On March 22-24, 2011 Joe Little will lead a Certified ScrumMaster course with a
one-day workshop in Quebec City. In English

ScrumMaster training provides an applied understanding of the Scrum process and
helps participants begin to develop the tools, insights, and skills required to
apply Scrum on their projects and across their organizations.

See here for more information, or to register:
http://leanagiletraining.com/QuebecCity/QuebecCityMar2011.html

Also, you may contact me with any questions.

Regards,
Julia Hill

On Mar 8-11, 2011 Joe Little and Catherine Louis will lead a Certified
ScrumMaster course plus a two-day workshop in Ottawa, Canada.  In English.

Through a combination of team-based learning, exercises, and real-world case
studies, you will gain an applied understanding of the Scrum process. The course
prepares participants to develop the tools, insights, and skills required to
apply Scrum on their projects and across their organizations.
The highly recommended workshop offers participants the opportunity to take the
course material and put it into specific action with their work.

For more information or to register, see here:
http://leanagiletraining.com/Ottawa/OttawaMar2011.html

Or, contact me with any questions.

Regards,
Julia Hill

On May 10-13, 2011 Joe Little and Catherine Louis will lead a Certified
ScrumMaster course plus a two-day workshop in Ottawa, Canada.  In English.

ScrumMaster training provides an applied understanding of the Scrum process and
helps participants begin to develop the tools, insights, and skills required to
apply Scrum on their projects and across their organizations.
You can receive 14 Professional Development Units (PDUs) for this course.

Catherine Louis and Joe Little are experienced agile trainers. To learn more
about the instructors or the course and workshop being offered, see here:
http://leanagiletraining.com/Ottawa/OttawaMAY2011.html

Or, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,
Julia Hill

I'm working with a client in the Downtown Toronto area who is looking for a ScrumMaster. Please contact me offline if you're interested.

We are seeking a talented Scrum Master who will provide effective collaboration, facilitation, leadership, and coaching skills, supporting the development of our web based applications. The successful candidate will be considered a subject-matter expert, have excellent logic and problem solving skills and a drive to make a difference. We need an individual that puts the team before themselves. They will be responsible for supporting the rules of Scrum / Agile, removing impediments from their team while promoting self-management and constantly improving our standards of work.

We value our employees, and strive to keep them motivated and engaged. We empower them with training in new technologies and industry-best practices to ensure they build upon their skill-sets and remain challenged. While we work hard, we also acknowledge the need for work-life balance by providing a flexible and social environment. We promote a business casual dress code and when able, accommodate our employees' needs for flexible work schedules and telecommuting.

* Performance incentive beyond base pay
* Superior medical benefits without waiting period
* Health and Wellness allowance
* Monthly transportation allowance
* Financially successful and stable, industry leader
* Head office is located in the trendy King West downtown Toronto district, close to transit and parking
* 5% company RSP contribution
* Tuition reimbursement (up to $5,000 annually)
* Flexible work environment
* Formalized reward and recognition program
* Employee Assistance Program
* Vacation and personal days, no waiting period for use

Responsibilities:

Overall

• Must be "self-motivated" and capable of managing multiple priorities and tasks as delegated
• Serve as liaison between technical and non-technical departments
• Communicate with other management, developers, product managers and
  technical support specialists on product issues
• Must be a "team-player" with the ability to work within a collaborative
  environments
• Support the product development process
• Organize and facilitate project planning, daily stand-up meetings, reviews,
  retrospectives, sprint (cycles) and release planning and demos
• Track and communicate team velocity and sprint/release progress
• Ensure the development teams are practicing the core agile principles of
  collaboration, prioritization, team accountability, and visibility
• Support the Product Owner
• Assist as needed with backlog maintenance
• Assist with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and
  radiating information
• Assist with prioritization and resolution of defects/bugs
• Support the Product Team
• Assist in Business Analysis and writing user stories.
• Assist team with making appropriate commitments through story selection, task
  definition
• Participate proactively in developing and maintaining team standards, tools, and best practices

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or combination of relevant education and experience
• 3+ years project management or in Business Analysis and 1+years of Scrum Master / Process Facilitator experience
• Scrum Master Certification will be a definite plus
• Experience in Business Analysis and writing user stories
• Experience with .Net framework and Oracle OLAP desirable
• Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work with diverse personality types
• Ability to understand technical issues at a high level
• Thorough understanding of agile software development methodologies, values, and procedures
• Thorough understanding of the software development lifecycle
• Proven ability to work independently with limited supervision and with other department personnel
• Must have exceptional communication, organization, and time management skills
• Ability to coach the team to reach their highest potential. Must be "self-motivated" as well as creative and efficient in proposing solutions to complex, time-critical problems
• Must be collaborative in driving decisions
• Ability to deal with multiple projects and deadlines
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills with a high attention to detail  

Agile Ottawa had an excellent meeting last night at ALU on March Road.  Thanks
to Glenn Waters (who led the meeting) and ALU for hosting.

I want to pick on one topic mentioned, which made me very upset.

A senior and serious person, who was new to Scrum, stated that Scrum has no
up-front planning.  Or so he it seemed to him from his initial investigation
into it.

I was upset that, in the meeting last night, it was not made perfectly clear to
him that Scrum normally has RELEASE PLANNING (and a Release Planning Meeting or,
typically, meetings) before we start "Sprinting" (doing Sprints that produce
working software).

This is stated in the Scrum Guide, which is available here:
http://agileconsortium.pbworks.com/w/page/23740731/Scrum-Guide
(among other places)

This 'guide' is by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. And it is essentially what
I (among many other Certified Scrum Trainers) have been teaching since 2005 (in
my case).

Release Planning enables us to identify an initial plan, which usually is
'crappy'.  And it gives us a baseline to modify (relatively easily), as we learn
more.  And the process of doing Release Planning (as Eisenhower, among others,
noted) is extraordinarily valuable.

Agile is very concerned that the initial plan not be used to destroyed or
seriously degrade the lives of the implementors. Which historically has
happened. So, in almost every case I have met in real life, there needs to be
some serious discussion about how to use the evolving Release Plan.  In an agile
way. (Some people who did 'waterfall' may have been somewhat 'agile' about
Release Planning, but I saw it only rarely in my 20+ years doing waterfall.)

The Scrum Guide rightly says that Release Planning is optional. But I have never
seen a case where I would recommend omitting it (maybe I will in the future). 
Although some cases where it might be a lot shorter, quicker.

I will speak more on this topic in a blog post shortly.

Thanks,
Joe
LeanAgileTraining.com

Hi Joe,

Excellent points, and I share your feelings exactly!

Could you please post this to the Agile Ottawa LinkedIn group as a
discussion item as well?

Thanks!

Dave...
--
Dave Rooney
Westboro Systems
Web: http://www.WestboroSystems.com
Blog: http://practicalagility.blogspot.com
Twitter: daverooneyca

On 09/03/2011 7:55 AM, Joe wrote:
> Agile Ottawa had an excellent meeting last night at ALU on March Road.  Thanks
to Glenn Waters (who led the meeting) and ALU for hosting.
>
> I want to pick on one topic mentioned, which made me very upset.
>
> A senior and serious person, who was new to Scrum, stated that Scrum has no
up-front planning.  Or so he it seemed to him from his initial investigation
into it.
>
> I was upset that, in the meeting last night, it was not made perfectly clear
to him that Scrum normally has RELEASE PLANNING (and a Release Planning Meeting
or, typically, meetings) before we start "Sprinting" (doing Sprints that produce
working software).
>
> This is stated in the Scrum Guide, which is available here:
> http://agileconsortium.pbworks.com/w/page/23740731/Scrum-Guide
> (among other places)
>
> This 'guide' is by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. And it is essentially
what I (among many other Certified Scrum Trainers) have been teaching since 2005
(in my case).
>
> Release Planning enables us to identify an initial plan, which usually is
'crappy'.  And it gives us a baseline to modify (relatively easily), as we learn
more.  And the process of doing Release Planning (as Eisenhower, among others,
noted) is extraordinarily valuable.
>
> Agile is very concerned that the initial plan not be used to destroyed or
seriously degrade the lives of the implementors. Which historically has
happened. So, in almost every case I have met in real life, there needs to be
some serious discussion about how to use the evolving Release Plan.  In an agile
way. (Some people who did 'waterfall' may have been somewhat 'agile' about
Release Planning, but I saw it only rarely in my 20+ years doing waterfall.)
>
> The Scrum Guide rightly says that Release Planning is optional. But I have
never seen a case where I would recommend omitting it (maybe I will in the
future).  Although some cases where it might be a lot shorter, quicker.
>
> I will speak more on this topic in a blog post shortly.
>
> Thanks,
> Joe
> LeanAgileTraining.com
>

I’m pleased to be able to announce Certified ScrumMaster Trainings (for all the dates see Berteig Consulting), I will be partnering with my friends at Berteig Consulting to deliver these courses.

In this seminar participants learn how to guide a team, a project, or an organization into a process of rapid delivery of valuable results. Exercises, case studies, and examples are used to assist participants to develop the knowledge, skills, capabilities and insights needed to make the shift from traditional management practices to Agile practices.

The Learning Objectives for this Seminar are:
One: Describe all parts and participate in all parts of the Scrum framework
Two: Launch a Scrum team using a step-by-step process
Three: Overcome typical obstacles as you launch Scrum

Why is this seminar better than others out there?
Our Certified ScrumMaster seminar is unique in many ways:

• Facilitated by Certified Scrum Trainer™ Mark Levison, an Agile expert since 2001
• Mark has a deep understanding of how people learn and applies to all of his courses
• Classroom management using agile methods so that you can learn by example
• Two intensive days of training with exercises, simulations, discussion and lecture
• Seminar material designed to balance practical hands-on application and the theory and principles so you can adapt to your workplace
• Small class size to give you more opportunities to address your concerns
• Electronic copies of all seminar materials including free updates forever
• 16 PDUs if you are a member of the Project Management Institute
• Certification as a ScrumMaster through Scrum Alliance
• One year paid membership in the Scrum Alliance

Writing by Mark on Agile and Scrum and Neuroscience of Learning

Register:
http://www.berteigconsulting.com/node/add/registration

Cheers
Mark Levison

Mark Levison | Agile Pain Relief Consulting | Certified Scrum Trainer
Agile Editor @ InfoQ | Blog | Twitter | Office: (613) 862-2538
Recent Entries: Story Slicing How Small is Small Enough, Why use an Agile Coach

On April 27-28, 2011 Joe Little will lead a Certified
ScrumMaster course plus a two-day workshop in Ottawa, Canada. In English.

ScrumMaster training provides an applied understanding of the Scrum process and
helps participants begin to develop the tools, insights, and skills required to
apply Scrum on their projects and across their organizations.
You can receive 14 Professional Development Units (PDUs) for this course.

Joe Little is an experienced agile trainer. To learn more
about the instructor or the course being offered, see here:
http://leanagiletraining.com/Ottawa/OttawaApril2011.html

Or, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,
Julia Hill

On July 12-14, 2011 Joe Little will lead a Certified Scrum Product Owner course
in Montreal, Canada.  In English.

Joe is an experienced Agile coach, with in-depth practical experience in helping
teams become very productive with Scrum and Agile.

The CSPO course is for managers, analysts, and product managers. For anyone
interested in working on or with a Scrum team in a business or customer side
role, this course is suited for you. You will leave with solid knowledge of how
and why Scrum works.
This course is also recommended for Scrum Masters, because they must coach
Product Owners in these skills.

For more information or to register, see below:
http://leanagiletraining.com/MontrealCSPO/MontrealCSPO.html

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,
Julia Hill

We still have seats available in our upcoming CSPO course in Montreal.
This is a course specifically designed for people with some knowledge and
experience and who would like to take things to the next level.

This CSPO course is unique in that we are moving beyond theory, applying the
Scrum framework in the course and the workshop in more real-world circumstances.
It is designed to bring attendees to a level where they feel comfortable
experimenting and improvising in Scrum through the role of Product Owner.  Thus,
you can help the team be more creative and release more business value.


  If you are interested, see here to register or learn more about the course:
http://leanagiletraining.com/MontrealCSPO/MontrealCSPO.html

You may also contact me with any questions.

Regards,
Julia Hill

--- In agile-ottawa@yahoogroups.com, Julia Hill <julia.hill@...> wrote:
>
> On July 12-14, 2011 Joe Little will lead a Certified Scrum Product Owner
course in Montreal, Canada.  In English.
>
> Joe is an experienced Agile coach, with in-depth practical experience in
helping teams become very productive with Scrum and Agile.
>
> The CSPO course is for managers, analysts, and product managers. For anyone
interested in working on or with a Scrum team in a business or customer side
role, this course is suited for you. You will leave with solid knowledge of how
and why Scrum works.
> This course is also recommended for Scrum Masters, because they must coach
Product Owners in these skills.
>
> For more information or to register, see below:
> http://leanagiletraining.com/MontrealCSPO/MontrealCSPO.html
>
> Feel free to contact me with any questions.
>
> Regards,
> Julia Hill
>

On July 26-29, 2011 Joe Little and Catherine Louis will lead a Certified ScrumMaster course plus a two-day workshop in Ottawa, Canada.  In English. 

ScrumMaster training provides an applied understanding of the Scrum process and helps participants begin to develop the tools, insights, and skills required to apply Scrum on their projects and across their organizations.

The two day workshop offers a unique opportunity to apply Scrum techniques and your own knowledge on real projects.

Joe Little and Catherine Louis are experienced Agile coaches and Certified Scrum Trainers.

For more information or to register, see below:

http://leanagiletraining.com/Ottawa/OttawaJULY2011CSM.html

You may also contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Julia  Hill

"Release Planning is an essential part of many Scrum projects which means all longer term development activities especially on enterprise level. You won't be able to run a scaled, multi-team, long-term Scrum without any means of Release Planning based on team estimates."

 as described by Andreas Schliep (CST,CSC) in Agile-Leaders group in discussing Scrum updates by Ken Schwaber

Release planning is essential, and you can get help on how to facilitate it from "Agile Release Planning" available at http://amzn.com/B004TGTHNM

Nimesh Soni 

skype: nimesh0308 | twitter: @beyondCSM

Author: "Agile Release Planning" Book: http://amzn.com/B004TGTHNM

Check out my book "Agile Release Planning" on Amazon Kindle platform.

Check out, download yourself OR pass on the link to your friends, colleagues,
and everyone in your network!  Just visit Amazon.com and search for "Nimesh
Soni" or click here
http://amzn.com/B004TGTHNM


--- In agile-ottawa@yahoogroups.com, Dave Rooney <dave.rooney@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Joe,
>
> Excellent points, and I share your feelings exactly!
>
> Could you please post this to the Agile Ottawa LinkedIn group as a
> discussion item as well?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Dave...
> --
> Dave Rooney
> Westboro Systems
> Web: http://www.WestboroSystems.com
> Blog: http://practicalagility.blogspot.com
> Twitter: daverooneyca
>
> On 09/03/2011 7:55 AM, Joe wrote:
> > Agile Ottawa had an excellent meeting last night at ALU on March Road. 
Thanks to Glenn Waters (who led the meeting) and ALU for hosting.
> >
> > I want to pick on one topic mentioned, which made me very upset.
> >
> > A senior and serious person, who was new to Scrum, stated that Scrum has no
up-front planning.  Or so he it seemed to him from his initial investigation
into it.
> >
> > I was upset that, in the meeting last night, it was not made perfectly clear
to him that Scrum normally has RELEASE PLANNING (and a Release Planning Meeting
or, typically, meetings) before we start "Sprinting" (doing Sprints that produce
working software).
> >
> > This is stated in the Scrum Guide, which is available here:
> > http://agileconsortium.pbworks.com/w/page/23740731/Scrum-Guide
> > (among other places)
> >
> > This 'guide' is by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. And it is essentially
what I (among many other Certified Scrum Trainers) have been teaching since 2005
(in my case).
> >
> > Release Planning enables us to identify an initial plan, which usually is
'crappy'.  And it gives us a baseline to modify (relatively easily), as we learn
more.  And the process of doing Release Planning (as Eisenhower, among others,
noted) is extraordinarily valuable.
> >
> > Agile is very concerned that the initial plan not be used to destroyed or
seriously degrade the lives of the implementors. Which historically has
happened. So, in almost every case I have met in real life, there needs to be
some serious discussion about how to use the evolving Release Plan.  In an agile
way. (Some people who did 'waterfall' may have been somewhat 'agile' about
Release Planning, but I saw it only rarely in my 20+ years doing waterfall.)
> >
> > The Scrum Guide rightly says that Release Planning is optional. But I have
never seen a case where I would recommend omitting it (maybe I will in the
future).  Although some cases where it might be a lot shorter, quicker.
> >
> > I will speak more on this topic in a blog post shortly.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Joe
> > LeanAgileTraining.com
> >
>

Joe Little is leading an Intermediate Certified Scrum Product Owner course + workshop in Ottawa, Ontario.  Date: Nov 8-10, 2011. In English.

Joe is an experienced Agile coach, with in-depth practical experience in helping teams become very productive with Scrum and Agile. He often co-teaches these courses with other great Scrum trainers.

This CSPO course is unique in that we are moving beyond theory, applying the Scrum framework in the course and the workshop in more real-world circumstances. It is designed to bring attendees to a level where they feel comfortable experimenting and improvising in Scrum through the role of Product Owner.

For more information or to register, see here:

http://leanagiletraining.com/Ottawa/OttawaCSPONov2011.html

You may also contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Julia Hill

We are still accepting registrations for the upcoming Intermediate Certified Scrum Product Owner course + workshop in Ottawa, CAN. It will be held October 4-6, and led by Joe Little, an experienced Agile Coach.

This is an intermediate course, for people with some knowledge and experience with Scrum. Through interactive team-based exercises and participant influenced discussions, this course is designed to bring you to a level where you feel comfortable experimenting and improvising in Scrum through the role of Product Owner. 

To read more information about this Intermediate CSPO course, or see more upcoming classes in our schedule, see here:

http://leanagiletraining.com/Ottawa/OttawaCSPOOct2011.html

You may also contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Julia Hill

Certified ScrumMaster

Learn how to guide a team, a project, or an organization into a process of rapid
delivery of valuable results. We will also focus on the role of the ScrumMaster
(or Agile Project Manager) as an enabler of hyper-productive teams. Exercises,
case studies, and examples are used to assist participants to develop the
knowledge, skills, capabilities, and insights needed to make the shift from
traditional management practices to Agile practices.

For more information or to register please visit our website:

http://www.berteigconsulting.com/UpcomingAgileScrumOpenAgileSeminars

 Joe Little is leading a Certified ScrumMaster course + one-day Workshop. Montreal, Canada.  Nov 30-Dec 2, 2011.

Joe is an experienced Agile coach, with in-depth practical experience in helping teams become very productive with Scrum and Agile. He often co-teaches these courses with other great Scrum trainers.

This course is for all people interested in Scrum and Agile.

While it is a beginner level course, this course and workshop include the practical knowledge to immediately start doing Scrum with a team.  You will learn not just the "how", but also the "why". This course is immersive and intensive, including practical, hands-on exercises and small-group discussions.

For more information about this course, or to register, see here:

http://leanagiletraining.com/Montreal/Montreal.html

You may also contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Julia Hill

Certified ScrumMaster
In this two day Seminar participants learn how to guide a team, a project, or an
organization into a process of rapid delivery of valuable results. We will also
focus on the role of the ScrumMaster (or Agile Project Manager) as an enabler of
hyper-productive teams. Exercises, case studies, and examples are used to assist
participants to develop the knowledge, skills, capabilities, and insights needed
to make the shift from traditional management practices to Agile practices.


You will earn:
- 14 PDU'S for those who are in the Project Management Institute
- CertifiedScrumMaster Level 1

For more information please visit:

http://www.berteigconsulting.com/CertifiedScrumMasterCSMSeminarDescription

To register please visit:

http://www.regonline.ca/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=988414

Hello and Happy Wednesday! I wanted to let everyone know about 3 classes that
are coming up quickly in the Montreal and Ottawa areas!

*Certified ScrumMaster course + Workshop in Montreal on Nov 30-Dec 2
*Intermediate Certified Scrum Product Owner course in Ottawa on Dec 6-7
*Business Value Engineering in Ottawa on Dec 8-9

We are excited to be able to offer these selections in November and December.
Please click here for more information. http://bit.ly/vbHeOh

We hope to see you there!

Mary Kathryn
Lean Agile Trianing

A friend suggested I revise the earlier post...

The Yahoo group Agile-ANN is there for any type of announcement: conferences,
local group meetings, blog posts, jobs, etc.

It is also interesting to see 'what's happening' go by.

Example: It could allow Agile-Ottawa to attract more people, since visitors from
out of town might read Agile Ann and let others know...

Here:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Agile-ANN/?yguid=217548065

Regards,
Joe

LeanAgileTraining.com

This is the basic Scrum course that most people hear about. It covers the basics
of Scrum, with the hope that you will be interested enough, motivated enough,
and now smart enough to go out and use these ideas effectively. Not perfectly,
but effectively.

Montreal - http://bit.ly/JMfJIY


Please email me with questions or concerns,

Mary Kathryn
Lean Agile Training