Free Scrum eBooks for your Agile learning

The following Scrum/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.

The Guide to Effective Agile Retrospectives

If you’re tired of having retrospective meetings greeted with groans and heavy, reluctant sighs or feeling like you’re rehashing the same old problems with no signs of improvement, the advice Mark Levison shares in this book will help make your retrospectives more effective.

There’s no need to have retrospectives that people hate and aren’t even useful – with a few tweaks, you can have meetings your team will look forward to, and start seeing real improvements and results. (More details)

Includes follow-up support emails to reinforce what you learned and help you make real changes right away.

Five Steps for Creating High-Performance Teams

Scrum is a tool for building high-performance teams. Some Scrum Teams achieve this goal almost by magic, while others struggle to get there. So is it magic? Or luck? Or is it far more attainable than that? There is a science to it that makes it possible.

Mark Levison offers insight into the neuroscience of teams with five proven Agile methods to create teams that sizzle, not fizzle.

A Jargon-Free Introduction to Scrum

This Scrum for beginners e-book is an easy to understand introduction to basic Scrum methodology and how it helps teams and organizations. Using a simple case study, you visualize Scrum at work in a marketing company and how its structure leads to many benefits. Scrum terms are explained simply, so you can get in on the conversation from the beginning. This is Scrum made simple. (More details)

Includes a follow-up email learning series to give you even more confidence and skills.

Beyond Scrum: Why Scrum Alone is Not Enough

To be successful with Scrum in the long term you need more than the basic framework. This is intentional. Scrum provides the structure as a starting point, but it’s designed to work well when applied with other effective patterns.

Mark Levison’s first book discusses topics including why organizations become Agile, the limits of Scrum, common mistakes made and how to avoid resulting failure, and the benefit of exploring other Agile practices.

Agile Engineering Practices and Their Effects

(Technically not a book, but a downloadable PDF Cheat Sheet.)

In Mark’s workshops, he’s often asked, “How can I help my team go faster?”, or “How can we deliver this Product sooner?” His answer is always the same. “You must slow down to go fast.”

In software development, the single best way to improve quality, and eventually speed, is writing less code. Most of the time spent writing code should be to understand the problem and then find the simplest solution to it. The practices used to facilitate this in Agile software development are popularly known as Agile Engineering Practices.

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.

Great course. Mark clearly knows his stuff!
Marc LOttawa
Best. Training. Ever.
Martin DMontreal
Mark is a very knowledgeable and respectful instructor. He kept the information interesting and engaging, and was great at adapting the focus of the content to align with the needs of the participants. The course overall accomplished its goal of providing me with a good feel for the role of a Scrum Master.
Lisa CVirtual
Mark is a wonderful, energetic instructer who helps you to evaluate how you are working in your own environment. Then he helps you to figure out how to improve it.
Shelley COttawa
Exceptional facilitator, course materials are helpful, concise, and clear.
Geoffrey HPrivate Client
Instructor was informative and handled the challenges he faced well.
Ruth JPrivate Client
Very engaging, interactive and lively CSPO virtual workshop. Mark is an excellent instructor and provided a lot of real world examples to help with understanding. Thank you for coaching. I will definitely recommend this course.
Cindy LVirtual
Amazing course! Love every second of it. Mark kept us all engaged. I knew nothing about agile/scrum and now feel well equipped to make changes at work. I'd love for the rest of my team to attend.
Shravan COttawa
This was the first professional class I've taken that gave me a more in depth perspective of the scrum process. Really concise in explanations. Stays on topic as best as possible. Extremely helpful.
Michelle KToronto
Mark was entertaining and kept the course moving. When we delved into detail the information was usually useful. We covered the basics and more, and it makes going back to work with reinforced skills and ideas on how to change our practices appealing instead of scary.
Samantha CMontreal
10/10 Loved the atmosphere he created, kept us engaged, able to send important messages, did not overwhelm us.
Biljana CPrivate Client
Mark, you rock. Loved the course.
Jan SVancouver
Mark was a great instructor. He was highly motivated, engaging, and kept us interested for the two days. Highly recommend others to take this course with Mark!
Prashanth MToronto
Mark thanks for sharing your knowledge. I truly enjoyed your course. You have a great teaching ability.
Anaya MOttawa
Mark is very easy to listen to. He is knowledgeable and keeps the class engaged. He has a lot of experience.
Lori CToronto
Mark's teaching methods make the course fly and help the information stick. He gives a clear understanding of the theory of agile/scrum and real world application tips so students can apply scrum immediately and successfully.
Anne MOttawa
I liked the Powerpoint-less approach. It kept me more engaged and was less barrier in learning.
Geoff DKitchener-Waterloo
Good course, lots of excellent content, examples and materials. Would recommend. Mark is a good facilitator who is honest and understanding about the technical and organizational challenges.
Charles MVirtual
Very unique training style, really appreciate that I don’t have to look at power point screen. Appreciate the Q&As and the end of class recap round.
Vicky CPrivate Client
I had the best two days of practical training on Agile. Instructor has logical answers to my questions.
Angie EEdmonton
The course is great and Mark is amazing. I really impressed with his high level of knoweledge, his personal skills. I enjoyed the level how he conducted the training. The level structured and time-planned sessions. I enjoyed the way how and what Mark answered unpredictable questions. He is great facilitator. Thanks a lot for opportunity to expand my knoweledge.
Anna MVirtual
Well organized, skillfully motivates the team and demonstrates excellent practical examples
Hanna MVirtual
Mark harnessed the power of our diverse perspectives/skills/experience to create agile team enacting scrum as we applied our learning. This applied learning led us to knowledge sharing, trust, and mastery.
Danica MOttawa
I wanted to take the time to leave this review after seeing how my new Scrum knowledge has impacted my work. Now, I can confidently say that the training not only gave me a deeper understanding of Agile and Scrum but also boosted my confidence, motivation, and drive. I apply my new skills every single day, and they have made a significant difference in how I support my teams. Mark, thank you for contributing to my growth—I’m so glad I took this step. Your training was engaging, insightful, and truly life-changing for anyone passionate about Scrum and Agile. I highly recommend this certification to anyone looking to elevate their skills and make a real impact in their teams!
Anastasia FVirtual
The course provided an excellent deep dive into scrum and the role of the scrum master. The instructor was very knowledgeable and well versed on the research of scrum.
Robyne LOttawa
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
Great energy. Made the day pass with a mix of humour and data.
Matthew COttawa
Excellent overview of Scrum/Kanban/Agile. The technical material/theoretical material was well balanced/augments with the personal expeirences of the instructor. Highly recommend.
Dino CPrivate Client
Covered a little of everything. Was always interesting.
Regis LMontreal
The course was fun to follow and covers a lot of material. Mark keeps the class engaged and is respectful to participants.
Julie SVirtual
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
The course was well laid out, a good mix of discussions, examples, and practice.
Chris FToronto
Mark really knows his stuff, and not only about scrum mastering but also development process and product ownership. Highly recommended.
Jamie SOttawa
Mark is an engaging instructor using conversation and interaction as the engagement catalyst!
Shawn RToronto
This was a fantastic course and I would recommend it to anyone. Mark is an excellent teacher and provides great examples and easy-to-understand explanations. There was a good balance of listening, working in a group, and discussion. We ran sprint simulations which helped hammer down the concepts.
Julia HVirtual
Course was informative and entertaining. There was good participant involvement and useful examples.
George COttawa
Thank you Mark for the amazing training and for the useful tips you shared!
Manal DVirtual
We covered a vast amount of information in 2 days - all extremely helpful! Mark kept the class engaged and it is clear he is enthusiastic and believs in the methodology he is teaching, which has a very positive influence. He was open to discussing topics the class had questions about while fitting in a lot of other valuable items!
Jennifer SToronto
Great course! Mark is entertaining and knowledgable. Bring your questions and touch problems. Exploring participants' real-world problems triggered the best, most useful discussions in the course.
Jessica SOttawa
Mark is Great! I took a CSM course from him 11 years ago, hence I picked this course again 11 years later.
Justin LVirtual
Excellent, material and discussion was perfect.
Jacques CVirtual
Course was great and enjoyable. Lots of make you think kind of questions.
Andrew FOttawa
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
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 was great at adapting to our needs - how very agile!
Mika TPrivate Client
Awesome, highly recommended!
Simran WVancouver
Mark is engaging, very knowledgeable and morphs to the class knowledge. His sense of humor is also appreciated.
Malisha CToronto
Created an atomosphere that encouraged participation and active learning in a variety of ways that were effective, comfortable, and fun.
Stuart SOttawa
Mark is extremely academically knowledgeable in this space. This knowledge mixed with his real world experience and ability to engage a group makes his class a delightful experience.
Melissa MPrivate Client
Excellent course, gained a lot of context on SCRUM best practices beyond the context of how [Private Client] currently operates.
Hamza EPrivate Client

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.

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.