About Us
We focus on giving you the best possible return on investment, with many services and resources to help you become Agile.
Collaboration that reaps rewards takes more than having a group of people in the same office. Learning doesn't gain anything unless you can apply it and get results. We show you how to implement best practices in the context of your own organization with your unique goals and constraints in mind.
Approach
While Agile is the primary focus of our services, we have many years of experience running all sizes of software projects from the very small to the very large. We understand what it takes for teams to collaborate to create to best possible solution. We also have very deep understanding of the full software development lifecycle and of how to implement best practices.
While we are passionate about the work we do, we are also pragmatic about ensuring that the services that we deliver fit with your organization and your goals. The relationship that we build with you is of utmost importance.
Mark Levison
Mark Levison is the Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile Coach behind Agile Pain Relief Consulting. With over 30 years of experience in the IT industry, he has been learning and teaching Agile since 2001. Introducing Scrum, Lean, and Agile methodology to a large variety of organizations —government departments, banks, insurance, healthcare, education, software, logistics and non-profits, to name only a few— Mark has brought Scrum to thousands of professionals and helped launch the practice throughout Canada.
Participants benefit from Mark’s voracious study and writing on the neuroscience of learning. A respected international speaker at Agile Alliance conferences and Scrum Gatherings, Mark is also a published author on the subject, including The Guide to Effective Agile Retrospectives, Five Steps Towards Creating High-Performance Teams, blog “Notes from a Tool User”, “Beyond Scrum”, various guides and handbooks, and multiple articles for InfoQ and the Scrum Alliance.
Heather Uhl
Heather Uhl joined Agile Pain Relief Consulting in 2003 as Operations Manager, and supports Mark with his writing, teaching, and general business, as well as provides resource information for public Scrum enquiries and Agile Pain Relief’s thousands of alumni.
Decades of experience working with artists and non-traditional businesses underpins Heather’s interest in Agile methodology and her passion for empowering others to succeed. In addition to her work with Mark, she is the owner of More Time in a Day and longtime Operations Manager of Canadian Music Hall of Fame band Trooper.
We've helped 8000+ people find success using Scrum
Proud to be the trusted training provider for many of the largest financial, insurance, software, and education organizations, as well as all levels of Canadian government.
Anyone looking to do this course...do it with Mark! His passion for all things “Scrum and Agile” shines through and excites his students. He’s a “scrum” realist with a fantastic sense of humour! The material is relevant today and Mark gives us a glimpse of what we can expect 5 years from now. The post class support is fantastic and shows how passionate and knowledgeable Mark is about “learning!” A true educator!
Roberta PVirtual
The instructor has an uncanny ability to articulate concepts and make learning fun and enjoyable.
Bilal RToronto
This course was exactly what I was looking for! Mark was a very knowledgeable and engaging instructor. I appreciated the hands-on exercises that allowed me to put the methodology into practice with my course mates and learn from the experience. The course material is also top notch. I feel ready to take the exam and put what I've learnt into practice in my workplace.
Anu PVirtual
Mark is an excellent trainer with examples and practices. Very organized and the best thing is his response to our questions with example, in addition, the amount of references that might help up improve as a scrum master.
Dona AMontreal
Mark is a very engaging instructor. He combines his scrum master knowledge with humour and demontrates both in real situations. He has inspired me through this course to be a great scrum master!
Lisa MToronto
Mark's ability to adapt to the background of students and relate to their org's characteristics adds exceptional value. This course isn't just for software development!
Paul AOttawa
Very knowledgeable and interesting. I appreciated that he respected the outline and timeframes.
Caroline DVirtual
The course itself is a great introduction to the Scrum Master role. It starts with the fundamentals and advances through a successful balance of instruction and interactive exercises. Our instructor - Mark Levison - is obviously an expert in his field and passionate about the subject. He displayed great skill in getting his message across to his students and also in keeping us interested and involved throughout the three day course.
Sean SVirtual
Excellent teaching and course delivery. Practical scrum practices was very informational.
Odion OToronto
Very enthusiastic and diplomatic. Very knowledgeable. Course was enjoyable.
Chris MKitchener-Waterloo
Mark is knowledgable and engaging. What I liked the most was that he stood his ground if anyone challenged what he taught (respectfully) and offered an explanation why.
Andrea MOttawa
This course was a real eye opener and hope it will not be like preaching in the desert. You are a great orator and would love to listen to your thoughts for hours.
Marc-Andre LMontreal
Awesome. Enlightment for pain points like overtime, too many WIP, motivation, etc.
Susie LVancouver
I enjoyed having Mark as an instructor, he is knowledgeable on the topic, provided easy to follow examples, and has a good sense of humour. I liked how he took notes on questions
people had, provided a brief answer and then provided links after the workshop so that we could follow up on the topics that interest us. The 10 min sanity breaks that he gave every
hour were great as it allowed my brain to relax and then come back and focus. I really enjoyed the course, I learned lots over the 2 day workshop. I feel like 2 days might be a bit short for the course as I would have enjoyed another day of the course to learn more and refine my skills. I would recommend this course to anyone new to the scrum master role or interested in learning about scrum as it gives you a great base that you can expand.
Christopher MVirtual
Mark is very patient and gives very good explanations. Setup the environment to be very friendly.
Zac LVirtual
He is very motivated. Mark kept us engaged as the day went fast. He was respectful and was active listener, paid attention to cues when we did not understand.
Lyne LOttawa
To the point and with passion!
Colin MToronto
Awesome and objective! Careful not to influence how we work by answering other students.
Shawn MMontreal
Knowledgeable, prepared, interactive.
Anca MMontreal
Great instructor, great technique using Scrum to learn.
Jen MToronto
Concepts I learned in this course are more sticky because they were demonstrated through exercise and not just explained.
Joseph MOttawa
Mark's facilitation style was extremly engaging and his knowledge deep. I like the way he builds the scrum framework into the training workshop agenda. No power point, lots of discussion and releveant examples. I appreciate very much the time Mark took to address my question for which he had no existing reference.
Renee OKitchener-Waterloo
Came into the course with basic practice and limited knowledge of theory. Mark has deep knowledge and experience of the material that is easily shared, conveyed, and put into practical settings /analogies. I appreciated the effort of setting a team working agreement during the course, how we communicated /voted throughout the course, and the respected timeframe granted to teach us the material. Many thanks Mark for sharing your time, knowledge, and humour with us. It was very interesting, albeit an intense 2 days of information. Not an easy feat in a virtual setting. Also, many thanks for the many links provided to learn further on our own time. The course material is large and wide. This was perfect to learn basic theory in practice. Further knowledge, training and experience is required to fully capture and understand the depth of SCRUM and Agile.
Chantal MVirtual
Excellent. Learn a lot about Scrum. Very knowledgeable and experienced in the area. Able to relate different examples on questions asked during class.
Robert CToronto
Mark is very knowledgeable and is great at simplifying and illustrating abstract concepts.
Thierry LMontreal
Excellent, great management of large group, Excellent information
Susan LPrivate Client
Mark did an excellent job. I appreciated the hands-on nature of the training wherein we actually tried to do Scrum. He was patient handling all our questions and issues, and managed to keep us engaged despite being on Zoom.
Dan MVirtual
Fantastic course. I was really happy with the structure, the breaks, and the group interaction. I've taken other online courses like this before and really felt like there was a good balance between listening, discussions, applying the knowledge, and pauses.
Amanda PVirtual
Mark Levinson is very knowledgeable in Scrum and has the ability to start you on the right track given your specific workplace problems. He is also able to generalize issues and show how they can be solved with the tools provided in the course.
Hatem NVirtual
Provided excellent understanding of scrum, more difficult concepts with a very hands on approach.
Carmen CToronto
Mark was such a great and fun instructor! He is very knowledgeable and good at explaining Scrum in a way that can be understood by all. I would definitely recommend this course with Mark to my colleagues and team!
Audrey MVirtual
Excellent course. Recommend for people that have done some Scrum and read all the readings. Mark is a great instructor. Among best I've had.
David MEdmonton
Mark was excellent - one of the best instructors I have had. Well prepared, knowledgable, and he obviously cares.
David OEdmonton
Energetic. Applied scrum in practice by helping lead us to answers in many modules.
Laura LVancouver
Very knowledgeable, informative, flexible in fitting situations into ideas.
Katie MOttawa
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Mark. I learned a lot and appreciate his teaching style.
Kendall APrivate Client
Very good presentation skills. Excellent materials for study (in class and via email). Good tips and pragmatic approach. Good experience and info from the trenches.
Luiza DToronto
Mark is very knowledgeable and open/fair when answering questions or comments from the class. The course did a great job of covering scrum.
Darryl COttawa
Mark was engaging, knowledgeable, well-read and provided great examples.
Warren CVancouver
Solid grounding in Scrum and examples to apply it at work.
John CVancouver
The content of the course covered most of things I was looking for. Mark is a knowledgeable instructor and was able to answer all of the queries the class had.
Ramandeep MEdmonton
Excellent instructor!!! Expert in Agile/Scrum.
Marc BOttawa
Great course, a lot of valuable information. Experienced instructor, great ability to adapt to group and real work situtations.
Karen LPrivate Client
Mark is totally wonderfully weird and knowledgeable.
Sarah MOttawa
Mark is very knowledgeable and communicates the value of Scrum very clearly. He uses real-world examples which helps tremendously.
Matt MOttawa
Great facilitation techniques often used as a regular classroom teacher (i.e. rephrasing, simplificaion, observing, hinting, investigative learning).
Mike PMontreal
Mark was fantastic. He really knows how to keep everyone engaged and I found the course really fun. Still subscribe to the belief that learning is done best when you're having fun so thank you :)
Sabrina AVirtual
Mark was fantastic and the course was a great!
Henry MVirtual
Extremely knowledgeable. Engaged the entire team. Clear communication.
Ahalya AToronto
Truly an expert. Knows his stuff.
Denise AOttawa
Very knowledgeable and interesting. I appreciated that he respected the outline and timeframes.
Caroline DVirtual
Anyone looking to do this course...do it with Mark! His passion for all things “Scrum and Agile” shines through and excites his students. He’s a “scrum” realist with a fantastic sense of humour! The material is relevant today and Mark gives us a glimpse of what we can expect 5 years from now. The post class support is fantastic and shows how passionate and knowledgeable Mark is about “learning!” A true educator!
Roberta PVirtual
The course itself is a great introduction to the Scrum Master role. It starts with the fundamentals and advances through a successful balance of instruction and interactive exercises. Our instructor - Mark Levison - is obviously an expert in his field and passionate about the subject. He displayed great skill in getting his message across to his students and also in keeping us interested and involved throughout the three day course.
Sean SVirtual
Excellent teaching and course delivery. Practical scrum practices was very informational.
Odion OToronto
Very enthusiastic and diplomatic. Very knowledgeable. Course was enjoyable.
Chris MKitchener-Waterloo
Mark is knowledgable and engaging. What I liked the most was that he stood his ground if anyone challenged what he taught (respectfully) and offered an explanation why.
Andrea MOttawa
This course was a real eye opener and hope it will not be like preaching in the desert. You are a great orator and would love to listen to your thoughts for hours.
Marc-Andre LMontreal
Awesome. Enlightment for pain points like overtime, too many WIP, motivation, etc.
Susie LVancouver
I enjoyed having Mark as an instructor, he is knowledgeable on the topic, provided easy to follow examples, and has a good sense of humour. I liked how he took notes on questions
people had, provided a brief answer and then provided links after the workshop so that we could follow up on the topics that interest us. The 10 min sanity breaks that he gave every
hour were great as it allowed my brain to relax and then come back and focus. I really enjoyed the course, I learned lots over the 2 day workshop. I feel like 2 days might be a bit short for the course as I would have enjoyed another day of the course to learn more and refine my skills. I would recommend this course to anyone new to the scrum master role or interested in learning about scrum as it gives you a great base that you can expand.
Christopher MVirtual
Mark is very patient and gives very good explanations. Setup the environment to be very friendly.
Zac LVirtual
He is very motivated. Mark kept us engaged as the day went fast. He was respectful and was active listener, paid attention to cues when we did not understand.
Lyne LOttawa
To the point and with passion!
Colin MToronto
Awesome and objective! Careful not to influence how we work by answering other students.
Shawn MMontreal
Knowledgeable, prepared, interactive.
Anca MMontreal
Great instructor, great technique using Scrum to learn.
Jen MToronto
Concepts I learned in this course are more sticky because they were demonstrated through exercise and not just explained.
Joseph MOttawa
Mark's facilitation style was extremly engaging and his knowledge deep. I like the way he builds the scrum framework into the training workshop agenda. No power point, lots of discussion and releveant examples. I appreciate very much the time Mark took to address my question for which he had no existing reference.
Renee OKitchener-Waterloo
Came into the course with basic practice and limited knowledge of theory. Mark has deep knowledge and experience of the material that is easily shared, conveyed, and put into practical settings /analogies. I appreciated the effort of setting a team working agreement during the course, how we communicated /voted throughout the course, and the respected timeframe granted to teach us the material. Many thanks Mark for sharing your time, knowledge, and humour with us. It was very interesting, albeit an intense 2 days of information. Not an easy feat in a virtual setting. Also, many thanks for the many links provided to learn further on our own time. The course material is large and wide. This was perfect to learn basic theory in practice. Further knowledge, training and experience is required to fully capture and understand the depth of SCRUM and Agile.
Chantal MVirtual
Excellent. Learn a lot about Scrum. Very knowledgeable and experienced in the area. Able to relate different examples on questions asked during class.
Robert CToronto
Mark is very knowledgeable and is great at simplifying and illustrating abstract concepts.
Thierry LMontreal
Excellent, great management of large group, Excellent information
Susan LPrivate Client
Mark did an excellent job. I appreciated the hands-on nature of the training wherein we actually tried to do Scrum. He was patient handling all our questions and issues, and managed to keep us engaged despite being on Zoom.
Dan MVirtual
The instructor has an uncanny ability to articulate concepts and make learning fun and enjoyable.
Bilal RToronto
Fantastic course. I was really happy with the structure, the breaks, and the group interaction. I've taken other online courses like this before and really felt like there was a good balance between listening, discussions, applying the knowledge, and pauses.
Amanda PVirtual
Mark Levinson is very knowledgeable in Scrum and has the ability to start you on the right track given your specific workplace problems. He is also able to generalize issues and show how they can be solved with the tools provided in the course.
Hatem NVirtual
Provided excellent understanding of scrum, more difficult concepts with a very hands on approach.
Carmen CToronto
Mark was such a great and fun instructor! He is very knowledgeable and good at explaining Scrum in a way that can be understood by all. I would definitely recommend this course with Mark to my colleagues and team!
Audrey MVirtual
Excellent course. Recommend for people that have done some Scrum and read all the readings. Mark is a great instructor. Among best I've had.
David MEdmonton
This course was exactly what I was looking for! Mark was a very knowledgeable and engaging instructor. I appreciated the hands-on exercises that allowed me to put the methodology into practice with my course mates and learn from the experience. The course material is also top notch. I feel ready to take the exam and put what I've learnt into practice in my workplace.
Anu PVirtual
Mark was excellent - one of the best instructors I have had. Well prepared, knowledgable, and he obviously cares.
David OEdmonton
Energetic. Applied scrum in practice by helping lead us to answers in many modules.
Laura LVancouver
Very knowledgeable, informative, flexible in fitting situations into ideas.
Katie MOttawa
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Mark. I learned a lot and appreciate his teaching style.
Kendall APrivate Client
Mark is an excellent trainer with examples and practices. Very organized and the best thing is his response to our questions with example, in addition, the amount of references that might help up improve as a scrum master.
Dona AMontreal
Very good presentation skills. Excellent materials for study (in class and via email). Good tips and pragmatic approach. Good experience and info from the trenches.
Luiza DToronto
Mark is very knowledgeable and open/fair when answering questions or comments from the class. The course did a great job of covering scrum.
Darryl COttawa
Mark was engaging, knowledgeable, well-read and provided great examples.
Warren CVancouver
Solid grounding in Scrum and examples to apply it at work.
John CVancouver
The content of the course covered most of things I was looking for. Mark is a knowledgeable instructor and was able to answer all of the queries the class had.
Ramandeep MEdmonton
Excellent instructor!!! Expert in Agile/Scrum.
Marc BOttawa
Great course, a lot of valuable information. Experienced instructor, great ability to adapt to group and real work situtations.
Karen LPrivate Client
Mark is a very engaging instructor. He combines his scrum master knowledge with humour and demontrates both in real situations. He has inspired me through this course to be a great scrum master!
Lisa MToronto
Mark is totally wonderfully weird and knowledgeable.
Sarah MOttawa
Mark is very knowledgeable and communicates the value of Scrum very clearly. He uses real-world examples which helps tremendously.
Matt MOttawa
Great facilitation techniques often used as a regular classroom teacher (i.e. rephrasing, simplificaion, observing, hinting, investigative learning).
Mike PMontreal
Mark was fantastic. He really knows how to keep everyone engaged and I found the course really fun. Still subscribe to the belief that learning is done best when you're having fun so thank you :)
Sabrina AVirtual
Mark's ability to adapt to the background of students and relate to their org's characteristics adds exceptional value. This course isn't just for software development!
Paul AOttawa
Mark was fantastic and the course was a great!
Henry MVirtual
Extremely knowledgeable. Engaged the entire team. Clear communication.
Ahalya AToronto
Truly an expert. Knows his stuff.
Denise AOttawa
Get Certified
Explore what Scrum is and how to make it work for you in our Scrum Certification training. Hands-on learning will guide you to improve teamwork, deliver quick feedback, and achieve better products and results.
Registration is now open for workshops:
About this course
Focuses on the role of the team and the ScrumMaster. Get the skills and practical experience necessary to improve teamwork, take the exam, and advance your career with a certification that is in high demand today. Often the best fit for anyone new to Scrum.
Learning and Benefits
Relatable Scenarios
Learn on-the-job applications of key Scrum concepts, skills, principles, along with practical solutions that you can apply the next day for difficult, real-life situations.
Respected Certification
Everything you need to earn your Scrum Alliance® ScrumMaster certification, including exam fee and membership, and so much more.
Practical Exercises
With focus on the challenges that real teams face, and tools to dig deeper. You don’t need more boring Scrum theory. You need something you can sink your teeth into to see immediate results.
Jargon-Free Learning
This workshop is not just for software development or people with a computer science degree. We’ve helped many non-software teams with Scrum.
Career Advancement
Use Scrum knowledge to standout at work, get paid more, and impress your customer, all without burning out.
Ongoing Support
Our active Scrum community forum is a safe place to ask questions. Long after you earn the Certified Scrum Master certification, you will have access to the forum, course materials, and additional valuable resources.