Professional Scrum Master - Advanced

Join the online experience of this advanced PSM-A class ("Advanced Professional Scrum Master II") with Gunther Verheyen, independent Scrum Caretaker and Scrum practitioner since 2003, to interactively discover the many aspects of mastering the Scrum Master role.

The Advanced Professional Scrum Master (II) class is the cutting-edge course to deepen your understanding of the accountability of the Scrum Master as intended and designed in the Scrum framework. It is the class for awesome Scrum Masters and for anyone aspiring to grasp the nature and implementation of servant-leadership.

A professional Scrum Master offers various ‘services’ to the peer roles within the Scrum Team (team of Developers, Product Owner) and to the organization (stakeholders and -ultimately- anyone beyond the Scrum Team who wants to know more about Scrum). The Advanced Professional Scrum Master (II) class introduces not just the type of services that are offered by a professional Scrum Master, but also tools and approaches to deliver these different services. The Advanced Professional Scrum Master (II) class thus goes to the essence of the role of Scrum Master in the sense of being accountable to support and facilitate an eco-system with a focus on product delivery with Scrum, and to work, coach and facilitate people, teams and the wider organization.

The Advanced Professional Scrum Master (II) class is an interactive experience in which Gunther Verheyen, independent Scrum Caretaker and Scrum practitioner since 2003, collaboratively explores with you what mastering the Scrum Master role entangles, thereby drawing on nearly two decades of practical experience. All materials used in the class are in line with the 2020 version of the Scrum Guide. The class includes selected cases from “The Scrum Caretaker Book of Exercises“.

Gunther calls himself an independent Scrum Caretaker on a journey of humanizing the workplace (with Scrum). He is a world-leading Scrum expert. He started applying Scrum in 2003, has published two best-selling books on Scrum ("Scrum - A Pocket Guide" and "97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know") and has closely collaborated with Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum.

Course topics

• The Scrum Scrum Master
• Services to the Scrum Team
• Services to the Product Owner
• Services to the organization

Objectives

Students are challenged to think as a Scrum Master and enact according to a Scrum Master's accountability as designed and intended in the Scrum framework.

• Students will have a clear understanding of the role and accountability of a professional Scrum Master.
• Students can act as a Scrum Master for Scrum Teams and the wider organization from an in-depth understanding of servant-leadership.

Prerequisites

Attendees make the most of the class if they:

• Have studied the Scrum Guide (required).
• Have solid experience as a Scrum Master (at least one year) (required).
• Hold the PSM I and/or PSPO I credential (preferred).
• Have attended a PSM and/or PSPO class by Gunther Verheyen (preferred).
• Have read the book "Agile Software Development with Scrum" of Ken Schwaber and Mike beedle or “Scrum – A Pocket Guide” by Gunther Verheyen (optional).

Target Audience

The Advanced Professional Scrum Master (II) course is an advanced course specifically designed for experienced Scrum Masters who have a thorough understanding of the Scrum framework. It is particularly beneficial for those people with at least one year of Scrum Master experience. This course is one step in their journey of professional development.

Format

Students work in teams. They learn through team assignments, discussions and hands-on exercises. This course will be taught in English. The course does not address the Scrum framework (much), and we assume people have a proper understanding of the Scrum framework.

Assessment and Certification

The Advanced Professional Scrum Master (II) course has the Professional Scrum Master level II (PSM II) certification as associated credential. All participants completing the Professional Scrum Master II course receive a password to take the PSM II assessment. If participants take the PSM II assessment within 14 days after the class, and do not achieve the 85% certification score, they get 1 free re-attempt.

Additionally, all participants completing the Professional Scrum Master II course are entitled to a discount of 200 $ on the PSM III assessment (regular price: 500 $).

These industry-recognized certifications require a minimum passing score on the associated rigorous assessment. Scrum.org maintains a public list with everyone holding Professional Scrum credentials.

Trainer

Gunther Verheyen is a longtime Scrum practitioner (2003). After a longstanding career as a consultant, he partnered with Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum, and Director of the Professional Scrum series at Scrum.org (2013-2016). During his time, Gunther redesigned and substantially updated the PSM course material and the PSM assessments.

Since 2016, Gunther is engaging with people and organizations as an independent Scrum Caretaker.

Gunther is the author of the acclaimed book Scrum – A Pocket Guide in 2013, and a second edition was published in 2019. Ken Schwaber recommends that book as “...the best description of Scrum currently available” and “extraordinarily competent.” Several translations of his work are available. In 2020, Gunther published the book "97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know" with O'Reilly Media. 

When not travelling for Scrum and humanizing the workplace, Gunther lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.

The class will be online as a Zoom meeting. Gunther limits the technology and increases the learning. Students work in small groups in a Zoom breakout room, using a digital whiteboard. As in a physical environment, Gunther uses a physical flipchart for drawing core Scrum concepts.