Like everything in this framework, Agile Scrum events happen under the leadership of Scrum Masters. They usually take the form of meetings, and they exist to keep team members organized and sprints on track. 

What Are the 5 Scrum Ceremonies? 

Each Scrum ceremony has a specific purpose and framework. The five Scrum ceremonies are: 

• Backlog refinement 
• Sprint planning 
• Daily Scrum 
• Sprint review 
• Sprint retrospective 

To facilitate productive meetings, the Scrum Master needs to understand each in detail. 

Backlog Refinement 

Backlog refinement is the only Scrum event that doesn’t happen on a schedule. It’s an ongoing process that ensures the product backlog is relevant, clear and current. 

Goals of backlog refinement: 

Scrum teams use the product backlog to plan sprints and envision the next steps. If the backlog isn’t current and valuable, it can steer the team off track. 

Backlog refinement keeps the sprint moving forward. It involves: 

• Adding new items.  
• Re-ordering current items based on priority. 
• Removing outdated or redundant items. 
• Ensuring each product backlog item (PBI) has user value. 

The Product Owner has the power to make executive decisions about the refinement process. They may work alone or collaborate with a team. 

Relevant terms: 

The product backlog is a prioritized list of items that would add value to the end product. Items may be product requirements, technical features, bug fixes and so on.  

The Product Owner represents the client’s interests and is responsible for maximizing product value. Maintaining and managing the backlog is one of their key tasks. They must articulate the product goal and how each item moves the team toward that goal.  

Tips for success: 

1. Conduct backlog refinement regularly: It may help to schedule refinement time after the team has other Scrum events. 

2. Schedule backlog refinement sessions: Team-based product owners may find that it helps to create meetings exclusively for backlog refinement. A set meeting time keeps this important task from falling through the cracks.  

3. Keep it tight: Unlike other Scrum events, backlog refinement doesn’t have a set time frame. However, you should assess each item’s value quickly and make efficient decisions about it. 

Sprint Planning 

This is the first time-sensitive activity in the Scrum sprint. It happens at the beginning of each new sprint and has a maximum length of two hours per sprint week. A two-week sprint would have a sprint planning ceremony of four hours maximum. 

The entire team, including the Scrum Master, Product Owner and Developers, attend the sprint planning ceremony. They use the event to create the sprint backlog, which encompasses the user stories that the development team (developers and testers in the case of a software product development situation) will commit to for the sprint.  

Relevant terms: 

A sprint is the basic unit of work within a Scrum project. It’s a recurring block of time, always the same length, when the team works on a particular deliverable. It lasts no more than a month, but two-week sprints are more common. 

A Scrum team is a small group that consists of the Scrum Master, Product Owner and Developers. According to the official Scrum Guide, the team usually consists of no more than 10 people. 

A sprint backlog includes the sprint goal, relevant subgoals and product backlog items selected for the sprint.  

Goals of sprint planning: 

The sprint planning event should outline the sprint’s goals, subgoals and component tasks. The Scrum Guide suggests using three questions to lead the discussion. 

1. Why is this sprint valuable?  

The Product Owner answers this question by explaining how this sprint could improve the product’s value and usability. The team applies this information to come up with a value-based sprint goal. 

2. What can be done during this sprint?  

Based on the answers to the first question, the Developers and Product Owner select items from the backlog to include. They often adjust the details of each item based on the sprint goal. 

3. How will the chosen work get done?  

The team then gets specific about action items. They identify and prioritize sprint tasks, developing a timeline for the items in the list. Often, this means turning backlog items into work items that take a day or less to develop and test. 

By the end of the event, everyone on the Scrum team should know:  

• The overall sprint goal and any subgoals. 

• Which backlog items will be a part of the sprint. 
• Who is responsible for which tasks. 

The amount of work assigned must make sense given the sprint’s length. If the sprint backlog is unrealistic for any team member, the group should rework it. 

Daily Scrum 

The Daily Scrum is the sprint’s morning standup meeting. It’s the shortest of the five Scrum events — no more than 15 minutes long, according to the Scrum Guide. Ideally, it happens at the same time every day of the sprint. 

The Daily Scrum is for Developers. It allows them to touch base on their progress and seek support for any challenges. The Scrum Master attends to listen to the Developers and offer guidance if necessary. The Product Owner may attend to answer questions, but their presence is optional. 

How it works: 

During the Daily Scrum, each team member shares what they accomplished the day before and what they plan to do that current day. It’s a chance to share existing or possible challenges and address them before they become problems. 

In most Daily Scrums, developers answer three questions: 

• What have you completed since the last Daily Scrum? 

• What will you complete by the next meeting? 
• What’s getting in the way? 

The answers show the Scrum Master who needs support and where the sprint strategy might need adjustment.  

Goals of the Daily Scrum: 

The Daily Scrum exists to identify hurdles before they become roadblocks. Teams learn to pivot quickly and be proactive, reducing the need for more meetings. 

The Daily Scrum also improves communication within the team. It creates a space to share challenges so that they don’t fall through the cracks. At the same time, it encourages team members to ask for support and keep each other in the loop. 

Tips for success: 

1. Use it as a standup meeting: The Daily Scrum traditionally involves everyone standing in the same room together. The standing feature helps to keep the meeting brief by discouraging lingering.  

2. Involve remote team members in the conversation: If any Developers can’t attend at the same time due to time zone issues, send out the three questions on an internal communication service or through email. Encourage one- or two-sentence replies and follow up as necessary. 

3. Save feedback for later: For the Daily Scrum to work, team members must be willing to put everything on the table, including what’s working and what isn’t. Scrum Masters should remind their teams this isn’t a critique or feedback session.  

4. Follow up as necessary: The team can’t solve every problem during the Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master and other Developers need to use what’s said in the ceremony as a prompt to check in throughout the day and help remove roadblocks. That may mean adjusting the backlog. 

Sprint Review 

The sprint review is the second to last Scrum ceremony. It happens after the team has completed all assigned work and has something to show the Product Owner. 

Relevant terms: 

An increment is a steppingstone toward a product goal. Each increment must have an independent value and be usable. It also needs to work in conjunction with other increments.  

A Definition of Done specifies what the increment looks like when finished. 

How it works: 

The full Scrum team must attend the review. The Product Owner and Scrum Master may also decide to invite other stakeholders. It’s common for managers, customers and developers from other teams to attend. 

There are three steps to a sprint review: 

1. The Developers demonstrate completed increments for the Product Owner and other stakeholders. An increment is a unit of valuable work within Scrum. 

2. Stakeholders offer feedback and ask questions about the completed work.  

3. The team processes feedback and determines whether any adjustments need to happen in the product backlog. 

Covering all three steps should take no more than one hour per week of the sprint. 

Goals of the sprint review: 

Inspect the product as it develops. Non-Scrum teams often wait until a product is finished before gathering feedback. The sprint review allows stakeholders to evaluate the product while it’s in process.  

Check whether the team met its objectives. Stakeholders look at each deliverable and decide whether they are within parameters. The results determine the success of the sprint and set up action items for the next one. 

Evaluate the progress relative to product goals. Ceremony attendees look at what has changed with the project as a whole. Everyone discusses progress toward the broader goal, determining whether objectives were met.  

Tips for success: 

1. Don’t skip feedback and discussion: It can be tempting for teams to focus too heavily on the demo aspect of the sprint review. Remember, feedback and evaluation make the next sprint better and more effective. Make space for this step. 

2. Avoid putting developers on the defensive: The sprint review is a constructive setting geared toward creating the best possible product. If the team falls short of a goal or a bug exists, focus on what needs to happen next to solve the problem.  

3. Focus on business value: Ask questions like, “Does this help the user in the way we expected?” Otherwise, the discussion can turn into a surface-level review of whether the product works. 

4. Create action items: Valuable feedback should become new items in the product backlog. The team can work those items into the next sprint. 

Sprint Retrospective 

The sprint retrospective is the final Scrum event. It’s an internal evaluation process that reflects on how the work happened and what the process could look like going forward. 

The retrospective should involve team members only. The Developers and Scrum Master are essential attendees. The Product Owner may attend if their presence would add value. 

The team answers three questions: 

• What went well in general? 
• What was challenging or didn’t work? 
• How could we improve the process? 

The discussion should take no more than an hour and a half for a two-week sprint or three hours for a month. 

Goals for the sprint retrospective: 

The sprint retrospective benefits the team by: 

• Analyzing problems: Examine challenges that came up and how the team did or did not solve them. 
• Finding false assumptions: If an assumption led your team down the wrong path, learn where it came from and how it affected the process. This also improves communication. 
• Making adjustments: The Scrum Master should lead the team in identifying which potential improvements would have the biggest impact. Those become action items for the next sprint. They may also lead to changes in the product backlog. 

Tips for success: 

1. Encourage collaboration: Acting on every idea is impossible. Pursue those suggestions that multiple team members feel would be valuable. Ask the team to work together toward solutions. 

2. Discuss facts, not feelings: Team members should feel comfortable providing honest feedback and recommending improvements. Discourage fault-assigning language and focus on ideas that impact the product. 

3. Find actionable insights: The most valuable insights create meaningful change. Ask follow-up questions and go deeper until you understand the root cause of each issue. 

Sprint Review vs Retrospective 

The review and retrospective consider the most recent sprint in different ways. Most importantly, the sprint review inspects the product while the spring retrospective inspects the team. 

The review starts from the outside. It involves external stakeholders and the development team, all of whom spend the time evaluating product success.  

The retrospective allows the team to look inward. Without the pressure to present their work, the developers can look critically at how they approach problems. The spotlight is less on the product as a deliverable of value, and more on how the team creates that value. 

Master All 5 Scrum Ceremonies in Agile 

Well-run Scrum ceremonies are essential to a successful sprint. Learn more about how to lead these events and other Agile processes with a Certificate in Agile from Villanova University. Taught 100% online, this three-course program teaches the core components of Agile and the Scrum framework and can help you prepare for Agile and Scrum certification. 

The need for a change is apparent as the nation faces a host of challenges. They range from continuing to deal with a pandemic and repairing infrastructure to stabilizing the economy.

A recent report from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and the Project Management Institute (PMI) identifies the use of Agile as a potential solution to many of these issues. 

“In these challenging times, the federal government has no time for ineffectiveness and little tolerance for failure,” the report, released at the end of 2020, states in its executive summary. “We issue this paper as a call to action for the federal government. We hope it inspires agencies to inculcate the key principles of Agile into their daily management and operations.”

Why is Agile Needed in Public Administration?

Agile had its official start in the software industry in 2001 when a number of famous software developers and thought leaders formed the Agile Alliance and published a short and concise manifesto listing four Agile values and 12 principles. These values and principles were to help guide the Agile transformation and introduce a new management paradigm and mindset that saw more value in individuals and interactions; working software increments; customer collaboration; and faster response to change over processes and tools; comprehensive documentation; contract negotiation and following a rigid plan. 

Agile features cross-functional, self-organizing teams that work quickly to deliver solutions incrementally, immediately providing value. Certain aspects of Agile can prove beneficial to public administrators, according to the new report. They include:

• Making “customer” or end-user satisfaction the top priority
• Empowering staff members
• Creating small teams that do work in multiple short periods of time
• Creating a system where individuals operate within a focused set of networks
• Using innovative tools, and creating a culture that supports innovative approaches to problem solving
• Identifying and addressing risk early
• Focusing on doing and only performing necessary documentation

To date, most of the use of Agile in federal agencies has happened in IT in an effort to stop a string of failures in development of computer systems. Those failures led to “billions of dollars of wasted taxpayer money and frustration among agency program managers trying to meet program and taxpayer needs,” according to the report.

The federal government also has relied on the “waterfall” method of management that calls for items such as program measurement requirements, gate reviews that must happen before the next step can take place in a project, and setting one defined point in time for completion and delivery of a finished project.

This approach is vastly different than the faster, incremental approach of Agile, which also calls for continuous customer feedback and adjusting to help give the government the ability to quickly respond to emerging needs.

How Governments Can Incorporate Agile

The NAPA/PMI report offers five primary recommendations for how governments can incorporate Agile. This includes incorporation of Agile at the different levels of government, from single projects and programs to entire departments or even government-wide.

The report provides ideas for how to achieve these goals. Highlights include the following.

Agile as Preferred Operating Model

The report recommends that “to the extent feasible,” Agile should become the default operating model in departments across the federal government. Specifically, they call on making Agile the “cornerstone” for the President’s Management Agenda and incorporating it into cross-agency priorities, especially those involving improved customer experiences with federal services.

Championing Agile Methods

The report calls on leaders within federal departments and agencies to champion Agile and incorporate it into “as many of their activities as possible.” This includes actions such as:

• Empowering team members to make decisions and try out new roles
• Encouraging collaboration
• Discouraging “siloed” behavior
• Providing support for leaders, managers and staff members to learn Agile management
• Reinforcing the premise that agency actions and processes should focus on enhancing end user experience

Eliminating Key Barriers To Agile

The report calls on public administrators to identify and address barriers to implementing Agile. It specifically called on three of the federal government’s biggest agencies – The Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management – to work together in finding the biggest statutory and regulatory barriers to “making Agile management an expected way of doing business at the agency and program levels, not just IT projects.”

Highlighting Agile Success

As teams and departments within the government have success with Agile, a designated unit within the General Services Administration and the U.S. Digital Service should communicate those successes, as well as provide platforms for knowledge sharing, according to the report.

Providing Agile Training

The report calls for incorporating Agile into federal government employee training, especially in the area of management skills.

10 Agile Principles to Drive Government Improvement

NAPA has worked on incorporating Agile into government through the Agile Government Center it formed in partnership with the IBM Center for the Business of Government. The center has released many reports on how governments can become more efficient and effective through Agile. They also list 10 Agile principles that should drive government improvement. They include:

• A clear mission
• Establishing metrics for success
• Customer-driven behavior
• Speed
• Empowered, and highly skilled, cross-functional teams
• Innovation
• Persistence
• Evidence-based solutions
• Organizational leaders who eliminate roadblocks
• Diversity of thought

Why Agile Is Important For Public Administrators

For professionals who earn a Certificate in Agile or Certificate in Applied Project Management, knowledge of Agile methodology can help provide an edge in leadership roles. 

It’s also necessary for public administrators who want to meet what NAPA calls the 12 Grand Challenges Facing Public Administration in the next decade.

• Protect electoral integrity and enhance voter participation
• Modernize and reinvigorate the public service
• Develop new approaches to public governance and engagement
• Advance national interests in a changing global context
• Foster social equity
• Connect individuals to meaningful work
• Build resilient communities 
• Advance the nation’s long-term fiscal health
• Steward natural resources and address climate change
• Ensure data security and privacy rights of individuals 
• Make government AI ready

The causes of these challenges can, if left unaddressed, “eat away at the roots of our democracy,” according to NAPA. The goal of solving these challenges is to change lives in communities across the country as well as rebuild trust in the government.

To better understand real progress on a project and the remaining work to be done, Agile project managers can use a burndown chart, a business intelligence tool that helps inform better decision making. According to Villanova University’s Foundations of Agile Methodology course, unlike a metric without any context, (such as percentage complete) a burndown chart provides the total definition of time in a Sprint, which is more concrete.

What is a Burndown Chart?

A burndown chart visually charts remaining work against remaining time, enabling project managers and stakeholders to easily isolate potential issues that could impede project deadlines. Unlike more abstract ways of managing a timeline, a burndown chart maps the development team’s progress through user stories, including the total effort.

In addition, the chart often includes an ideal work remaining line based on forecasting to serve as a benchmark for teams, though it is rare for any project to run ideally from start to finish. Instead, project managers can analyze the variance from the ideal, forecast the likely actual variance at completion and make adjustments as necessary, according to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Seventh Edition.

The chart should be visible to everyone on the team and updated and reviewed daily.

How to Read a Burndown Chart

A burndown chart illustrates how closely project progress is mirroring the model. While the actual work line is likely to stray from the ideal, linear version, the two should meet at the end of the project.

If work is completed earlier than expected (the actual line is predicted to complete before the timeline), it indicates there was opportunity to include additional stories. If the Sprint is projected to have work remaining when the time is up, it means the Sprint wasn’t completed efficiently. According to the Foundations of Agile Methodology course, failing to complete a Sprint is a common problem for new Agile teams who are learning how to work together and prioritize assignments. However, a burndown chart offers a great way to communicate visually to management how the process can improve for future Sprints.

As Sprints are mapped, the project team should assess the emerging story. If progress appears flat, the team should consider potential influences to better manage the next sprint. Questions to ask include:

• Was a project team member sick or on vacation?
• Did the team receive enough information to get this amount of work done?
• Did the team accept too much work from the Product Owner?
• Was there a technology issue?
• Was the Scrum Master unable to remove an obstacle?
• Did the stakeholder introduce too many superfluous items?
• Was the estimation of stories inaccurate?

Benefits of a Burndown Chart

A visual representation of a project’s critical timeline data is valuable for helping all stakeholders understand the status of the project. In addition, a burndown chart enables:

• Proactive problem solving, as teams can anticipate areas that may be time consuming or troublesome.
• A visual way to measure performance, identify process gaps and inform continuous improvement
• Ability to identify total effort, referred to in Agile as velocity. For example, teams can identify user stories that required excessive effort and reset expectations for similar requests at future stages.

Limits of a Burndown Chart

Users should also consider what a burndown chart is not able to show to help set expectations with team members and stakeholders. This includes:

• No changes are displayed if the scope of work changes, and the chart shows only the completed stories
• Perspective is limited to the overall trend of the project, not detailed information in the backlog
• The chart is estimate-driven, which means if teams over or underestimate required times, the accuracy of the chart may lessen

When Agile teams understand limitations, estimate thoughtfully and keep the burndown chart visible and engaged for everyone, they can better harness their timelines to stay on schedule and understand impediments along the way.

PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

“I love sharing knowledge,” Labban said. “The knowledge sharing of something you believe in – and thinking that you could help individuals and organizations to do better – is a great motivator.”

In an interview, Labban spoke about how his professional experiences inform his teaching, the importance of Agile certification and how to overcome some of the biggest challenges of implementing Agile in an organization.

His Transition from Project Management to Agile

Labban holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in management and accounting from the University of Nebraska and a Master of Science in Information Technology Management from Creighton University.

He earned Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification after he reached a point in his career when he was “developing and maintaining two large systems for my workplace. The idea of becoming a project manager started to look like a logical progression for my career. So, I applied for the role and also obtained my PMP® certification.”

While Labban worked successfully as a project manager early in his career, it was in 2006 that he began thinking about making the transition to an Agile role after having a conversation with a friend.

“I was feeling that I was doing more than just following the pre-defined processes, updating documentations and working out the issues that came with waterfall-based projects. My friend suggested that I look up something fairly new called Scrum and the Agile Manifesto,” he said.

“I jumped on the suggestion right away and my outlook on my professional life forever changed. It was a methodology and mindset that valued building teams and listening to customers throughout the process,” Labban said.

Incorporating Professional Experience in the Classroom

While Agile as we know today started in the software industry, the methodology has since spread to many industries. Villanova’s Agile program introduces students to the concept of using Agile to improve areas such as time to market, efficiency and customer satisfaction. 

After transitioning from a project management role to Agile, Labban gained experience in a number of industries and worked in many roles within Agile, including as an Agile Coach, Agile Scrum Trainer, Agile Advocate and Agile Scrum Master. He uses those experiences to expand on what he teaches students.

Labban said he makes sure to “anchor my classes to formal teachings of different Agile practices. I tend to share my opinions based on my experience or what I have seen from others’ experience and how that relates to the Agile Manifesto principles and values.”

Throughout the years, Labban has earned numerous Agile-related certifications including Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®, Team Kanban Practitioner (TKP) and AgilityHealth Facilitator (AHF), as well as other certifications in product ownership and scaled Agile frameworks. This helps him incorporate his industry knowledge and experience into the classroom. 

“Everything looks great on paper, but the application of Agile practices depends a lot on the situation the teams are in,” he said. “That’s why sharing real-life stories helps students anticipate challenges and understand what to do about them.”

His experience also helps him make sure class materials incorporate all the latest developments in Agile. “I revisit the week’s presentations and see what I should update from what I have most recently experienced in my practice, from what I saw in other’s experiences, and from what I read since the last time I used those presentations,” Labban said.

Biggest Challenges in Agile

When looking at potential roadblocks to implementing Agile, Labban said that organizational leadership often provides the biggest challenges. 

“I wholeheartedly believe the Agile transformation effort should be mostly on the upper leadership of any organization,” he said. “I never had trouble standing up Agile teams, but the real challenge comes when the upper leadership does not adopt Agile practices and the Agile mindset.”

Agile concepts are applicable to every business, Labban said. “Any business can use Agile principles like inspect and adapt, fail fast, visualization and Lean, to name a few.”

The true benefits of using Agile in an organization happen when people realize that the methodology is about more than a new framework or vocabulary for a business.

“It is really about a new mindset and a new approach to work and life,” Labban said. “Any process or workplace can benefit from better collaboration, facilitation, transparency, visualization and continuous improvement – to name some of what Agile thinking and its best practices bring to the table,” he added.

The Value of Earning Agile Certification

As an added advantage to enrolling in the Certificate in Agile, Villanova offers students the option of taking its Professional Certification in Agile & Scrum (PCAS) exam. Labban said the advantages of earning this certification goes beyond the fact it is “bestowed by a prestigious and accredited institution like Villanova University.”

The certification also “acknowledges and verifies that the student went through an extensive, un-rushed learning journey toward the understanding of the Agile mindset and processes.”

He said the “unique value proposition” of Villanova’s Professional Certification in Agile & Scrum (PCAS) credential is that it is valuable both for those who want to learn about Agile before experiencing it in the workplace and those who have experience and want to build upon what they know.

“Students end up with knowledge beyond a certain Agile framework and instead come out with deeper knowledge of many important aspects of being Agile. For example, Agile teams, servant leadership, best practices, Agile games and continuous improvement,” he said.

Teaching Goes Beyond the Classroom

Outside his time in the classroom, Labban said he enjoys biking through nature reserves. He also tells a great story about teaching and biking while he was living in Nebraska.

Labban had grown up in a metropolitan area where he did not get a chance to ride a bike. However, he said, “When my two little girls back in Omaha wanted to ride bikes, I got them two bikes and taught them how to ride without training wheels right away. In two 30-minute sessions, they were doing perfectly fine.”

“Then it dawned on me that I never rode a bike in my life, so I got one and rode it without any issues,” he said. “It seems that I taught myself in the process of teaching my two little girls.”

Project Management Professional, PMP, PMI Certified Agile Practitioner and PMI-ACP are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.  

The concepts of Agile and Scrum apply to almost any field. As noted by Jeff Sutherland in a TED talk, which is discussed in Villanova’s Foundations of Agile Methodology course, the ideas of Agile and Scrum apply to everything from developing software to building fighter jets to teaching children to designing cars.

As Sutherland notes, using Agile and Scrum creates a new approach in leadership. “Management needs to let go and step back,” he said. “They need to get out of the way so that teams can figure out what to do.”

Earning certification in Agile and Scrum – a professional certification offered 100% online by Villanova University – can guide professionals in marrying these two models into the most effective tools for process improvement and change management.

Agile and Scrum Certification

Villanova awards its Professional Certification in Agile and Scrum (PCAS) to participants who successfully complete the online Certificate in Agile program and pass the optional certification exam. The Agile program focuses on implementing Agile, which revolves around the creation of self-organizing, self-motivated teams.

Scrum provides the framework for running an Agile project. It includes the formation of teams that work on short “sprints” to complete project phases. Another typical practice is short daily meetings – often called standups – in which teams discuss the current state of a project and identify any anticipated obstacles or impediments to the Scrum Team in the near future. Overall, Scrum helps improve team productivity and efficiency.

Developing expertise in both areas can help prepare participants for leadership roles in process improvement.

Certificate in Agile

Participants must successfully complete three required courses in the Certificate in Agile program to qualify for the Professional Certification in Agile and Scrum (PCAS) exam.

Foundations of Agile Methodology – This course introduces participants to the key principles and terminology of Agile methodology, defines Scrum events and framework and describes Scrum team member roles and responsibilities. The course also uncovers the reasons and objectives behind each Scrum meeting, planning for successful sprints and defining the structure needed to execute a successful Agile project.

Applications of Agile Principles – This course builds upon the foundation of the Essentials course, delving deeper into topics such as incorporating Lean and Kanban into Agile, project assessment tools and tactics, avoiding issues that derail project teams and how to assemble a successful Scrum team.

Leading Agile Teams – Through live class sessions and course curriculum, this eight-week course takes on even more complex issues in Agile, including coaching skills, value management, scaling teams and managing change late in a project schedule. Participants will receive four weeks of instructional content, four weeks of exam prep and an additional 12 weeks of access to a dedicated test preparation classroom. The supplemental classroom material includes practice tests and exam prep tips that can help you prepare for the PCAS certification exam.

Agile Certification Prep

After successfully completing all three required courses, participants will earn the Certificate in Agile credential, and will be eligible to take the PCAS exam that is administered 100% online by Villanova.

The exam has 50 questions. There is a one-hour time limit and participants have two attempts to pass (two more attempts are available for $150). A minimum score of 70 is required.

In addition to the PCAS credential, the Certificate in Agile program content may also help participants prepare for industry certification exams such as the PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® from the Project Management Institute and Professional Scrum Master (PSM) from Scrum.org.

“To continually improve a company, we must continually improve ourselves,” said Steve Cutlip, who completed Villanova’s Agile program. “If you’re considering enrolling, don’t wait…no matter what the job is, the goal of all organizations is to make money, and in order to make more money the organization has to be the example of continuous improvement.”

PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner and PMI-ACP are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Instead, companies should provide or identify an Agile Coach that can work closely with the team, collaborating with them from project kick off to completion.

Agile Coach Overview

An Agile Coach is much more than a trainer, says Villanova University instructor Karam Labban in the Leading Agile Teams course, the third of three required courses in Villanova’s Agile Certificate program.

An Agile Coach is a seasoned professional who embraces a mentorship role. They improve the team through knowledge-sharing by offering new perspectives, possibilities and insight from their prior experiences. By developing agile teams and championing an organizational culture that embraces change, an Agile Coach helps pave the path for long-term agile success.

Change can be difficult to navigate and accept, and an Agile Coach must ensure Agile teams have the support, encouragement, knowledge and tools they need to execute the process successfully. An Agile Coach must also help to cultivate an organizational culture that embraces this dynamic atmosphere.

Agile Coach Job Responsibilities

An Agile Coach is responsible for encouraging the team, enabling them to solve problems and cultivating individual growth. Their job responsibilities can be diverse, including:

• Facilitate Agile process knowledge to all team members at the outset of the project
• Train the team on each specific process step throughout the project lifecycle
• Support project planning
• Identify project risks
• Address team member questions
• Identify and diagnose process issues
• Coach Agile Product Owners to drive business value and retain the project vision
• Assist Product Owners in writing user stories
• Mentor Product Owners to make daily decisions to keep the project in motion and empower them to partner with business stakeholders to make more strategic decisions
• Mentor ScrumMasters, who may eventually become coaches themselves
• Support Scrum Masters in meeting preparation, including the pre-planning, planning, daily Scrum, and review stages.
• Instruct managers on the basics of Agile tools, such as Scrum and Kanban
• Coach managers to navigate their role in a dynamic environment through the cultural changes the project may be introducing
• Cultivate an Agile mindset in all team members where problems are embraced as welcome opportunities to adapt

One key thing an Agile Coach is not, Labban advises, is the person responsible for actually solving the problems that can occur in a project.

“You want the team to handle that problem and solve it,” he says. “You can coach them how to find solutions for the problems, how to handle problems and so forth, but it’s not your duty to find the solution.”

There are perhaps two main differences between an Agile ScrumMaster and an Agile Coach. The ScrumMaster is tasked with ensuring the team follows the Scrum process and rules. An Agile Coach’s remit is somewhat wider, with a greater emphasis on the change agenda.

How to Become an Agile Coach

In its article, “What is an Agile Coach,” CIO Magazine suggests that professionals interested in becoming an Agile Coach earn a bachelor’s degree, typically in IT, development, project management or a similar field. In addition to a degree, CIO advises professionals to consider additional Agile training or certification. Earning Agile certification can help equip professionals with new skills, provide legitimacy to their qualifications and boost their competitive edge.

Agile Coaches should have strong interpersonal skills, along with communication skills (verbal and written) to effectively mentor team members and collaborate with organizational stakeholders. They should also be able to empathize without becoming emotional, support team problem-solving and be adept at time management.

It’s important that Agile Coaches possess a strong understanding of Scrum, Kanban and other core Agile concepts. They may also be well-positioned for success by first serving as a project manager, Scrum Master or a related leadership role. This background can help provide them with the experience and first-hand knowledge and skills to coach a team.

According to Labban, the Agile world is about people, not templates, processes and tools. “An Agile Coach brings a lot of value to the team and company by being close to the team, by handling soft skill issues, by working through these issues with the team and teaching them how to handle it. This requires time and somebody who has experience and can stay with the team and follow up. They are more invested than a trainer,” he said.

A career as an Agile Coach affords the opportunity to mentor team members, help projects achieve success, and could provide professional development to move from coaching a team to multi-team to enterprise level as experience and skills progress. 

What is a Product Owner’s Role in Agile?

Fred Mastropasqua, PMI-ACP, CSP, CSM, CSPO, MCSE, and one of Villanova University’s Applications of Agile Principles course instructors, teaches that the Product Owner role should come from the business side (as opposed to the IT department) and own the responsibility for the product’s outputs, outcomes and value from planning to release.

Although Product Owners may have a business mindset, they must collaborate successfully with the IT product development team to ensure the final product meets the needs of the business and the customer.

The Agile Product Owner role is distinct from the Agile Scrum Master. Mastropasqua advises against putting one person in charge of these two roles because it could create a conflict of interest, and lead to sacrifices in product quality and team efficiency.  

Agile teams strive to develop products through shorter development cycles, called Sprints, that deliver value. In an Agile environment, development teams cycle through defining, building, testing and deploying a product, while making iterative adjustments based on stakeholder feedback. The Product Owner is critical to this process to ensure quality control, as the bridge between IT and the business, and to ensure backlog is prioritized well.

Agile Product Owner Job Responsibilities

Mastropasqua summarizes project ownership in this way: an Agile team is responsible for how the product is developed, but the Product Owner is responsible for what is actually developed. This means the Product Owner possesses the authority to ensure the product is developed correctly, and also has the responsibility to ensure the product’s output creates value and provides a tangible return on the business investment.

Overseeing the project development process from inception to release generally requires a number of tasks from the Product Owner, who essentially serves as proxy for the customer.

Typical job responsibilities of an Agile Product Owner include:

• Gathering information from stakeholders, customers and users to understand functional goals
• Prioritizing product features based on what is feasible to do and what is desired
• Leading Sprint planning meetings
• Receiving and providing feedback during Sprints
• Making decisions to solve problems (team backlog) that occur during development
• Accepting user stories
• Assessing developing versions of the product to recommend adjustments
• Collaborating with the development team throughout the process
• Overseeing product-related market research, sales and marketing for the product

Skills and Education

An Agile Product Owner’s goal is to deliver a quality product that users will quickly learn to operate and achieve value from. According to Mastropasqua in the Foundations of Agile Methodology course, the Product Owner owns the release plan and release date and is the person directly responsible for the output and/or outcome of the product. Thus, it is the Product Owner’s duty to collaborate with the Agile Scrum Master and the product team to answer their questions and verify all the acceptance criteria has been met before deploying the final product.

A successful Product Owner must be able to bridge the technical perspective of IT with the business lens of customers and organizations. Key skills that equip the Product Owner to accomplish this are decision-making, time management, listening, communication and leadership.

Education programs that can help professionals prepare to become Agile Product Owners, like Villanova University’s Agile program, align with the requirements for process improvement leadership as defined by Scrum.org and the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Villanova’s Certificate in Agile program helps equip professionals to earn industry certifications including PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® from PMI and Professional Scrum Master^TM (PSM) from Scrum.org. Participants who successfully complete the three-course certificate program and a separate certification exam will also earn Villanova’s Professional Certification in Agile & Scrum (PCAS) credential.

As organizations increasingly need educated, experienced leaders at the helm of complex process improvement efforts, Agile Product Owners should consider advanced training to help increase their competitive edge and the likelihood of successful, valuable product deployments.

PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner and PMI-ACP are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

An organization’s ability to meet those changes and quickly adapt are fundamental to success in the modern business world, according to a thought-leadership report from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and accounting firm KPMG titled, “Achieving Greater Agility – The Vital Role of Culture and Commitment.”

Agility ranks at the top of the list in terms of factors that influence project success, PMI President and CEO Mark Langley notes in an introduction to the report.

“Our research confirms that the most important factor influencing project success rates is an organization’s agility level,” he writes. “Agility is even more important than project approach – the greater the agility, the better the outcomes: financial results, customer satisfaction, project metrics, strategy implementation and benefits realization.”

What is Organizational Agility?

Clearly, organizational agility is important. But what is it, exactly?

Most associate the use of agile project management with the software industry, where it started. Software engineers looking for better speed-to-market for new products created a “Manifesto for Agile Software Development” that became the basis for Agile methodology.

Agile, which focuses on faster development of projects while retaining quality, has been used in tandem with Lean Six Sigma, which focuses on cutting waste and making all decisions with customer needs in mind.

Organizational agility incorporates aspects of both. It refers to an organization’s ability to adapt and respond to changes in external market conditions. This includes not just speed but remaining in touch with the needs of customers.

Agility is about flexibility. Ideally, organizational leaders keep in touch with customer needs, learning and then adapting to changes. According to the PMI report, this involves a focus on “iteration, interaction and collaboration.” It also involves the ability to effortlessly switch priorities and face market changes head on, rather than clinging to a business scheme that worked five years ago but is no longer viable.

Why Organizational Agility Is Important

According to the PMI report: “Agility is no longer optional as customer demands and market trends change more rapidly by the year, with ongoing digital transformation accelerating the process.”

That’s nothing new. In 2008, PMI was advocating changes that would inject “nimbleness and speed into current project management processes.” It’s just that a decade later, it’s more imperative than ever.

The 2017 Pulse of the Profession report from PMI also noted the emergence of Agile, with 71% of organizations reporting they incorporate Agile into projects sometimes or more frequently than in the past.

PMI’s Achieving Greater Agility report states that the time for change is now, not in three or five years. Some organizations, still mired in traditional approaches, face a “pivot or perish” moment, according to the report.

Fostering Sustainable Organizational Agility

Organizational agility starts at the top. Writing for the PMI report, business consultant Tony Scott – who has worked with Microsoft and Walt Disney Company, among others – argued that leadership behavior is the single most important aspect in creating culture.

Part of that, Scott wrote, is consistently recognizing and rewarding behavior by employees that foster an agile approach to organizational goals.

Another critical component to success involves getting everyone involved with a specific business value change working together on agile initiatives. Otherwise, there might be pockets within an organization working on agility, but they go nowhere because they are isolated.

According to the PMI report, organizations should look to:

• Communicate messages from the C-suites in a consistent way
• Enable collaboration across diverse enterprise groups – agile is about people over processes
• Address a whole business value chain at once, allowing end-to-end agility
• Accept multiple approaches that are tried during the transformational phase (in other words, some failure must be expected and accepted)
• Commit to transforming and modernizing current approaches before introducing new ones
• Minimize friction between traditional phase-based delivery and more modern approaches

One way to approach handling all these issues is to run agility initiatives through an organization’s Project Management Office (PMO). Because of their experience working across all areas of an organization to implement successful projects, project managers in a PMO have exactly the experience and relationships needed to foster agile transformation.

Challenges That Impede Organizational Agility

While there are clear advantages to having a more flexible organization that quickly adapts to market changes, getting there takes focus and effort.

Some of the biggest roadblocks to creating organizational agility include the following, summarized from the PMI report.

Lack of executive leadership – Without support and funding from the highest levels of an organization, transformation is not sustainable. What typically happens is that one area will adapt Agile approaches, but the effort fizzles out because it is not supported organization-wide.

Not taking an enterprise view – This includes many factors. For example, not establishing a formalized, centralized program that fosters agility across an organization (such as out of a PMO). This leads to isolated implementation of agile, which can lead to more problems than it solves.

Not considering organizational change – Agile requires organizational change – not just in product development but in other areas that traditionally do not change. The layers of management should be reduced, for example. More focus needs to be placed on talent management, employee training, business technology collaboration and performance management processes.

Not considering transition time – Change takes time. Realistic expectations need to be put in place from the beginning. Rather than an all-at-once approach, change should be made in “waves” that slowly break down traditional barriers.

Organizational agility is not easy to create, nor is it going to happen overnight. But for those trained in the improvement processes inherent in Agile and Lean Six Sigma, it’s an area where they can make a great deal of impact.

What is Agile Scrum?

Understanding the role of the Scrum Master requires first understanding Agile Scrum.

The Scrum Guide defines Agile Scrum as “a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.” This can prove especially useful for complex product or service development projects where there are many people and tasks involved.

Agile Scrum allows project teams to handle all of these “moving parts” in a systematic way. Scrum provides tools and techniques for teams to use once data is collected and analyzed, including mapping out a project plan and ensuring it stays on schedule.

Transparency and flexibility to adapt quickly to change are two of the major benefits of Agile Scrum.

Duties of a Scrum Master

A Scrum Master plays a vital role in pulling different elements together to ensure a project stays on time and moving in the right direction. They also work to clear obstacles impeding the team’s progress, facilitate a good relationship between the team and product owners and protect team members from outside distractions.

Some specific areas of responsibility can include the following:

Coaching the Team

Scrum Masters train team members to understand how Agile Scrum methodology applies to their project. They also must understand the theories and values that underpin Agile Scrum.

Managing the Process

In addition to clearing obstacles and distractions, a Scrum Master oversees project timelines and deadlines for each involved task. They do this by ensuring that team members are given time to focus on tasks and have all the support, materials and information they need. They handle the setting of meetings and guide projects through any changes that are needed.

Manage Communication

Communication is key in almost every phase of business, and it’s critical among Scrum teams. Members of the team must have clear communication about the details of their tasks, and product owners outside of the team need consistent, clear communication about current project statuses. This requires an organized and skilled Scrum Master who can consistently keep lines of communication open over the duration of a project.

Supporting Three Groups

Scrum Masters play an essential role at the center of process improvement efforts. One of the main tasks is creating, managing and supporting the project teams, which requires a wealth of knowledge on what will be needed for a project and who provides the best knowledge and skills to perform specific tasks.

They also work with Agile Product Owners – the “end user” of what is being developed in the project – to leverage Agile processes to meet product goals. They work with product teams to maximize the value of the product itself, providing customers with the most effective product possible. They work together to create the product backlog – a prioritized list of features desired in the end product.

Scrum Masters also service the organization as a whole. Successful implementation of Agile Scrum can lead to a wealth of advantages. Foremost among them are more efficient operations, better products and maximizing talent within an organization.

Skills and Job Outlook

A successful Scrum Master generally needs a variety of expertise and skills. Chief among them are decision-making, time management, organizational skills, communication and “soft skills” in understanding how to work with diverse groups of people.

Agile Scrum Master is a rapidly growing job in process improvement. It’s also one of the 25 top-paying jobs in the U.S., with a median base annual salary of more than $95,000, according to Moneyish, a Dow Jones company. Glassdoor also lists the average annual salary at more than $101,000.

The growing demand and attractive compensation are key contributors to the popularity of education programs designed to train Scrum Masters, such as Villanova University’s Agile program. The program aligns with the requirements for process improvement leadership as defined by Scrum.org and the Project Management Institute (PMI).

The comprehensive program curriculum helps to prepare professionals for industry certifications such as PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)^® from PMI and Professional Scrum Master^TM (PSM) from Scrum.org. Additionally, Villanova offers its own Professional Certification in Agile & Scrum (PCAS) credential to participants who complete the certificate program, project and final exam.

Education and experience are what drives success in process improvement methodologies such as Agile Scrum. With more organizations needing someone at the center of their process improvement efforts to provide a skilled and disciplined hand, earning certification as a Scrum Master is an option worth considering.

PMI-ACP is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

National long-term projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth. Certificate program options do not guarantee career or salary outcomes. Students should conduct independent research for specific employment information.