Agile Project Management: Scrum, Kanban and Tools
Agile Project Management is a beginner-level course of 5 lessons (about 1 h 20 min), with 15 exercises and 15 quiz questions. No prerequisites. Exercises run in the browser, with nothing to install.
- Cross-functional skills
- Beginner
- 5 lessons
- 1 h 20 min
- 15 exercises
- Exercises run in the browser
The course in brief
This course gives beginner project managers the basics for leading an agile project. You compare Scrum and Kanban, break a need down into epics and user stories with acceptance criteria, estimate and forecast with velocity, run the team's events and set up Trello and Jira. The running thread is the website redesign of a neighborhood bakery.
What you will be able to do
- Choose between Scrum and Kanban based on the nature of the work
- Build and order a Product Backlog of epics and vertically sliced user stories
- Write verifiable acceptance criteria and a Definition of Done
- Estimate in points with planning poker and forecast a range from velocity
- Facilitate sprint planning, the Daily Scrum, the review and the retrospective
- Set up a Trello board and a Jira Scrum project, and read a burndown chart
Syllabus: 5 lessons
- Explain what distinguishes an agile approach from one planned in a single block
- Describe the roles, events and artifacts of Scrum
- Describe the principles of Kanban and choose between Scrum and Kanban
- 02
Breaking Down Work: Backlog and User Stories
- Organize a Product Backlog into epics and user stories
- Write user stories with verifiable acceptance criteria
- Split a large story into smaller, deliverable stories
- 03
Estimating and Forecasting
- Estimate stories in points by comparison, using planning poker
- Calculate a velocity and forecast a date or a scope as a range
- Use Kanban flow metrics (cycle time, throughput)
- 04
The Team's Events
- Facilitate sprint planning, the Daily Scrum, the review and the retrospective
- Write a sprint goal and a Definition of Done
- Set up the cadences of a Kanban team
- 05
The Tools: Trello and Jira
- Set up a Kanban board in Trello
- Set up a Scrum project in Jira: backlog, sprint, board
- Read a progress chart (burndown) and choose the right tool
Final project
Steer the Redesign of a Neighborhood Shop's Website
You are the project manager for the redesign of the Boulangerie des Tilleuls website (fictional), or of a project of your choice. Prepare and simulate the first two sprints: vision, split and estimated backlog, forecast, planning, a board in a tool and minutes of the events.
Deliverables
- A product goal and a backlog of at least 3 epics and 12 ordered user stories, with acceptance criteria for the first 5
- The point estimates with the reference story and the minutes of a planning poker session
- A forecast as a range, based on a justified hypothetical velocity
- A Definition of Done and the goals of sprints 1 and 2
- A configured Trello board or Jira project, and the simulated minutes of a review and a retrospective
Assessment criteria
- Complete stories (role, action, benefit), split vertically and compliant with INVEST
- Verifiable acceptance criteria and a shared Definition of Done
- Correct velocity and forecast calculations, forecast expressed as a range
- Events properly framed (goal, timebox, concrete retrospective actions)
- Tool configured to serve the method, without unnecessary complexity
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be a developer to take this course?
No. The course is for beginner project managers and anyone who coordinates a project, technical or not. The examples are about a website redesign, with no code.
Does the course prepare me for a Scrum certification?
The course covers the concepts of the Scrum Guide and of Kanban, but it does not prepare you for any particular certification and does not award one.
Scrum or Kanban: which one should I learn?
Both. The course explains when each one fits and how many teams combine them.
Do I need a Jira or Trello account?
It helps for the last lesson. The exercises can also be done with a paper board or any other tool that offers boards, cards and columns.
This course, told for your job
Say what you want to be able to do: “Agile Project Management” takes its place in your path, with examples from your field. The concepts stay those of the course.