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.

Get CertifiedSee More Testimonials
Great! Very enthuiastic instructor and made learning a breeze.
Dalbir SKitchener-Waterloo
Loved this course! Mark is very thorough and attentive as a teacher. He leveraged Mural in such interactive ways, which allowed him to understand the students well and shape the class accordingly. He is like the Jedi master of scrum and insanely advanced methods of leaderless collaboration and accomplishment. He's also the king of super nerdy jokes, which made the class fun and brought out the super nerd in everyone.
Lia GVirtual
Awesome, good humour and very knowledgeable about side elements and how they come into play.
Daniel LOttawa
Mark has extensive experience on which he can call on to illustrate the reason for what works and what does not.
Mark CPrivate Client
Instructor was very knowledgeable and expressed his thoughts honestly and concisely. Course was very informative.
Lorne APrivate Client
Mark is an awesome instructor! The course was very valuable and useful.
Chandni LToronto
Mark delivered an excellent course, it was a value-packed 2 days.
Brent COttawa
Mark was an engaging and passionate instructor. I appreciated his concise explanations, and the time he took after his first day to discuss specifics about my organization with me.
Adam FOttawa
Great two days! Added new tools to my PO toolbox and Mark has inspired me again to improve as a PO and to improve my team's scrumming.
Binh HMontreal
Great energy. Interesting course material.
Julie CToronto
The instructor is clearly knowledgeable about scrum and other approaches. The course demonstrates the basics of scrum very well.
Matthew BToronto
Thank you Mark! Up until last week I knew nothing about Scrum and now I know quite a lot. Took my test this morning -- just as you said, it was not that complicated and panicking was not warranted. Excited to apply the new skills in practice!
Anastasia KVirtual
Mark is engaging and energetic. He made what could have been a dry topic quite enjoyable.
Paul BToronto
I thought the courses were excellent, fun, and very thought provoking. I see this course as an impetus for change for our organization. Highly recommended.
Jack HVancouver
Amazing experience. Mark is a great inspirational mentor. Teaches me how to approach problems and think out of the box.
Ben HKitchener-Waterloo
Mark is an extremely knowledgeable Scrum practitioner and a great coach! He gave each of the participants clear and useful answers to the questions we had during the training, whether the questions were about the material or from work experiences, and helped us figure out how to handle situations on our own. This is the first time I take an agile training that gives me clarity about ways of improving how I work with my team
Martha BVirtual
Great course. Information overload but not in a bad way. I liked that we discussed specific corporate problems people were having. Helped build context in how others are using Agile/Scrum. Maybe misusing, too.
Tyler BVancouver
I really enjoyed Mark, despite not being my sector I was able to make connections and take away information.
Catherine BOttawa
Mark is an awesome instructor and he is very knowledgeable.
Samina CVirtual
Very much appreciated the training material as it has direct implication in our project methodologies.
Mizan CMontreal
Very good and useful information. I like the format (no boring Powerpoint) and doing the meeting as a sprint was great.
Fred BPrivate Client
Mark shared valuable information and advice about Scrum theory. I am now clear on many Agile views on different aspects, especially, Roadmap.
Syed AToronto
Running the course as a Scrum project and including a real Scrum exchange really reinforced the material.
David COttawa
Mark is an awesome instructor and has great patience dealing with attendees virtually. His knowledge is spot on and he tries to answer all the questions given the time constraint.
Harjot DVirtual
The instructor did a great job in getting people to participate and make sure everyone followed along.
George HPrivate Client
Really enjoyed the course. Mark has a unique way of explaining concepts that have a very positive effect on the learning process.
Daniel LMontreal
I will highly recommend Mark. I enjoyed the course.
Shamyl NVancouver
Very engaging instructor. Used many real-life examples.
Laura OPrivate Client
This is an excellent course to take after the CSM. The instructor was excellent, the course was wonderful, the students awesome.
Marc HMontreal
Thumbs up! Easy to follow. Engaging and thought provoking.
Neil OPrivate Client
I liked the structure of the course, presented in an agile manner to simulate real team dynamics. Enjoyed it a lot!
Michelle MMontreal
Mark is very good in delivering the Scrum Training. Thank you for not repeating the mechanics!! Thanks for assidting with the dimensions around [Private Client] environment
Jack SPrivate Client
Mark L was the best instructor I've had.
David SOttawa
Instructor was very knowledgeable. Situations we brought forward he was able to help us detemine the source of the issue without telling us. Great coach!
Elsie SEdmonton
Mark is the real s**t. He's lived through the pain points and knows where the bodies are buried.
Christian FMontreal
Mark is fun and engaging and has a great way of importing information in a memorable way.
Brittany LOttawa
I applaud Mark's view on working in agile. I was able to clearly understand the fundamental core and roles of agile.
Adil SOttawa
Mark was a great commincator of the concepts. He practiced what he preached by using SCRUM to team.
Darren MMontreal
He explained extremely well and gave great concrete examples. Helped to see how to apply to work place.
Genevieve CMontreal
Mark maintained an ongoing environment of engagement. One of the best classroom based courses I have participated in.
Grant BPrivate Client
Mark is an amazing instructor who really knows how to make his audience listen and follow his instructions. He takes time to understand the audience's question and makes sure that the answer is fully satisfactory . The three days course was very well designed and almost all major aspects were covered. The scheduled breaks also gave the opportunities to get some fresh air and come back with a focused mind. I look forward to joining some more workshops with Mark in future.
Sanjida HVirtual
I appreciate the opportunity to attend the workshop. I enjoyed the time spent with my fellow co-workers to learn together. Mark is passionate about Scrum and willing to dig into our problem and seek for the remedies to resolve.
Heather JVancouver
AMAZING! Funny, interesting, engaging course!
Bassem HMontreal
The instructor was well prepared, and extremely knowledgeable. The course was structured in a way that it was easy to follow, well structured, and easy to be engaged. All the team activities were extremely useful to put in practice the theory. I enjoyed every single one! Virtual learning is a really difficult environment, and the instructor made it look like a piece of cake, kept us engaged throughout the days. Kuddos!
Jenny CVirtual
Marks experience and depth of knowledge made the detailed examples easy to relate to.
Pralaya SEdmonton
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
Made me THINK!!! Provided Framework
Mike CPrivate Client
Very engaging instructor and scenarios.
Christine APrivate Client
Mark did a wonderful job of coaching and supporting the class participants throughout the entire SCRUM course. Even though this was the first virtual class attempt, the choice of tools did a wonderful job of making all of us feel as if we were actually working together in person. Mark’s use of a working agreement right off the get go allowed everyone in the class to not only buy into the value of these agreements but also participate in its enforcement over the two days. Mark provided numerous references and examples from his vast wealth of experience which provided richness to the content. Overall, the course was a great experience and I will definitely encourage others to seek a future opportunity to enroll in one of Mark’s courses.
Glen SVirtual
Going into this training course my expectation was between boring and somewhat engaging as per my previous experience with training. I was pleasantly surprised. I found Mark entertaining and the course material laid out in a way as to keep the class engaged and interactive at all times. Well done. Will not hesitate to recommend your class(es) to anyone.
Jean-Michel HOttawa

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:

November 19-20, 2026

Live Online

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST

December 14-15, 2026

Live Online

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST

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.

GenAI for Systems Thinking

Learn the basics of using Generative AI as a tool to support Systems Thinking in your ScrumMaster role. Explore how to leverage GenAI to help uncover patterns, and think more deeply about the systems your team operates in.

Ongoing Support

Your learning doesn’t stop when the workshop ends. You get lifetime access to all course materials, plus a followup email series designed to reinforce your learning objectives and help you apply what you’ve learned on the job.