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Ryan Ripley
Ryan Ripley & Company
Jan 16, 2021
Situational discussions
My only regret is that I wish it had included more situational discussion. Since a portion of the assessment will include questions of that nature, there should have been more “what would you do if...” conversations. The class was really good, though. The facilitators did a good job making it feel personable and less like an online class. I liked their use of breakout rooms and taking turns running each segment.
Jessica Miller
Dec 23, 2020
Great course
Great course, a lot of good discussion and study materials for the exam
Jennifer O'Neill
Dec 17, 2020
New to scrum
I came in with almost no experience working with the Scrum framework. Our team decided to implement recently and I decided I needed to better understand the concepts so I can be more productive within the framework. Ryan and Todd did a great job presenting the information and engaging even over zoom.
Matt Cochran
Oct 31, 2020
Instructive and interactive
Class was informative and interactive, the instructors kept it interesting the whole time.
Elena
Oct 28, 2020
Always a solid review …
Always a solid review of the management perspective of scrum. It is also a bit of a general business patterns class since it reminds you what to do and not do as a management team.
Eric Snell
Oct 15, 2020
New perspective and Engaging
Class was very helpful and introduced new ideas for streamlining work. Todd made it fun and allowed us to collaborate and engaged us in conversation to help see different perspectives. Time flew through this class! Loved the 80's music too!
Michele Tarrence
Oct 7, 2020
PSM-II: Dynamic, engaging, challenging and thought-provoking
Dynamic, engaging presentation of information. Lots of good information, excellent emphasis on key points (but there are so many!). I especially appreciated a lot of the vocabulary and definition clarifications -- for instance, committing to sprint goals rather than just "the sprint."
I came out of this feeling that several assumptions and practices in which I currently engage have been tilted, and I'm re-evaluating. This is a good thing! And I learned several new (to me) methods of communication and collaboration.
Claire Abt
Sep 26, 2020
As one of the two people who created…
As one of the two people who created this class, I thought Ryan Ripley presented the material really well and kept our class focused on it's most important lessons. The added bonus was that he, like many of the trainers at Scrum.org, is a master facilitator. He makes it look easy but it's not. In addition to teaching the material, he modeled some great facilitation techniques as well.
Michael McPadden
Sep 25, 2020
Highly recommend
Todd and Ryan did a great job in running the class and explaining things. I really enjoyed the conversations with Todd and Ryan and with the other people attending the class. I feel like e renewed scrum master after taking this class :-)
Krista van de Wetering
Sep 23, 2020
Great Job!
Great Job!
I really enjoyed this class and look forward to attending more classes lead by Todd Miller & Ryan Ripley!!
Delmario Hawkins Sr.
Sep 22, 2020
PSM II: Ryan and Todd rock!
Ryan and Todd did a great job facilitating the PSM II class. I was impressed with their ability to get the class engaged and collaborating and also how they managed the pacing of the class so it always felt relaxed and not rushed. Great work guys!
Blake McMillan
Sep 18, 2020
I now feel like I know the principles of Scrum
I came away from the class feeling like I understood the principles of Scrum - Ryan is a really great teacher, he brought good examples to the course and a great energy to teaching - you could tell he was enthusiastic about the topics.
One thing I would have liked more of was the breakout sessions, I thought that they were times where people came back with new ideas and insights into Scrum, and maybe having one or two more would have been useful
Tom Parsons
Aug 21, 2020
Highly recommended
Ryan and Todd have shown me in a very clear way the importance of being a servant leader and what is the role leaders play when it comes to work with multiple Agile teams.
Jorge Carrasco Aravena
Aug 20, 2020
Amazing PAL-E Course!
This was the first Scrum.org course I took that was co-facilitated, and believe Ryan and Todd did an excellent job of playing off one another. The breakout sessions and real-world cases the trainers provided were invaluable. I thoroughly enjoyed my learning time and interaction with them, and hope to maybe take another course from them in the future!
Mike Torrence
Jul 27, 2020
Support department is awesome
Support department is awesome. Worked with me until my issue was resolved
Katherine Ritchie
Jul 10, 2020
Ryan and Todd did a nice job explaining…
Ryan and Todd did a nice job explaining the material , provided real life examples, and used breakout sessions to allow the class to collaborate in small teams.
Darin Whittington
Jul 1, 2020
Ryan was superb
Ryan was superb! SME all the way around.....Sam was great too. Their collaborative synergy and partnership of involvng us as the online audience was fantastic. Music was a plus!'
Highly Recommended, I am thankful and appreciateive for this training, and will utilize these principles in my daily business flows for continuos process improvements for the citizens of Colorado.
Samuel Kelly
Jun 24, 2020
Awesome job ...ensuring the role of the…
Awesome job ...ensuring the role of the product owner in the Scrum framework.
Deidra Walker
Jun 17, 2020
Great instructors led a great class
Great instructors led a great class. Professional, engaging, challenging, robust, and just 'fun' enough to keep it interesting and upbeat (it's two long, intense days!). Highly recommend this class, with Don and Ryan leading it. Some advice: do the pre-work, read the Scrum guide, take notes. Be ready for all the terminology and it will all make good sense.
Jodi Conti
Jun 13, 2020
Ryan and Todd work amazingly well together
Ryan and Todd work amazingly well together. They are experts at taking difficult-to-explain topics and relating them to a large audience in terms that the audience can connect with. It is very obvious that these trainers not only know the material, but have lived every aspect of it. They take plenty of time to answer students' questions, and even stayed after class to answer a lot of questions that were outside the scope of the class. I definitely recommend taking a class with Ryan and Todd, and would again if the opportunity arose.
Richard Waters
Jun 12, 2020
Ryan and Todd are awesome coaches
It's clear that both Todd and Ryan have amazing experience. And better yet, they know how to share it very effectively. This class was highly interactive and filled with practical information that I will start using immediately.
They also kept it interesting AND implicitly taught many Liberating Structures along the way. Was so helpful to see two masters of their craft use these in a real learning situation. I highly recommend taking this course with them as it will teach you on many levels throughout the two days. Time and money VERY well spent.
Michael McPadden
Jun 6, 2020
Great knowledge and experience
Great knowledge and experience
George Al Haddad
Jun 3, 2020
Great Class!
The material was informative and the class was engaging.
Jeff Martin
May 24, 2020
Great Experience
Great Experience. Ryan and Todd are great teachers and both very knowledgeable and truly care about their students. They keep the class interesting by having a nice balance of teaching, interaction and break-out groups. Highly Recommend!
Michael Davis
May 22, 2020
This was well organized and presented…
This was well organized and presented with very easy to use exercises.
Krissy Alberti
May 15, 2020
Awesome training and great exposure and…
Awesome training and great exposure and knowledge.
Learnt a lot and virtual training was cool.
Rajesh
May 4, 2020
The class was very effective & efficient
The class was very effective & efficient, I really like it that it's very interactive and action based, rather than just PPT and traditional instruct and listen. The exercise and and activities were all very helpful and can be used in everyone's career path as scrum master.
Ming Liang PSM I
May 1, 2020
Ryan and Todd are Amazing as always!!!
As always, Ryan and Todd are great! This class was virtual (during COVID-19) and honestly (and surprisingly for me), being virtual actually made it better! As one of my classmates pointed out, had we been there physically, we would have sat with our colleagues. Virtual Breakout rooms forced us to collab with people we normally would not have sat next to in a physical classroom, which opened our conversations to more possibilities and ideas.
Marcy Elhamidi
May 1, 2020
Always a pleasure ...
Always a pleasure to learn from and collaborate with Ryan. Great to finally work with Todd in person! These guys are a great team with a great style and great content!!!
Katherine Zinszer
May 1, 2020
Absolutely Love Their Classes
Absolutely love their classes. I had to take it virtually due to COVID-19, and it was delivered extremely well. I would highly recommend their classes to anyone.
Courtney Ziegenbusch
Apr 23, 2020
Todd and Ryan did a wonderful job
Todd and Ryan did a wonderful job doing the training virtually considering the circumstances of COVID. They kept it interactive and entertaining. Thank you!
Cindy Gronberg Moldin
Apr 22, 2020
Awesome class
Awesome class. Highly preferred the live, virtual class. No travel time, great web conferencing and well thought out whiteboard interactions.
Matthew DeWitt
Feb 29, 2020
Ryan is an excellent presenter and the…
Ryan is an excellent presenter and the information was easy to follow and useful.
BKS
Feb 28, 2020
Learned a lot
I had no idea what Scrum was about when I started the class. By the end of the 2nd day I had a much better understanding and am looking forward to learning more. Ryan did a really good job and when I took my first assessment I got an 86%. I was surprised that I had learned as much as I did. The class was interactive to help the learning process.
Patricia Maurer
Feb 20, 2020
Enjoyed my time over the two days
Enjoyed my time over the two days. Our trainer lead us through many useful and exercises that helped me understand my role within our organization and how to be a better leader.
Christopher
Dec 2, 2019
Ryan Ripley as Trainer is a no brainer
Ryan did a great job facilitating our course. I highly recommend him!
Marcy Elhamidi
Oct 25, 2019
Ryan is an exceptional instructor with…
Ryan is an exceptional instructor with pragmatic views that pack a punch!
Clint Roszelle
Oct 11, 2019
Ryan is a great instructor
Ryan is a great instructor. The class was enjoyable and gave me a lot to think about. The conversations that occurred during the class were especially valuable.
Tamara Blaylock
Sep 20, 2019
it was great and informative!!
it was great and informative!!! Very involved
Anshu Kalia
Aug 28, 2019
Excellent
Ryan was excellent at providing hands on activities to allow us to experience Scrum in action first hand.
Randy Blakeley
Aug 24, 2019
Finally a course that defines just how…
Finally a course that defines just how important an Agile leader is. Well done, Ryan.
Jill Graves
Aug 20, 2019
Presentation Order
This was a 3 day course covering the PO role, Scrum Methodology, and the Scrum Master role in that order.
The information presented was fantastic and really brought out some of the ways that we could improve our situation, and how much I still need to learn and put into practice.
For future sessions, presenting the Scrum Methodology before diving into the individual roles might have helped some glean a better overall understanding.
I would definitely take a course with Ryan again.
Christopher Davidson
Aug 19, 2019
Ryan was Fantastic
Ryan was fantastic. I would love to have seen the class focus on training the *simple* processes to handle complex problems. Yet when 216 slides are required to present the material it causes me to pause and question how simple it all is...
Therefore, I would imagine maybe a simple solution may be as most people learn by doing, the ideal approach would be to create faux teams among the groups at our tables and mock real-world situations giving students the opportunity for hands-on training. This would seem preferred over the lecture of slides or at best the 10min breakout sessions of discussion woven in to break up the slides.
David
Jun 25, 2019
PSM II was very interactive and helped…
PSM II was very interactive and helped in learning concepts better.
Saptha Aswini Gidugu
Jun 14, 2019
10 out of 10
10 out of 10
The class and instructors were amazing.
Brian Hess
Jun 14, 2019
It was a lot to absorb in two days but…
It was a lot to absorb in two days but the instructors made it a pleasure. I would recommend to anyone who is interested in my moving towards a SCRUM framework or already working in one.
Andrew Cole
May 27, 2019
SCRUM for the win!
This was a well paced and organized course with an engaging instructor! Really appreciate it.
Ashley Vega
May 10, 2019
Fantastic class created as an…
Fantastic class created as an innovative and interactive experiance. No slides, all interactive and based on liberating structures.
Martin Hinshelwood
Apr 11, 2019
Very well organized class
Very well organized class. The instructor was very knowledgeable, insightful, and helpful. Great job!
Scott Smith
Apr 10, 2019
I was pretty new to Scrum at the start…
I was pretty new to Scrum at the start of the class. I found it extremely informative and valuable and left me well prepared me to successfully complete PSPO1 and PSM1. Ryan was very engaging, presented the material well, and did a great job of teaching to all the levels of experience in the room.
Jared Pottkotter
Mar 26, 2019
Great course - intense 2 days!
Great course which is well laid out. Only concern is that the focussed SCRUM Master section is a little too late in the course - it is an intense 2 days so my brain was a bit frazzled by the time we got there. Our facilitator Ryan Ripley was fantastic! His wealth of experience helped to enrich the content and he did a great job of allowing discussions without impacting the flow of the course.
Andre Gokool
Mar 25, 2019
Nice pace of the class
Nice pace of the class - with great examples from real -life projects.
HS
Feb 21, 2019
Overall positive experience and felt…
Overall positive experience and felt that the second day was far stronger than the first. Content was geared towards department head or director level vs VP/C-Suite.
Christopher Hayes
Feb 8, 2019
This class was fantastic
This class was fantastic. It was interactive every step of the way and really embodied the values it was teaching. I would strongly recommend for SM's and coaches.
Pamela Spencer
Feb 8, 2019
You need this class!
This was an excellent class. I learned some great techniques and really feel like this class helped my personal growth as a Scrum Master.
Jennifer Wait
Jan 31, 2019
I loved both of the trainers and their…
I loved both of the trainers and their open and honest training style. They were very professional and prepared, with great visuals and exercises that they iterated on and improved even during the class.
Lalena Daigneault
Ryan's Certifications
Ryan's Bio
A Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org, Ryan Ripley has experience as a software developer, manager, director, and ScrumMaster at various Fortune 500 companies in the medical device, wholesale, and financial services industries. Ryan is committed to helping teams break the cycle of “bad Scrum” so they can deliver valuable software that delights their customers. The host of Agile for Humans, the top Agile podcast on iTunes, Ryan lives in Indiana with his wife Kristin and three children. He blogs at ryanripley.com and is on Twitter @ryanripley. Ryan loves talking about all things Agile and promises not to speak in the third person if you come up and ask him a question.
Spoken Languages
- English
Courses taught by Ryan
See What My Students Say
Jan 16, 2021
Situational discussions
My only regret is that I wish it had included more situational discussion. Since a portion of the assessment will include questions of that nature, there should have been more “what would you do if...” conversations. The class was really good, though. The facilitators did a good job making it feel personable and less like an online class. I liked their use of breakout rooms and taking turns running each segment.
Jessica Miller
Dec 23, 2020
Great course
Great course, a lot of good discussion and study materials for the exam
Jennifer O'Neill
Dec 17, 2020
New to scrum
I came in with almost no experience working with the Scrum framework. Our team decided to implement recently and I decided I needed to better understand the concepts so I can be more productive within the framework. Ryan and Todd did a great job presenting the information and engaging even over zoom.
Matt Cochran
Oct 31, 2020
Instructive and interactive
Class was informative and interactive, the instructors kept it interesting the whole time.
Elena
Oct 28, 2020
Always a solid review …
Always a solid review of the management perspective of scrum. It is also a bit of a general business patterns class since it reminds you what to do and not do as a management team.
Eric Snell
Oct 15, 2020
New perspective and Engaging
Class was very helpful and introduced new ideas for streamlining work. Todd made it fun and allowed us to collaborate and engaged us in conversation to help see different perspectives. Time flew through this class! Loved the 80's music too!
Michele Tarrence
Oct 7, 2020
PSM-II: Dynamic, engaging, challenging and thought-provoking
Dynamic, engaging presentation of information. Lots of good information, excellent emphasis on key points (but there are so many!). I especially appreciated a lot of the vocabulary and definition clarifications -- for instance, committing to sprint goals rather than just "the sprint."
I came out of this feeling that several assumptions and practices in which I currently engage have been tilted, and I'm re-evaluating. This is a good thing! And I learned several new (to me) methods of communication and collaboration.
Claire Abt
Sep 26, 2020
As one of the two people who created…
As one of the two people who created this class, I thought Ryan Ripley presented the material really well and kept our class focused on it's most important lessons. The added bonus was that he, like many of the trainers at Scrum.org, is a master facilitator. He makes it look easy but it's not. In addition to teaching the material, he modeled some great facilitation techniques as well.
Michael McPadden
Sep 25, 2020
Highly recommend
Todd and Ryan did a great job in running the class and explaining things. I really enjoyed the conversations with Todd and Ryan and with the other people attending the class. I feel like e renewed scrum master after taking this class :-)
Krista van de Wetering
Sep 23, 2020
Great Job!
Great Job!
I really enjoyed this class and look forward to attending more classes lead by Todd Miller & Ryan Ripley!!
Delmario Hawkins Sr.
Sep 22, 2020
PSM II: Ryan and Todd rock!
Ryan and Todd did a great job facilitating the PSM II class. I was impressed with their ability to get the class engaged and collaborating and also how they managed the pacing of the class so it always felt relaxed and not rushed. Great work guys!
Blake McMillan
Sep 18, 2020
I now feel like I know the principles of Scrum
I came away from the class feeling like I understood the principles of Scrum - Ryan is a really great teacher, he brought good examples to the course and a great energy to teaching - you could tell he was enthusiastic about the topics.
One thing I would have liked more of was the breakout sessions, I thought that they were times where people came back with new ideas and insights into Scrum, and maybe having one or two more would have been useful
Tom Parsons
Aug 21, 2020
Highly recommended
Ryan and Todd have shown me in a very clear way the importance of being a servant leader and what is the role leaders play when it comes to work with multiple Agile teams.
Jorge Carrasco Aravena
Aug 20, 2020
Amazing PAL-E Course!
This was the first Scrum.org course I took that was co-facilitated, and believe Ryan and Todd did an excellent job of playing off one another. The breakout sessions and real-world cases the trainers provided were invaluable. I thoroughly enjoyed my learning time and interaction with them, and hope to maybe take another course from them in the future!
Mike Torrence
Jul 27, 2020
Support department is awesome
Support department is awesome. Worked with me until my issue was resolved
Katherine Ritchie
Jul 10, 2020
Ryan and Todd did a nice job explaining…
Ryan and Todd did a nice job explaining the material , provided real life examples, and used breakout sessions to allow the class to collaborate in small teams.
Darin Whittington
Jul 1, 2020
Ryan was superb
Ryan was superb! SME all the way around.....Sam was great too. Their collaborative synergy and partnership of involvng us as the online audience was fantastic. Music was a plus!'
Highly Recommended, I am thankful and appreciateive for this training, and will utilize these principles in my daily business flows for continuos process improvements for the citizens of Colorado.
Samuel Kelly
Jun 24, 2020
Awesome job ...ensuring the role of the…
Awesome job ...ensuring the role of the product owner in the Scrum framework.
Deidra Walker
Jun 17, 2020
Great instructors led a great class
Great instructors led a great class. Professional, engaging, challenging, robust, and just 'fun' enough to keep it interesting and upbeat (it's two long, intense days!). Highly recommend this class, with Don and Ryan leading it. Some advice: do the pre-work, read the Scrum guide, take notes. Be ready for all the terminology and it will all make good sense.
Jodi Conti
Jun 13, 2020
Ryan and Todd work amazingly well together
Ryan and Todd work amazingly well together. They are experts at taking difficult-to-explain topics and relating them to a large audience in terms that the audience can connect with. It is very obvious that these trainers not only know the material, but have lived every aspect of it. They take plenty of time to answer students' questions, and even stayed after class to answer a lot of questions that were outside the scope of the class. I definitely recommend taking a class with Ryan and Todd, and would again if the opportunity arose.
Richard Waters
Jun 12, 2020
Ryan and Todd are awesome coaches
It's clear that both Todd and Ryan have amazing experience. And better yet, they know how to share it very effectively. This class was highly interactive and filled with practical information that I will start using immediately.
They also kept it interesting AND implicitly taught many Liberating Structures along the way. Was so helpful to see two masters of their craft use these in a real learning situation. I highly recommend taking this course with them as it will teach you on many levels throughout the two days. Time and money VERY well spent.
Michael McPadden
Jun 6, 2020
Great knowledge and experience
Great knowledge and experience
George Al Haddad
Jun 3, 2020
Great Class!
The material was informative and the class was engaging.
Jeff Martin
May 24, 2020
Great Experience
Great Experience. Ryan and Todd are great teachers and both very knowledgeable and truly care about their students. They keep the class interesting by having a nice balance of teaching, interaction and break-out groups. Highly Recommend!
Michael Davis
May 22, 2020
This was well organized and presented…
This was well organized and presented with very easy to use exercises.
Krissy Alberti
May 15, 2020
Awesome training and great exposure and…
Awesome training and great exposure and knowledge.
Learnt a lot and virtual training was cool.
Rajesh
May 4, 2020
The class was very effective & efficient
The class was very effective & efficient, I really like it that it's very interactive and action based, rather than just PPT and traditional instruct and listen. The exercise and and activities were all very helpful and can be used in everyone's career path as scrum master.
Ming Liang PSM I
May 1, 2020
Ryan and Todd are Amazing as always!!!
As always, Ryan and Todd are great! This class was virtual (during COVID-19) and honestly (and surprisingly for me), being virtual actually made it better! As one of my classmates pointed out, had we been there physically, we would have sat with our colleagues. Virtual Breakout rooms forced us to collab with people we normally would not have sat next to in a physical classroom, which opened our conversations to more possibilities and ideas.
Marcy Elhamidi
May 1, 2020
Always a pleasure ...
Always a pleasure to learn from and collaborate with Ryan. Great to finally work with Todd in person! These guys are a great team with a great style and great content!!!
Katherine Zinszer
May 1, 2020
Absolutely Love Their Classes
Absolutely love their classes. I had to take it virtually due to COVID-19, and it was delivered extremely well. I would highly recommend their classes to anyone.
Courtney Ziegenbusch
Apr 23, 2020
Todd and Ryan did a wonderful job
Todd and Ryan did a wonderful job doing the training virtually considering the circumstances of COVID. They kept it interactive and entertaining. Thank you!
Cindy Gronberg Moldin
Apr 22, 2020
Awesome class
Awesome class. Highly preferred the live, virtual class. No travel time, great web conferencing and well thought out whiteboard interactions.
Matthew DeWitt
Feb 29, 2020
Ryan is an excellent presenter and the…
Ryan is an excellent presenter and the information was easy to follow and useful.
BKS
Feb 28, 2020
Learned a lot
I had no idea what Scrum was about when I started the class. By the end of the 2nd day I had a much better understanding and am looking forward to learning more. Ryan did a really good job and when I took my first assessment I got an 86%. I was surprised that I had learned as much as I did. The class was interactive to help the learning process.
Patricia Maurer
Feb 20, 2020
Enjoyed my time over the two days
Enjoyed my time over the two days. Our trainer lead us through many useful and exercises that helped me understand my role within our organization and how to be a better leader.
Christopher
Dec 2, 2019
Ryan Ripley as Trainer is a no brainer
Ryan did a great job facilitating our course. I highly recommend him!
Marcy Elhamidi
Oct 25, 2019
Ryan is an exceptional instructor with…
Ryan is an exceptional instructor with pragmatic views that pack a punch!
Clint Roszelle
Oct 11, 2019
Ryan is a great instructor
Ryan is a great instructor. The class was enjoyable and gave me a lot to think about. The conversations that occurred during the class were especially valuable.
Tamara Blaylock
Sep 20, 2019
it was great and informative!!
it was great and informative!!! Very involved
Anshu Kalia
Aug 28, 2019
Excellent
Ryan was excellent at providing hands on activities to allow us to experience Scrum in action first hand.
Randy Blakeley
Aug 24, 2019
Finally a course that defines just how…
Finally a course that defines just how important an Agile leader is. Well done, Ryan.
Jill Graves
Aug 20, 2019
Presentation Order
This was a 3 day course covering the PO role, Scrum Methodology, and the Scrum Master role in that order.
The information presented was fantastic and really brought out some of the ways that we could improve our situation, and how much I still need to learn and put into practice.
For future sessions, presenting the Scrum Methodology before diving into the individual roles might have helped some glean a better overall understanding.
I would definitely take a course with Ryan again.
Christopher Davidson
Aug 19, 2019
Ryan was Fantastic
Ryan was fantastic. I would love to have seen the class focus on training the *simple* processes to handle complex problems. Yet when 216 slides are required to present the material it causes me to pause and question how simple it all is...
Therefore, I would imagine maybe a simple solution may be as most people learn by doing, the ideal approach would be to create faux teams among the groups at our tables and mock real-world situations giving students the opportunity for hands-on training. This would seem preferred over the lecture of slides or at best the 10min breakout sessions of discussion woven in to break up the slides.
David
Jun 25, 2019
PSM II was very interactive and helped…
PSM II was very interactive and helped in learning concepts better.
Saptha Aswini Gidugu
Jun 14, 2019
10 out of 10
10 out of 10
The class and instructors were amazing.
Brian Hess
Jun 14, 2019
It was a lot to absorb in two days but…
It was a lot to absorb in two days but the instructors made it a pleasure. I would recommend to anyone who is interested in my moving towards a SCRUM framework or already working in one.
Andrew Cole
May 27, 2019
SCRUM for the win!
This was a well paced and organized course with an engaging instructor! Really appreciate it.
Ashley Vega
May 10, 2019
Fantastic class created as an…
Fantastic class created as an innovative and interactive experiance. No slides, all interactive and based on liberating structures.
Martin Hinshelwood
Apr 11, 2019
Very well organized class
Very well organized class. The instructor was very knowledgeable, insightful, and helpful. Great job!
Scott Smith
Apr 10, 2019
I was pretty new to Scrum at the start…
I was pretty new to Scrum at the start of the class. I found it extremely informative and valuable and left me well prepared me to successfully complete PSPO1 and PSM1. Ryan was very engaging, presented the material well, and did a great job of teaching to all the levels of experience in the room.
Jared Pottkotter
Mar 26, 2019
Great course - intense 2 days!
Great course which is well laid out. Only concern is that the focussed SCRUM Master section is a little too late in the course - it is an intense 2 days so my brain was a bit frazzled by the time we got there. Our facilitator Ryan Ripley was fantastic! His wealth of experience helped to enrich the content and he did a great job of allowing discussions without impacting the flow of the course.
Andre Gokool
Mar 25, 2019
Nice pace of the class
Nice pace of the class - with great examples from real -life projects.
HS
Feb 21, 2019
Overall positive experience and felt…
Overall positive experience and felt that the second day was far stronger than the first. Content was geared towards department head or director level vs VP/C-Suite.
Christopher Hayes
Feb 8, 2019
This class was fantastic
This class was fantastic. It was interactive every step of the way and really embodied the values it was teaching. I would strongly recommend for SM's and coaches.
Pamela Spencer
Feb 8, 2019
You need this class!
This was an excellent class. I learned some great techniques and really feel like this class helped my personal growth as a Scrum Master.
Jennifer Wait
Jan 31, 2019
I loved both of the trainers and their…
I loved both of the trainers and their open and honest training style. They were very professional and prepared, with great visuals and exercises that they iterated on and improved even during the class.
Lalena Daigneault
Upcoming Classes by Ryan
See all upcoming classes-
Professional Scrum Master IIDetails Register
Live VirtualMar 16-17, 2021
9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
America/New_York
English -
Professional Agile Leadership - EssentialsDetails Register
Live VirtualMar 18-19, 2021
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
America/New_York
English
Classes Attended by Ryan
Latest Blogs by Ryan
See all blogs
Ryan Ripley
On today’s episode of YOUR DAILY SCRUM: Why won’t the Developers attend the Daily Scrum? A past student left us a comment in our Slack channel asking how to get the Developers on their Scrum Team to attend the Daily Scrum. This is a common issue that many Scrum Masters face. Fortunately, it is an easy problem to solve. Watch as Todd and Ryan break down this situation and expose many common reasons that Developers do not attend the Daily Scrum. One reason is that the Scrum Team had allowed the Daily Scrum to become a status meeting. Status meetings are boring. We’d skip them too!
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Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller are the author of Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems. They are the co-founders of Agile for Humans, the premiere Scrum and Kanban training organization.
Jan 15, 2021
Read blog
Ryan Ripley
On today's episode of YOUR DAILY SCRUM: Where does a Project Manager fit on a Scrum Team? We get this question pretty often,..
Jan 14, 2021
Read blog
Ryan Ripley
On today's episode of YOUR DAILY SCRUM: Can one person be both the Scrum Master and Product Owner on a Scrum Team?
Jan 13, 2021
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Ryan Ripley
Last week I co-taught scrum.org's new Professional Scrum Master II course with fellow Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) Todd Miller. This 2-day advanced Scrum Master class is designed to be the next step that a Scrum Master takes on their journey towards Professional Scrum.
We had a wonderful mix of students with varying levels of experience and past certifications. Our focus over the two days was to deep dive the servant leadership aspects of the Scrum Master role by exploring how a Scrum Master serves the Development Team, the Product Owner, and the organization. Empiricism and the Scrum Values were used as guide posts along the way as the situations increased in complexity.
Our 16 students did an amazing job at not only learning more about the Scrum Master role, but also taught Todd and I quite a lot about co-teaching and facilitation.
In fact, here are 5 things that really stood out from co-teaching the Advanced Scrum Master (PSM II) course:
#1 - Transparency When Co-Teaching is Essential
The night before the class started, Todd and I decided that any discussion about the course or any changes that we wanted to make during the day would be discussed openly and in front of the students. We were not sure how this would work out, but by the end of day one people were really enjoying the level of openness that we displayed when we were not sure what to do next.
We were at times vulnerable and often used these moments to inject some humor in to the course. Todd and I both noted that by the end of day 2 our running dialogue had become an organic part of the course that helped level set expectations for the students and also helped us more naturally co-facilitate the activities. This was a fun experiment that Todd and I will continue in future courses.
#2 - Liberating Structures Are Amazing
If you aren't using liberating structures in your Scrum practice today, you will be by the end of a PSM II course. Liberating Structures are 33 micro-structures that are easy to use and understand by groups of any size. These structures are created and maintained by Keith McCandless and Henri Leipmanowicz. I was amazed by both the simplicity and power of Liberating Structures.
Some things that I noticed immediately:
Every participant was actively engaged during the entire course. Introverts, extroverts and everyone in-between were able to participate, share, and have their voices heard.
By using Liberating Structures we unlock the wisdom of the crowd and unleash ideas that the entire group can learn from and build upon.
Sharing is caring and when we care about each other we also tend to trust one another. This high level of trust in the group made complex discussions possible.
The intelligence of the room was not limited by the trainers. Everyone contributed to the group leveling up their Scrum Master skills.
Liberating Structures were simple enough for both Todd and I and the students to adopt and learn quickly, while leaving room for discovery and innovation. Ideas, patterns, and insights emerged over time by the students. The participants created the opportunities for their own discoveries within the Liberating Structures. These insights are far more meaningful than anything that I could have read off of a PowerPoint slide.
Here are some great resources if you want to learn more about Liberating Structures:
Liberating Structures Website
Creating a New Learning Experience with the PSM II Class
Liberating Structures: Unleash and Involve Everyone
#3 - Students Have a Lot to Teach One Another
As it turns out, we can all help each other learn. Day 2 of the PSM II course involves an activity where the students break in to groups and create a 2-minute "teach back" where they help the entire class learn about an aspect of being a Scrum Master. Our students took the learning and outcomes from day 1 and combined them with their own experiences to create some really interesting teaching moments for the class. Having the students teach these concepts back to the group turned out to be far more powerful than either of us initially expected.
#4 - Trainers Must Also Inspect and Adapt
The Advanced Scrum Master (PSM II) course is difficult to teach. We are leaving a lot of space for emergence and exploration by using Liberating Structures, Training from the Back of the Room, and Learning 3.0 concepts. This means that as trainers we will have many decision points and options along the way. When Todd and I noticed that the Scrum Values were not well known by this group of students, we spent more time on this topic than planned. But we needed to make this important choice. Empiricism and the Scrum Values are the underpinnings of Scrum. Without them, you get mechanical/zombie/bad scrum.
This insight and subsequent discussions led us to discover an adaptation to the course flow that we are going to try out in our upcoming PSM II course in Denver, Colorado. The time invested on the Scrum Values ended up being time very well spent:
#5 - Watching a Mindset Shift is Powerful
We had a student approach us the morning of day 2 with his notebook open and a wide grin on his face. Our student was excited about an insight about the Sprint Goal and completely revamped the agenda of an upcoming Sprint Planning event.
Here's what he told us:
I couldn't sleep after I got home from day one of the class. I realized that I had to completely change our Sprint Planning agenda. We need a true Sprint Goal that we all understand and can stay aligned with during the Daily Scrum.
We had another student express gratitude for helping her understand what "done" really means and the implications of what is both in and out of their definition of done. Another student went home after the end of the class and immediately started work on a Sprint Retrospective format that reinforces the Scrum Values.
These are some of the concrete changes that we heard about during and after the class. What we also saw during the class was real servant leadership emerge. The students were helping each other by sharing their stories, committing to helping each other going forward, and by showing high amounts of grace, trust, and comfort with people they had just met. This subtle, yet powerful shift in mindset and approach by the students was a joy to watch unfold.
The PSM II course is an advanced scrum master journey designed to help practicing Scrum Masters experience a facilitated course. Empiricism, the scrum values, and servant leadership are at the core of this advanced scrum master course.
Servant leaders tap in to the collective intelligence of their teams and help people grow, thrive, and prosper. These leaders help people see a version of better in the world that other many not even realize is possible. These students now have new ideas and tools to help them do just that.
If you'd like to grow your scrum mastery and take the next step on your servant leadership journey, you can join Todd and I at one of the classes below. We hope you can join us!
Advanced Scrum Master (PSM II) Denver, Colorado October 17-18
Advanced Scrum Master (PSM II) Washington, DC December 6-7
Advanced Scrum Master (PSM II) Tampa, FL December 11-12
Oct 9, 2018
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