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.
Well versed in knowledge and provided great "philosophical" thinking towards solutions to problems at work. Fun and approachable. Encourages solution formulation yourself.
Kang CKitchener-Waterloo
This course has challenged me to take little steps within my tasks to be an effective team player. I also feel that the little tips and techniques will help me produce better quality in my projects. Enjoyed the use of SCRUM to conduct the training seminar and the group exercises or techniques presented because I felt engaged and they foster group participation.
Sally CVancouver
Mark was a great instructor! Very enthusiastic about the course and assisting its participants in becoming successful product owners. Incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining.
Elizabeth CToronto
Of the three coures I have taken on agile training from different organzations, I found this the most effective because the instructor's understanding and incorporation of humor behavor and learning. Instructor came across as very persceptive and intelligent. Because of my positive impression of him as an intellectual I could value his opinions and teaching more than a "generic" instructor going through the motions.
Shaina SPrivate Client
Thank you for this course, I don’t recall ever having such a good teacher during my studies! I am very satisfied and I can’t wait to start and try to improve things. I will say to my colleagues that are being formed to be PO that they should have looked to your classes.
Laurene TVirtual
This is my second set of training with Mark. I must say he knows how to keep everyone engaged and participating in the hands-on workshops. He has an open-mind, is respectful of our opinions and knowledge space. He is extremely knowledgeable and knows how to instruct in a manner people understand and are able retain the learning. I have yet to see an Agile coach as enthusiastic and as good as Mark !
Tasneem SVirtual
Course content is engaging and interactive. Instructor makes agile exciting and shows deep knowledge.
Reggie TToronto
Excellent material, entertaining instructor. Instructor distilled the information well. Both instructor and course provided a great intro to Scrum. The course was challenging yet rewarding.
Duff KOttawa
Mark knows this content, kept us engaged and provided hands-on workshop tasks to understand the conent. Fantastic approach to this course with backlog and Sprints. Stories and answering questions of the group was appreciated.
Matt FPrivate Client
Mark is very enthusiastic and responsive, good at eliciting participation, diverse exercises to keep us from getting bored, informative answers. Good focus on cross-functional teams and sharing non-dev where we fit in.
Carly HPrivate Client
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
The course was very interesting and provided enough for me to start structuring my team's work along scrum principles.
Eric DPrivate Client
Mark is an awesome instructor who does an excellent job of describing Scrum. Brilliant course!
Tom BEdmonton
Great course, absurdly knowledgeable instructor. Does pushups.
Igor TToronto
Mark is an amazing and experienced Agile Coach. He is detail oriented and helps to answer any questions very well.
Rishi VMontreal
Course was great. Mark was terrific! Kept us involved and thinking.
Anne DPrivate Client
Great facilitator, very knowledgeable.
Jay TEdmonton
Very well done course. Very experienced, knowledgeable instructor, well structured course, clear explanation, keeps nice spirit during the course, encourages collaboration.
Dina DMontreal
Mark is a great trainer and I really enjoyed the last 2 days and really learned good knowledge. I will encourage SCM or other. Training have good value.
Zafar SKitchener-Waterloo
Mark is great and the course is very valuable. I really appricate your time and patience. We covered a lot of mtaterial which is great.
William DOttawa
Kept participants engaged. Good.
Lyra TVirtual
Everything was excellent. I loved how the backlog basics were in the story board for the course. Excellent life examples in the course.
Tony SOttawa
Great course instructor is very knowledgeable in agile and scrum mastery. Great work relating real life examples to course material and helping to start thinking.
Autem DEdmonton
The instructor was very adaptive and knowledgeable. I respect how the instructor worked and would take another course with him in the future.
Johnny KEdmonton
Crisp and concise in delivery. Captivating and inspiring. Obviously very knowledgeable and experienced.
Jason LToronto
Mark is very knowledgeable and his experience with Agile and Scrum was awesome as he was able to provide lots of tips and examples.
Sophie CVirtual
Mark was very informative and very patient. Had a great communication style for managing and gently pushing 11 professionals through a very full 2-days of Zoom.
His practical experience on how and when to use tools and methods was extremely valuable and not simply an academic lecture.
Dan TVirtual
Great instructor. Good pace at class.
Denis TOttawa
Mark was great at adapting to our needs - how very agile!
Mika TPrivate Client
Created an atomosphere that encouraged participation and active learning in a variety of ways that were effective, comfortable, and fun.
Stuart SOttawa
Mark is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable instructor. The 2-day course was exceptionally well facilitated. He is passionate about teaching and how people learn, and it shows in the delivery methods and techniques used throughout class to engage students
Simona TVirtual
Awesome. Enlightment for pain points like overtime, too many WIP, motivation, etc.
Susie LVancouver
Mark is a great teacher and is very good at engaging people. Really gets the spark going!
Julien LMontreal
The instructor and course were generally excellent – the curriculum was thorough, and the instructor was engaging. I definitely feel like I came out a lot more knowledgeable
about Scrum and both the PO and Scrum Master roles (despite the fact that this was not Scrum Master training), and I have lots of ideas percolating on how to implement Agile strategies in my work and with my team.
Natasha HVirtual
First Class! Obvously experienced, but not in an arrogant way! Very patient and he spoke with a softer voice than the guy next door!
Nicholas VKitchener-Waterloo
Very enthusiastic and diplomatic. Very knowledgeable. Course was enjoyable.
Chris MKitchener-Waterloo
Excellent! I really enjoyed the course and I learned more than I was expecting to.
Dave VToronto
Mark is a great presenter. I appreciate that he is to the point and succinct in his points, but can expand when prompted. I appreciate that there was room for "derailment" and that the training was made more custom tailored to the individual experiences of the scrum masters at our org. The subject matter was good. I think it contained a lot of the info that new scrum masters don't think about, and covered a lot of traps that they fall into.
Adel AVirtual
Mark is an excellent instructor, the course was well organized and well paced.
Thong TEdmonton
Shortly said, it was an excellent course with a lot of examples and engaging exercises.
Decebal TToronto
Very knowledgeable, very friendly, very easy for the rest of us to learn from.
Doru TToronto
The course was very helpful by reinforcing my commitment to scrum team responsibilty and ownership. Mark was an excellent instructor, knowledgeable, professional, and in control.
Adrian GPrivate Client
Thanks for being so responsive and Agile in your approach to leading the class.
Deb BKitchener-Waterloo
Well structured training. Excellent communication skills.
Khaled MToronto
Mark thanks for sharing your knowledge. I truly enjoyed your course. You have a great teaching ability.
Anaya MOttawa
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
Great instructor, great technique using Scrum to learn.
Jen MToronto
Mark was a great instructor. His quirky ways and sense of humour make for a great course. I was entertained and interested each step of the way.
Philippe BPrivate Client
The instructor had an excellent breadth and depth of knowledge. Liberally sprinkled with relevent ancedotes to provide substance and humor.
Myles GPrivate Client
Mark was awesome. Engaging and interactive. Course material is detailed but not overwhelming.
Adam DToronto
Well versed in knowledge and provided great "philosophical" thinking towards solutions to problems at work. Fun and approachable. Encourages solution formulation yourself.
Kang CKitchener-Waterloo
Course content is engaging and interactive. Instructor makes agile exciting and shows deep knowledge.
Reggie TToronto
Excellent material, entertaining instructor. Instructor distilled the information well. Both instructor and course provided a great intro to Scrum. The course was challenging yet rewarding.
Duff KOttawa
This course has challenged me to take little steps within my tasks to be an effective team player. I also feel that the little tips and techniques will help me produce better quality in my projects. Enjoyed the use of SCRUM to conduct the training seminar and the group exercises or techniques presented because I felt engaged and they foster group participation.
Sally CVancouver
Mark was a great instructor! Very enthusiastic about the course and assisting its participants in becoming successful product owners. Incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining.
Elizabeth CToronto
Mark knows this content, kept us engaged and provided hands-on workshop tasks to understand the conent. Fantastic approach to this course with backlog and Sprints. Stories and answering questions of the group was appreciated.
Matt FPrivate Client
Mark is very enthusiastic and responsive, good at eliciting participation, diverse exercises to keep us from getting bored, informative answers. Good focus on cross-functional teams and sharing non-dev where we fit in.
Carly HPrivate Client
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
The course was very interesting and provided enough for me to start structuring my team's work along scrum principles.
Eric DPrivate Client
Mark is an awesome instructor who does an excellent job of describing Scrum. Brilliant course!
Tom BEdmonton
Great course, absurdly knowledgeable instructor. Does pushups.
Igor TToronto
Mark is an amazing and experienced Agile Coach. He is detail oriented and helps to answer any questions very well.
Rishi VMontreal
Course was great. Mark was terrific! Kept us involved and thinking.
Anne DPrivate Client
Great facilitator, very knowledgeable.
Jay TEdmonton
Of the three coures I have taken on agile training from different organzations, I found this the most effective because the instructor's understanding and incorporation of humor behavor and learning. Instructor came across as very persceptive and intelligent. Because of my positive impression of him as an intellectual I could value his opinions and teaching more than a "generic" instructor going through the motions.
Shaina SPrivate Client
Very well done course. Very experienced, knowledgeable instructor, well structured course, clear explanation, keeps nice spirit during the course, encourages collaboration.
Dina DMontreal
Mark is a great trainer and I really enjoyed the last 2 days and really learned good knowledge. I will encourage SCM or other. Training have good value.
Zafar SKitchener-Waterloo
Mark is great and the course is very valuable. I really appricate your time and patience. We covered a lot of mtaterial which is great.
William DOttawa
Kept participants engaged. Good.
Lyra TVirtual
Everything was excellent. I loved how the backlog basics were in the story board for the course. Excellent life examples in the course.
Tony SOttawa
Great course instructor is very knowledgeable in agile and scrum mastery. Great work relating real life examples to course material and helping to start thinking.
Autem DEdmonton
The instructor was very adaptive and knowledgeable. I respect how the instructor worked and would take another course with him in the future.
Johnny KEdmonton
Crisp and concise in delivery. Captivating and inspiring. Obviously very knowledgeable and experienced.
Jason LToronto
Mark is very knowledgeable and his experience with Agile and Scrum was awesome as he was able to provide lots of tips and examples.
Sophie CVirtual
Mark was very informative and very patient. Had a great communication style for managing and gently pushing 11 professionals through a very full 2-days of Zoom.
His practical experience on how and when to use tools and methods was extremely valuable and not simply an academic lecture.
Dan TVirtual
Thank you for this course, I don’t recall ever having such a good teacher during my studies! I am very satisfied and I can’t wait to start and try to improve things. I will say to my colleagues that are being formed to be PO that they should have looked to your classes.
Laurene TVirtual
Great instructor. Good pace at class.
Denis TOttawa
Mark was great at adapting to our needs - how very agile!
Mika TPrivate Client
Created an atomosphere that encouraged participation and active learning in a variety of ways that were effective, comfortable, and fun.
Stuart SOttawa
Mark is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable instructor. The 2-day course was exceptionally well facilitated. He is passionate about teaching and how people learn, and it shows in the delivery methods and techniques used throughout class to engage students
Simona TVirtual
Awesome. Enlightment for pain points like overtime, too many WIP, motivation, etc.
Susie LVancouver
This is my second set of training with Mark. I must say he knows how to keep everyone engaged and participating in the hands-on workshops. He has an open-mind, is respectful of our opinions and knowledge space. He is extremely knowledgeable and knows how to instruct in a manner people understand and are able retain the learning. I have yet to see an Agile coach as enthusiastic and as good as Mark !
Tasneem SVirtual
Mark is a great teacher and is very good at engaging people. Really gets the spark going!
Julien LMontreal
The instructor and course were generally excellent – the curriculum was thorough, and the instructor was engaging. I definitely feel like I came out a lot more knowledgeable
about Scrum and both the PO and Scrum Master roles (despite the fact that this was not Scrum Master training), and I have lots of ideas percolating on how to implement Agile strategies in my work and with my team.
Natasha HVirtual
First Class! Obvously experienced, but not in an arrogant way! Very patient and he spoke with a softer voice than the guy next door!
Nicholas VKitchener-Waterloo
Very enthusiastic and diplomatic. Very knowledgeable. Course was enjoyable.
Chris MKitchener-Waterloo
Excellent! I really enjoyed the course and I learned more than I was expecting to.
Dave VToronto
Mark is a great presenter. I appreciate that he is to the point and succinct in his points, but can expand when prompted. I appreciate that there was room for "derailment" and that the training was made more custom tailored to the individual experiences of the scrum masters at our org. The subject matter was good. I think it contained a lot of the info that new scrum masters don't think about, and covered a lot of traps that they fall into.
Adel AVirtual
Mark is an excellent instructor, the course was well organized and well paced.
Thong TEdmonton
Shortly said, it was an excellent course with a lot of examples and engaging exercises.
Decebal TToronto
Very knowledgeable, very friendly, very easy for the rest of us to learn from.
Doru TToronto
The course was very helpful by reinforcing my commitment to scrum team responsibilty and ownership. Mark was an excellent instructor, knowledgeable, professional, and in control.
Adrian GPrivate Client
Thanks for being so responsive and Agile in your approach to leading the class.
Deb BKitchener-Waterloo
Well structured training. Excellent communication skills.
Khaled MToronto
Mark thanks for sharing your knowledge. I truly enjoyed your course. You have a great teaching ability.
Anaya MOttawa
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
Great instructor, great technique using Scrum to learn.
Jen MToronto
Mark was a great instructor. His quirky ways and sense of humour make for a great course. I was entertained and interested each step of the way.
Philippe BPrivate Client
The instructor had an excellent breadth and depth of knowledge. Liberally sprinkled with relevent ancedotes to provide substance and humor.
Myles GPrivate Client
Mark was awesome. Engaging and interactive. Course material is detailed but not overwhelming.
Adam DToronto
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.