Course Overview

Applying Professional Scrum for Software Development (APS-SD) is a 3-day hands-on course where you experience how to deliver quality software using Scrum with Agile and DevOps practices. This course teaches you why and how the Scrum Framework should be combined with modern DevOps engineering practices to improve a team’s capability to regularly deliver working software. Students practice real-life Scrum while working in teams during a series of Sprints to build a realistic product. They are introduced both to the mechanics, rules and principles of Scrum, and selected core engineering and technical patterns and practices that complement Scrum. The course is the perfect choice for software development teams that are challenged by both processes and tools and can be taught either as a public or as a private course for teams within a company.

Note: This course was previously known as Professional Scrum Developer (PSD).

The course includes a free attempt at exam for earning the globally recognized Scrum certification Professional Scrum Developer (PSD). A discount for the Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I) certification exam is available.

Course Description

Applying Professional Scrum for Software Development (APS-SD) is an immersive 3-day hands-on course for software development teams where they experience how to deliver quality software using Scrum with Agile, and DevOps practices. This course teaches you why and how the Scrum Framework should be combined with modern DevOps engineering practices to improve a team’s capability to regularly deliver working software.

During the course, participants work together as a Scrum Team in a series of Sprints to build a realistic product, whereby they deal with real-life challenges in software development. The mechanics, accountabilities, and principles of Scrum are fully leveraged during these exercises. In this way, the entire Scrum Team learns the Scrum Framework through its practical application, which leads to a clear understanding of accountabilities and responsibilities both inside and outside the Scrum Team and removes common misunderstandings.

At the same time, the Scrum Team's capability to regularly deliver high quality working software can be improved by leveraging various modern DevOps practices and using smart integrated toolsets that support all activities in the software development process. For that reason, the course introduces selected core engineering and technical patterns and practices like code reviews, continuous delivery, and automated testing, and explains why and how they perfectly complement Scrum. Students also experience working with an integrated DevOps toolset.

With such a combined approach, this course is an ideal choice for development teams that have challenges with both processes and tools. It will bring the whole team on the same page regarding Scrum, either through gaining new or refreshing their existing knowledge. Additionally, it will build their awareness around DevOps practices and tools that they should embrace to get work done.

Course Objectives

What You Will Learn

Students self-organize in Scrum Teams at the beginning of the course and are presented with a real-life software-based case study. During the course, they practice the Scrum Framework in multiple realistic Sprints, during which they are gradually introduced to Scrum mechanics, accountabilities, and principles, and also to selected core engineering and technical patterns and practices that complement Scrum.

The trainer acts as a product owner by defining or refining requirements before each Sprint and attending Sprint Reviews. By the end of day 3, teams become familiar with all Scrum components and rules: they define and enact Scrum accountabilities (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers), work with Scrum artifacts (Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment), learn how to fulfill commitments to Scrum artifacts (Product Goal, Sprint Goal and the Definition of Done), run all Scrum events (Sprint Planning, Sprint, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective), refine their backlog, learn about Scrum Values and empiricism, and experience common challenges of working in teams. Selected DevOps technical practices, like estimation techniques, code reviews, continuous delivery, and automated testing, are incorporated as activities during the Sprints for students to understand why and how they perfectly complement Scrum. A class retrospective is done after each Sprint to enforce learning objectives. Discussions are encouraged throughout the entire duration of the course.

The case study is available in different flavors: .Net, .Net Core, Java, Python, PHP, NodeJS, and C++. Since the goal of the course is to learn about Scrum and its synergy with DevOps practices and tools, the student's possibly unaligned technology background does not impede students to actively participate in team exercises. Besides programmatic tasks, there are plenty of other activities to cover, like acting as a Scrum Master, dealing with user requirements, estimating, testing, and triaging bugs, designing a CI/CD pipeline, etc. Public classes have a fixed technology stack and we expect at least part of the students to be comfortable with the case study. For private classes, the trainer works with the team up front to define a specific technology stack that meets their needs.

Course Topics

Downloadable Course Descriptions

Find further info about the course in PDF format at the following links:

• Applying Professional Scrum for Software Development (APS-SD) 1 Pager
• Applying Professional Scrum for Software Development (APS-SD) Detailed Description
• Applying Professional Scrum for Software Development (APS-SD) Official Datasheet

Who Should Attend

This course is intended for all members of a Scrum Team: architects, analysts, programmers, database developers, testers, IT-Operations and others, including Scrum Masters and Product Owners. It is the perfect choice for software development teams that have challenges with both processes and tools since it focuses on the entire team and its ability to use technology to deliver done increments of product functionality every Sprint.

Experiencing the class with your whole team will improve your way of working, no matter if you are just starting with Scrum or want to improve your Scrum practices. By experiencing the class as an individual, you will be able to transfer your learnings to your teammates and convince them of the advantages of using Scrum, Agile and DevOps practices.

Learning Paths

Explore ways to learn about Scrum. Find info on suggested learning paths for Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Developers, and Agile Leaders. This course provides the foundational knowledge needed for specialized training for Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Developers, and Leaders.

Prerequisites

You should be familiar with Scrum. Please study the Scrum Guide even if you are already working in a Scrum Team (since it was last updated in November 2020). In case you do not have any exposure to Scrum, taking an Applying Professional Scrum (APS) course prior to this course is advised.

This is a hands-on course, so please have your own computer at your disposal.

How to Prepare

• Please read the Scrum Guide.
• Please follow these guidelines in order to prepare for the course.
• You might want to browse our list of suggested resources for Scrum practitioners.
• Familiarize yourself with the suggested learning path for Developers.
• Take the Scrum Open and Scrum Developer Open free online assessments.

Public Classes

Public courses are publicly announced and open to a general audience. They are deployed only when the minimum number of attendees is reached. Since the attendees of public courses have different backgrounds and knowledge, the discussion tends to be broad and covers a wide range of different topics and scenarios. Besides reaching the learning objectives set by the course itself, attendees can benefit from diverse experiences.

Private Classes

Private classes are the preferred choice when the organization needs to educate more employees or whole teams at once. When entire teams working together regularly attend the course, they benefit from the joint practical experience they go through at the same time, adopting Scrum Foundations with all facts and terminology, and removing initial common misunderstandings. The discussion can be better tailored to their everyday challenges and issues.

What Is Included

Why Scrum.org

Scrum.org provides the highest quality Scrum training, training materials, and certified Professional Scrum Trainers (PSTs) to teach them. Each course explores real-world challenges to help students apply what they learn in their roles once back at work, and each trainer brings their own style and experience.

Scrum.org courseware provides a hands-on, activity-based learning experience. It is created and maintained by the overall PST community delivering the classes. Feedback from the real world drives incremental improvements and high-quality course materials. 

PSTs have several years of Scrum experience and go through an extensive process that includes: interviews, validation of knowledge, training, peer reviews, and more. They all teach from the same content, ensuring the consistent delivery of Scrum.org training around the world aligned with the principles and practices of Professional Scrum. 

Read more about what makes Scrum.org different and why you should engage a Professional Scrum Trainer.