ACSM- Advanced Certified Scrum Master ®

You’re a Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®), starting to get familiar with the Scrum Values, practices, and applications. You have coached people, teams and organisations to generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems using Scrum.

The next step in your Agile journey is to distinguish yourself as an experienced Scrum Master by obtaining the Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM®) certification and learning the next-level skills and techniques necessary to excel. It also might help you get your next promotion or a new job!

In our self-paced mentoring program, you will deepen your expertise and journey with other Scrum Masters while receiving guidance from our Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Coaches.

Through the mentorship of this program, you’ll self-develop and self-validate your learnings to:

• Facilitate better dialogue between the Product Owner, Scrum Team members, customers, stakeholders, and executives.
• Be able to respond when encountering resistance to change, lack of engagement, low motivation, and unavailability of key people.
• Increase engagement to encourage greater accountability, commitment, and buy-in.
• (De)Scale Scrum and Agile beyond a single team.

NOTE:

This is a mentorship program towards your Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM℠) certification.

It is not a multi-day course, and it is not validated through one-on-one coaching sessions. Read on to see how that works for you. We think you will like it :)

To obtain this certification, the learning objectives will be self-learned and validated in multiple mentorship sessions with Scrum Alliance-approved educators.

You MUST attend at least FOUR mentoring sessions to validate your competency against the program learning objectives.  

Additional Optional Free Course Worth Over £300!

To help you even more on this journey of self-learning, included at no extra cost as part of this A-CSM certification registration will be the Certified LeSS Basics - Large Scale-Scrum (CLB) course (spread over two consecutive half-days).

You can learn how to use Scrum for descaling rather than scaling alone.

Yes, that's right, an optional free, at no extra cost, Certified LeSS Basics (CLB) course is included in addition to this A-CSM program just for you! 

What Topics are Covered?

The A-CSM certification program will help you take that next step in your growth as a ScrumMaster and Agile Coach. By the end of this program, you will have deepened your knowledge on:

• Agile and Lean Values, Principles, and Worldview
• Empirical Process Control
• Agile Facilitation
• Agile Coaching Stance
• Self Organisation
• Team Dynamics
• Definition of Done
• Value of Engineering Practices
• Coaching the Product Owner
• De/Scaling Scrum
• Organisational Change
• Servant Leadership

What is the Program Schedule?

People want to know more about Scrum and Agile but simply do not have time to spend 14 hours straight (or more!) in a classroom. If that's your situation, this rolling mentoring program could be for you. As it is rolling, you can join any time and gain certification as needed.

The certification program can be completed in as little as 4 weeks or up to 6 months—you decide, working at your own sustainable pace. You're in control!

By being empowered to learn in your way and in the field of your actual work of practical Scrum Mastering, you can enjoy the freedom of getting certified when it’s convenient and works for you.

When do we meet?

We meet as a group fortnightly on a Thursday between 5 pm and 6 pm UK time. Between sessions, the group use online chat to stay focused and often arranges additional sessions with each other to accelerate their certification.

Learn by Doing!

Unlike classroom-based training, we offer the chance to try out new skills and techniques during your day-to-day work. 

You can then discuss these learnings in our regular mentoring sessions with leading industry experts doing Scrum in the field themselves from years of real-world practical experience. 

All our educators coach in the field more than they train. We are on the journey with you.

Validation

During your first mentoring session, we will discuss the required self-learning log, review the Agile Coaching Growth Wheel and agree on what outcomes you desire from gaining the certification.

You can then attend a combination of community events, peer events, workshops, conferences and mentoring sessions whilst working individually to fill in the validation log (a brief small record of your learnings). We shall provide the template log (small file) for you.

Once the self-learning log is complete and checked by a peer, we will spend some time with you reflecting on the difference the course has made to you. We will do this by reflecting on the updated agile coaching growth wheel and the agreed outcomes.

You MUST attend at least FOUR mentoring sessions to validate your competency against the program learning objectives. 

Who is the program suitable for?

Scrum Masters who desire to grow their skill set and become more confident in the concepts and techniques necessary to progress their career through an industry-recognised certificate.

Agile coaches, consultants, program and project managers, facilitators, and technical leaders can benefit tremendously by incrementally building upon their CSM certification with the A-CSM.

HR, People, Learning and Development departments that want to develop their staff to the next level of Scrum Mastery without disrupting work schedules.

The A-CSM program can be taken any time after completing your CSM certification. However, you must have at least 12 months of Scrum Master experience logged into your Scrum Alliance profile and an active CSM before you are eligible to receive your A-CSM certification.

What will you receive?

GET CERTIFIED!

Earn your credentials from the Scrum Alliance – the first, most widely recognised international Scrum certification organisation and the gold standard in Scrum education.

This means the Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM®) certification and the additional Certified LeSS Basics (CLB) certification from the LeSS Company. Two for One!

STAY SHARP!

Competitive job market? No problem! Learn increasingly popular skills that employers are looking for to increase your marketability and stand out from the crowd. Distinguish yourself in a global marketplace.

IMPROVE!

Build on your foundational knowledge with enhanced implementation skills. Show your advanced value to your employer (or potential employer) as a highly trained Agile and Scrum professional.

COMMUNITY!

Become part of the FREE Agile Affinity Alumni with access to ongoing events with other practitioners and Agile Affinity Alumni discounts.

Join our Agile Affinity Academy meetup. You can practice your Scrum and Agile Coaching skills all for FREE! Again and again, no subscription is required.

Join the FREE Scrum Event meetup, whereby you can hear FREE talks from Agile Manifesto authors. CST’s, leading Agile Coaches speak here. 

What makes us different?

Each session has ICF certified, ORSC Trained, and Training from the BACK of the Room! Educators, along with their specialisms, few other providers come close to this level of expertise.

In addition, all of our Educators are Scrum Alliance Certified Agile Coaches, which means they have been assessed by their peers as experts in agile coaching and can also provide mentoring for aspiring CTCs and CECs.

We co-educate whenever possible, we believe when learning a new skill, you need as much support as possible and diversity of experience and opinion is essential.

Meet The Trainers

Rickard Jones

Rickard has over 20 years of professional services experience in roles such as Agile coach, trainer and program lead.

With an Agile mindset, values, principles, and practices, he has collaborated with many organisations, teams, and individuals to support them on their complex journey to becoming Agile.

He goes where the value need is, having previously been an XP developer, programme manager, change manager, development manager, scrum master and transformation lead. Despite an unhealthy obsession with learning, he believes nothing beats a coaching journey of in-the-field practical experience.

Not only is Rickard one of the authors of the AgileHR Manifesto, but he is also an international conference speaker, Enterprise Agile Coach, Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), Certified Team Coach, Program Lead, Online Remote Facilitator, LeSS Trainer and ICAgile Trainer.

 John Barratt

John is passionate about helping individuals, teams, and organisations reach their full potential. With a military background and experience coaching in various industries, John has developed a unique coaching style that combines the principles of business agility with other coaching approaches.                        

John specialises in helping organisations simplify and become more resilient and has a proven track record of delivering these results. He uses various tools and methods, including outcome-based coaching and systemic modelling, to help clients identify their goals and achieve measurable results.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Some of John's recent successes include helping IAG Loyalty meet its ambitious targets during turbulent COVID times whilst reducing staff turnover, Creating an internal training and coaching capability for Maersk saving £50,000 a year in external costs and helping Vodafone's Secure Net product pass 20 million paid subscribers.               

In his free time, John is a voracious learner and enjoys attending meetups and conferences worldwide to discover new ideas and learn from others

FAQ

FAQ

What do I need to attend the online program?

Attending the online version of this program is simple. You just need access to a laptop/PC with a stable internet connection, audio/video and microphone capabilities. We will send you a digital version of the program notes as and when needed, which you can print off if you like, but this is not mandatory.

Full details of the tools we use during the program will be sent with your joining instructions shortly before the program start date.

Is there an exam?

No. The accreditation is achieved by completing the program requirements.

Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?

Get in touch with us directly by emailing us at talk@agileaffinity.com if you have any more specific questions, and one of the team will be happy to help.

When can I start the program? How long do I have to finish?

Once you register, you can start your program immediately. (If you see a program “start” date on the Scrum Alliance website, those are only marker dates because of how their website is currently set up.) You have one year to complete the program. You go at your own pace.

How long will it take to complete the program?

Your availability will likely govern your pace of progress to complete all the work. Our programs are deep and challenging by design. 

We recommend taking your time to find the right opportunities to practice what you learn, reflect on that experience and look for ways to improve.

If you are looking for a 2-day class, this program is not for you. 

Can I take a break from the program if something comes up?

Sure! 

Is there a test at the end of the program? Will my work be graded?

There are NO tests to obtain the certification you can achieve with this program.

Our educators will be looking for evidence that you can practice what you have learned in the program with a Scrum/Agile team.

What is the best way to complete this program?

This program should be a learning experience you can complete at your own pace.

You will need to record your learning in a log. How you do this is up to you. Be as creative as you like.

Write them out, do a slide presentation, record a video, draw or whatever best enables you to learn and communicate that learning. The hope is that everything you learn in this program will be something you can repeat with your teams so your work can be your proven ground.

We look forward to working with you and are excited to have you continue your learning journey towards the certification.

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Please note people from the UK must pay in GBP.