A-CSM through coaching

What is A-CSM?

Take your next step along the Agile journey. An Agilar Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM™) certificate shows that you have experience and expertise beyond the basics. You can start at once and build up a full year’s experience as a ScrumMaster, at the same time as working towards your Advanced ScrumMaster certificate.

How can I become an A-CSM? 

Agilar's A-CSM through coaching is usually completed over a one-year programme. Training can however be adapted to fit into a shorter time period, if required, or continued for longer. An A-CSM programme builds on ScrumMaster experience as you learn.

Programme participants study topics including:

• The deeper implications of the ScrumMaster role 
• Using Scrum techniques to improve ScrumMaster skills
• Understanding and developing the “empirical process”: using experience to build up knowledge and improve the way we learn
• Positive ways of responding to conflict
• The benefits of Scrum and other related frameworks
• Developing events that foster collaboration
• Practices that benefit multiple team environments
• Adapting coaching and leadership skills to the situation at hand 
• Recognising communication issues and applying suitable solutions
• Identifying and building a high performing team
• Driving the change from working group to high performing team
• Different ways of scaling Scrum

All the above topics are included on our programme, certified by the ScrumAlliance; an organisation used to oversee the skills and qualifications of Scrum trainers and training programmes. At Agilar we build on this and help you go on to answer the following questions:

• How have other companies and organisations used Advanced ScrumMaster skills? 
• How can I share what I have learned with others in my organisation? 
• If I face a specific challenge in my company, how can I use A-CSM skills to resolve this?
• How can I practice and make use of my skills if I am the only ScrumMaster in my company?

This Course is For

Anyone interested in becoming a better leader and in making themselves stand out from a crowd of ScrumMasters. Anyone who wants to continue along the Agile path. Most participants are ScrumMasters, Agile coaches, business consultants, or managers.

Why should I choose the Agilar A-CSM programme?

Cohort-based learning

The programme is built around cohorts: small groups that meet to talk, think, and learn together. Agilar expert coaches guide and support the cohort.

Light on Theory, Heavy on Practice

Advanced ScrumMaster theory can be clear and concise. Practice is often much more complex. But it is through challenging ourselves by applying theoretical knowledge that we really learn.

Your Problems. Solved.

You will share real-life scenarios with the group for us as a team to work through potential solutions. The group will serve as your accountability buddy, requesting feedback and supporting you to get your changes done.

The Agilar alumni family

After completing the program, you and your cohort become members of the Agilar alumni family. As a family we continue to share challenges, questions, and solutions. You will be part of our Closed Circle, through which you will have access to experienced coaches and other bright alumni. Be part of a community of like-minded individuals.

Who leads the programme?

Xavier Quesada-Allue is an internationally recognised expert in the fields of Agile, Scrum, Lean and Visual management. Xavier provides certified training sessions. He coaches and guides leaders and practitioners, as well as steering organisational transformation towards an Agile culture. This means innovation and adaptability, operational excellence, and respect for other people. His transformation clients have included the largest retail bank in Belgium, the largest telecommunications company in Belgium, and the Belgian postal service. Xavier is a senior member of the Scrum Alliance Trainer Approval Community, as well as being the president of the Agile Spain NGO, and a leading figure in the field of “Business Agility: Taking Agile Beyond Software.”

How is this programme brought to me?

You will be immersed in a highly participative online environment, featuring group discussions, digital co-creation exercises, and visual lectures. All facilitated by our experts, using the most innovative digital tools available today, along with some classics. Prepare to be surprised by how engaging a virtual, distance-learning experience can be.

During the programme:

• During the onboarding we support you and the cohort to assemble your working agreements: definition of done, calendar, artifacts, roles & responsibilities, etc..
• We work in sprints, during which learning is carried out and evaluated
• At the sprint planning you choose which learning objectives you want to focus on. You then break it down on how you plan on achieving it.
• In the sprint review you present your PBIs as a group to the instructor. You get feedback and your learning objectives validated.
• You take part in a retrospective where you uncover improvement items.
• The cohort automatically has up to twelve months to have all their learning objectives validated. The programme can however then be extended on a monthly basis, giving the cohort more time if needed.

How do I qualify as an A-CSM?

Successfully completing the program is a required step to receive the Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM™) certification. At the moment of getting certified you will need a valid certification as ScrumMaster with the ScrumAlliance and 12 months of experience working as a ScrumMaster or similar role.

You can take this program before having the required experience and once you reach the experience level needed you can then receive the certification.

Practical information

• Programme provided online, in English or in Spanish.
• 14 Scrum Alliance SEU’s 
• Next programme in English scheduled to start on the 28th of September 2020. Contact Agilar for more scheduled starting dates.

FAQ

What type of effort is needed?

It's for you and your cohort to decide. A sustainable progress rate would be to invest 4 hours per week.

What happens if I cannot attend this sprint?

It's for you and your cohort to decide as you are drafting your working agreements as a cohort.

Examples: Let's say that a couple of people are on holidays, you might choose to postpone this sprint. Another possibility is to have some sort of catch up system with your cohort.

Do I have to pick the same learning objectives as the rest of the cohort?

You select learning objectives as a cohort.

Can participants join the cohort that has already started?

No, a new participant cannot join an ongoing cohort and will have to subscribe to the next scheduled programme

Is this a 1-to-1 coaching or a group coaching?

Group coaching.

What's the maximum size of a cohort?

The maximum number of participants is relative but as you and your cohort will be working as a Development team, the recommended size would be between 3 and 9 people.

What does 1 year or less mean? Could I take the course in only 2 months?

Yes. This course has no hard deadline. As a cohort  you decide during your Sprint Planning how much work goes into the Sprint. At each Sprint Review you can validate as many learning objectives as you choose. Therefore, the more learning objectives you validate in a sprint, the faster you will finish the course.

What's the maximum size of a cohort?

The maximum number of participants is relative but as you and your cohort will be working as a Development team, the recommended size would be between 3 and 9 people.

What does 1 year or less mean? Could I take the course in only 2 months?

Yes. This course has no hard deadline. As a cohort  you decide during your Sprint Planning how much work goes into the Sprint. At each Sprint Review you can validate as many learning objectives as you choose. Therefore, the more learning objectives you validate in a sprint, the faster you will finish the course.