Working on a Scrum Team
Build a More Effective, Aligned Scrum Team
Give your whole team the practical skills, shared approach, and mindset shifts needed to succeed with Scrum.
- Remove confusion around roles, ownership, and expectations
- Turn Scrum events into focused, productive working sessions
- Deliver work more consistently, with fewer surprises each sprint
Chosen by companies in SaaS, Healthcare, Government, Consulting, Financial Services, Retail, Energy, Aerospace and more.
Case Study: U.S. Department of Defense
“This training has truly set us on the path to success… Our team now has a shared understanding of agile practices, which has dramatically improved collaboration and broken down silos. It’s empowering to see everyone aligned, motivated, and working efficiently together.”
- A Department of Defense Client
Read the Case Study
Problems This Training Solves
This workshop is ideal if:
- Your teams are already using Scrum but results feel inconsistent
- Different teams apply Scrum differently
- You want to improve predictability
- You need to strengthen capability across multiple teams
“Everyone is doing agile… but no-one is doing it the same way.”
“Constant carryover”
“Team constantly overcommits.”
“Same arguments every retro”
Designed for Whole Teams — Not Individuals
Certified training usually builds individual understanding. Working on a Scrum Team builds shared capability.
This workshop is delivered privately for teams and focuses on:
Building shared language and expectations across the team
Aligning Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers
Clarifying expectations and accountabilities
Improving collaboration across roles
Working on a Scrum Team trains members together so they hear the same message, build a shared understanding and return with a unified approach to Scrum.
This is training that actually changes how people work.
What Will Be Different
After this training, teams will:
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Use the Product Backlog More Effectively
Teams create better-structured backlog items, resulting in fewer surprises and less carryover.
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Stop Wasting Time in Refinement
Teams enter sprints with work that is understood and completable, reducing meeting overhead and increasing delivery commitments.
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Estimate More Accurately
Improved estimates resulting in better product decisions and more credible projections.
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Keep Sprint Planning Focused
With less time over-planning and more time delivering, capacity increases.
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Reduce Chronic Overcommitment
Teams address the root causes of missed commitments, improving delivery reliability.
Making The Improvement Stick with Performance Accelerators
Performance Accelerators are optional follow-on structured, time-bound engagements that work inside a team’s real delivery cycle to prevent regression.
These ensure improvement doesn’t fade after the course ends.
Performance Accelerator options include:
Effective Sprints
A three-Sprint implementation engagement that strengthens Sprint Goal clarity, backlog readiness, Definition of Done consistency, finishing discipline, and stakeholder engagement. We intervene at high-impact moments, then progressively step back so internal leaders can sustain improvement without external dependency.
Planning Confidence
A focused series of live working sessions across 1-2 sprints to improve estimation, forecasting, and commitment discipline. Teams leave with greater predictability and techniques they can apply immediately to reduce carryover.
Backlog Acceleration Workshop
A structured, on-site working engagement designed to immediately apply story writing and backlog practices to your actual product backlog.
Tools and Resources You’ll Continue Using
Includes access to tools that support your work beyond the class:
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MGS AI Toolkit for coaching, story-splitting and backlog items
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Planning Poker® for collaborative estimation
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Elements of Agile™ assessment to help teams identify improvement opportunities
Delivered by People Who Helped Shape Scrum
Mountain Goat Software was founded by Mike Cohn, a co-founder of both the Scrum Alliance and the Agile Alliance, and author of some of the most influential books in Agile software development, including User Stories Applied, Agile Estimating & Planning, and Succeeding with Agile.
For more than 25 years, Mountain Goat Software has helped teams and organizations adopt Scrum in ways that actually work—across industries, team types, and organizational cultures.
When you train with Mountain Goat, you’re learning from people who have:
- Helped define modern Agile practice
- Guided thousands of teams
- Seen what works, and what doesn’t, over decades
How We Approach Teaching Scrum (and Why)
We PrioritizeEffectiveness Over Speed
Some courses rush through the learning material. With us, you have time to ask questions and practice applying ideas.
We EmphasizeReal-World Application
We focus on helping you apply Scrum in situations that don’t fit neatly into a textbook example.
We ValueInteraction Over Lecture
While some instruction is necessary, most learning happens through discussion and guided practice.
We TeachPrinciples, Not Just Rules
Understanding why Scrum works leads to better decisions than memorizing mechanics alone.
How This Differs from Certification Training
Your Mountain Goat Instructors
Mountain Goat has handpicked instructors that share our training values. These are people with deep experience, who are leading teams with agile today and can give you real-world answers about what does and doesn’t work.
Mike Cohn
With 20+ years of agile training experience, Mike has honed a talent for explaining agile concepts with clear illustrations and real-life examples. Participants enjoy his passion for teaching the agile methodologies in a relatable and digestible way.
Read more...Mike is CEO of Mountain Goat Software, and one of the industry’s most well-respected Certified Scrum Trainers. He is the author of User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development, Agile Estimating and Planning, and Succeeding with Agile. He is a co-founder and former board member of the Scrum Alliance, and a co-founder of the non-profit Agile Alliance, home of the Agile Manifesto.
Scrum Certifications include: CSM, CST, CSPO, A-CSM, CSP-SM, CSP-PO
Lance Dacy
As a Certified Scrum Trainer, Lance has trained and coached teams through many successful Scrum implementations since 2011, from Fortune 20 companies to small start-ups. Lance is also experienced in showing agile coaches and managers how to help cross functional, self-organizing teams deliver high value for customers as early as possible by using Scrum.
Read more...Lance is a true evangelist for Scrum, having founded the successful DFW Scrum User Group in Dallas as an outlet for professional networking and a community sounding-board for Scrum. He has a fun and generous personality, and shares his passion for Scrum in every course.
Scrum Certifications include: CSM, CST, CSPO, CAL-1, A-CSM, A-CSPO, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, Path to CSP Educator, Scrum Foundations Educator.
Brian Milner
Starting out as a developer, Brian worked up through management layers, then transitioned to Scrum Master, then Coach and now Certified Scrum Trainer. His practical experience in both waterfall and agile organizations helps him clarify what works and what doesn’t, plus he has many years’ experience helping teams transition to agile.
Read more...Brian also brings more than 20 years of software development experience to his classes. People remark on his ability to answer even tough questions with ease, enthusiasm, and insight.
Scrum Certifications include: CSM, CST, CSPO, CAL-Educator, CAL-1, A-CSM, A-CSPO, CSP-CM, CSP-PO, Path to CSP Educator, Scrum Foundations Educator.
Scott Dunn
Scott Dunn has more than 20 years of experience in management, project management (PMP), engagement management, and software development (MCSD). He’s worked in a variety of areas and industries from social media to mortgage banking, healthcare, defense, e-commerce, plus state and local government sectors.
Read more...He has helped coach and train at dozens of companies transitioning to an agile approach using Scrum. Clients have included EMC/Dell Technologies, Yahoo!, LaserFiche, Kaiser Permanente, Rovi/Tivo, eBay, and GE Healthcare.
Scott is passionate about strengths-based teams and solutions-based approaches to people and organizational issues. He is an enthusiastic and encouraging trainer.
Scrum Certifications include: CSM, CST, CSD, CSPO, CEC, Educator-CAL, CAL-1, CAL, A-CSM, A-CSD, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSP-D, Path to CSP Educator, CSD Educator, Scrum Foundations Educator.
Lucy O’Keefe
Lucy has been a developer, Product Owner and Scrum Master in many scrum teams during her 28 years of IT experience. This brings a valuable perspective to the Teaching Assistant role as she helps students have a great training experience.
Read more...“I just love it when I see the light bulb go off during a class and know that the student really gets it.”
Lucy also brings a rich travel experience to her role. She is originally from Brazil, lived in Italy during high school and then came to the US for college—where she lived in the same dorm as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson! These days she resides in Charlotte, NC with her two wonderful dogs Chloe and Ollie.
Cort Sharp
Cort has degrees in physics and computer science, as well as experience coding and QA testing. If you’ve taken a live, online course with us you may have seen Cort in his producer’s role, making sure things run smoothly and students have a great experience. He also acts as Scrum Master for the team of producers, making sure that they have the support needed to do their work with confidence.
Read more...“It’s awesome being able to end a 2-day class with people shocked at how quickly it went by and how engaging and fun it was.”
In addition to his love for agile, Cort is also a serious swimmer and has been coaching swimmers for 5 years. He once met Michael Phelps and a wingspan comparison ensued. Cort’s was longer, but it is believed Phelps was gracious about the defeat and no longer holds it against Cort.
Course Outline
Scrum Overview
- Agile
- Scrum
- Why Scrum Works
The Development Team
- Rights & Responsibilities
- Self-Organizing
- Cross-Functional
- Collaborating during Sprints
- Component and Feature Teams
- Navigating Team Conflict
- Becoming a High-Performing Team
The Scrum Master
- Rights & Responsibilities
- Helping the Team
- Combined with Other Roles
The Product Owner
- What is a Product Owner?
- Rights & Responsibilities
- Business Analysts
- Product Managers
Managers
- Role of Managers in Scrum
Product Backlog
- Responsibilities & Attributes
- User, Job Stories, and Tech Stories
- Acceptance Criteria
- Story Writing & Refinement
- Story Splitting
Sprinting
- The Role of Design
- Collaborating
- Responding to Change
- Definition of Done
- Definition of Ready?
Estimating
- Relative Estimating
- Story Points
- Affinity Estimation
- Planning Poker
Planning
- Estimating Velocity
- Fixed-Date Planning
Sprint Planning
- The Sprint Goal
- Capacity-Driven Sprint Planning
- Velocity-Driven Sprint Planning
Daily Scrum
- Guidelines
- Two Different Approaches
- Online Daily Scrums
Sprint Review
- Inputs and Outputs
- Conducting the Review
- Guidelines
Sprint Retrospective
- Who, When, Why?
- Methods for Conducting Retrospectives
Got a Question?
What happens when you contact us?
- We’ll get back to you within a day.
- Answer your training questions and discuss any custom needs.
- Recommend the best agile training path for your teams and goals.
- Want to talk to someone? Schedule a call.