Disciplined Agile Scrum Master

Learning Objectives

Describe the significance of the Disciplined Agile Mindset

• Describe what Disciplined Agile is

• Define the principles of DA

• Describe the promises of DA

• Describe the guidelines of DA

• Describe how DA is an agnostic hybrid of approaches that leverages strategies from a variety of sources.

Describe what business agility is and how it is core to value proposition of Disciplined Agile

• Define business agility

• Identify the full range of business agility

Define the eight DA principles and how they are core to what sets Disciplined Agile apart from other agile frameworks

• Recognize the importance of making Delight Customers a priority

• Describe how Being Awesome is important for building a great agile team

• List the 5 levels of awareness (Enterprise Awareness)

• Identify how different contexts require different strategies – teams need to be able to own their own process and to experiment to discover what works in practice for them given the situation that they face. (Choice is Good)

• Identify how DA provides guardrails helping you to make better process choices, not strict rules that may not even be applicable given the context that you face. (Pragmatism Over Purism)

• Identify the potential factors to consider regarding the context of a given situation faced by a team. (Context Counts)

• Identify that the large number of strategies the DA toolkit supports to Optimize Flow.

• Explain the importance of organizing around products/services

Determine which situations each of the DA life cycles is best applied

• Describe how DA supports a variety of lifecycles

• Identify the 3 phases of the DAD delivery cycle

• Describe the Agile life cycle and identify when to use

• Describe the Lean life cycle and identify when to use

• Describe the continuous delivery Agile life cycle and identify when to use

• Describe the continuous delivery Lean life cycle and identify when to use

• Describe the exploratory life cycle and identify when to use

• Describe the program life cycle and identify when to use

• Describe the business agile and business lean life cycles

• Identify how to choose a life cycle and who chooses

Apply the DA Practice of choosing a team's way of working (WoW)

• List the 5 steps for choosing your WoW

• Analyze a team’s context using the spider chart

• List factors impacting context when choosing a team's WoW

• Select best-fit life cycle using the decision tree

Describe the foundations of Agile

• Compare and contrast agile and waterfall

• List the benefits of being agile

• Outline the agile iterative way of working

• List and define the artifacts and ceremonies of agile

Explain how people are organized into DA teams

• Compare and contrast leaders to managers

• Identify roles that can be leaders

• Describe potential, primary and secondary roles on DA teams

Define the primary DA roles and how they each are key to the success of a self-organizing agile team

• Describe the 5 Primary DA roles

• Describe the responsibilities of the 5 primary DA roles

• Describe why each of the 5 primary DA roles is important

Explain how to help your team work well together (Lean principle “Respect people”)

• (motivate the team, use effective conflict resolution and communication methods, sense and respond to team emotions, demonstrate how to keep options open during brainstorming sessions, articulate respect)

Describe the inception phase and why it is important

• Define Inception

• Identify the process goals associated with the Inception phase

Discuss how to use the DA tool kit to tailor your way of working within a select phase according to context

• Explain what it means to be goal driven

• Define process blade and how process blades are used inside DA

• Describe the purpose of a goal diagram

• Describe how to read a goal diagram

• Describe the process goals of DAD

• Rank and select process goals according to their relevance to the phase and the team’s context

• Identify key practices for the team try using goal diagrams

Describe Agile techniques and ceremonies relevant to Inception

• Define user stories

• Describe how to write and estimate a user story using different techniques

• Identify acceptance criteria and the definition of done

• Indicate how to effectively plan iterations

Describe the Construction phase and why it is important.

• Define Construction

• Identify process goals associated with the Construction phase

Discuss how to use the DA tool kit to tailor your way of working within a select phase according to context

• Identify key practices for the team try using goal diagrams

Describe Agile techniques and ceremonies that take place during Construction

• Describe how to demonstrate an iteration

• Understand how to obtain and receive feedback

Explain how to Eliminate Waste and Build Quallity In (Lean principles)

• Identify the causes of waste and delays

• Describe how to minimize waste through value stream mapping

• Describe the push and pull methods of moving work

• Describe the Kanban approach to managing work in process

• Explain how to build and validate quality into the delivery process

Explain how to Deliver Value Quickly (Lean principle)

• Explain cost of delay

• Describe how to realize value

• Explain the importance of delivering incrementally

• Contrast MBI with MVP

Describe the Transition phase and why it is important.

• Define Transition

• Identify process goals associated with the Transition phase

Discuss how to use the DA tool kit to tailor your way of working within a select phase according to context

• Identify key practices for the team try using goal diagrams

Describe the Ongoing phase and why it is important.

• Define Ongoing phase

• Identify process goals associated with the Ongoing phase

Discuss how to use the DA tool kit to tailor your way of working within a select phase according to context

• Identify key practices for the team try using goal diagrams

Explain how to Learn Pragmatically (Lean principle)

• Define “standard work” and its use as a baseline for continuous improvement

• Explain the benefits of explicit workflow

• Describe how to use Kaizen loops and PDSA techniques for continuous improvement

• Define the options for cross-team learning: "community of practice" and "center of excellence"

Explain the elements of the process blade (onion) diagram

List and define the principles of Lean

• Describe how Lean takes a system view rather than a team view

• Contrast Lean aspects of knowledge work with work in the real world, including sources of waste and delay

• Describe aspects of regular work that affect quality and efficiency, including sources of waste and ways to improve

Recognize when to be resilient

• Describe how resiliency supports lean thinking

• Explain when to build workflow according to resiliency outcomes