Scrum Course Review

Last year I had the privilege of training 91 people in Scrum and Agile Project Management. Two in-house courses and five public courses, including a Certified Scrum Master course together with Andreas Schliep.

After every course, I ask the participants for feedback. And I am happy to report that the overall impression is on the average between 4.2 and 4.7 on a 1-to-5 scale. (In fact, if someone gives me a 3, I try to find out why!). 

What do people like about my courses? Some high points from the CSM Course:

• Gripping case studies
• Tennis ball games (‘ball point game’)
• Important questions got answered
• Brownies
• Scrum as the organizing principle of the course
• Dialogue between Scrum Trainers Peter & Andreas

And from the Scrum Jumpstart courses:

• Sprint Zero & One
• Ball point game
• Retrospective as introduction to the Scrum
• Open discussion about real cases
• Practical exercises

But the most important part are the suggestions for improvement. And after every course, I try to address as many of the potential improvements as possible.

Some suggestions from the last courses which will be implemented by the next course:

• Better training rooms – in 2009 the open courses should be held at Digicomp.
• Support networking between participants – for those who want to exchange contacts with other participants
• A Beginners Scrum Course (Scrum Jump Start) and an Advanced (Certification) Scrum Course – this was always the case, but now the descriptions, audience and prerequisites are clearer.
• A Product Owner’s Scrum Course – for Planning and Managing Agile Projects. The Product Owner has the hardest job in Scrum. I had to postpone this till February, but the first one will be held next month.

Thank you to all the participants last year. The program for 1Q 2009 Scrum Courses is now online. I look forward to seeing you again, either in a course or at a future Scrum Breakfast!