Scrum.org PAL I Certification Exam Syllabus

• In Scrum, empiricism refers to the idea that solving complex problems, or doing complex work, can only be done using an exploratory process rather than relying on predetermined plans. Learn about empiricism and complex work. Explore why trust is important for empiricism to thrive.

• For agility to thrive, the culture of the organization must support the fundamental concepts of agility. The Scrum Values - Focus, Respect, Openness, Commitment, and Courage - create an environment where empiricism, self-management and continual improvement are more successful.

• The Scrum Team is a small unit of professionals focused on attaining the Product Goal. Scrum Teams consist of a Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers. Each has a clear set of accountabilities. Learn more about the Scrum Team, accountabilities, responsibilities and why these aren’t called “roles.”

• The five Scrum Events provide regular opportunities for enacting the Scrum pillars of Inspection, Adaptation and Transparency. In addition, they help teams keep aligned with the Sprint and Product Goals, improve Developer productivity, remove impediments and reduce the need to schedule too many additional meetings.

• The Definition of Done describes the quality standards for the Increment. Learn why getting to Done is so important, what undone work is, if it’s okay to show work that isn’t done to stakeholders, can you present undone work at the Sprint Review and what’s the difference between the DoD and Definition of Ready or acceptance criteria.

• Scrum Team can use forecasting and release planning as a guide for delivering a product through small incremental and frequent releases rather than big bang product launches.

Product Vision

• In solving complex problems, the idea of a detailed up-front design has been replaced with an approach that encourages design to emerge and change within the boundaries of an architecture. In this Focus Area, practitioners will be able to describe what emergent architecture is and how it translates into incremental development and delivery. They will be able to describe practices that “realize” the architecture incrementally into a working, agile system. Practitioners will understand the trade-offs between value, flexibility, and quality, and will also be able to apply techniques that make the emergent approach transparent to the team, organization, and stakeholders.

Managing Technical Risk

• All products have an inherent set of risks to manage. These risks range from the ability to deliver to technical risks associated with performance and security. This Focus Area describes how technical risks are managed within an Agile approach. Practitioners should understand what technical risks are and how to effectively manage them in an empirical process. They should also understand how to apply practices to make risks transparent.

Continuous Quality

• Working in an agile way does not change the importance of product quality. It does, however, change when and where quality is addressed. This Focus Area describes what quality is and how the ideas of Agility and Scrum change a product's quality approach. The practitioner will understand what continuous quality is, how to apply it, and the appropriate practices for delivering quality in a continuous way. They will understand important concepts like technical debt, Test Left, and the ideas of user-driven testing.

Continuous Integration (CI) / Continuous Delivery (CD)

• Frequent learning is a fundamental concept for Scrum. Continuous Delivery and Continuous Integration are a key collection of practices that enable frequent observation of working features. This Focus Area describes the value of the core idea that code should always be deployable and an understanding of the techniques that can be employed for delivering software that solves complex problems. The practitioner will understand what CI and CD are, how to apply these ideas, and what it means for an empirical process and the Scrum framework.

Optimizing Flow

• The Sprint is a time-box with clear flows within it. For large, complex work, the Sprint is just a small part of a broader flow for the product, business, or even market. This Focus Area concentrates on making flow transparent and ensuring that waste is reduced or removed. Automation and measurement are key elements to ensuring flow efficiency, coupled with a series of rules that have evolved in response to improving flow. The practitioner will be able to look to flow approaches such as Kanban and integrate these ideas with Scrum, frequently delivering valuable products and learning.

• Traditional organizations are often structured around Taylorism and mass production concepts in response to simple problems. Complex problems require a different way of organizing. This Focus Area describes the fundamental differences of an agile organization; namely its structure, culture, and design. A practitioner will understand what an agile enterprise looks like and approaches for implementing the agile enterprise in a traditional organization. They will understand how to balance the needs for agility with the existing reality of traditional organizational structures.

Portfolio Planning

• For many large organizations, work is being undertaken in the context of a broader portfolio. That portfolio could be a product, system, value stream, supply chain, or even a program. This Focus Area describes what agile portfolio planning looks like; its characteristics, principles, and associated practices. The Practitioner will understand why agile portfolio planning must be different than traditional portfolio planning in order to deal with complex products and systems. They will also understand how to apply these ideas to their portfolio. Practitioners will understand the challenges of managing complex dependencies and the choices that need to be made, while ensuring that team agility is not broken, to serve the needs of the larger organization.

Evidence-Based Management

• A fundamental element of Scrum is empirical process; the idea that complex problems require real experience to effectively plan and deliver value. Evidence-Based Management (EBM) is a set of ideas and practices that describe broad measurement areas used to provide an effective, empirical, and value-based approach to any product. This Focus Area describes what EBM is and how to apply it to any product. The practitioner will understand what EBM is, as well as the practices that comprise it, and how to use EBM to enable a business-driven, value-based empirical process.