Free Resources
We're happy to offer several resources for self-study learning. These also qualify for Scrum Alliance® Scrum Education Units (SEUs).
Scrum and Agile articles
Notes from a Tool User, Mark Levison’s long-running blog, explores current Agile topics and mixes in insightful advice with practical application tips to help Scrum teams and individuals.
Agile Glossary and Reference Library
Jokingly called the “World’s Largest Opinionated Agile Reference Library”. The content is created and the links are curated through the lens of Agile Pain Relief Consulting’s view of what is effective in the practice of Scrum and Agile.
New to Scrum?
A whole page of free resources specifically for those who are trying to make sense of Scrum basics and terminology.
Scrum and Agile Games
Learning doesn’t have to be boring or tedious. Our brains retain more information when it’s fun!
- Online Agile Teams Game
- High-Performance Team Game
- Building High-Performance Organizations Game
Free with newsletter subscription
The following Scrum and Agile resources are available free to our newsletter subscribers.
Newsletters are sent out roughly every two weeks. You can opt out of anything at any time by simply unsubscribing, or letting us know and we’ll customize your subscription to only what you need.
eBooks
- The Guide to Effective Agile Retrospectives
- Five Steps for Creating High-Performance Teams
- A Jargon-Free Introduction to Scrum
- Beyond Scrum: Why Scrum Alone is Not Enough
- Agile Engineering Practices and Their Effects PDF Cheat Sheet
Community Coaching
Free Virtual Scrum Meetup. Kind of office hours/virtual coffee chat, where you can join in a Zoom conference and talk about whatever confuses and confounds you in Scrum. (Bonus: if you haven’t done a workshop with me yet, this is your chance to try before you buy.)
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.
The instructor has an uncanny ability to articulate concepts and make learning fun and enjoyable.
Bilal RToronto
Mark has an effective approach at coaching us through the course in an "agile" way. Would recommend the course to those who are experienced scrum masters and especially to those who are new to the agile world.
Caia RToronto
This instructor is very good, helpful and highly-effective and has just the right level of unconventionalism to appeal to even the most seasoned (jaded?, grizzled?) professionals. I would gladly take courses offered by this individual and company again in the future.
Tyler TVirtual
I had heard great reviews of this course and I was not disappointed. Excellent materials. Excellent instructor.
Jeromy VEdmonton
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
Mark makes accessible that which is seemingly vague. He energizes and encourages discourse and embodies what I believe Agile means.
Eban TVancouver
Instructor was knowledgeable, great facilitator, fast in finding an edge to applying the principles to our particular circumstances in the organization. A great magician to fit in three days the key aspects of agile foundation and scrum approach so participants can start applying it. The course is a must to all who work in projects.
Luisa VVirtual
I enjoyed Mark's teaching style. I like the personal stories and puns. I always like to bring humor in to my meeting or when I am teaching or mentoring, it evokes a positive emotion and people will retain the information better. A+++ Would like to attend other courses done by Mark.
Shanna FVirtual
Mark did a great job. He is well versed and brilliant. I very much enjoyed him as an instructor. The course was very helpful and I learned a great deal - I will go back ready to make changes to how we are currently operating to add value.
Shana ROttawa
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 is a wealth of knowledge and makes agile super easy! The course is interesting, interactive, and extremely informative. I got a lot of takeaways from the course and excited to take this back to my team. I'm looking forward to taking the Advance Scrum and Advanced PO courses next Fall.
Jenny CVirtual
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
Excellent work, I have a lot of ideas and appreciate the way they were introduced.
John MEdmonton
Awesome course, stimulating content and very engaging coach. Feel positive about Scrum.
James WToronto
Instructor was well organized and touched each topic in a sequential matter that was logical.
Joe PMontreal
Elegant and quirky faciliation makes for enjoyable and engaging learning.
Donald PToronto
Mark was great and full of recommendations. He was also very knowledgeable and able to answer all our questions.
Chris MPrivate Client
All topics were covered and mastered incredibly well. Could confirm his wide knowledge and experience using and explaining scrum.
Lenin QMontreal
Energetic, clear, helpful, inspiring, a great teacher.
Nadil POttawa
Good course and Mark is an awesome facilitator. Loved the way Mark conducted the training.
Gajan PKitchener-Waterloo
After 24+ years of traditional thinking, this was refreshing and new. Can't wait to begin implementing at work. Thanks, Mark!
Kristine NEdmonton
Really helpful and inspiring!
Thomas (Tan) PToronto
Mark is great facilitator. Overall the course materials and information provided me a better understanding of the scrum master role.
Nhan TKitchener-Waterloo
The instructor talked the talk by making the whole experience a collaborative experience. Excellent and mindful person.
Alf RToronto
Mark was great at adapting to our needs - how very agile!
Mika TPrivate Client
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
Very knowledgeable instructor that kept the course interesting. Course material was awesome! I will recommend to others.
Dave PToronto
Very easy to get along with and makes points very clearly.
Jason PToronto
Shortly said, it was an excellent course with a lot of examples and engaging exercises.
Decebal TToronto
Instructor was very engaging, but also shared valuable insight that will help me succeed.
Morgan TPrivate Client
Great background experience, a lot of passion in his speech, was able to answer even challenging questions.
Alex NPrivate Client
Excellent course. Complete and comprehensive. Enlightened pedagogy and creative use of online collaboration tools. I do not think that we suffered much for being out of the f2f classroom setting. Mark is a curious, knowledgeable and entertaining instructor, able facilitator and consummate diplomat. Highly recommended. Five stars *****.
Kevin TVirtual
Amazing! Given the time a lot was covered about Scrum.
Hanumanth Reddy POttawa
Great course Mark! I really enjoyed learning more about the framwork and listening to others point of view.
Sarah MToronto
Excellent! Engaged all of the time. My head is exploding with new knowledge.
Harlie DMontreal
This training is beneficial, now it is clear to me what sprint goals, sprint reviews and all the other terms mean and how they can be used to inform, interact and engage team members, and how to help teams become more effective and high performing. I appreciate your speech and examples you provided in class, it helps me better understand the topics. Overall, this is a great and positive training. Thanks Mark!
Alice CVirtual
I love this course. It was incredibly helpful and throught provoking. I enjoyed the teach style and directness of the instructor.
Victoria MEdmonton
I thought the overall course material was excellent and was well present by a very dynamic and thoughful instructor.
Austin DOttawa
Excellent source of knowledge and provided additional resources. Helped with real examples
Sean OPrivate Client
Mark is very knowledgeable and is great at simplifying and illustrating abstract concepts.
Thierry LMontreal
Added some very interesting info as well as presented the material very well clearly.
Yvonne REdmonton
Mark, you master it! Many thanks for making this content easy to understand.
Bertrand LVirtual
Great facilitator. Kept interest with activities and exercises.
Lynn MOttawa
Mark is very knowledgeable. He is a great instructor.
Nitin PToronto
Truly an expert. Knows his stuff.
Denise AOttawa
Mark Levison was an excellent instructor: knowledgeable, personable, and very approachable. The course material was clear and I felt like the coverage was appropriate.
Ken MMontreal
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
Kept participants engaged. Good.
Lyra TVirtual
Mark was very energetic and enthusiastic instructor. You could definitely feel his passion for Agile and Engineering as a whole.
William IPrivate Client
Great course! My future teams will be thankful to be a high performance team.
Filipe PVancouver
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
Excellent work, I have a lot of ideas and appreciate the way they were introduced.
John MEdmonton
Awesome course, stimulating content and very engaging coach. Feel positive about Scrum.
James WToronto
Instructor was well organized and touched each topic in a sequential matter that was logical.
Joe PMontreal
The instructor has an uncanny ability to articulate concepts and make learning fun and enjoyable.
Bilal RToronto
Elegant and quirky faciliation makes for enjoyable and engaging learning.
Donald PToronto
Mark was great and full of recommendations. He was also very knowledgeable and able to answer all our questions.
Chris MPrivate Client
All topics were covered and mastered incredibly well. Could confirm his wide knowledge and experience using and explaining scrum.
Lenin QMontreal
Mark has an effective approach at coaching us through the course in an "agile" way. Would recommend the course to those who are experienced scrum masters and especially to those who are new to the agile world.
Caia RToronto
Energetic, clear, helpful, inspiring, a great teacher.
Nadil POttawa
Good course and Mark is an awesome facilitator. Loved the way Mark conducted the training.
Gajan PKitchener-Waterloo
After 24+ years of traditional thinking, this was refreshing and new. Can't wait to begin implementing at work. Thanks, Mark!
Kristine NEdmonton
Really helpful and inspiring!
Thomas (Tan) PToronto
Mark is great facilitator. Overall the course materials and information provided me a better understanding of the scrum master role.
Nhan TKitchener-Waterloo
The instructor talked the talk by making the whole experience a collaborative experience. Excellent and mindful person.
Alf RToronto
This instructor is very good, helpful and highly-effective and has just the right level of unconventionalism to appeal to even the most seasoned (jaded?, grizzled?) professionals. I would gladly take courses offered by this individual and company again in the future.
Tyler TVirtual
Mark was great at adapting to our needs - how very agile!
Mika TPrivate Client
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
Very knowledgeable instructor that kept the course interesting. Course material was awesome! I will recommend to others.
Dave PToronto
Very easy to get along with and makes points very clearly.
Jason PToronto
Shortly said, it was an excellent course with a lot of examples and engaging exercises.
Decebal TToronto
I had heard great reviews of this course and I was not disappointed. Excellent materials. Excellent instructor.
Jeromy VEdmonton
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
Instructor was very engaging, but also shared valuable insight that will help me succeed.
Morgan TPrivate Client
Great background experience, a lot of passion in his speech, was able to answer even challenging questions.
Alex NPrivate Client
Mark makes accessible that which is seemingly vague. He energizes and encourages discourse and embodies what I believe Agile means.
Eban TVancouver
Excellent course. Complete and comprehensive. Enlightened pedagogy and creative use of online collaboration tools. I do not think that we suffered much for being out of the f2f classroom setting. Mark is a curious, knowledgeable and entertaining instructor, able facilitator and consummate diplomat. Highly recommended. Five stars *****.
Kevin TVirtual
Amazing! Given the time a lot was covered about Scrum.
Hanumanth Reddy POttawa
Great course Mark! I really enjoyed learning more about the framwork and listening to others point of view.
Sarah MToronto
Instructor was knowledgeable, great facilitator, fast in finding an edge to applying the principles to our particular circumstances in the organization. A great magician to fit in three days the key aspects of agile foundation and scrum approach so participants can start applying it. The course is a must to all who work in projects.
Luisa VVirtual
Excellent! Engaged all of the time. My head is exploding with new knowledge.
Harlie DMontreal
This training is beneficial, now it is clear to me what sprint goals, sprint reviews and all the other terms mean and how they can be used to inform, interact and engage team members, and how to help teams become more effective and high performing. I appreciate your speech and examples you provided in class, it helps me better understand the topics. Overall, this is a great and positive training. Thanks Mark!
Alice CVirtual
I love this course. It was incredibly helpful and throught provoking. I enjoyed the teach style and directness of the instructor.
Victoria MEdmonton
I enjoyed Mark's teaching style. I like the personal stories and puns. I always like to bring humor in to my meeting or when I am teaching or mentoring, it evokes a positive emotion and people will retain the information better. A+++ Would like to attend other courses done by Mark.
Shanna FVirtual
I thought the overall course material was excellent and was well present by a very dynamic and thoughful instructor.
Austin DOttawa
Excellent source of knowledge and provided additional resources. Helped with real examples
Sean OPrivate Client
Mark is very knowledgeable and is great at simplifying and illustrating abstract concepts.
Thierry LMontreal
Added some very interesting info as well as presented the material very well clearly.
Yvonne REdmonton
Mark, you master it! Many thanks for making this content easy to understand.
Bertrand LVirtual
Mark did a great job. He is well versed and brilliant. I very much enjoyed him as an instructor. The course was very helpful and I learned a great deal - I will go back ready to make changes to how we are currently operating to add value.
Shana ROttawa
Great facilitator. Kept interest with activities and exercises.
Lynn MOttawa
Mark is very knowledgeable. He is a great instructor.
Nitin PToronto
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 is a wealth of knowledge and makes agile super easy! The course is interesting, interactive, and extremely informative. I got a lot of takeaways from the course and excited to take this back to my team. I'm looking forward to taking the Advance Scrum and Advanced PO courses next Fall.
Jenny CVirtual
Truly an expert. Knows his stuff.
Denise AOttawa
Mark Levison was an excellent instructor: knowledgeable, personable, and very approachable. The course material was clear and I felt like the coverage was appropriate.
Ken MMontreal
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
Kept participants engaged. Good.
Lyra TVirtual
Mark was very energetic and enthusiastic instructor. You could definitely feel his passion for Agile and Engineering as a whole.
William IPrivate Client
Great course! My future teams will be thankful to be a high performance team.
Filipe PVancouver
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.