“What is Scrum?” The Agile Training that Won’t Break the Bank
By Catherine / Filed under Agile, Collaboration, Inspect & Adapt, WORK is GOOD / November 15th, 2010
Meet Carlton.
On Wednesday, November 10, 2010, the lovely Mr Nettleton (an active member of the Scrum and Agile communities) partnered with us at Conscires to bring a low cost Agile/Scrum training workshop to Southern California. And not to toot our own horns, but “Beep! Beep!” It was a great success. The class was completely full. We actually had to turn a few away. (Don’t worry, round two will come in January.)
Although we see great value in the training courses certified by the Scrum Alliance, these classes usually run $1,000+ with a two day time commitment. This money/time commitment it not something feasible for many professionals, especially those in transition or working as contractors. With that in mind, it is still quite necessary for these members of the professional community to expand their knowledge. We sought to solve this problem with an experiential one day class costing about $250.
So what took place? What was covered in just eight brief hours?
A lot.
We quickly moved from the beginning knowledge and concerns of the class participants to the Scrum values and Principles. Guided by a very spiffy, color coded task board and a short set of working agreements, the class powered forward. At frequent intervals, the participants were presented with opportunity to inspect and adapt. They communicated swiftly through a variety of Agile practices (35, Fist of Five, etc) what they needed to learn from Carlton and the rest of the instructional team (a Certified Scrum Trainer, Certified Scrum Professional and Certified Scrum Master…you’re not getting all that in a regular Scrum Alliance certified course).
After lunch, it was obvious the class had totally gone pro with all the Agile best practices they picked up in four hours of instruction that morning. It was time to let them loose on a mini Scrum development simulation. The class split into three teams. They were given a vision, time boxes for three sprints, and a lot of colorful craft supplies. Some highly sophisticated games resulted (see above for Scrum Animals, unfortunately you readers can’t get the effect of the truly genius sound effects).
So, I really believe the participants in this one day intro course left with their recently transformed agile minds ready to start socializing the ideas behind the Scrum framework and the Agile Manifesto.
If you are interested in joining the next intro course, please check out the link below. Early Bird prices are available through December 23 (Happy Holidays!).
“What is Scrum?” with Carlton Nettleton- January 12, 2010
We are also introducing a new workshop focusing on estimation and planning. This is a great course if you are already working in an Agile organization, or if you are preparing to transition to a Product Owner or Agile manager role. Enjoy Early Bird prices all the way through Christmas.
Agile Estimation & Planning with Carlton Nettleton- January 14, 2010
Taking "Agile Warrior" to a whole new level. **NOTE: No Scrummers were hurt in the staging of this photo**
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Conscires attracts some of the best trainers in the business. It is great to hear how successful Carlton’s training was, and that there will be more opportunities for others to take this course. My recommendation: just do it!