The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness and for establishing Scrum as it is defined in the Scrum Guide. Excellent Scrum Masters help their teams deliver value. They can help transform a team that struggles, into a team that delivers value every Sprint.

This learning series discusses the importance of developing and delivering valuable product Increments in order to improve the outcomes that its users and customers experience. Scrum Teams deliver product Increments and measure the results to understand what customers want or need.

This learning series contains a list of interview questions that you may encounter as a Product Owner, and the reason why the question is relevant to the Product Owner accountability.

This learning series highlights 9 ways a Product Owner can boost their effectiveness.

The Scrum Team is a small unit of professionals focused on attaining the Product Goal. Scrum Teams consist of a Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers. Each has a clear set of accountabilities. Learn more about the Scrum Team, accountabilities, responsibilities and why these aren’t called “roles.”

Discover the learning objectives in the PSPBM course and explore some supporting learning resources.

By understanding its customers and users, a Scrum Team can identify opportunities, be more innovative and create products that people need and use. Here are different techniques ways to do this.

Scrum encourages frequent collaboration with stakeholders, and customers in particular. Understanding how to identify and learn about the challenges that key stakeholders face will help the Scrum Team better deliver the value they are seeking.

The Product Vision describes the purpose of a Product. A good Product Vision expresses the value the Product should deliver and to whom that value is delivered.

Product Backlog Management is the act of adjusting and ordering items on the Product Backlog so that the Scrum Team can deliver the most valuable product possible. This learning series explores Product Backlog Management.

The Sprint Backlog represents what the Developers plan to accomplish during the Sprint. Learn about the Sprint Backlog, Sprint Goal, how to use Sprint Backlogs effectively and investigate common antipatterns with the Sprint Backlog.

The Increment is the latest version of the product that conforms to the Definition of Done. During each Sprint, the Developers work toward the current Product Goal by implementing Product Backlog items (PBIs) and integrating their individual work together. Learn about the Increment and its commitment, the Definition of Done. Investigate some common myths about the Increment.

The Product Backlog represents all of the work the Scrum Team knows it needs to do in order to deliver the product. Teams can use the Product Backlog to make decisions about what they should do next. Learn about the Product Backlog, Product Goal, Product Backlog items and Product Backlog refinement.

Unlike the other Scrum Events, the Sprint isn’t a meeting. Instead, it’s the container for all of the work that’s done by a Scrum Team to achieve a Sprint Goal. The Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective all fall within the Sprint.

To keep work moving smoothly, the Developers get together for 15 minutes every day to focus on the Sprint Goal and to plan the upcoming day’s work. During the Daily Scrum, they identify any issues they need help in resolving, ask for help when they need it and adjust the Sprint Backlog, if necessary.

The Sprint Review is a working meeting where the Scrum Team presents their completed work to stakeholders and asks for feedback. The Scrum Team and stakeholders discuss the progress made toward the Product Goal, emerging changes in the business or technical climate and collaborate on what to do next

The Sprint Retrospective is the last event in the Sprint. Unlike other Scrum Events where the focus is on inspecting and adapting ways to improve the product, the Sprint Retrospective is a place for the Scrum Team to inspect and adapt their working practices.

Every Sprint starts with Sprint Planning where the Scrum Team determines what they plan to accomplish during the course of the Sprint. They make this transparent by creating a Sprint Backlog including the Sprint Goal, the selected Product Backlog Items and the Developers’ plan for delivering the work

To help ensure that the work the Scrum Team delivers is valuable, they need to work together, share ideas and responsibilities and have team ownership while also working closely with their stakeholders, including customers and end users.

The five Scrum Events provide regular opportunities for enacting the Scrum pillars of Inspection, Adaptation and Transparency. In addition, they help teams keep aligned with the Sprint and Product Goals, improve Developer productivity, remove impediments and reduce the need to schedule too many additional meetings.

Scrum Teams need to make decisions all the time. Helping teams reach a decision effectively, and gaining necessary buy-in from all team members can be challenging, especially when team members are unclear on who has the final say in making it. Understanding the decision rule, how a decision is made and whose input is required, is necessary because ambiguity in the decision process causes confusion and frustration.

Guidance for how to prepare to earn the Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills certification.

As a new Scrum Master you’ll want to get to know your team, the people outside of your team that you’ll work with, including stakeholders to help the team improve at delivering value. To help you get started, here are some questions and tips to consider when you join a new team as a Scrum Master and suggestions on building collaborative relationships.

The Definition of Done describes the quality standards for the Increment. Learn why getting to Done is so important, what undone work is, if it’s okay to show work that isn’t done to stakeholders, can you present undone work at the Sprint Review and what’s the difference between the DoD and Definition of Ready or acceptance criteria.

Anyone can act as a teacher, helping your colleagues obtain new knowledge or learn new skills. However, if you want to become a very effective teacher, it’s best if you learn a few of the principles of the teaching profession, the skills and traits of a teacher and when teaching can be helpful for a Scrum Team.

Discover the learning objectives in the PSFS course and explore some supporting learning resources.

In Scrum, empiricism refers to the idea that solving complex problems, or doing complex work, can only be done using an exploratory process rather than relying on predetermined plans. Learn about empiricism and complex work. Explore why trust is important for empiricism to thrive.

If you are just getting started, think of Scrum as a way to get work done as a team in small pieces at a time, with experimentation and feedback loops along the way. This learning series explores the pieces that make up the Scrum Framework.

There is no one direct path to become a great Scrum Master. However, we've assembled a few insights and ideas on topics such as driving toward goals, living the Scrum Values, enabling collaboration, removing obstacles, instilling self-management, promoting psychological safety, and encouraging a continuous improvement mindset.

In order for Scrum Masters to fulfill their accountability they must enable the team to continuously improve its practices within the Scrum Framework. Learn about how a Scrum Master can instill continuous improvement mindset through an exploration of some frequently asked questions that we’ve encountered from Scrum Teams.

The ways that leaders present themselves and interact with their colleagues can either support agility, or defeat it. Learn the difference between leaders and managers and the traits of an agile leadership style. Explore why we speak more about agile leadership and not servant leadership.

The best way to support a team working on complex problems is to give them the space to determine how to do their work, rather than directing them. Learn about self-managing teams and their characteristics. Explore some myths and misunderstandings about self-management.

The coach’s job is to be a process expert, enabling those they are coaching to achieve their goals using skills such as developmental conversations, active listening and asking thought-provoking questions. Learn a few of the coaching principles, traits and skills of a coach, and why coaching is beneficial for Scrum Teams.

Mentoring is a mutually beneficial relationship in which a mentor provides guidance to a mentee to help the mentee reach their goals. It’s often confused with coaching. Learn why mentoring is beneficial for Scrum Team, mentoring principles, skills and traits of a mentor as well as the traits of a mentee.

Facilitation can be used to lead people toward agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership and creativity by all involved. Learn about the principles of facilitation, skills and traits of a facilitator, how to facilitate diverse perspectives and explore some facilitation techniques for the Scrum Events.