Private Scrum & Agile Training

What type of private Agile training is available?

We don’t offer cookie-cutter training, so we can’t give you a cookie-cutter answer to that. Mark believes strongly in learning about a company’s goals and pain points so he can customize the training and help their teams in the most effective way. Generally speaking, most clients choose to invest in some variation of the following:

• Agile Foundations workshops give team members a shared understanding of Scrum, and they will learn how they can apply Agile to their own work to make it easier and more productive. If you’re already using the methodology but still having challenges (e.g. incomplete sprints, extended stories) because things are a mishmash, our training will help make sense of it all.
• Leadership workshops help organizations that employ — or are planning to employ — Agile learn core concepts, processes, and practices, and how Agile can be used as a tool for organizational change to increase productivity and improve employee and customer satisfaction.
• Team Launch workshops combine an introduction to Agile and Scrum, along with a first release planning, to help get a new Agile Team started on the right path to success.

These and other custom-designed workshops can be combined with our Scrum Alliance certification training.

How do you customize private Scrum and Agile courses?

Mark will have a free, no obligation chat with you to learn what you’re trying to accomplish. What job are you hiring Scrum or Agile to do? People want Scrum to solve their problem(s), but it isn’t that simple. Team and organization challenges stem from — and subsequently affect — multiple parts of your system. Mark will help you understand how to identify these, and the custom Agile training will help you learn how to use Scrum (and/or other Agile approaches) to resolve them.

In this initial consultation. Mark will learn what makes your work environment and challenges unique, allowing him to design a custom private training workshop to meet your needs. Often during the course of discussion in the private training itself, students and management will identify additional needs that we didn’t find in our original planning. Since we use a Scrum-like process to run our training and coaching, we can adapt to address questions and concerns in a timely way that is personal for your organization’s culture.

What content is taught in private Scrum training?

We could write a standard cookie cutter workshop agenda on this page, and it would list things like the Scrum events of Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective and Daily Scrum. A training course description might even tell you how many different Scrum roles you need in your team, and what they are. However, we don’t do cookie cutter. We work with you to solve the problems that are unique to your environment, and then build an Agile custom course curriculum to meet and exceed that need.

Some common challenges we help large companies and groups with:

• Understanding what role executives and leaders play in Scrum, and how they fit in an Agile world. What they should ask for, what they should expect, and where the boundaries are. In many cases they need a mix of Training and ongoing Leadership coaching.
• What an Organizational Improvement Team is, and how to use one to make the changes you want to implement.
• Getting started with Scrum and Agile. How to improve the productivity of your teams, and help Product Management and Management turn a corner from traditional to Agile.
• Learning to deliver value in short Sprints. Switching from three-month release cycles to two-week Sprints can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be with proper support.
• Shared baseline understanding of Scrum and Agile so everyone is speaking the same language with the same expectations. This improves communication and morale as a whole for quick, positive results.
• Kickstarting a stalled Agile change. Many organizations start their change process only to stumble, lose momentum, or abandon it entirely. It’s not your fault. We have the experience to show you how to succeed.
• Knowing how to hold effective and energizing Scrum meetings, especially if you have reluctant team members. From time-wasting Daily Standups to repetitive Sprint Retrospectives, if your team isn’t eager and engaged, they won’t be productive. It’s an easy fix with the right expert help.
• Understanding how well you’re doing with Agile. With our unbiased and objective review of current practices and opportunities for improvement, we help you know what to measure and how, so you can make informed decisions with real data.
• Seeing obvious performance improvements. If you’re not getting the results you want with Scrum and Agile, we help you identify why, and how to solve it. It’s not about going through the motions of Scrum, but about understanding the nuances of it that are too often missed by discount training providers.

Logistics

Delivery method

Your private Agile training can be delivered in person and on-site at your company location or preferred venue, or it can be done virtually in an online classroom with Mark, using Zoom and other virtual classroom tools we provide.

Our courses are unique in their approach, and aren’t a static class with a bunch of words on PowerPoint slides. Each private Scrum training workshop is run using the principles of Scrum, so by the end of it attendees already have hands-on, practical experience, and solid ideas of how to go forward thanks to case study discussions and examples. We incorporate interactive elements within the training to keep it fun and engaging, with plenty of simulations and discussions.

Scheduling

Private training can be scheduled to accommodate your team’s availability. Most often clients choose blocks of two or three days of training at a time.

Follow-up Support

We don’t believe in going through the motions to deliver training and then walking away. We believe strongly in providing value well beyond the private training dates that you purchase. This includes regular online meet-ups as well as a community forum, both of which provide direct access to Mark and others to ask questions and discuss challenges they might experience in their role. The greatest value we offer is the abundance of follow through with post-training support and resources after the course, which are crucial for effectiveness and retention of what attendees learn. Ongoing coaching and consultation sessions are also available to help you implement Agile and Scrum practices effectively within your organization.

Do you offer Agile coaching?

Mark does offer coaching, but not the kind that many people have in mind. He doesn’t spend months onsite as an Agile coach – instead, he focuses on helping your existing team members gain the understanding and skills to become self-sufficient so you don’t have to recruit outside hired guns.

Cost of private Scrum and Agile training

Because we don’t offer one-size-fits-all training, it’s impossible to generically say what the investment cost would be for your group, without the aforementioned consultation with Mark so we can be sure that we’re quoting appropriately for your actual need. A detailed proposal with recommendations and costs will be provided for your review.

Do you have success stories and testimonials from other clients?

Yes, many. We’re very proud to be the longstanding, preferred Agile training provider for many of Canada’s largest corporations and organizations. But as you might expect with such major clients, non-disclosure agreements are standard policy. We will never break that trust just to put some impressive company logos on our website.

What we can tell you is that we’ve helped multiple Canadian Banks, Insurance Companies, Telcos, Crown Corporations, and Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Government Departments. Countless software development groups, and even many non-software teams, have enjoyed our private and public Scrum training courses. And while we have thousands of testimonials from all across Canada, the greatest success stories are the many clients who send their newest team members to us for training, to help give them a strong start when they join their now high-performing teams.

“You have spent just a few hours with my staff and you see clearly the challenges I face.” ~ D. M. – Director, Government of Canada

“I felt a great sense of relief that I could do something to improve how my team delivers software.” ~ S.G. – Senior Software Developer, global mobile operations business

“I got a lot of tricky questions answered. Real life issues we face at work.” ~ A.Y. – international gaming company

“Mark Levison’s teaching style is interactive and informative and really captures the essence of Scrum. I would recommend it to any company who struggles with the same issue we do – chaos!” ~ P.Q. – academic software provider

Do you do Scrum and Agile keynote speaking?

Yes, Mark Levison is an experienced keynote speaker and would be happy to discuss possible presentations for your event.