Industrial Scrum Master Training (Spring 2023)

Abstract

In collaboration with industrial partners, students will apply Scrum in practice and reason about its application in a controlled yet realistic environment.

Description

The goal of this course is to learn to apply agile in practice, especially Scrum. This is achieved through practical work as a Scrum Master of a software development group executing a software project in collaboration with an industrial partner.
Semester layout. The course will comprise four blocks. In the first block, week 1 and 2, you will be involved in the formation of the groups, the matchmaking with the industrial partners, and you will attend the intensive Scrum master training workshop. During the second block, week 3 and 4, you will kickoff the project with your Scrum team. Finally, in the third block, week 5 to 17, you will run six two-week sprints and participate in two feedback sessions. The course will conclude with a last week of submissions, demos, and celebrations before the exam session.
Synergy with other electives. In the semester, you will be able to integrate the learnings by also taking the "Managing Digital Transformation" course, which provides you with a toolbox of theories and practical perspectives that can be helpful and applied in practise in the project in the "Industrial Scrum Master Training" course.

Formal prerequisites

• You have read an introductory course in software development / software engineering and – maybe as part of it – participated in a small team programming project of at least six team members.
• You are able to apply some programming language to construct fully functional software programs
• You know the basics of software engineering, e.g., different software process models and related activities
• You know the basics of agile methods, especially Scrum.

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

• Apply Scrum in a large-scale software development project as Scrum master of a team in cooperation with an industrial partner and an agile coach
• Explore and compare different software engineering practices and tools to support the team throughout the project
• Identify, analyze, and propose solutions based on both practice and current research in software engineering to teamwork related issues
• Compare and discuss with other Scrum masters within the course the different experiences and learnings from the project
• Reflect on the project in terms of learnings you have gained as a Scrum master from a software engineering and teamwork perspective

Learning activities

In this course, the main emphasis is on the practical work as a Scrum Master for a bachelor level Scrum team that is building working software according to the requirements of an industrial partner. You will learn to apply Scrum, one of the agile methods, in practice by performing several short iterations together with your team. The course will start with introductory lectures and team forming activities followed by intensive Scrum Master training workshops. After the workshops, you will start guiding and coaching your own Scrum team as a Scrum Master. You will be assigned a professional industrial Agile Coach to support and mentor you in your new role during the entire project. As a Scrum Master, you will be actively cooperating with your team, as well as with your industrial partner. Besides guiding your team regarding Scrum, you will be actively supporting your team in their daily activities, investigating technologies for the project, organising and analysing teamwork in practice, and analysing and jointly solving software engineering related problems. During the project you will participate in project reviews with your team. In addition, there will be experience exchanges sessions both between the Scrum Masters (in the form of a Scrum Master Community of Practice), as well as between other teams. These sessions will help you share experiences with your colleagues, deepen your learning on specific topics, and receive peer guidance when facing challenges.

Mandatory activities

All students must comply with the following mandatory activities to be admitted to the exam:

1. Successfully complete the intensive Scrum master training workshop during the second week of the course and pass the connected test
2. Participate in the Scrum simulation
3. Participate in feedback session 1
4. Participate in feedback session 2

Mandatory activities 2–4 are associated with a set of mandatory hand-ins:
- Group Hand-ins: Feedback Session slide set, Process Overview document, Technical Overview document
- Individual Hand-in: Project Journal

Mandatory activities are designed to provide you with the practical understanding to start the project effectively (mandatory activity 1 and 2) and a forum in which to practice the ILOs with the teachers while also receiving formative feedback and feedforward on the team activities.
Mandatory hand-ins are designed to provide you with the framework to work with the ILOs, and they are an opportunity to receive feedback from the teaching assistant assigned to your team.

In case of failure in the execution of the mandatory activities, there will be mechanisms in place to allow for a second attempt. The format of the second attempt will be dependent on the number of students that will have to perform the activity as a second attempt. In case of failure in the submission of the mandatory hand-ins, a second attempt will be provided.

The student will receive the grade NA (not approved) at the ordinary exam, if the mandatory activities are not approved and the student will use an exam attempt.

Course literature

• Beck, Kent, et al. "Manifesto for agile software development." (2001).
• Schwaber, Ken, and Jeff Sutherland. "The scrum guide." Scrum Alliance 2020.
• Project manual and Scrum Master project manual
• Articles provided throughout the course

Student Activity Budget

Estimated distribution of learning activities for the typical student

• Preparation for lectures and exercises: 6%
• Lectures: 21%
• Assignments: 6%
• Project work, supervision included: 41%
• Exam with preparation: 20%
• Other: 6%

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, Internal (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D22: Submission with following oral exam supplemented by the submission.

reexam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, Internal (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D22: Submission with following oral exam supplemented by the submission.

Time and date