FAQ

Why is this course over three days?

Evidence and experience shows us that adult learners are more engaged and learn and retain more with shorter instructional periods. This is why our classes are broken up over a number of days with no more than five hours in any single session. Those smaller time periods are further broken down into 45-50 minutes of learning and 10-15 minus of breaks.

This also allows you to squeeze in a bit of work each day when not in class.

Will there be pre-work? 

Before the course, you will be assigned some lightweight exercises to complete through our Online Academy. These are short activities that introduce you to some of the major concepts we will cover in the workshop. Brain scientists call this “priming” – familiarizing your brain with new ideas before the “official” learning takes place. We find it produces a better experience for you and the other participants.

Do I receive Scrum Alliance Continuing Education credits?

This course also allows students to claim fourteen Scrum Education Units (SEUs) towards maintaining their Scrum Alliance certifications.

Planning for the Unexpected: Our Cancellation Policy

We understand that emergencies happen, and you might not be able to attend the scheduled course. To receive a refund, just notify us no later than 7 business days prior to the class start date. If you have to cancel after the 7 business day window, we can issue you a credit that can be applied towards a future class with Applied Frameworks.

What You Will Learn

Through original content, interactive simulations, and real-world case studies you will learn how to:

• Establish a powerful vision that inspires your product team

• Apply the right frameworks to identify and align with the needs of your core customers

• Create high-impact features that maximize value while minimizing time-to-market and risk

• Deliver incremental value by leveraging the appropriate blend of the Scrum framework and modern product management practices

• Keep stakeholders engaged with collaborative frameworks for roadmapping and iterative release plans
   

Topics Covered

Product Vision – A clear, shared vision is crucial for successful Scrum and Agile teams. We’ll walk through techniques to help unify your team, stakeholders, and customers around the right vision for your product or service.

Prune the Product Tree  – Roadmaps are an important link between Product Vision and the Product Backlog. Unfortunately, many roadmaps are not much more than a slide with dates and bullet pointed features, which doesn’t provide any context. Learn how to use the Prune the Product Tree, an Innovation Game®, to collaborate with customers to build a real roadmap.

Product Backlog Basics – Learn the simple rules associated with a Product Backlog as well as a set of key practices for using a Product Backlog to develop consensus among the stakeholders on what will be delivered. Other topics we cover include:

• Writing User Stories

• Acceptance Criteria

• Vertically Slicing User Stories

• Product Backlog Refinement

Ordering the Product Backlog – The core of the Product Owner’s job is to order and prioritize among the many great things we could do and help the Development Team focus only on what is most important. Many traditional prioritization techniques are too slow for most Scrum Teams, so many Product Owners order the Product Backlog solely on intuition or by responding to the currently squeaky wheel. Learn a prioritization framework that helps you visualize the relative importance of your customer segments, internal & external stakeholders, corporate strategy, and maintain clean code.

Agile Release Planning – Believe it or not, we’ve heard many times the misinformed statement: “We’re Agile, so we don’t really plan.” Not only is this inconsistent with the Agile Manifesto, it is usually just bad business. In our experience, the best Scrum teams create a plan and expect it to change as work begins!

• Learn the nuts and bolts of managing stakeholder expectations with an Agile release plan

• Learn how and when to it makes sense to update the release plan

Working in Sprints – the Product Owner role doesn’t end once the Product Backlog is ready for Sprint Planning. Your team will be most effective if you are available during the Sprint to provide feedback at key points.

• Learn how the Product Owner works with Development Teams  during the Sprint

• Explore best practices in balancing time among the Development Team, stakeholders, and customers

Course Agenda

Self-Paced Orientation

• Familiarization of the Online Learning Environment

• Course Overview 

• Review Scrum Guide

• Other readings and videos

Session 1 (5 hours)

• Opening & Welcome

• Agile & Scrum Introduction

• The Role of the Product Owner

• Product Vision

Session 2 (5 hours)

• Identifying & Validating Product Assumptions

• Scrum Workflow

• Stakeholder Management

Session 3 (5 hours)

• Product Roadmapping

• Refining and Ordering the Product Backlog

• Incremental Product Planning

• Answer any Open Questions

• Discuss Implementing New Practices

Who Should Attend?

Scrum Product Owners, Agile Product Managers, Kanban Service Request Managers, or any individuals wanting to better understand and embrace the role that business and customers play in driving product development for Scrum and Agile teams. Such individuals might include:

• Managers, Directors and VPs of Product Management

• Product Managers at all levels of their career

• Business Analysts

• Functional Managers

• Project Sponsors

• IT Leadership (Managers/Directors/VPs/CIOs/CTOs)

Prerequisites

A basic understanding of Scrum is assumed. For example, participants could read one of the Scrum introduction books. Preparation activities will be provided through our online academy. Previous experience on a Scrum team is desirable.