainings are bad. In order to be eligible to give ScrumAlliance trainings with subsequent certification, you need to go through a rather difficult interview process, which is probably why I have not yet heard of bad ScrumAlliance trainings.

CSM trainings take 2 days.
In order to receive a CSM certificate, you need to attend a 2-day training from an official ScrumAlliance trainer and pass an official online test, which is sent to participants by the trainer, usually immediately after the training. The certification test is quite easy and I have never seen anyone fail it. The test is designed for basic knowledge of Scrum and has several questions relevant to the Scrum Master role.
At the same time, ScrumAlliance argues for the simplicity of the test by the fact that they test their trainers very well and are confident that the knowledge will be conveyed in a high-quality manner.

After the course, a profile will be created for you on the ScrumAlliance website.
Here is an example of the profile you will have
Those who have completed the course are given (or extended) membership in the community (and at the same time, access to their profile)

Membership must be renewed every two years for $50. There is no need to take the test.

What do you need for CSM certification?

In order to confidently pass the test and receive a certificate, in addition to the mandatory attendance at the training, I would recommend the following:
• Read the Scrum Guide This is a basic 23 page guide to Scrum, updated in 2016. Without understanding the basics of Scrum from the Scrum Guide, it is impossible to pass even the simplest Scrum exam, as there is a lot of conflicting information in various sources on Scrum. The Scrum Guide is the first place to learn about Scrum as a process framework.
• read blog posts from the Scrum Alliance in their community.
  ScrumAlliance has the largest community groups to chat about Scrum.
  Therefore, when preparing for certification, I recommend looking into their community and gaining knowledge from there.
  There is quite a lot of information here from beginning Scrum trainers as well. Therefore, if you learn to separate the wheat from the chaff in this source, I can say that you have mastered Scrum at a more than sufficient level for certification.
• read a book from the founder of Scrum in Russian. This book provides an understanding of the philosophy behind the Scrum process framework described in the Scrum Guide and will provide an understanding of not only “what to do” but also “why”. You don’t have to put in more effort if your goal is simply to get a certificate.

Exam:

After you receive the profile registered by the trainer via your email, a test will be attached to you, which you can begin taking according to the instructions sent to you by the trainer. The test has 35 multiple choice questions. To pass successfully, you need to answer 24 correctly.
If you fail the test, you will be shown the wrong questions, but will not be shown the correct answers to those questions. ScrumAlliance thus gives you the opportunity to find the right answers yourself. After this, you can take the test again for free. The test is given 1 hour. The test can be interrupted and continued at any time. During the test, you can skip questions by bookmarking them so you can return to them later.

Results:

The asking price is at least $700
Is it worth it? Yes, if you are willing to shell out money for a course from the most famous Scrum certification company.

2. Certifications from Scrum.org

This is a Scrum school founded by Scrum co-founder Ken Schwaber in 2009. It is not yet as widespread around the world as the Scrum Alliance, but it is constantly gaining momentum, and has already become more popular in some countries due to its approach to certification.
Ken Schwaber founded this school to improve Scrum teaching, which in his opinion, at the time of opening Scrum.org, was based more on making money than on quality training. You can read about the reasons for founding Scrum.org in.
You don't have to attend any training to become Scrum.org certified (although it is recommended). And you just need to pay $150 for the code for online certification.
Comfortable? Yes. But it's not that simple.

Scrum.org certifications for Scrum Masters come in 3 types: Professional Scrum Master I, Professional Scrum Master II and III.
These are different degrees of certifications that require different levels of knowledge.
All basic certifications from Scrum.org are shown in the picture

Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)

The very first Scrum Master certification from Scrum.org. And, perhaps, the most difficult certification known, when compared with other schools.
I don't know many people who passed this exam the first time. Even with preparation. Therefore, as an option, you can attend the official Scrum.org training before certification. But attending the training also does not guarantee you will receive a certificate. You will have to pass the certification on an equal basis with those who have not completed the training. You will take the same test. Pre-training gives you a good clear knowledge of Scrum, but is not required to introduce you to the tricks of passing the exam itself.

Moreover, even official trainers are prohibited from publishing answers to exam questions. Questions from the exam that appear online are mercilessly deleted in a short time.
The exam itself is quite balanced. It contains both basic level questions and questions that can only be answered quickly if you have experience working in Scrum or experience setting up processes as a Scrum Master. The exam also contains “tricky” questions, the answers to which you can know if you memorize the Scrum terminology well and practically memorize the Scrum Guide. By the way, the exam is taken in English, so it is best to read English-language literature. The ideal option, of course, is to have 3-5 years of experience in Scrum. This will help you better understand the essence of some issues, but it is not a fact that it will be sufficient to pass. On Sctum.org you will see a lot of posts where people with more than 5 years of experience have failed the exam and are complaining ;)

Preparing for PSM I

I will describe a few tricks that will help reduce the cost of preparing for this exam.
1. It's good to read the Scrum Guide in English. Read it again, and again, read it very well 10-15 times. If your English is not perfect, I recommend studying the basic wording, as the exam contains tricky questions.
2. Read the book "Scrum - A Pocket guide" by Gunther Verheyen.
   Most of the exam questions were written or reviewed by Gunther, so his books provide the best insight into Scrum.org's perspective on certification questions.
   Here is a short list of Gunter's sources that I also recommend reading in preparation:
3. Read posts in . There are no direct answers to the questions in the exam in this blog, but there are some that are very similar. Here you can find good explanations from Scrum.org officials on questions about Scrum that are covered in the certification test. I enjoy reading this blog because there are a lot of savvy trainers on the Scrum.org forum.
4. Read from Scrum.org
   In fact, with enough experience, point 1 may be quite enough, but when you pass, you may be scared by some questions.
5. Take a free test from Scrum.org
   If you pass successfully, do not be too happy - this test does not guarantee certification. The exam will have questions that are much more difficult than the open test.
   I would view this test as a litmus test for not being ready. If you score less than 100%, then most likely you will not be able to pass the certification exam. But in this test, unlike the certificate exam, incorrect answers to questions are examined.

How does the certification work?

Summary:

PSMI is the most difficult certification for Scrum Masters in existence. Requires thorough preparation. But the result is worth it. I can call everyone who passed the PSM I test specialists who understand Scrum and are confident in the Scrum framework. Certification does not require training. The asking price is $150. Is it worth renting? Of course it's worth it! It will be an unforgettable experience that you will not regret.

PSM II and PSM III

These are even more advanced certifications from Scrum.org. They are included in the mandatory training program for trainers from Scrum.org, so the level of trainers in this organization is quite high. Ordinary Scrum Masters can take these certificates rather for their own satisfaction, since they are not required anywhere. PSM II also consists of single and multiple choice questions, while PSM III requires you to write short essays on manually graded questions. Considering the high cost and complexity of these exams, I have yet to meet anyone who has passed these exams just for themselves without participating in a trainer training program.

Conclusions:

There are many Scrum certifications. All schools have their pros and cons. Given the conditionally identical level of importance of the schools considered, when choosing a certification organization, I would recommend looking at the following main points

	ScrumAlliance	Scrum.org
Certification price:	0 USD only after completing the training	150 USD free of charge when completing the training
The need to undergo training	yes, definitely	not necessary
Training price	from 700 USD	from 650 USD
Membership cost	50 USD	0 USD
Duration of membership	2 years	no concept of membership
Difficulty of the exam	Easy to medium questions, 60 minutes, 35 questions, 27 answers to pass	Easy, Medium, Hard and Confusing Questions, 60 Minutes, 80 Questions, 68 Answers to Take
Amount of effort in preparing for the exam	Complete the training and read the Scrum Guide	It takes time and effort to prepare
Number of submission attempts	2	1

If certification is not so significant for you, then at my Scrum trainings I provide knowledge that will be useful to you in the experience of implementing Scrum in practice in your company.
Stay with us. Scrum must go on!

During the sprint, all work that is needed to obtain a working version of the product must be completed. The scope of a sprint should be fixed. Thanks to this, the team can take responsibility for its implementation. Based on this, the sprint backlog cannot be changed by anyone except the team.

You can learn about all this in detail from the book “Scrum - a revolutionary method of project management” by Jeff Sutherland, and we will continue the conversation on the topic of practices. Once you get acquainted with them, you will be able to understand how a Scrum project is implemented.

Daily Scrum Meetings

Daily meetings take place in the morning before work begins. They are necessary so that each team member knows who is doing exactly what in the current project. The optimal duration of such meetings is 15 minutes. No problems are solved in the process, because... participants simply share information. If there are issues that require resolution, they are taken outside the meeting.

The Scrum Master conducts daily meetings. In turn, he asks each participant the following questions:

• What did you do yesterday?
• What will you do today?
• What problems have you encountered?

The Scrum Master enters all open questions into the “Action Items” list. The format “What? Who? When?". Here is a simple example of such a list:

• Discuss background design details
• Tolya and Kolya
• Right after lunch

Any interested person can participate in daily meetings, but all decisions are made only by members of the development team. The reason for this is the participants' commitment to achieving the sprint goal. If someone else contributes to decision making, he will thereby remove responsibility from the team members.

Sprint review meetings

At the end of each sprint, it is common to hold a demo meeting to review the sprint. The optimal duration of these meetings is no more than 4 hours.

At the beginning of the meeting, the development team shows the product owner its working version (demonstrates the results of the work done). The meeting takes place under the control of the owner himself, and he has the right to invite all interested people and their representatives to it.

During the meeting, the product owner evaluates which requirements from the sprint backlog have been completed, discusses the results with the team and the customer, and together with them plans tasks to be completed in the new sprint.

In the second half of the meeting, the Scrum Master, together with the other participants, analyzes the past sprint. The development team determines, analyzes them, draws conclusions and makes decisions that will improve further work.

At the end of the meeting, the results are summarized and the next sprint is planned (this happens according to the usual sprint planning algorithm we have already discussed). After completing the second sprint, a new demo meeting is held, and so on in a circle until the Scrum project is completely completed.

Sprint emergency stop

An emergency sprint stop is only necessary for special cases. The team can stop the sprint before the deadline (the deadline for completing the sprint) if it realizes that it is not possible to achieve the results set for this sprint. The sprint can also be stopped by the product owner if there is no longer a need to achieve the sprint goal.

If the sprint is stopped, all project participants gather at a general meeting to discuss the reasons for the stop and further actions. After this, the go-ahead is given to start a new sprint and plan it, for which the same algorithms are used.

It’s easy to see that Scrum practices are quite simple. But in addition to roles and practices in Scrum project management, there are also important documents called artifacts. We have already mentioned them briefly, but it will be better if we delve a little deeper into this topic.

Artifacts in Scrum

In any Scrum project there are three main artifacts (documents):

• Product Backlog
• Sprint Backlog
• Sprint Chart (Burndown Chart)

Each of the artifacts has its own characteristics.

Product log

The product backlog is prepared at the very beginning of the project. It is a list of requirements sorted by importance. It is compiled by the product owner, and the development team completes it, including estimates of the cost of implementing each requirement.

The product backlog should include the technical and functional requirements necessary for its development. These requirements need to be prioritized, and the highest priority ones need to be written down in detail so that the team has the opportunity to evaluate and test them.

Timely and prepared detailing of projects, as well as delivery of them in full and at the right time, are the tasks of the product owner.

Sprint Log

The sprint backlog reflects the functionality that the product owner selected from the previously compiled product backlog. Each function is divided into tasks. The breakdown is done so that it does not take more than two days to complete one task.

Thanks to a high-quality breakdown of functions into tasks, the sprint can be planned in such a way that by the end of it there is nothing left undone, which means that the iteration goal is achieved.

Once the detailing is completed, the sprint backlog is estimated and this estimate is compared to the initial product backlog estimate. When significant discrepancies are identified, the development team works with the product owner to determine the amount of work that needs to be completed during a particular sprint, as well as the amount that can be carried forward to the next iteration.

Minor tasks that do not have much impact on achieving the iteration goal are excluded from the sprint backlog.

Sprint schedule

A sprint chart is needed to show the daily change in the total work remaining until the end of the sprint. With its help, the team can analyze the current situation and respond to changes in a timely manner.

In addition, using the sprint schedule, the product owner can track the progress of the iteration. Therefore, it is very easy for him to establish: if the amount of work does not decrease every day, it means that there are some deviations in the process and the team’s actions urgently need to be adjusted.

These are the general features of the Scrum methodology. If you would like to understand this method in more detail, then Jeff Sutherland will help you with this - check out the already mentioned book “Scrum - a revolutionary method of project management.” And all we can do is summarize this brief overview of Scrum.

Conclusions about Scrum

So, belonging to the Agile system of flexible management methods, Scrum can be safely called a real find for people whose activities are related to projects. Among its advantages, first of all, orientation and adaptability stand out. The method allows you to change project requirements at any time (even if it does not guarantee that these changes will be implemented). And this opportunity is very attractive to customers.

Secondly, Scrum is very easy to learn. In addition, the method does not take a huge amount of time. And due to the fact that the work system is built on an iterative principle (and each iteration has its own goal), using the Scrum method you can obtain working versions of the product at the end of each sprint.

Thirdly, the emphasis in the method is on a multifunctional and self-organizing team that is able to solve most problems with a minimum of coordination. It is for this reason that Scrum projects are suitable for startups and small companies, eliminating the need for them to train a specialized staff of managers or hire outside professionals.

But you shouldn’t think that the Scrum methodology is the solution to all problems and a guarantee of success. It also has several disadvantages. For example, its minimalism and simplicity determine, albeit few, but still strict rules, in particular the rules of interaction within the team, which in some cases can cause certain inconvenience to the customer.

Another drawback is the lack of a plan, because all actions by project participants are carried out in real time. And finally, focusing on the team is also not always useful. Although there is no particular need for team coordination (and therefore no costs for it), the costs of recruiting, training and motivating staff may increase. If, for example, there are not enough suitable specialists in the labor market, you will have to hire either expensive professionals or not hire anyone at all.

However, the advantages of the Scrum methodology cannot be compared with its disadvantages, and with a certain amount of persistence, mastering it will not be difficult. Using Scrum helps companies implement a variety of projects and become more competitive. The method is focused on change and constant development, and its flexibility is achieved through continuous interaction of project participants with each other.

But let us remind you that this review is purely for informational purposes, so for additional information you will in any case have to turn to third-party sources. And from them you can learn about other intricacies of Scrum project management and the features of its application. You can start with this short video, and we wish you good luck and successful implementation of all your projects!

Project management ,

Agile

Product Management

When I read: “Agile is much more than just Scrum” - in the description of the Certified Agile Professional certification course from ScrumTrek, the first thing I thought was: why ScrumTrek, then it should have been called AgileTrek? After completing this training, I returned to this statement with a more serious attitude. So what did I take away from the training? Notes, handouts and Certified ICAgile Professional certificate? What about understanding what Agile is? What is the concept of the Agile approach? What is Agile mindset?

In this note I share my impressions of the training. This is not so much a retelling of the content of the training as a subjective assessment of the benefits of the knowledge gained from it. I hope this helps determine if you need this training.

History of Agile

I remember well the story of Agile, which the trainer presented in the form of the progressive maturation of the entire software development industry.

Code-and-Fix allowed the industry to start writing code relatively cheaply without any plans, documentation or special requirements for developer qualifications.

It was replaced in the 1970s by the Waterfall model, which reduced risks, increased the transparency of software development, and also eliminated the problem of the high cost of software maintenance while maintaining low requirements for developer qualifications. The model began to be used everywhere, which quickly exposed its problems. Waterfall works well only in cases where everything is known in advance: what product needs to be developed, what implementation technologies need to be used - and no changes occur along the way.

The first attempts to correct the situation were associated with the emergence of iterative approaches in the 1990s. On the one hand, this is facilitated by the reduction in price of computers, when computer time ceases to be an objective limitation, which allows for repeated experiments to increase the functionality of the product. On the other hand, new IT technologies are increasingly increasing competition, so businesses have to quickly apply them in business. Whoever introduced a new technology before others won both customers and the market. From this moment on, the active development of flexible development processes begins, which aim to provide businesses with rapid delivery of functionality. In essence, there is a rollback to the “quick” Code-and-Fix method, but it is complemented by planning and eliminating risks.

By the way, it seems to me that to this day most corporate developers do not use Scrum at all, as they think, but iterative waterfall. Look at the diagram below, this is how it all works for you, right?

Or is it still the same as in Scrum?

In 1992, Crystal emerged and for the first time focused on delivering working code frequently to end users. Then, in 1994, the DSM (Dynamic Systems Development Method) was introduced, which proclaimed a focus on business needs and an irreducible level of software quality (around the same year the term Refactoring appeared). Finally, the Scrum Framework was introduced in 1996 and became the de facto standard for managing agile development. In the same year, pair programming began to be used for the first time. And in 1999, XP appeared, which brought the concept of user stories (User Story), release planning and continuous integration (Continuous Integration). The result of all these private initiatives was the Agile Manifesto for Software Development, developed in 2001, which enshrines 10 years of proven values ​​and principles to quickly deliver functionality to businesses.

Further development of Agile is associated with attempts to eliminate all possible losses (downtime) in the software development process, thereby further increasing the speed of delivery of functionality. In 2003, Lean Software Development appeared as an adaptation of Toyota's lean manufacturing concept to the software development industry. In 2006, the movement continues with the emergence of Kanban Software Development, which presents a ready-made algorithm for eliminating waste in the flow of delivering value (functionality) to a business. Also in 2011, in response to the explosive growth of SAAS (software as a service), the concept of DevOps emerged, which combines development and maintenance to eliminate waste at the interface.

In total, production (development) has ceased to be a bottleneck, having learned to satisfy business needs as quickly as possible. However, Agile development continues. First, in the area of ​​Scaling Agile in Large Enterprises (SAFe). Secondly, the huge number of failed investment projects raises a question in the field of product development: how to develop the most in-demand product as cheaply as possible? In 2009, Lean Startup became the answer to this limitation.

Agile Values ​​and Principles

Together with the participants, the trainer consistently and deeply examines each value and each principle of the Agile Software Development Manifesto. I admit that before the training I sincerely believed that I understood the values ​​and principles perfectly. It turned out that this is not entirely true.

For example, the second Agile value is: “A working product is more important than comprehensive documentation.” At one time, this was a declaration of denial of the waterfall model, in which the understanding of progress is largely based on project documentation. But in version 2 of the Agile Manifesto, the wording has changed: “Business value is more important than a working product” (Agile Manifesto 2.1 - “MoreAgile Manifesto”). This is an example of the evolution of Agile values ​​associated with the emergence of Lean Startup: too many working products turned out to be of no use to anyone.

Scrum and Kanban

A significant part of the training is an overview of the Scrum Framework and Kanban. Retelling this part of the training is not the purpose of this note. I will only note that the coach helps you feel every non-trivial moment at your fingertips through team play. But this is worth talking about in more detail.

Games in Agile

All the games were easy to learn and fun to play. During one game on the second day of the training, one of the participants exclaimed: “What were we doing before? Here it is!" Below I will talk about what we learned in games.

Penny/Multitasking games demonstrated live (on ourselves) and convincingly (with an ordinary stopwatch) the need to take small portions of work and not perform several tasks at the same time. We saw how this eliminates losses due to downtime in a strictly sequential work process (waterfall), losses due to the accumulation of unfinished work (a full mouth takes longer to chew), and losses due to context switching (in the waterfall model, an employee is most likely to work on several projects at the same time) .

Planning poker is such a simple technique for an assessment team that even within a short game it allows you to feel its merits. For example, all members of my gaming team agreed in the end that we spent most of our time not at all on estimating the labor costs of this or that work, but on discussing work that we initially understood differently. In other words, the main benefit lies not in the assessment number at all, but in the same understanding of the work. On the other hand, being limited in time, we avoided arguments and discussions if our assessments agreed immediately. Simple things, but how difficult it is to follow them in your work! Is not it?

The playful staging of sabotage at the Daily Standup Meeting brought us back to discussing Agile values. For example, a Scrum Master (process coach) should not be a manager for the development team or behave accordingly, that is, distribute tasks, involve emotions and oppose himself to the group, thereby turning the meeting into a dull reporting meeting of team members to themselves.

Agile-Scrum Foundation 1

Scrum (Agile) is a popular methodology for managing software development projects. How to organize the interaction of a development team so that the development project is completed successfully. What and how to document, how, with whom and how often to discuss project details, how to assign tasks to people and how to monitor the result. All this is Scrum (Agile).

Unlike overarching project management approaches such as the Project Management Institute (PMI)® PMBOK® Guide, Scrum was originally designed for software development with frequently changing requirements. At the same time, Scrum (Agile) is more focused on the development process itself than on the management process. This technology complements any of the classical management processes well and can be integrated with it when developing even very large IT projects. Agile practices have now become part of the PMBOK® Guide.

On course "Agile - Scrum Foundation 1. Project management using flexible approaches". You will learn to organize the software development process and obtain a finished product within strictly fixed, and most importantly, short deadlines in frequently changing conditions. During the course, you will develop a new “product” using Scrum (Agile). As a Scrum Team, you will gain live experience and experience the benefits of working in Scrum (Agile). Under the guidance of our coach, you will go through various real-life situations, to solve which you will need to apply new, innovative Scrum (Agile) approaches.

Course audience:

• Software developers are members of development teams, team leads (senior development teams).
• Specialists who want to master the role of Product Owner or Scrum Master in Scrum teams.
• Scrum team management who wants to get acquainted with the peculiarities of work within the team.

The course "Agile-Scrum Foundation 1. Project Management using Agile Approaches" provides preparation for and PDU for renewing your existing certifications:

	Technical	Leadership	Strategic	Total
PMI_RMP®	-		-
PMI_SP®	-		-
PMP(r)®			-
PgMP(r)®			-
PMI_ACP®			-
PfMP®	-		-
PMI_PBA SM	-		-

PMI is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute.
PMBoK is a registered trademark of the Project Management Institute.