The Ultimate Scrum Master: PSM Exam Prep Course (10 PDUs)

Discover how Scrum as a lightweight, iterative framework solves complex problems and delivers value through sprints, a product backlog, and continuous inspect and adapt through reviews and retrospectives.

Learn how the product owner maximizes product value by managing the backlog, defining the product goal, and ordering work by value, while being accountable for outcomes and making final decisions.

Master the sprint retrospective as a timeboxed event that inspects team ways of working—individuals and interactions, processes and tools, and definition of done—to identify improvements and maintain an action register.

Scrum theory through transparency, inspection, and adaptation, grounded in empiricism and lean thinking, and see how cross-functional teams use backlog artifacts and events to inspect and adapt.

Learn rolling wave planning to balance planning and detail, decompose epics into user stories, apply work breakdown structure and product breakdown structure, and map to sprints in Scrum.

Explore estimation methods for scrum teams, including analogous, parametric, three-point, beta/pert (PERT), and bottom-up estimating, with story points guiding agile sizing.

Apply planning poker and wideband delphi to estimate features and reach consensus. Use relative sizing, fibonacci, and affinity estimating to size user stories and promote collaboration and psychological safety.

Facilitate the creation of a team charter that clarifies values, agreements, and ways of working, inviting input from product owners and sponsors, and defining ceremonies, definitions of done and ready.

Learn how peer review and swarming boost collaboration in scrum teams, with code inspections, user story checks, and team-wide mobbing to resolve blockers quickly.

Leverage kanban systems to visualize work with kanban boards, remove blockers, and support problem solving within agile ceremonies, using a pull system of signal cards that circulate based on capacity.

Explore how a Scrum master applies servant leadership to remove impediments, facilitate ceremonies, grow cross-functional teams, and balance leadership with management to sustain vision and wellbeing.

Document stakeholders in a stakeholder register with names, positions, roles, and contact details; classify internal or external and apply the stakeholder engagement assessment matrix to tailor communications.

Guide decisions and help the team solve problems through effective facilitation, ceremonies, and workshops. Build consensus, enable participation, and ensure transparency with information radiator, clear purposes, and accountable follow-ups.

Master the five C's of communication to reduce misunderstandings by using correct grammar and spelling, concise language, a clear reader-focused purpose, coherent flow, and graphics or summaries.

Learn to use open and closed questions to guide team problem solving, gather information, and confirm details efficiently, with prompts that start with what, why, how, where, and when.

Explore how tone and body language convey meaning beyond words, enabling co-located teams. Learn how inflection and facial cues shape interpretation, especially in emails.

Billy uses facilitation to help the team resolve a disagreement about a project's impact. Crucial conversations require emotional intelligence to manage opposing views, high stakes, and protect trust and outcomes.

Learn how to use work in progress limits to reveal bottlenecks in a Kanban team, prevent context switching, and empower the Scrum Master to unblock and improve flow.

As a neutral facilitator, the scrum master leads problem solving across sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, and sprint retrospective, revealing blockers and brainstorming solutions with Kanban boards.

Reduce work in progress to lower lead times and defects by limiting items in development on the Kanban board; deliver small, frequent releases to build trust and boost morale.

Identify and reduce waste by eliminating non-value activities in lean and the Toyota production system; empower the product owner to minimize processing and keep teams to ten or fewer members.