Introduction to Agile Development and Scrum (Coursera)

You will learn to apply Agile practices derived from lean manufacturing concepts, like test-driven development. Learn how a scrum team functions. Learn how to write good user stories and track your team’s progress using a kanban board. Create and refine a product backlog collaboratively with the team and the customer, in a flexible and blameless culture.

This approach will lead you to higher levels of efficiency, with the ability to plan and execute sprints with your development team, measuring success with actionable metrics.

This course is about more than facts and processes. It is about working collaboratively on a self-organizing team, coached by a scrum master, and building what is needed, rather than simply following a plan.

Developed and taught by an experienced Agile practitioner, the course includes hands-on practice through realistic scenario-based labs using GitHub and ZenHub.

This course is part of the following programs:

- IBM DevOps and Software Engineering Professional Certificate

- DevOps, Cloud, and Agile Foundations Specialization

- IBM Applied DevOps Engineering Professional Certificate

- IBM IT Project Manager Professional Certificate

- IBM IT Scrum Master Professional Certificate

- IBM Project Manager Professional Certificate.

What You Will Learn

- Adopt the 5 practices of Agile, a subset of DevOps: small batches, minimum viable product, pair programming, behavior- and test-driven development.

- Write good user stories, estimate and assign story points and track stories using a kanban board. Incorporate Scrum artifacts, events, and benefits.

- Create and refine a product backlog using the sprint planning process. Produce potentially shippable product increments with every iteration.

- Create burndown charts to forecast the ability to meet a sprint goal. Use metrics to enhance performance, productivity, and client satisfaction.

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Introduction to Agile and Scrum

In this module, you will be introduced to the philosophy and characteristics of Agile. You will learn about other methodologies including Waterfall, Extreme Programming (XP) and Kanban, and how they relate to Agile. You’ll explore the five practices of working Agile. Next, you’ll get an overview of Scrum as a framework for applying Agile principles to project management. You’ll learn how Scrum benefits the project management process by advocating defined roles, events, and artifacts. You’ll learn how companies can organize for success using Agile, and how team alignment and autonomy contribute to building better systems. You’ll also learn how to recognize and avoid Agile anti-patterns and measure Scrum team health.

WEEK 2

Agile Planning

In this module, you will learn more details about Agile iterative planning. You will also learn how to create good user stories, estimate and assign story points, build and refine a product backlog, and build a sprint plan.

WEEK 3

Daily Execution

This module describes the daily workflow for executing a sprint plan, including how to determine which story to work on and how to keep the team updated on progress. You will learn what a daily stand-up is and how to run one. You’ll learn how to use burndown charts to forecast the team’s ability to achieve the sprint goal. You’ll learn how to conduct the sprint review and the sprint retrospective. And you’ll find out how to measure success and use actionable metrics to improve the team’s performance.

WEEK 4

[Optional] HONORS Project - Create an Agile Plan with ZenHub