During our session at XP Days Germany 2010 in Hamburg, Jens Korte and I discussed 4 scenes in the life of a Scrum team. In each case we examined a common problem, what led to it and how better collaboration between PO and team could have helped to avoid it.

Thanks to the many people who came to the session and for the feedback.

Simon Roberts - Making Scrum Stick: Sustainable Scrum Transitions from Krakow Tech Conferences on Vimeo.

You've started to rollout Scrum within your organization and the initial teams are working well. What are the next steps? How can you keep the change sustainable?

We have introduced a new concept for 2010 - parallel Certified ScrumMaster and Certified Product Owner courses with an optional, combined 3rd day. The concept is simple:

• Christoph Mathis and Simon Roberts teach parallel CSM and CSPO courses at the same location over 2 days.
• On the 3rd day we hold an Open Space with participants from both courses.

The additional day is optional - certification is not dependent on taking part. It is also without extra charge for course participants! (non participants can take part for a nominal charge). It is an opportunity for participants to bring their own topics up for discussion. This can take various forms. For example, a burning issue from your own experience, or a breakthrough that you wish to share. We can also use some of the time for one-on-one consulting on a current problem. The overall objective is to dive deeper into Scrum and related techniques. The participants decide on the topics. We recently ran this new model for the first time in Frankfurt. Some of the topics that we covered during an intense Open Space were:

• Patterns for breaking down large user stories into smaller user stories
• Behaviour driven aceptance testing with FitNesse
• Scrum tools
• What to do if there are several customers for one Scrum team

The Frankfurt courses and Open Space were well attended (over half of the course participants stayed for the Open Space) and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The participants say that they found the additional day very valuable. Further CSM, CSPO and Open Space events are planned during the coming months, including:

• 21.-23.04.2010 in Zurich
• 05.-07.05.2010 in Cologne
• 14.-16.06.2010 in Berlin
• 28.-30.06.2010 in Munich
• 07.-09.07.2010 in Frankfurt

The events in Zurich, Cologne and Frankfurt are organised in cooperation with andrena objects ag. To register for any of the above or for any other ScrumCenter courses please visit here.

We are pleased to announce the first fruits of a collaboration between remote control productions GmbH, a Munich based game production house, and ScrumCenter, the leading Scrum training and coaching company. Over the past few months, RCP and ScrumCenter have developed a Certified ScrumMaster for Game Development course, combining RCP's game development know-how with ScrumCenter's Scrum expertise.

With a combination of theory and game industry related exercises, you will learn how to:

• implement Scrum in a game development context
• create a product backlog that supports the typical workflow needed in game development
• setup an optimal Scrum team for your game project
• scale Scrum for large projects

The course will deepen your understanding of the principles and practices of Scrum and provide you with an understanding of the pre-requisites and organisational changes that are necessary to enable Scrum to be successful.

On completion of the course and after taking and passing an online test, you will be awarded the designation “Certified ScrumMaster” and a one year membership of the Scrum Alliance.

The first Certified ScrumMaster for Game Development course will be taught in German and will be held on 28th and 29th October in Munich. Generous earlybird and group discounts are available. More information can be found in the course flyer, which also contains a registration form.

In association with codecentric GmbH, Simon Roberts will be teaching a Certified Scrum Product Owner course (in German) on 2./3.09.2009 in Solingen. This will be presented directly before codecentric's "Meet the Experts: Agilität" event on 4.09.2009 and provides an ideal opportunity to learn more about Scrum's Product Owner role. Why not attend both events - CSPO and Meet the Experts - Agilität and make the most of your trip to Solingen?

For more information and to register, please visit the meet the experts site.

Simon Roberts will be speaking at codecentric's event "Meet the Experts - Agilität" in Sollingen on 04.09.2009. The innovative "Meet the Experts" series combines talks from invited speakers with an Open Space session.

Simon's talk will be on the topic of "Making Scrum Stick" where he will reflect on some of the factors that are critical in helping transitions to agile methods, particularly in large, traditional organizations, to be sustainable.

Other speakers include Henning Wolf (it-agile GmbH), Andreas Ebbert-Karroum (codecentric GmbH), Boris Gloger and Dietmar Strasser (Borland). We hope that you will be able to join us in Solingen for what promises to be a very interesting day.

We are pleased to announce new dates for certified Scrum training in Berlin and Munich. Taught by Certified Scrum Trainers Christoph Mathis or Simon Roberts, these courses provide an opportunity to tap into the wealth of experience that these two experienced trainers and coaches have in helping organisations to transition to Scrum.

The Berlin dates are:

• Certified ScrumMaster (German) - 25/26.05.2009
• Certified Scrum Product (English) - 28/29.05.2009

ScrumCenter founders Simon Roberts and Christoph Mathis will be presenting two workshops at the Lean Agile Scrum Conference at the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland on 4th June 2009.

The conference has the motto "Agile - vom Hype zur Praxis" (Agile from Hype to Practice) and includes a diverse range of topics around the general theme of Lean, Agile and Scrum.

Starting at 10:30, we will be presenting a workshop entitled "Scrum 101". In 1.5 hours, this session will provide an introduction to Scrum as a framework for the management of the development and delivery of complex products.

Starting at 15:00, we will be presenting a 45 minute talk entitled "Making Scrum Stick - Transforming the Enterprise". During this talk we will describe our approach to sustainable Scrum enterprise transitions, based on our work introducing Scrum into small, medium and large sized companies.

ScrumCenter founders Christoph Mathis and Simon Roberts will both be speaking at the Agile Day of the Karlsruhe Entwickertag organised by Andrena Objects AG on 24th June 2009.

Christoph Mathis will present a talk entitled "Making Scrum Stick - Transforming the Enterprise" starting at 12:15.

Simon Roberts will be taking part in a podium discussion entitled "Clash of Cultures – Agilität und hergebrachte Arbeitsmodelle – Beobachtungen aus USA, Europa, Naher Osten und Asien – Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten" starting at 17:15.

More information on the Karlsruhe Entwicklertag in general can be found here and on the Agile Day here.