Introduction to Scrum for Software Developers

This one-day or two half-day sessions present the basics of the Scrum Framework that are most relevant to software developers, and reveal how to achieve faster, cleaner software development using Scrum.

You’ll explore Scrum’s differences from traditional waterfall development and how the Agile principles relate to, and inform, the Scrum process. You’ll learn how to speed up and simplify construction by defining features in stories and building them in sprints, as well as many of the best practices of high-performance, cross-functional development teams. You’ll discover the secrets to implementing and managing a successful Scrum transition and expert techniques for overcoming common adoption impediments.

Your training includes three hands-on exercises, in which you’ll gain practical experience writing user stories, acceptance tests, and estimating work more accurately. By the end of this training, you will have a deeper understanding of the roles, artifacts and activities that support Scrum software development.

Course Benefits

Introduction to Scrum for Software DevelopersCompleting this workshop will give you a deeper understanding of the Scrum process and enable you to:

  • Compare Agile and waterfall methodologies
  • Discover, write, edit, prioritize, and size user stories
  • Master the rhythm of building software in sprints
  • Create and use burn-down and burn-up charts
  • Estimate, measure, and improve team velocity
  • Know how Agile principles support healthy development
  • Write stories that are estimable and express a user intent
  • Apply the key roles in Scrum to work effectively in a cross-functional team
  • Recognize misnomers of Agile and understand keys to its successful adoption
  • Successfully collaborate with customers to get feedback and build useful artifacts
  • Use XP and Scrum practices to support a collaborative development culture
  • Pull work from the backlog and work with sprint, release, and product backlogs
  • Write acceptance tests to capture edge cases and identify when tasks are complete

Who Should Take This Course:

This training will benefit all software-development team members, including architects; business analysts; DBAs; designers; developers; development managers; directors; documentation specialists; operations and support staff; product and project managers; software engineers/programmers; testers; technical analysts, leads and writers; and QA engineers.  Both technical and non-technical team members will find value in this training.

Agenda

  • Introduction to Scrum for Software DevelopersIntroduction: Discusses the purpose, objectives, scope, and logistics of the course and why Agile and Scrum are valuable to software development.
  • Agile Principles: Examines principles from the Agile Manifesto, how they differ from a waterfall process, and how they support team collaboration.
  • Scrum and XP Practices: Reviews the basic practices from Scrum and XP, including team ownership, coding standards, simple design, sprints, backlog, and the Scrum framework.
  • Scrum Planning: Explores how to write stories; build a backlog for the product, release and sprint; planning and acceptance testing; estimating stories; and measuring velocity.
  • Story Writing: How to brainstorm stories for user personas and split big stories.
  • Acceptance Test Writing: Helping the customer define concrete acceptance criteria.
  • Estimating and Planning: Estimating stories as a group and building a release plan.
  • Wrap-up: Review and discussion of the key points presented.

Your Instructor

David BernsteinDavid Bernstein’s continuing passion for software design and construction has led him to train more than 7,500 developers in the last 23 years for clients that have included Fortune 500 firms such as Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo!, Boeing, AT&T, Sprint, Medtronic, SunGard, State Farm, MetLife and Weyerhaeuser. As a longtime IBM consultant, David trained software engineers around the globe, giving them the skills to write the next generation of applications and operating system software while earning one of the highest satisfaction ratings in the history of IBM education. In the past five years, he has focused on providing training and coaching for software developers and teams transitioning to Agile and Scrum.

Praise for this Training

“Go to it! This course takes Scrum out of the conceptual and puts it into the practical.” – Kevin Hallquist, Software Design Engineer, Certified ScrumMaster

“Take it; have your team take it together. Make time for this class.” – Edward J. Newton, Software Development Manager, Certified ScrumMaster

“Any expectations you have will be exceeded. You will be a better developer afterwards, even if your company does not utilize Scrum.” – Keith Prokasky, Senior Software Engineer, Certified ScrumMaster

Certification

This course is part of our Certified Scrum Developer Essentials training, and satisfies the one-day introduction to Scrum training requirement for becoming a Certified Scrum Developer through the Scrum Alliance. This course counts for 8 Professional Development Units (PDUs). See Training FAQ for more details about this new certification.

Become a more proficient developer—Register for our next session of the Certified Scrum Developer Essentials training or contact us to arrange a private, on-site session for your team.

View a pdf version of this course description.