Agile for Newbies: A Scrum Workshop Design and Implementation Process

Scrum is simple to understand but difficult to master. This paper describes our efforts in designing and testing a 16-h Scrum workshop that provides an overview of Scrum's core concepts. The workshop is intended for participants with little or no background on Scrum. Designed by four certified scrum masters, this workshop combines different practices gathered from a series of training and day to day applications of Scrum. We have tested and improved the workshop described in this paper in 5 iterations over the past two years. Feedback from participants and improvements proposed by instructors were incorporated. The workshop combines theoretical knowledge and practical activities to help participants interiorize the theory. The design of this workshop is modular so that it can be adapted to different participant's needs. Activities are designed to be developed in workshops with 15 participants.