Effective Scrum
Are you lost in Fake Agile, with too many “best practices”? Effective Scrum is a map and a compass to get out. It’s a tool to help you understand where your team is currently at, then decide what steps you can reasonably take next to get to your goals.
Can you relate?
- Our ScrumMaster is also our Project Manager … they’re still behaving like the person in charge.
- I hate Scrum because I spend all of my time in meetings.
- I’m frustrated with our Scrum team’s Product Backlog Refinement… our Product Owner doesn’t have clear priorities.
- Our Scrum Sprint Planning really bogs down … it’s a huge waste of time.
- My development team wastes a lot of time estimating user stories that we don’t understand.
- Our Product Owner is bad at maintaining realistic scope for our product… it’s challenging to deliver.
- Sprint Reviews are boring… we almost fall asleep.
- I’m frustrated that our Product Owner doesn’t have a clear vision of the product we’re trying to build.
- Scrum Sprint Retrospectives call for improvements but they never get made… so why do we bother to hold them?
- Our ScrumMaster is also our Product Owner… is that right? I’m confused.
If you’ve experienced any of the above, then our upcoming release of Effective Scrum will help you and your team get to the next level of Scrum and remove the confusion and guesswork.
Who is Effective Scrum for?
- Frustrated ScrumMasters who know the job isn’t about being focused on numbers or metrics, and they know they could make a difference.
- Burnt-out Product Owners who are pulled in six directions at once by their stakeholders.
- Managers who can see that the current version of Scrum/Agile isn’t working.
All of these people feel the pain of their current process. They know that their system is broken, and they want to make a change, however, they’re overwhelmed by the volume of information and don’t know where to start. They also don’t know who to trust.
Does your team lack a product vision? Then now would be a good time to create one, or at least dig it out of the closet and dust it off.
Are your people on many teams/projects at the same time? That’s not actually practicing Scrum. We show you how (and why) to turn the work into actual Scrum, or show you what do instead.
Don’t worry, even if Scrum isn’t the right thing for your team right now, most of what you will learn is still applicable. The really hard part about Scrum isn’t the mechanics of the events, it’s understanding how to work effectively with the people on your team to deliver the product your customer needs.
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 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
Mark is incredibly well prepared and professional. Best instructor I've ever had, period.
Kevin DKitchener-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
Amazing instructor, was able to clearly explain complex concepts, made the course relevant and engaging! This will alow us to build strong agile teams.
Dylan HPrivate Client
I cannot say anything but good things about the course, and have been telling many people in my org about it.
Hatem NVirtual
Mark Levison’s Agile Pain Relief was a wonderful, immersive introduction into the world of Scrum. He is an engaging, thoughtful and well prepared instructor. The course activities were interactive, informative and really served to engrain and apply Scrum knowledge. I would highly recommend this course to anyone looking to become a CSM.
Wes KVirtual
I really enjoyed my experience with Agile Pain Relief and the 2 day CSM course. It was highly informative, interactive, and engaging, even with the hurdle of being fully virtual. Mark was thoughtful, patient, and ready to answer any question that came his way. I found the workshop to be not only educational, but also a great exercise in building confidence.
Katie HVirtual
Great course material and energetic instructor.
Chris HPrivate Client
Mark inspired the participants to be engaged in the moment using Plato's dialogue techniques - Mark delights!
Laura DOttawa
Effective, making him do things with powerpoint would be fun to watch.
Gary SEdmonton
Amazing! Friendly, funny, smart, open-minded individual. Great job, Mark!
S M Tadmir CToronto
I though the class was great. I liked how the class was structured in a Scrum Agile way and how we got to choose what to focus the class time on.
Ryan DVancouver
It's a pleasure knowing my instructor and I'm motivated to learn and read more.
Difei DToronto
I really enjoyed the workshop and I think the examples were really helpful in understanding the basics of scrum.
Louis-Pierre DMontreal
I really enjoyed Mark, despite not being my sector I was able to make connections and take away information.
Catherine BOttawa
Mark is very well prepared and understands his material in depth. He has a very logical way of looking at questions which can shift people’s understanding in a useful way. If you need to understand “pure” Scrum, this is a good course.
Paul AVirtual
Mark is a great teacher. Funny, communicates his ideas well, very knowledgeable, - a great teacher! This was a good course!
Anthony DVirtual
Running the course as a Scrum project and including a real Scrum exchange really reinforced the material.
David COttawa
Mark is a lively and engaging instructor. Information was presented effectively and at a reasonable pace.
Joel DOttawa
Very informative and interesting introduction to the concepts and principles of Agile development and Scrum.
Michael HVancouver
Awesome, good humour and very knowledgeable about side elements and how they come into play.
Daniel LOttawa
Great instructor with clever communication techniques to help the attendees grasp ideas.
Asad BKitchener-Waterloo
Excellent, material and discussion was perfect.
Jacques CVirtual
Instructor was very knowledgable! Incredible library in his head.
Kafia BOttawa
Thank you. It has been one of the most interesting courses I have attended.
Hemant KToronto
Mark made a challenging and complex process (Scrum) very clear and highlighted the benefits and opportunities in an engaging and entertaining way.
Jeremy GVancouver
Fantastic. Very engaging and helpful blend of both Scrum and general business advice.
Dace DOttawa
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
Brilliant! Engaging and enlightening while not promising the world.
Oksana KOttawa
This is an excellent course to take after the CSM. The instructor was excellent, the course was wonderful, the students awesome.
Marc HMontreal
I find the instructor very knowledgeable and experienced in Scrum. He was very well organized and prepared for the course. He encouraged in class participation and elevated course content with real life examples. Well played! The course, its content and material covered Scrum very well.
Alena CVancouver
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 included everything I hoped to cover and Mark very well demonstrated its content.
Jerome CToronto
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
Pragmatic, no nonsense & applied = very good!
Francois-Pierre MMontreal
Very knowledgeable instructor. His experience is obvious.
Mark LMontreal
Instructor was very knowledgeable and expressed his thoughts honestly and concisely. Course was very informative.
Lorne APrivate Client
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
Mark is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter and topics adjacent to it. His attitude encourages engagement in the material.
Jamie CVirtual
The variation of types of exercises kept things interesting, much better than answer questions.
Michael GOttawa
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
Mark was very patient with questions from the group and excellent at making us think.
Chris TToronto
Excellent work, I have a lot of ideas and appreciate the way they were introduced.
John MEdmonton
Instructor was very prepared, good course materials, very well spoken. I felt he was an expert in the field. Encouraged participation, but kept the group focused.
Scott VEdmonton
Very good format and flow to course. Good idea to structure course in Agile format so we can experience Agile first hand.
Julia APrivate Client
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
Instructor was extremely well prepared, know the material inside and out. Always had a good response for every question. And had a great sense of humor
Christian BPrivate Client
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
Excellent! I really enjoyed the course and I learned more than I was expecting to.
Dave VToronto
Mark clearly articulated the value of Scrum and Agile. He was able to distill to the appropriate level for the audience.
Dave VKitchener-Waterloo
Great course material and energetic instructor.
Chris HPrivate Client
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
Mark inspired the participants to be engaged in the moment using Plato's dialogue techniques - Mark delights!
Laura DOttawa
Effective, making him do things with powerpoint would be fun to watch.
Gary SEdmonton
Amazing! Friendly, funny, smart, open-minded individual. Great job, Mark!
S M Tadmir CToronto
I though the class was great. I liked how the class was structured in a Scrum Agile way and how we got to choose what to focus the class time on.
Ryan DVancouver
It's a pleasure knowing my instructor and I'm motivated to learn and read more.
Difei DToronto
I really enjoyed the workshop and I think the examples were really helpful in understanding the basics of scrum.
Louis-Pierre DMontreal
Mark is incredibly well prepared and professional. Best instructor I've ever had, period.
Kevin DKitchener-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
I really enjoyed Mark, despite not being my sector I was able to make connections and take away information.
Catherine BOttawa
Mark is very well prepared and understands his material in depth. He has a very logical way of looking at questions which can shift people’s understanding in a useful way. If you need to understand “pure” Scrum, this is a good course.
Paul AVirtual
Mark is a great teacher. Funny, communicates his ideas well, very knowledgeable, - a great teacher! This was a good course!
Anthony DVirtual
Running the course as a Scrum project and including a real Scrum exchange really reinforced the material.
David COttawa
Mark is a lively and engaging instructor. Information was presented effectively and at a reasonable pace.
Joel DOttawa
Very informative and interesting introduction to the concepts and principles of Agile development and Scrum.
Michael HVancouver
Awesome, good humour and very knowledgeable about side elements and how they come into play.
Daniel LOttawa
Great instructor with clever communication techniques to help the attendees grasp ideas.
Asad BKitchener-Waterloo
Amazing instructor, was able to clearly explain complex concepts, made the course relevant and engaging! This will alow us to build strong agile teams.
Dylan HPrivate Client
Excellent, material and discussion was perfect.
Jacques CVirtual
Instructor was very knowledgable! Incredible library in his head.
Kafia BOttawa
Thank you. It has been one of the most interesting courses I have attended.
Hemant KToronto
Mark made a challenging and complex process (Scrum) very clear and highlighted the benefits and opportunities in an engaging and entertaining way.
Jeremy GVancouver
Fantastic. Very engaging and helpful blend of both Scrum and general business advice.
Dace DOttawa
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
Brilliant! Engaging and enlightening while not promising the world.
Oksana KOttawa
This is an excellent course to take after the CSM. The instructor was excellent, the course was wonderful, the students awesome.
Marc HMontreal
I find the instructor very knowledgeable and experienced in Scrum. He was very well organized and prepared for the course. He encouraged in class participation and elevated course content with real life examples. Well played! The course, its content and material covered Scrum very well.
Alena CVancouver
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 included everything I hoped to cover and Mark very well demonstrated its content.
Jerome CToronto
I cannot say anything but good things about the course, and have been telling many people in my org about it.
Hatem NVirtual
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
Mark Levison’s Agile Pain Relief was a wonderful, immersive introduction into the world of Scrum. He is an engaging, thoughtful and well prepared instructor. The course activities were interactive, informative and really served to engrain and apply Scrum knowledge. I would highly recommend this course to anyone looking to become a CSM.
Wes KVirtual
Pragmatic, no nonsense & applied = very good!
Francois-Pierre MMontreal
Very knowledgeable instructor. His experience is obvious.
Mark LMontreal
Instructor was very knowledgeable and expressed his thoughts honestly and concisely. Course was very informative.
Lorne APrivate Client
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
I really enjoyed my experience with Agile Pain Relief and the 2 day CSM course. It was highly informative, interactive, and engaging, even with the hurdle of being fully virtual. Mark was thoughtful, patient, and ready to answer any question that came his way. I found the workshop to be not only educational, but also a great exercise in building confidence.
Katie HVirtual
Mark is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter and topics adjacent to it. His attitude encourages engagement in the material.
Jamie CVirtual
The variation of types of exercises kept things interesting, much better than answer questions.
Michael GOttawa
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
Mark was very patient with questions from the group and excellent at making us think.
Chris TToronto
Excellent work, I have a lot of ideas and appreciate the way they were introduced.
John MEdmonton
Instructor was very prepared, good course materials, very well spoken. I felt he was an expert in the field. Encouraged participation, but kept the group focused.
Scott VEdmonton
Very good format and flow to course. Good idea to structure course in Agile format so we can experience Agile first hand.
Julia APrivate Client
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
Instructor was extremely well prepared, know the material inside and out. Always had a good response for every question. And had a great sense of humor
Christian BPrivate Client
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
Excellent! I really enjoyed the course and I learned more than I was expecting to.
Dave VToronto
Mark clearly articulated the value of Scrum and Agile. He was able to distill to the appropriate level for the audience.
Dave VKitchener-Waterloo
Your Guide to Everything Scrum
Mark Levison spent 12 years as a ScrumMaster and Coach, helping teams by chance before he started to systemize it. Armed with an insatiable love for research, he has been studying and teaching Agile since 2001, introducing Scrum, Lean, and Agile methodology to a broad range of individuals and organizations. Mark has helped launch Scrum practice throughout Canada including Government of Canada departments, major financial and insurance institutions, healthcare agencies, and leading payroll, HR services, and software companies.
Students and communities benefit from Mark’s more than thirty years of experience in the IT industry and over two decades of Scrum and Agile expertise, as he brings his uniquely fun and effective teaching style to thousands of individuals and teams so they can be more effective.
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.
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.