Succeed with Scrum on your next Power Platform or Dynamics 365 project
Shock your stakeholders by delivering an app they love đ
We spent six weeks creating the requirements specification.
Debbie rejected it in six minutes.
I was on the verge of losing our biggest customer and losing my entire business.
In 2008, my business, Increase CRM, was a scrappy start-up. The market for hosted CRM was tiny but exploding, and we were the UKâs market leader. We had a lot to lose.
Hosting Microsoft CRM for Premier Medical Group would double our business. But Debbie, the operations director, was outraged when she read our requirements specification. She demanded that we find a way to deliver differently. Faster, iteratively, collaboratively.
Hanging by a thread, we didnât have a choice: learn Scrum or go home.
It was the most pivotal moment in my career. Because what we did would decide the future of my career as a business owner and Microsoft practice leader. Thankfully, we made the right choice. We switched to Scrum. And Debbie was on board.
Over the next 18 months, we delivered a series of game-changing business applications for Premier Medical Group. Their business was acquired, partly because of their industry-leading technology. Debbie was delighted. So were Premier Medical's investors.
I created the Successful Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps course so that every Power Platform and Dynamics 365 professional can experience the career-accelerating benefits of Scrum.
Iâve trained over 5,000 app makers since 2017. I hope youâll join us.
SUCCESSFUL SCRUM
Discover the power of Scrum in Microsoft Business Applications! This comprehensive course covers the essential events, roles, deliverables, and adaptation of Scrum for Power Platform projects.
By the end of this course, you'll be equipped with the knowledge and skills to effectively apply the Scrum framework to your Power Platform or Dynamics 365 projects. Youâll learn about the essential events of Scrum, understand the roles required, and identify the deliverables to be produced during your projects, allowing you to achieve successful project outcomes and maximize the benefits of the Scrum framework.
Here's what you'll learn in Successful Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps
- Explore the foundational theory that underpins Scrum and its core values.
- Uncover the difference between âdoing agileâ and âbeing agile.â
- Gain an understanding of the crucial principles that make Scrum an effective approach to delivering business applications.
- Learn about the three essential accountabilities in a Scrum team.
- Explore the responsibilities and essential qualities of the product owner, scrum master, and developers.
- Gain an understanding of the specific requirements for the different roles in a Microsoft Business Apps project.
- Discover the five key events in Scrum, including sprint, daily scrum, sprint planning, sprint review, and sprint retrospective.
- Learn about backlog refinement, a recommended practice followed by many Scrum teams.
- Gain a comprehensive understanding of these events and practices and their importance in the Scrum process.
- Explore the three essential artifacts that Scrum teams must deliver, including the product backlog, sprint backlog, and increments.
- Learn about the required deliverables of Scrum and how they contribute to successful project delivery.
- Gain the flexibility to choose additional artifacts for your team based on your project requirements.
- Learn how to apply Scrum to your next Microsoft Business Apps project through real-life case studies.
- Gain insights into best practices and lessons learned from a seasoned Scrum practitioner.
- Enhance your understanding of Scrum by seeing it in action through practical examples and real-world scenarios.
- Get answers to advanced questions, including whether you can have more than one product owner for a project, how to use Scrum for delivery when working within a traditional governance framework, and many more in the context of Dynamics 365 and Power Platform projects.
COURSE REVIEWS
What our students say about
Successful Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps
Louise Astorgano
Head of Technology, Evolv Super Audits
(Microsoft customer in Australia)
"We have increased significantly increased the size of our development team. One of the reasons that we've been able to do that is because the business has had confidence in the framework that we've got to deliver, and that has seen us been given an increase in budget. The work aspect of my life is different after during the course because I definitely have a better framework in order to run the project that has been led to decrease in stress around overruns and risk management."
Alexio Chandiwana
Solution Designer, D365 Consulting
(Microsoft consultant in UK)
"What I've seen is there's more efficiency from the teams because things are more organised. There's a process in place. There's a structure that people look and say, 'Okay, yeah, this is how things are being done and this is better as compared to what we're doing before'. In terms of saving time, after going through the Scrum course, what I now have is a process to filter through the backlog, put those things into sprints on the backlog itself. So basically it saving us time in terms of where work items which are related."
Andrew Rogers
Functional Consultant, Capgemini
(Microsoft partner in Australia)
"We've got a lot of really good feedback from our very first customer that we applied the framework to, to the point where we got a case study out of it with Empired, like it's on our website and public. For me, the mental health thing has dramatically improved in terms of like what I think we've agreed upon versus what they've agreed they think that they've agreed upon. Being confident, using the framework, being on time and on budget gives us confidence. Every time that we know that we're going to use the framework, it'll actually happen. Just having the baseline, which is the Scrum for Business Applications course really helps us all stay aligned and true to that."
Graeme Donnell
Senior Pre-Sales Consultant, Incremental Group
(Microsoft partner in UK)
"The main difference that adopting Scrum has made to our business apps projects within Incremental Group is it adds structure to our teams. It allows our guys to work in iterative sprints, and it enables our project managers to keep a track of the work that's going on. Ultimately, then we're able to work together as a team towards a goal and deliver the best application, the best solution, to our customers. If I were to recommend Scrum for Business Apps to anyone in particular, it would be anyone who is working with Dynamics 365. Whether you be an implementer, a maker, a developer, a project manager, or just someone who's finding their feet within Microsoft Business Applications."
Joel Lindstom
Principal Architect, Hitachi Solutions
11x Microsoft MVP
United States
ââââ "Neil knows Dynamics, and I can't think of anyone better suited to teach you how to apply the principles of agile Scrum to Dynamics 365 deployments."
Daniel Hesketh
Director, MiiiA
Australia
"Weâd been cherry picking aspects of agile frameworks in our projects for a while, but I was keen to learn more. Seeing one of Neilâs Dynamics 365 Saturday presentations (featuring the Lego!) really got me hooked. The Introduction to Scrum for Dynamics 365 course was a great way to help refresh and refocus my team to go 'all in'."
Joe Gill
Dynamics 365 Consultant
Microsoft MVP
Ireland
"I found the Customery Scrum course was a great help in providing a clear and concise approach in using Scrum on Dynamics 365 projects."
Brian Illand
Microsoft Practice Lead, Codec
United Kingdom
"An excellent course - one to give your customers if they still have a waterfall-style fixed-price / fixed-scope mentality that isn't working. What makes this course superb are the simple but practical real-world tips that make it easy for everyone to understand. For example, 'avoid sprints on a Monday or Friday as these overlap with personal leave'. All organisations using Dynamics should consider a Scrum methodology and this is a great place to start."
Greg Owens
Director, Vitalogy IT Solutions
United Kingdom
"The course is proving to be fun, easy to consume and most of all: relevant. It does exactly as it promises â interprets Scrum in the context of delivering Dynamics 365 projects. Itâs all very 'Neil' - light-hearted yet engaging and authoritative. Neil rightly speaks from a place of authority yet makes no assumptions about your level of knowledge of Scrum. Plus, your progress is all but guaranteed as each increment is short (rarely over 10 minutes) making it easy to fit a least one lecture in every day. Every Dynamics 365 project you ever work on should follow the Scrum 365 approach â weâd all have happier clients, less stressful projects and be happier in our work."
Nick Doelman
Microsoft MVP
Canada
"When faced with a massive Dynamics 365 project with hundreds of pages of requirements, we knew that we needed to think different to be able to build the system in an efficient and manageable way. Applying the Scrum principles covered in Neilâs course, the massive requirements document was broken down into a set of manageable sprints. Our dev team feel both excited and empowered to be able to participate in establishing the effort and allocation of tasks. Our daily scrums were key in collaborating effectively to delivering value to the customer successfully. We are continuing to evolve our use of Scrum and I canât image taking on any future Dynamics 365 project using any other implementation methodology."
Ethan Weatherby-Fell
Project Delivery Manager, Factor
Australia
"Timeboxing has been the biggest difference in my project as well as the proper ways of adopting the Scrum principles and ceremonies. I have already recommended this some project managers I know and work with as this is ideal for them to learn especially as some jump from a project manager to scrum master, like I did. This is a great course to learn apply to work in Microsoft Business Apps."
Fiona Whiteing
Associate Director, KPMG
Australia
"Neilâs expertise in using Scrum for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement implementations is second to none â having the opportunity to tap into his knowledge and experience has helped me in addressing gaps in my knowledge so that I can ensure an optimal outcome for my clients in their agile Dynamics 365 implementations."
Julain Sharp
Dynamics 365 Consultant/Trainer, Vigence
United Kingdom
"Iâve been using agile approaches to Dynamics 365 projects for a while now, but Neilâs course has helped me crystallise how I to do better in future, with the added advantage of preparing me for another certification! All organisations adopting Dynamics 365 should take this course."
YOU MIGHT BE THINKING
But I can learn Scrum myself. I donât need a course.
True. You could learn about Scrum on your own.
But this course is not just about Scrum. This course also includes specific lessons Iâve learned based on my 15 years of using Scrum to successfully deliver Power Platform and Dynamics 365 enterprise apps.
When you sign up, youâll receive a comprehensive education on Scrum that covers not just the basics but also the specific challenges and best practices for enterprise Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 projects.
In addition, youâll have access to high-quality, concise videos and engaging LEGO illustrations that will make learning fun and effective. And with practical, real-life examples and case studies, youâll see how Scrum can be applied in a concrete way to your Power Platform or Dynamics project. And all of this you can finish in one day.
I help you prepare for professional Scrum certification so that you can test your knowledge and receive independent verification that you understand Scrum. I've even got an optional PSM1 practice exam that's just like the real thing you so can prepare with confidence then sit the certification exam with certainty.
So, while you could certainly learn about Scrum on your own, by taking this course youâll receive a comprehensive education, engaging lessons, practical examples, and the opportunity to earn a certification that demonstrates your mastery of Scrum.
All of these things combined will make you more effective and confident in your work and bring immense value to your Dynamics 365 and Power Platform projects.
COURSE OUTLINE
Whatâs included in the Successful Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps course?
Introduction
To assist you in making the most of the course, Iâll provide you with an overview of the course materials and highlight the methods that have proven most successful for previous students. This is where your journey toward success begins.
Scrum theory
The Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps course starts off with a strong foundation by diving into the core values and principles of the Scrum framework. This deep understanding of the theory behind Scrum is what sets the course apart, as it lays the groundwork for truly embracing and incorporating the agility that Scrum offers. By focusing on these key concepts, youâll move beyond simply doing agile to truly being agile in your approach to developing enterprise business apps.
Scrum team
In this section of the course, weâll explore the three key accountabilities within the scrum team and delve into the responsibilities and important attributes of each role. Youâll gain a better understanding of the product owner, scrum master, and developers in the context of a Microsoft Business Applications project, equipping you with the knowledge you need to effectively lead and contribute to your scrum team.
Scrum events
In this section of the course, youâll gain an in-depth understanding of the five key events in Scrum: the sprint, daily scrum, sprint planning, sprint review, and sprint retrospective. Additionally, weâll also delve into the crucial activity of backlog refinement, which is widely considered a best practice among successful Scrum teams. By the end of this section, youâll have a solid grasp of each event and how they work together to keep your Scrum project moving forward smoothly.
Scrum artefacts
In this section, we delve into the key artefacts of Scrum. The product backlog, sprint backlog, and increment are the three crucial deliverables that every Scrum team must produce. By understanding the importance and purpose of each of these artefacts, your team will be equipped to make informed decisions on any additional deliverables that may be necessary for your specific project.
Scrum stories
To bring the Scrum concepts to life and provide practical insights for your next Microsoft Business Apps project, Iâll share real-world examples from my own experiences with three in-depth case study videos. These examples showcase not just the best practices, but also the hard lessons Iâve learned along the way, giving you valuable insights to apply to your own project.
Scrum certification
If youâre serious about using Scrum to accelerate your projects (and your career), this section will help. It includes my guide to Scrum certification and my Annotated Scrum Guide with my study notes in the margin, so you know which terms are likely to come up in the exam. I offer an optional PSM1 practice exam if you're planning to achieve professional Scrum certification.
Meet the Business Apps Scrum Superheroes
Congratulations to all the Customery Academy students who have achieved
their Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master certification
When are you going to join them?
200+ PSM1 graduates
Over 200 students have achieved their Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master I certification after completing my Scrum training course.
5000+ students
I've sent a personalised welcome video to each of the 5,000 students have joined my courses since we launched in 2017.
175+ teams
Over 45 Microsoft customers and 130 Microsoft partners have enrolled their business apps teams in my Scrum course.
MEET YOUR COURSE CREATOR
NEIL BENSON
Gâday, Iâm Neil. My mission is to help everyone master agile practices to build amazing apps on Power Platform and Dynamics 365.
I started using the Scrum framework to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM in 2008. Iâve been working with CRM systems for over 20 years and implementing them for the past 16 years.
Iâm a Certified ScrumMaster and Iâm a Scrum.org certified Professional Scrum Master and Professional Product Owner too. I love pitching, envisioning and delivering agile Microsoft Business Applications projects that provide amazing results for my customers. And amazing experiences for their users and their customers.
Iâve been awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award every year since 2010 for my thought-leadership and contributions to the Microsoft Business Applications community.
PEEK INSIDE THE COURSE
Take a look inside Successful Scrum
Instructional Lessons
Sixteen instructional lessons, illustrated with hundreds of LEGO photos, to teach you about the components of the Scrum framework to prepare you for professional Scrum certification.
Proven Practice Lessons
Twenty-two proven practice videos where I share the results of my teamsâ successful experiments applying Scrum learned over the past fifteen years.
Quizzes
Test and solidify your understanding of Scrum my taking the multiple-choice quiz at the end of each section. Ensure that your brain is actively learning and not just passively watching.
Mobile App
To make it as easy as possible to access all of these materials, thereâs a native mobile app for iOS and Android so that you can access Customery Academy at any time from your mobile device. This is great if youâre traveling or when youâre out and about.
Welcome Session
To make sure you understand how to get the most out of your Customery Academy course, there are regular welcome sessions with me so you can get started on the right path.
Handouts and Audio Files
There are also a set of course handouts so that you can review all the material in written form as well. And if you prefer listening and would like to add the audio tracks to your audio or podcast player, then there is an accompanying set of MP3 tracks provided as well.
Online Community
You also get access to our online community where you can post any questions about any of the lessons or any challenges you might experience applying Scrum to your own projects.
Case Studies
Shortcut your adoption of Scrum by learning the hard-won lessons of my experience. In the case study library, youâll find examples of applications built for customers in different industries and with various team sizes so you can apply the lessons to your situation.
Certificate of Completion
When you complete the course and pass the quizzes, your certificate of achievement will be posted on the Customery company page on LinkedIn where you can download it or share it. Youâll be the hero of your LinkedIn network for a few minutes!
One-time registration, lifetime course access.
You'll be asked to choose a date when you book. Select a date when you aim to start the course.
Book with Humanitix and 100% of the profit from your booking fees is donated to childrenâs charities.
Australian fees exclude 10% GST.
