The ScrumMaster course in Austin, Texas was held August 6-7, 2008 with 13 folks in attendance.

One thing that characterized this course was the breadth of diversity, experience, backgrounds and work cultures. We had everything form small start ups, gaming, big business and government. All of these varied views made for a rich tapestry of conversation and very engaging dialog.

“If I were to choose one word for the

We will be offering another Scrum training course for ScrumMaster’s and Certified Scrum Product Owners in a few months and are looking forward to the next opportunity to interact with the unique perspectives that Austin’s lively culture provides.

We ran another Certified ScrumMaster training course in Chicago.

The newest topic that has been emerging with increased regularity is Agile Contracts. How do we avoid the pressures of big waterfall contracting models in and increasingly aware agile client world. Our old methods of contracting and working are becoming irrelevant and clients are no longer buying into the big bang waterfall contracting model. You can’t wald in with your big in house methodology and expect clients to be amazed at how smart (overly complex) your process is.

 Thank you for a wonderful 2 days together.

- Doug

 Michele Sliger with Sliger Consulting and Douglas Shimp with 3Back LLC ran a 2 day joint
Certified ScrumMaster training in El Segundo, CA  on May 12-13, 2008.

This was the second time we worked together to deliver a Scrum Training course and the duet is getting better each time.  The course was delivered as a two trainer combo who quickly established rapport. By working as a tag team we zeroed in on answering questions and greatly improved learning. The experiences that both trainers/consultants can bring to the table magnified the enrichment experience for the students. We leveraged multiple mediums for feedback and learning including numerous pictures, simulations and applied experiences from real world scrum implementations.

Scrum understanding is growing in the agile community. We see evidence of this by nature of the questions being asked. Questions are changing from previous courses in Scrum to a deeper focus on tuning / applying scrum.

We would like to thank all attendees. These courses are best
when we all learn. We like these courses best when the questions
are challenging. Your questions were often challenging and
presented opportunities for the trainers to learn as well.

 Thank you for choosing to spend your time with us.

Michele and Doug

A tight, focused group made up the first public “Agile for Distributed Teams” course. Despite a wide range of experience with Agile and distributed development, students gained several unexpected insights from the course. Highlighted topics included the subtleties of Agile practices from first-hand experience, ways of communicating with distant teams, andhow the RallyDev tool can be used effectively.

I was most happy to see everyone expand their definition of The Product to also include their own processes. Using Scrum and Agile principles to explicitly change the way the organization works — is there nothing that Agile can’t do?

A big thank-you to everyone for their participation, discussion, and engagement in the exercises.

January is usually considered a good time to attend training, huddling indoors out of the cold. Not in Florida, however: there the bright sun and warm breezes outside can easily lure students to take extended breaks, and the air-conditioning indoors can dull even the sharpest minds.But when Derek W. Wade and Doug Shimp delivered 3Back’s Certified ScrumMaster course in Orlando on January 15 and 16, the breaks were short and all the energy was firing in the classroom.

Attendees to the course formed and demonstrated the characteristics of truly well-formed teams. By the end of the two days, many people in the room (not just the instructors) were acting as Agile coaches, leveraging the principles of Scrum and reminding each other to apply the agile “attractors” that they found most powerful:

• Let the product lead
• Make it visible
• Pay attention and adapt / feedback cycles
• “Teamlet” heads are smarter than one

The teams also invented their own catch-phrases and in-jokes, and to understand “I’ve got an Expert Sticker” and “let’s eat… food,” you would just have to ask one of the team members.

The instructors were delighted with the energy and “social intelligence” that attendees brought to class. Any additional insights, thoughts on applying your knowledge, or other comments here are greatly appreciated!

On Dec. 10th and 11th, Doug Shimp of 3Back, ran their 1st Milwaukee ScrumMaster training course in conjunction with the local Milwaukee-PMI chapter. The result was a big success for the Milwaukee area and an even bigger one for the folks who made it.

Day 1 went well and we pushed hard until 5 Pm because of the upcoming snow storm. The amazing thing was that 15 of the 16 people made it on day 2 despiste the snow storm.( my guess is they liked me ). And day 2 was just an equally challenging and fulfilling especially, with the big snow storm.

LET IT SNOW :) 

Hopefully, everyone who attended was able to walk away with valuable takeaways. Thanks for all your questions and energy. Each class is made unique by the people who attended.

 - Doug

BTW - We will be running another Milwaukee ScrumMaster course in March watch our scrum training page for details.

From the Field: Applied Agile Training Report
3Back LLC, in conjunction with Critical Point Group (CPG) ran their first ever “Applied Agile” training in Charlotte on Oct 1-3. “It was simply head and shoulders above anything that we have done before. The power and passion that came out of the course was unrivaled in our experience”, said trainer Doug Shimp. The course offered total immersion into techniques for building and sustaining well-formed Agile teams. The immersion was achieved by combining classroom theory, simulation, and a unique opportunity to observe Agile methods practiced by the hyper-productive technical product development team at CPG.

The course was co-taught by Guy Beaver, Director of Software Engineering at Critical Point Group and Douglas Shimp, Partner and Senior Consultant with 3Back.

More on Applied Agile Immersion Event Oct 1-3, 2007

All,

Thank you for attending the certified Scrum Master training event held in Chicago.

The class size was small,  5 total and really let discussions move quickly. I believe that a small class size offers and intense interaction experience that is just not possible when numbers exceed 14 or so.

In addition to all of the content we covered here are my take aways for you

• Make it visible
• Let the Product Lead
• Don’t Solve a Problem you Don’t have
• One Bite at a Time
• Cooperation is Oil

Any comments, thoughts or insights that you have about the course would be appreciated and we would like to post them here. Please feel free to sign or not sign your name to the comment. If you are a blogger then trackbacks to this page are appreciated.

All the best

- Doug

BTW - Please feel free to attend any of our other upcoming events on Scrum, Applied Agile, Working Effectively with Use Cases, Agile Requirements, Adaptive Planning, etc.  

All,

Thank you for attending the certified Scrum Master training event held in Bloomington, MN September 27-28, 2007.

This was our first hosting of the training event at the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. The facilities seemed to work out well and it was nice to have lunch next door at Applebees.

The class really seemed to gel by day 2 and we start to move and solve our problems in a Scrum like manner.

In addition to all of the content we covered here are my takeaways for you

• Make it visible
• Let the Product Lead
• One bite at a Time
• Collaboration is Oil

Any comments, thoughts or insights that you have about the course would be appreciated and we would like to post them here. Please feel free to sign or not sign your name to the comment.

Warm Regards

- Doug

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I enjoyed your energetic participation in the session! Good luck in your future agile endeavors.