Are you looking for Scrum Master Course Online Options? If yes, you are reading the right article. As in this article, we will share with you the various Scrum Master Course online options along with Scrum Master online certifications. These online Scrum Master certification options will help you to get a better understanding of Scrum Master online choices to excel in the career of Agile Management. By reading this article you can assess the certifications and the Scrum Master online course options. So that you can choose the best Scrum Master online option that suits you!
Scrum Master Course Online
In this article, we will be going over the most popular Scrum master course online options:
- PMI-ACP
- Professional Scrum Master (PSM)
- CSM (Certified Scrum Master)
- Leading SAFe (Certified Agilist)
one by one throughout this article. You can read about the most popular Scrum Master Certification Online options.
Hint: Do not skip the post. You will see links to the free scrum master online course as well!
The global market has resulted in business agility. Hence the organizations across the globe look for professionals who have experience in managing Agile projects. This turns out to be a primary reason that professionals are aiming to get Agile certifications.
This has resulted in extensive growing trends towards Agile certification. Hence many accreditation bodies have incepted over the last several years. These accreditation bodies are working towards the growth of their Agile certification portfolio.
This brings various options for individuals to choose from. Many individuals want to excel and acquire certifications by obtaining these trending accreditation. To earn these certifications, you must attend in scrum master courses.
Before diving into the details of scrum master online course options, it is better to understand what the agile is.
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Introduction to Agile Methodology
One of the main reasons for the evolution of Agile was the lag between the business requirements and their incorporation in technology solutions. Since in conventional paradigms of project management, the requirements were not synchronized with their collective solutions. As many times, the incorporation of client requirements took a longer time period. Hence when the requirements were incorporated in the technology solutions, the market dynamics have set their new priorities resulting in the changes in business requirements. That reduced the effectiveness of the technology solutions. Hence with these dynamics environments, it was not possible to get maximum advantage of the technical solutions.
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In other words, we can say that there was a need for speed. So, the business requirement and its technical solution can be aligned within a short time span. And the customer can reap maximum benefits out of these solutions. To cover up this aspect, a group of seventeen “thought leaders” devised Agile Manifesto and Twelve Principles in 2001.
Several vendors offer Scrum Master online courses as well as certifications for the aspirants who want to excel in their careers in the field of Agile Project Management.
The transition of Project Methodology
With the evolution of the Agile mindset, the strategy of managing the projects also changed. Now there are various methodologies to deliver the projects. Though waterfall methodology is still an option but not the only option. The growing challenges of technology advancement, as well as global dynamics resulting in complex and changing business requirements, resulted in Iterative and Incremental process models.
The Agile development model combines both iterative and incremental processes. As Agile aims to cater to complex technology and dynamic requirements. The main focus of Agile is adaptability and customer satisfaction through rapid delivery. This is achieved through small incremental builds or iterations.
Each iteration has its own complete life cycle with a smaller scope. At the end of the iteration, a working product is delivered to the customers. This helps in the delivery of the main priority features at earliest. So, customers can get the business value addition within a shorter time span.
Trending Values of Agile
Due to such distinguishing characteristics of Agile, it is getting more and more popular in the business communities. Organizations also understand that conventional project method methodologies are less effective in the context of a highly dynamic context. Organizations embrace Agile methodologies.
Though Agile is mostly known for software project management, however, there is a spread of this methodology in other business dimensions. The main reason is that technology is considered one of the main pillars stones of every organization. The technology is not confined to one department. It spans across the organizational functions. Hence, organizations are focusing to become Agile as a whole.
Agile is a mindset that brings the following values. That is given more weight than other aspects. These values include:
- Individuals and interactions
- Working Software
- Customer Collaboration
- Responding to Change
Individuals and Interactions
Agile gives more weight to individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Individuals through interactions can solve dynamic problems. Hence it makes people more responsive. Moreover, they are not bound based on the processes. Therefore, tweaking can be done when required if the individuals understand and are aligned as a team. They can use the tools or processes to resolve the issues. The primary objective of the interactions is directed towards solving the problem.
Working Software
Likewise, Agile gives more weight to working software over comprehensive documentation. This does not imply that the need for documentation is eradicated in Agile. However, the working software is given more edge and is considered as an indicator that the software is achieving the business value by meeting customer expectations. Since the projects are dynamic therefore detailed documentation may result in extra efforts to redo these extensive elaborations; this was the primary cause of transformation from waterfall to Agile methodologies. In other words, we can say that Agile does not exclude processes, tools, and documentation. However, it gives more value to the people and the product.
Customer Collaboration
Furthermore, an Agile mindset emphasizes customer collaboration over contract negotiations. The close collaboration with the client brings several advantages to business and delivery. The client gets the idea of the product quite early. And they can redefine and prioritize their requirements according to their priorities to meet the dynamics. Furthermore, close collaboration with the client will help the teams to work on the product with the customer-focused approach. Hence, they are aligned with the business perspective while developing the product.
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Responding to Change
Additionally, it gives more weight to responding to change over following a plan. This had been a great challenge for the teams to respond to and adapt to these changes. According to Agile, the changes are unavoidable hence the team should embrace these changes. The team welcomes feedback which helps to improve the value of the product through business orientation. In other words, we can say that Agile emphasizes the values of communications and responsiveness.
Scrum Master Course Online Options
Based on the 13th annual State of Agile survey, 68% of the participants’ organizations use Scrum and Scrum/XP Hybrid. This is depicted in the following diagram:
This is the main reason why Scrum Master Course Online options become more and more popular. Organizations look for certified Agile project management professionals to employ in their Agile vacancies. Scrum master certification becomes a vital asset if you are willing to have a scrum role in an organization. So, what are the best scrum master online courses you can attend?
In the below sections, we will share with you mainstream Scrum master certification programs. These certifications are offered by prestigious and market key player organizations. See the top Scrum Master Certification Online options.
Scrum Master Online Course #1: PMI-ACP
PMI offers PMI-ACP certification that acknowledges an individual’s experience in using Agile practices. It recognizes the holder’s demonstration in increased versatility through Agile tools and techniques. The PMI-ACP encompass various approaches to Agile. That includes Scrum, Kanban, Lean, extreme programming (XP), and test-driven development (TDD).
Agile certification of PMI provides Agile project methodologies so you learn how to manage Agile projects when you prepare for the certification. While several Agile certifications mainly base on training and exams. PMI-ACP certification counts your real-world experience and skill. PMI has set a higher set of requirements to appear in the PMI-ACP exam. It requires a combination of Agile training, Agile projects experience, along with education degree level. In order to qualify for this certification, you should have a broad range of knowledge of the Agile topics.
Criteria to sit in PMI-ACP Exam
The criteria to sit in the PMI-ACP exam includes:
PMI-ACP Criteria | |
| Education | Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or global equivalent) |
| General Project Experience | 2,000 hours (12 months) experience of working on project teams within the last 5 years |
| Agile Project Experience | 1,500 hours (8 months) experience of working on project teams using Agile methodologies within the last 3 years. |
| Training | 21 contact hours in Agile practices |
According to the criteria, candidates should have a Secondary degree which can be a high school diploma, associate’s degree, or a global equivalent.
Additionally, you need a minimum experience of 2,000 hours of experience within the last five years. Which translates to a minimum of 12 months of project management experience.
Furthermore, the candidate must have minimum experience of 1,500 hours within the last three years. These 1500 hours translate to eight months of experience. This experience must be an Agile project experience. This experience should be unique and must be earned on top of the 2000 hours experience of general project management.
In addition to this, the candidate must have earned 21 contact hours in a PMI-ACP training to be eligible to sit in the PMI-ACP Exam.
PMI-ACP Online Exam
The PMI-ACP online exam is based on Agile principles, practices, tools, and techniques. It comprises of 120 multiple-choice questions. Out of these 120 questions, 20 are considered as pretest questions and they do not affect the score in the exam. The candidate has to complete the computer-based exam in three yours.
The PMI-ACP exam covers the following topic areas. The allocation of questions is based on the percentage spread within these topic areas.
- Agile Principles and Mindset 16%
- Value-driven Delivery 20%
- Stakeholder Engagement 17%
- Team Performance 16%
- Adaptive Planning 12%
- Problem Detection and Resolution 10%
- Continuous Improvement (Product, 9% Process, People)
Renewal of PMI-ACP Certification
Once you acquire PMI-ACP certification, you have to maintain your accreditation by earning 30 PMI-ACP, you must earn 30 professional development units (PDUs) in Agile topics every three years.
#2 Scrum Master Course Online – PSM from Scrum.org
Scrum.org provides comprehensive training, assessments, and certifications based on the principles of Scrum and the Agile Manifesto. These certifications aim to improve the profession of software delivery. Hence to empower people and organizations to achieve agility through Scrum.
Scrum.org was founded in 2009 as a global organization. Kem Shwaber is the co-creator of the organization. The organization has over 320 Professional Scrum Trainers. Scrum.org is focused on improving professionalism in complex product delivery.
Jeff Sutherland and Kem Shwaber had been using Scrum for ten years prior to the meeting at Snowbird where he and others signed the Agile Manifesto. This manifesto, along with his first book about Scrum (“Agile Software Development with Scrum”) and the emergence of modern integrated development environments (IDEs), helped Scrum spread like wildfire in the early 2000s. Currently, there are over 418,000 Scrum Certified Professionals.
Scrum.org offers a variety of Scrum certifications. These include:
Professional Scrum Master 1
The PSM I assessment is available to anyone who wants to validate their knowledge of the Scrum framework. It is not mandatory for the applicants to take any Scrum Master course as a prerequisite. However, there are Scrum Master online courses available to help you gain a good understanding of Scrum and prepare for the assessment.
You should have a good level of Scrum knowledge, and an understanding of the Scrum guide to applying Scrum within Scrum teams.
To prepare for the Professional Scrum Master level 1 certification, you can opt for the Scrum Master online courses:
Professional Scrum Foundations (PSF)
PSF is a 2-day course. This Scrum Master foundation online course teaches students the concept of Scrum. They learn Scrum by experiencing real-world scenarios. So they learn to deliver products using the Scrum framework. They learn to work in a series of sprints. Students form Scrum Teams that fulfills all the roles on a team to deliver the project by simulating real-life problems.
Professional Scrum Master (PSM)
The PSM is a 2-day course. In this Scrum Master online course, students learn how to use Scrum to optimize value, productivity, and the total cost of product ownership. The students learn tools that enable them to relate work with people and teams. In addition to this, they learn to coach and facilitate techniques to address the organization.
You can attend our PSM online course to get ready for the PSM certification.
Professional Scrum Master Level II (PSM II)
The PSM II assessment is available to anyone who wants to demonstrate his or her ability to apply the Scrum framework to solving advanced, complex problems in the real world. This is the advanced level of certification. Holding this level is an indication of their advanced knowledge and abilities pertaining to Scrum and the role of the Scrum Master.
Though attending a Scrum Master online course is not mandatory for this level for applicants. However, it is desired that they have advanced Scrum knowledge and experience. In this regard they may take the following Scrum Master online course:
Professional Scrum Master course. (PSM II)
Professional Scrum Master online certification course spans over two days of training sessions. The Scrum Master online course is designed to support experienced Scrum Masters in their professional endeavors. This Scrum Master online course focuses on instruction and facilitated exercises looking at the challenges that Scrum Masters face in the real world. And it combines them with how the principles and values of Scrum help students to deal with those situations.
Professional Scrum Master level III (PSM III)
The PSM III assessment is available to anyone who already has qualified PSM I and PSM II levels. The holders of the PSM III level demonstrates a deep understanding of the application of Scrum, Scrum practices, and Scrum experience to handle complex problems. This mastery-level demonstrates that the holders can also mentor and coach people or teams who are adopting Scrum.
It is not mandatory to attend a Scrum Master online course for this certification. However, The PSM III assessment is considered very difficult. It consists of multiple-choice questions, case study questions, and essays. PSM III accreditation is the highest demonstration of knowledge any Professional Scrum Master can make.
#3 Scrum Master Online Course – CSM from Scrum Alliance
Scrum Alliance is a nonprofit organization that is guiding and inspiring individuals, leaders, and organizations with Agile practices, principles, and values to help create workplaces that are joyful, prosperous, and sustainable.
Scrum Alliance offers various certification tracks. These tracks include:
- Scrum Master Track
- Product Owner Track
- Developer Track
In scrum Master Track, Scrum Alliance offers various certifications that include: Certified Scrum Master, Advanced Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Professional certification. These are certification tracks. So you can start with the Certified Scrum Master. Once you are a Certified Scrum Master, you can move up the ladder with Advanced Certified Scrum Master. And then you can opt for Certified Scrum Professional certification which is the highest level of the Scrum Master Track offered by Scrum Alliance.
CSM (Certified Scrum Master) is one of the most popular scrum master certification online options offered by Scrum Alliance. There are certain requirements for CSM and CSPO certifications.
Professionals who are Scrum Masters, Scrum Product Owners, and Scrum Developers can obtain these certifications. They are supposed to attend a two-day training program for Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certifications. However, Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) necessitates five days of training.
You can opt for Scrum Overview Classes. These are interactive two-day Scrum Master online courses. This Scrum Master online course offers a combination of interactive exercises with practical real-life examples. You can build your understanding and knowledge on the application of Scrum within your organizations.
After the completion of the two-day CSM online course, you are given the opportunity to take the CSM Exam. And successful completion of the exam will lead to a Certified Scrum Master certificate from Scrum Alliance.
Attend our CSM training and get ready for the CSM exam.
What you will learn
In this Scrum Master online course, you learn about the role of Scrum Master to apply Scrum successfully to the organization. You learn principles of Agile, roles, and responsibilities effectiveness of regular releases. You learn the Agile practices including but not limited to:
- Product Backlog Management
- Estimation with Scrum
- Track Progress
On completion of the Scrum Master online course, you earn 15 Professional Development Units (PDUs) if you are a PMP. And you earn 16 Scrum Education Units (SEUs) by the Scrum Alliance towards CSP certification.
#4 Scrum Master Course Online – Leading SAFe – Certified SAFe Agilist from Scaled Agile
Scaled Agile is more popular with organizational Agile transformation and enterprise Agile frameworks. They offer several certification tracks. Leading SAFe training is the most popular scrum master certification online option from Scaled Agile. Once you attend the Leading SAFe Scrum Master online course training, and sit for the Scrum Master online exam, if you pass, you will earn the Certified SAFe Agilist designation.
Scrum Master Track
For the Scrum Master online track, they offer Certified SAFe Scrum Master (SSM) professional online certification for Scrum aspirants. A SAFe Scrum Master professional is responsible for integrating Scrum practices into an organization. The certification focus on various key areas of competency. Firstly the SAFe Scrum Master needs to have the competency of using Scrum and Kanban to facilitate team events. In addition to this, the Scrum Master professional must be competent enough to support program execution within the organization. As well as the Scrum Master professional must be able to coach Agile teams within the organization.
You can opt for the SAFe 4 Scrum Master Exam or SAFe 5 Scrum Master Exam. The SAFe Scrum Master exam is a web-based exam. This is a multiple-choice, multiple select format exam. And the duration of this exam is 1.5 hours. In this time period, the candidate has 45 questions to answer. Once the exam begins, candidates have 90 minutes (1.5 hours) to complete the exam.
On completion of this Scrum Master online course, the candidates can access the exam within the SAFe Community Platform. In order to qualify the exam, you require a 73% score for the SAFe 4 Scrum Master Exam. Whereas for the SAFE 5 Scrum Master Exam, you would require a 75% score. Once you qualify the exam you get the accreditation. Therefore, you require an exceptional range of skills to become a Certified SAFe Scrum Master and it is considered as a career path event for many Scrum Masters.
SAFe Scrum Master Training Course
In order to sit in the SSM Professional certification exam, you first have to attend the SAFe Scrum Master online course. The Scrum Master online course is a requirement to sit in the Scrum Master online exam. It provides access to all the study materials and the exam. The learning goals of this Scrum Master online course include:
- Describe Scrum in a SAFe enterprise
- Facilitate Scrum events
- Facilitate effective Iteration execution
- Support effective Program Increment execution
- Support relentless improvement
- Coach Agile teams for maximum business results
- Support DevOps implementation
This Scrum Master online course spans two days of training sessions and is considered as Intermediate Level. You must attend a two-day Leading SAFe course. In this course, attendees learn various aspects. Firstly, the attendees acquire an understanding of the role of a Scrum Master in a SAFe enterprise. Additionally, this Scrum Master Online course enables the attendees to deeply explore the role of the Scrum Master within the context of the entire enterprise. The Scrum Master online course prepares attendees to successfully plan and execute the Program Increment which is the main enabler of alignment throughout all levels of a SAFe organization. Furthermore, you learn key components of Agile at scale development. In addition to this, you learn how to coach the Agile teams as well as how to facilitate Scrum throughout the enterprise.
Attend our Leading SAFe – Certified Agilist Training.
What you get with this Scrum Master Online Course
In this Scrum Master course, you get a Certificate of Completion and a printed workbook. Additionally, you get a year membership to the SAFe Community Platform. Furthermore, you also get the certificate of completion and eligibility to take the SAFe 5 Scrum Master (SSM) exam.
Anyone can attend the Scrum Master online course regardless of experience. However, the recommended prerequisites include familiarity with Agile concepts and principles. Additionally, you must have a working knowledge of software and hardware development processes.
This Scrum Master online course offers the required Scrum Education Units (SEUs) for the certification. In addition to this, the PMI certification holders also get Professional Development Units (PDUs) from this course. The details of the PDU is also displayed on their website.
#5 Scrum Master Certification – Advanced Level Certifications
There are several advanced level certifications in the Scrum Master track that can help you take your scrum master career to further next level. Scaled Agile also offers Certified SAFe Advanced Scrum Master certification.
A Certified Advanced Scrum Master (CASM) is responsible for improving team results through the facilitation of cross-team interactions and continuous improvement. Hence the certification focus on the key area of competency. The first of the key areas in identifying and solving team anti-patterns. Then the key area of focus is improving value flow using Kanban and engineering practices. Additionally, one should have the competency to support Program Level execution. Likewise, one requires to be competent enough for user problem-solving and advanced coaching techniques. These techniques are used to drive relentless improvement.
The exams for this certification
You can opt for the SAFe 4 Scrum Master Exam or SAFe 5 Scrum Master Exam. These Scrum Master online Certification Exams include multiple-choice, multiple selection questions. You can take these exams on the web. Both these exams comprise of 60 questions and the candidate has 2 hours to complete the exam. Moreover, there is a minimum percentage that you need to score in order to qualify for these exams. The passing score for SASM 4 is 70% and for SASM 5, the passing score is 73%.
The attendees who want to sit in a SAFE 5 Advanced Scrum Master (SASM) certification exam, it is recommended to have the following certifications.
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certification
- Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification
SAFe Advanced Scrum Master (SASM) training course
This two-day Advanced Scrum Master online course further enhances the Scrum paradigm with an introduction to scalable engineering and DevOps practices, supporting interactions with architects, product managers, and other key stakeholders in the larger context of program and enterprise.
In this Advanced Scrum Master online course, you also learn about the tools for building high-performing teams and explore practical ways of addressing Agile and Scrum anti-patterns in the enterprise.
In order to sit in the SASM Professional online certification exam, you first have to attend the SAFe Advanced Scrum Master course. As this course is a requirement to sit in the SASM examination, it provides access to all the study materials and the exam.
What you will learn
In this advanced Scrum Master online course, you will learn to describe Scrum in a SAFe enterprise. You will also learn how to facilitate Scrum events. Furthermore, you will learn to facilitate effective iteration execution and effective Program Increment execution. Moreover, you will learn about the improvement process and how to coach Agile teams for maximum business results. Additionally, you will also learn how to support DevOps implementation.
Moreover, with this Advance Scrum course you get a printed workbook, In addition to this, you get preparation and eligibility to take the exam. Furthermore, you get a one-year membership to the SAFe Community Platform along with a certificate of completion.
This Advanced Scrum Master online course offers the required Scrum Education Units (SEUs) for the certification. In addition to this, the PMI certification holders also get Professional Development Units (PDUs) from this course.
Scrum Master Course Online Options Summary
In this article, we’ve shared with you the various Scrum Master Course online options as well as Scrum Master online certification options. Then we discussed the reasons for the evolution of Agile and transition of project management methodologies to Agile project management methodologies. We also discussed the Values of Agile that emphasized ways to overcome the challenges within the conventional project management methodologies.
We also discussed the Scrum Master course online options to appear in the Scrum Master online certifications. Additionally, we discussed the best options of Scrum Master online Certification options that include PMI-ACP from PMI, PSM from Scrum.org, CSM from Scrum Alliance. and Certified SAFe Agilist from Scaled Agile. In addition to this, we also discussed the Advanced level Scrum Master online option from Scaled Agile.
These Scrum Master online certification options focus on the Scrum Master track. We also highlighted various options to get the training and prepare for these certifications.
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We hope that these Scrum Master online certification options are helpful for you to get a better understanding of Scrum Master online choices to excel in the career of Agile Management and you will be able to choose the best Scrum Master online option.
Best of Luck!