Product Ownership: Prepare for the Scrum.org™ PSPO™ I Assessment

What's inside

1. Level 1: The PSPO I Assessment and What Scrum IsFree
   [Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework] Learners get the exam facts: 80 questions in 60 minutes, an 85% pass mark, $200 per attempt, no course required, and the free Scrum Open and Product Owner Open practice tests. They then cover the Guide's purpose and its definition of Scrum as a framework that is 'purposefully incomplete, only defining the parts required to implement Scrum theory' (Scrum Guide 2020, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, CC BY-SA 4.0), plus the notice that Professional Scrum Product Owner and PSPO are trademarks of Advanced Development Methods, Inc., d/b/a Scrum.org, that this course is not affiliated with or endorsed by Scrum.org, and that no pass is promised.
2. Level 2: Empiricism: Transparency, Inspection, AdaptationFree
   [Empiricism] Learners study Scrum theory as the Guide states it: empiricism holds that 'knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is observed' (Scrum Guide 2020, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, CC BY-SA 4.0), together with lean thinking and the three pillars, and why each pillar depends on the one before it.
3. Level 3: The Scrum Team and the Product Owner's Accountability
   [Scrum Team] Learners cover the five Scrum values and the Scrum Team's three accountabilities, centred on the Guide's statement that the Product Owner 'is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team' (Scrum Guide 2020, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, CC BY-SA 4.0); the Product Owner is one person, not a committee, may delegate Product Backlog work while staying accountable, and is the one whose decisions the organisation must respect.
4. Level 4: Self-Managing Teams: What the Product Owner Does Not Direct
   [Self-Managing Teams] Learners see how a self-managing, cross-functional Scrum Team works: the Developers' four accountabilities, how the Scrum Master serves the Product Owner and the organisation, and where the Product Owner's authority ends, namely what the team works on versus how the Developers do the work.
5. Level 5: The Sprint and Cancelling a Sprint
   [Events] Learners study the Sprint as the container for all other events: a fixed length of one month or less, no changes that would endanger the Sprint Goal, quality that does not decrease, scope that may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner, and the rule that only the Product Owner may cancel a Sprint, and only when its Sprint Goal becomes obsolete.
6. Level 6: Sprint Planning and the Daily Scrum from the PO's Side
   [Events] Learners follow the Product Owner through Sprint Planning (a timebox of at most eight hours for a one-month Sprint): preparing the most important Product Backlog items, proposing how the product could increase its value in Topic One ('Why is this Sprint valuable?'), crafting the Sprint Goal together, and leaving the selection of items and the plan to the Developers; they also learn the Product Owner's limited role at the 15-minute Daily Scrum.
7. Level 7: The Sprint Review and the Sprint Retrospective
   [Events] Learners treat the Sprint Review (at most four hours for a one-month Sprint) as a working session in which the Scrum Team and key stakeholders inspect the outcome of the Sprint, decide future adaptations and may adjust the Product Backlog; it is not a sign-off or a one-way presentation. They also cover the Product Owner's part in the Sprint Retrospective (at most three hours).
8. Level 8: Artifacts, Commitments, Done and the Definition of Done
   [Artifacts / Done] Learners pair each artifact with its commitment: the Product Backlog with the Product Goal, the Sprint Backlog with the Sprint Goal, and the Increment, 'a concrete stepping stone toward the Product Goal' (Scrum Guide 2020, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, CC BY-SA 4.0), with the Definition of Done. They also learn what happens to work that is not Done and who creates the Definition of Done when the organisation provides none.
9. Level 9: Product Vision
   [Product Vision] Learners connect a clear product vision, meaning the future state the product aims for and who it serves, to the Product Goal and to the Product Backlog. They see it as something the Product Owner develops, communicates and keeps transparent for the Scrum Team and stakeholders.
10. Level 10: Product Value: Outcomes over Output and EBM
    [Product Value] Learners measure value through outcomes such as customer satisfaction, revenue, usage and time to market rather than through output such as features shipped or velocity. They also get an outline of evidence-based management's key value areas as a lens for empirical decisions about the product.
11. Level 11: Business Strategy and the Product Goal
    [Business Strategy] Learners see how business strategy, market conditions and the product's business model shape the Product Goal and investment decisions. They also see why the Product Owner, acting as a value-maximiser and something like a product CEO, uses empirical evidence to adjust or move on from the Product Goal.
12. Level 12: Product Backlog Ordering and Refinement
    [Product Backlog Management] Learners treat the Product Backlog as 'an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product' (Scrum Guide 2020, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, CC BY-SA 4.0). They order it by value, risk, dependencies and learning, and refine it as an ongoing activity done with the Developers rather than as a Scrum event.
13. Level 13: Sizing and Splitting Product Backlog Items
    [Product Backlog Management] Learners see why the Developers who will do the work are responsible for sizing it, how relative estimates support ordering, and how to split large Product Backlog items into thin vertical slices that can each be Done within one Sprint.
14. Level 14: Forecasting, Release Planning and Releasing at Any Time
    [Forecasting & Release Planning] Learners forecast empirically from past performance using burn-down, burn-up and cumulative flow, treat a forecast as something other than a fixed promise, and decide when to release. They learn that an Increment may be released at any time, including before the Sprint Review, and that the Product Owner makes that decision.
15. Level 15: Stakeholders, Customers and the Myths That Cost Marks
    [Stakeholders & Customers] Learners practise engaging stakeholders and customers continuously, through the Sprint Review and outside it, managing conflicting requests while remaining the single decision-maker on the Product Backlog, and correcting the common myths: the proxy or committee Product Owner, fixed scope for each Sprint, sign-offs and velocity as a goal.
16. Level 16: Timed Mock Exam: 80 Questions in 60 Minutes Timed mock
    [All Focus Areas] A timed mock exam of 80 original questions in 60 minutes with an 85% pass mark, covering the whole course in the assessment's multiple choice, multiple answer and true/false styles, followed by the notice that Professional Scrum Product Owner and PSPO are trademarks of Advanced Development Methods, Inc., d/b/a Scrum.org, that this course is not affiliated with or endorsed by Scrum.org, and that no pass is promised.

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