About Your Instructor

Jeff brings a wealth of experience and knowledge after 30 years of consulting at dozens of clients in industries as diverse as online commerce and medical device development. In his career he has served as a software engineer, systems analyst, application tester, team lead and project manager (yes, the waterfall kind!). Then he dipped his toe in Agile in 2011 as a Scrum Master and never looked back. The next dozen years included roles as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach and Professional Scrum Trainer™.

Now as a Partner at agilityIRL (agility In Real Life) - Jeff gets inspiration by seeing those "lightbulb moments" for clients and students. The moment when a new concept clicks, when someone can see a different way of working, different way of interacting with colleagues and ways to be more effective in their job with less stress and more success. Jeff has a big bank of real-life moments to draw from to bring the class to life.

Course Overview

In this one-day skills-building course, participants will learn how to best manage a Product Backlog that clearly expresses your future vision of your product and brings transparency to what is most valuable for the Scrum Team to work on. You’ll learn which Product Backlog Item attributes you should capture and methods you can use to order the Product Backlog.

Course Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop you will be able to define your Product, the Product Goals you’re investing in, and the Product Backlog Items that will achieve the value you’re seeking. Join us and bring order to your Product Backlog.

• Apply practical techniques to create, refine, and order your Product Backlog
• Identify and effectively communicate with stakeholders
• Capture your stakeholder’s needs on a Product Backlog
• Find better ways to make your Product Backlog more transparent
• Use empiricism as a competitive advantage

Who Should Attend

This course is appropriate for students who are currently working as a Product Owner and are looking for practical ways to manage their Stakeholders and Product Backlog. The Product Backlog Management course is for:

• Professionals interested in learning essential Product Owner practices
• Product Owners looking to better understand their customers and stakeholders
• Scrum Masters wishing to be an effective coach to Product Owners will also find valuable
  insights in this course
• Product Managers and Business Analysts looking to improve their Product Backlog
  management skills

Get Certified

All participants completing the Professional Scrum Product Backlog Management Skills course will receive a password to attempt the Professional Scrum Product Backlog Management Skills assessment. PSPBMS class participants who attempt the PSPBMS assessment within 14 days of the class and do not score at least 85% will be granted a 2nd attempt at no additional cost.

What to Expect in Class

Jeff brings a pragmatic approach to questions raised in class. Many of them have "right" answers in how to apply the Scrum framework. More often the questions hit the gray area of applying Scrum to a student's specific work environment. While there aren't often easy answers, Jeff's broad experience can help give context to how he has seen similar problems in the past, the approaches taken and the tradeoffs of those approaches.

Check out the reviews! Some student comments include:

• "Great balance of practical and theoretical content!"
• "One of the better classes ever taken"
• "Interactive and informative"
• "Great activities to keep participants engaged along with helping us understand how to apply Scrum to real life."
• "great real world examples and challenges related to being a scrum master."

Check out Jeff's take5IRL podcast! It will give you insight to Jeff's personality and communication style and you might pick up a few insights along the way! Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.