Pre-course Reading: CSP-SM

This 2-days workshop is part of the advanced Great ScrumMaster Academy program so you are expected to spend significant time preparing yourself before the class, where we validate your learning and practice situations from the ScrumMaster journey. Certification is an optional part of this program and to get certified you have to: 

1. Demonstrate your knowledge/skills/experience as described in the Learning Objectives and get them validated by the trainer during the class.
2. Demonstrate at least 24-months of ScrumMaster experience by uploading your role-specific experience to your Scrum Alliance Profile (any time after the class).

Some topics may be well known and an internal part of your day-to-day work, some others may be new or bring a different perspective. Join the class with an open mind, the ways of learning are unexpected. 

Note that, an important part of the class is trainer learning validation. In case of gaps, you get feedback so you can inspect and adapt on that part and demonstrate your learning. If the gaps are too big to inspect and adapt in two days, it may end up with some recommended follow-up learning/coaching followed by trainer validation. However this is a possibility, it is not expected to happen too often and most of the active ScrumMasters will make it if they do the class preparation well. 

Please spend time reading through given concepts and reflect on them. You are encouraged to join local meetups and work on specific learning objectives with a group of Agile enthusiasts there.

The questions in italic shall help you to cross-check your understanding. You can skip the topic if you feel knowledgeable about the area already. You can also use this list during the class as a reference while preparing for the exercises. 

Basics

• Scrum Guide, http://scrumguides.org
• Agile Manifesto, 4 values, and 12 principles, http://www.agilemanifesto.org
• Scrum values, https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/core-scrum-values-roles

Lean Thinking

• Refresh your knowledge about Lean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a255lkYgIpI (Are you able to describe the roots of Lean thinking?)
• Refresh your memory about the Lean principles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfsRAZUnonI (Do you remember Lean principles?)
• Refresh your memory about the seven wastes: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-seven-wastes-software-development-zeinab-saadalla-farag/ (Are you able to list seven wastes?)
• Get inspired by Toyota Kaizen mindset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wot9DFzFRLU
• Refresh your knowledge about Agile Engineering practices relates to Lean: https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/what-is-extreme-programming/ (Are you able to explain how Agile Engineering practices relates to Lean ?)
• Read more about Lean: Mary and Tom Poppendieck, Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash

Advanced Facilitation

• Recognize the divergent and convergent thinking activities: Check-In, Opening, Exploring, and Closing. (Are you familiar with different facilitator tools?) 
• Refresh the list of Powerful Questions http://static.squarespace.com/static/51b35a70e4b08f55af505597/t/521f2282e4b06244c31889bf/1377772162368/Powerful-Questions-for-Facilitators.pdf (Know what to ask to be an effective facilitator)

Agile Coaching

• Refresh the coaching definition: https://internationalcoachingcommunity.com/what-is-coaching/ (Can you describe what coaching is and distinguish it from similar activities?)
• Check a template of ICF sample coaching agreement: https://coachfederation.org/app/uploads/2017/11/SampleCoachingAgreement.pdf (Do you know how to create a coaching agreement?)
• Read more about EQ: https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/13-things-emotionally-intelligent-people-do.html (Can you describe Emotional Intelligence?)
• Read more about Agile Coaching: Coaching Agile Teams, Lyssa Adkins 
• Get a different perspective: Emotional Science: The Key to Unlocking High Performance, Michael Sahota

Teams

• Review different team development models: https://toggl.com/stages-of-team-development/  https://www.wrike.com/blog/6-different-team-effectiveness-models/ (How would you support the team growth?)
• Understand team dysfunctions Patrick Lencioni - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (Can you effectively deal with team dysfunctions?) 
• Read more about self-designing teams: http://www.ahmadfahmy.com/blog/2013/12/5/the-rise-of-the-team and https://co-learning.eu/2020/06/11/a-full-remote-highly-collaborative-teams-self-design-workshop-with-80-people-yes/ (Do you know how to let teams self-design?)
• Learn more about building a safe environment: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-create-safe-environment-your-agile-retrospectives-gonçalves-csp/
• Get familiar with the Responsibility process: https://www.christopheravery.com/responsibility-process

Organization

• Learn new innovation games https://www.innovationgames.com/the-innovation-games/ (Are you ready to play some of the innovation games)
• Get inspired by about modern management practices https://management30.com/practice/
• Get inspired by Large Scale Scrum (LeSS) @ J.P. Morgan https://www.infoq.com/articles/large-scale-scrum-jomorgan and some other case studies https://less.works/case-studies/index.html
• Think about the ways how to run refinement: https://less.works/less/framework/product-backlog-refinement.html (Are you ready to share how to run refinement?) 
• Learn more about the product side: http://www.jpattonassociates.com/user-story-mapping/ and https://www.impactmapping.org (Can you facilitate Story Mapping and Impact Mapping workshop?)
• Understand the 8 steps for leading change https://www.kotterinc.com/8-steps-process-for-leading-change/
• Get more insights on Scaling: https://less.works, and https://www.infoq.com/news/2016/10/no-spotify-model. 

Additional recommended reading (after the class)

Some of the books you shall read to deepen your knowledge:

• The Great ScrumMaster: #ScrumMasterWay
• Craig Larman and Bas Vodde - Large-Scale Scrum: More with LeSS
• Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play 
• Fish: A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results, Stephen C. Lundin
• Turn The Ship Around!: A True Story of Building Leaders by Breaking the Rules