Disciplined Agile Scrum Master

Study Guide
pmi.org/disciplined-agile
© 2020 Project Management Institute. All rights reserved.
This material is being provide as part of a PMI Disciplined Agile workshop.

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Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM)
Study Guide
About the DASM Training
Is your team treading water using waterfall? Do you feel trapped in an agile framework? Would
you like to find solutions to the problems you’ve been wrestling with? Are you looking for ways
to enhance your team’s agility?
Break free from your old ways by choosing a way of working that fits your team’s context. Find
strategies to improve your processes and strengthen your team with the Disciplined Agile tool
kit.
Disciplined Agile Scrum Master is a nine-lesson, instructor-led course that shows you how to
use Disciplined Agile (DA) to improve your team’s way of working. In just two days, you’ll
become familiar with foundational agile and lean practices that DA supports, practice using the
tool kit to solve problems, and learn how to build high-performance teams.
This course is also appropriate for teams that wish to work together to learn Disciplined Agile
and customize their way of working.
Filled with activities, animations, supplemental reading, and more, this course will prepare you
to take the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) exam and, equally important, start using
Disciplined Agile immediately.

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The PMI Agile Certification Journey

Materials for this Course

• Choose Your WoW! A Disciplined Agile Delivery Handbook for Optimizing Your Way of
Working (WoW) (PDF Version)
• DASM Activity Workbook PDF
• DASM Participant Handout PDF
• DASM Study Guide PDF
• DASM Bibliography/References/Glossary PDF

About this Study Guide

• This Study Guide is designed to aid you in reviewing the contents of the DASM training
and preparing for the DASM Certification exam.
• This study guide does NOT contain everything you need to know to pass the exam.
• To adequately prepare, read this guide, along with relevant chapters of Choose Your
WoW! and the Participant Handout PDF.
• Use the Objectives, listed under each lesson in this guide, to determine what you need
to study. The exam measures your ability to satisfy each of these objectives. While we
encourage you to learn more about DA, you do not have to worry about information
not contained in the objectives to pass the exam.

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Contents
Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) Study Guide 1
About the DASM Training 1
The PMI Agile Certification Journey 2
Materials for this Course 2
About this Study Guide 2
About the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) 8
Who Is a DASM? 8
What Is a DASM? 8
How Does a DASM Serve? 9
Team 9
Product Owner 9
The Organization 9
Lesson 1: All About Agile 10
Description 10
Objectives 10
Agenda 10
Lesson Notes 11
What Is Agile? 11
The Agile Manifesto 11
The Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto 11
There Is No Standard for Agile Terminology 12
Agile Breaks Project into Iterations 12
Planning an Iteration 13
Agile Ceremonies 13
Agile Ceremony Summary 13
Agile Artifacts 14
User Stories 15
When the Story Is Done 15
How a Demo Works 15
Lesson 2: Agile and Beyond 16
Description 16

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 Objectives 16
Agenda 16
Lesson Notes 17
Agile Is Showing Its Age 17
The Disciplined Agile Mindset 17
What is Guided Continuous Improvement 19
Disciplined Agile Life Cycles 20
Disciplined Agile Practices: How Does Disciplined Agile Work? 20
Complex Adaptive Systems 21
So, How Does Disciplined Agile Work? 22
Disciplined Agile Tool Kit Process Blades 23
How Does Disciplined Agile Work? 23
Process Goals 23
Process Goal Diagrams 24
Lesson 3: Building and Supporting a Discipline Agile Team 26
Description 26
Objectives 26
Agenda 26
Lesson Notes 27
Be Awesome – DA Principle 27
Building a DA Team 27
There Is No Standard for Agile Terminology 28
DA’s Generic Terms 28
Summary of Key Roles 28
Primary DA Roles 29
Supporting DA Roles 29
People Can Fulfill More Than One Role 30
What is a Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM)? 30
Who does the DASM interact with? 30
What does a DASM do? 30
How does the DASM serve the team? 30
How does the DASM serve the product owner? 31
How does the DASM serve the organization? 31

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 Leaders vs. Managers 31
What is Emotional Intelligence and why is it important? 32
Middle-up-Down-Management 34
Team Working Agreements 34
Types of Teams – Project vs. Product/Long-Standing team 34
Shared Team Services 35
Team Context and Scaling Factors 35
Team size – Scaling Factor 36
Geographic Distribution – Scaling Factor 36
Organizational Distribution – Scaling Factor 36
Compliance – Scaling Factor 37
Lesson 4: Choosing Your WoW! 39
Description 39
Objectives 39
Agenda 39
Lesson Notes 40
What is Business Agility? 40
Why Do We Want to Be Able to Choose Our Team’s Way of Working? 40
What Are the Discipline Agile Life Cycles? 40
Common Project Phases 44
Disciplined Agile Milestones 44
How Do You Choose Your Way of Working? 45
Lesson 5: Tailoring Your Practices: Inception Phase 46
Description 46
Objectives 46
Agenda 46
Lesson Notes 46
DA Phases and Process Goals 46
DA Process Goals in Each Phase 47
Agile Practices 47
Knowing When a Story Is Done 48
Choices in the Inception Phase 48
Lesson 6: Tailoring Your Practices: Construction Phase 49

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 Description 49
Objectives 49
Agenda 49
Lesson Notes 50
DA Construction Phases and Process Goals 50
Agile Practices 50
Lean Tips: Deliver Value Quickly 51
Lean Tip: Visualizing the Value Stream 51
Cost of Delay 52
Lean Tip: Ensure Value by Building Quality In 52
Lean Tip: Eliminating Waste 52
Lesson 7: Tailoring Your Practices: Transition Phase 54
Description 54
Objectives 54
Agenda 54
Lesson Notes 54
Project Phases 54
Transition Phase Process Goals 55
Lesson 8. Tailoring Your Practices: Ongoing 57
Description 57
Objectives 57
Agenda 57
Lesson Notes 58
Ongoing Phase 58
Ongoing Process Phase Goals 58
Process Goal: Govern Delivery Team 61
Lean Practices for the Ongoing Phase 63
Lesson 9. Influence Outside the Team 68
Description 68
Objectives 68
Agenda 68
Lesson Notes 68
What is Lean? 68