Certified Scrum Product Owner®

Certified Scrum Product Owner Training (CSPO)

Welcome to the most recognised Agile training in steering product development. This course leads to the most popular Agile product management certification with Scrum Alliance – the CSPO training

Founded in 2001, Scrum Alliance is the most established and influential professional membership and certification organisation in the Agile community.

Certified Scrum Product Owner is the right choice if you aspire to be a leader in product discovery, product management and innovation using a collaborative Agile approach. This Product Owner certification course equips you with tools and knowledge to take your approach for effective product management from tactical to more strategic product leadership.

About The CSPO Certification Course

Our Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification training covers the same fundamental Scrum principles as the renowned Certified Scrum Master (CSM) course but is specifically tailored for product feature management and validation. It is the intensive two day workshop on one of the most critical roles defined by the world’s most popular Agile framework: Scrum.

We use highly immersive adult learning techniques such as visual modelling, simulations, role-plays and ‘Training from the Back of the Room’ activities to enable self-directed learning and enhanced retention.

This certification classroom training is organised and run using Scrum as a management framework. This allows for feedback and flexibility as well as experiencing Scrum in action throughout the course.

The Product Owner role is critical to maximising Return on Investment from agile product development / projects and is one of the most challenging yet rewarding of the agile roles. As the voice of the customer to the delivery team, a Product Owner needs to be able to work effectively not only with end users and other stakeholders but with the scrum team on a daily basis.

Learning Objectives

The Scrum Product Owner certification training provides guidance and practical tools for fulfilling the function of Product Ownership using the Scrum framework and a complimentary set of the most widely used Agile techniques including:
  • Collaborative Envisioning
  • User Stories
  • Story Mapping
  • The Lean Startup Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
  • Techniques for soliciting customer/stakeholder input on priorities
  • Product Backlog management
  • Rolling Release management
  • Release Burndown with scope tracking
You will learn:
  • The importance of iteration, learning and risk management in product development
  • What Scrum is and how a Product Owner works in this environment
  • What a Product Owner does and what it takes to perform the role well
  • How to create a shared vision
  • How to create and maintain a healthy Product Backlog
  • How to manage a Release to a successful outcome using agile techniques

Course Content​

Scrum for Product Owners
  • Scrum Concepts
  • Scrum Artefacts and Events
  • Scrum Roles
The Product Owner Role
  • Product Owner Archetypes and Progression
  • Authorities, Anti-patterns, Relationships, Responsibilities and Scaling up Product Ownership
Product Vision and Strategy
  • Product Vision
  • Jobs To Be Done
  • Segmentation
  • Impact-based Scope Management
Product Discovery
  • Hypothesis Validation
  • Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
  • Discovery and Product Backlog Refinement
  • Goal Oriented Roadmapping
  • User Stories and Product Backlog Items
Prioritisation
  • Sprint Goal Formulation
  • Product Economics
  • Product Backlog Ordering
  • Progress Tracking

What is CSPO Certification?

This Certified Scrum Product Owner training course is all-inclusive of a globally recognised certification with the Scrum Alliance for participants who fulfil the expectations of the trainer during the course. Whilst some pre-reading is required, there is no exam to complete after the training course.

This course may qualify Project Management Professionals (PMPs) for 14 PDUs as approved by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Who Should Attend The Course?

This course is particularly suitable for those who want to get CSPO certified to shape the product/solution from a business perspective. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Product Owners,
  • Product Managers,
  • Business Owners, and
  • Business Analysts.

This course is also highly relevant to those involved in coaching a Product Owner to be effective in their role. This includes:

  • ScrumMasters,
  • Iteration Managers, and
  • Project Managers.

We expect that participants whose experience is predominately with business operations may have limited familiarity with project management and product design issues. Conversely, participants coming from a project management or technical background may have may have less familiarity with how to ascertain value and make business decisions. For these reasons, this course covers both the Product Management (determining the right product) and the Project Management (successful execution) components of the Product Owner’s role.

FAQ

Which certification is best for Product Owner?

Of the widely recognised Product Owner certifications currently available, only CSPO from Scrum Alliance and PSPO I from scrum.org are well regarded. This due to their high quality and alignment to the official definition of Scrum: The Scrum Guide.

 

CSPO and PSM I differ in several significant ways.

 

Practical application
CSPO certification emphasises the interactive demonstration of learning, including through practical application. PSPO I certification emphasises passing a knowledge-based multiple-choice test. If you are seeking practical techniques for enacting Product Ownership then CSPO is the best choice.

 

Interactive training requirement
CSPO certification requires interactive training, PSM I certification does not. You can attain a PSM I without doing any Scrum training and without meeting anyone who has practiced Scrum. CSPO certification indicates to employers that you have participated in Scrum training with a highly qualified Certified Scrum Trainer (CST).

 

Trainer teaching skill variability
An optional PSM I test preparation training can be taught by anyone whereas CSPO can only be taught by a highly skilled trainer who has been awarded a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) designation by Scrum Alliance. Many PSPO I preparation courses are taught by Professional Scrum Trainers (PSTs) vetted by scrum.org, however, these credentials differ in the level of training experience and adult learning skills required to achieve them. Becoming a CST who teaches CSPO courses is widely considered to be considerably more difficult than becoming a Professional Scrum Trainer who teaches PSPO I related courses.

 

Ongoing professional development
CSPO certification requires an active pursuit of further professional development to remain active, PSPO I does not. You can retain a PSM I for life without ever practising Scrum or doing any Scrum or Agile related training. To retain a CSPO beyond its initial term of 2 years you must log a minimum of 20 Scrum Education Units worth of professional development activity over that period. This demonstrates to employers and others a more significant commitment to ongoing learning than a PSPO I.

 

Scrum beyond software
CSPO certification addresses the use of Scrum in varied contexts including those outside of software development. PSPO I is focused on the use of Scrum in software development.

 

Where your money goes
A financial investment in CSPO goes to a not-for-profit organisation to reinvest in the Agile community. A financial investment in PSPO I goes to the shareholders of a for-profit company.

How do you become a certified product owner?

You become a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) by participating in a CSPO training course with a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST).

Is Certified Scrum Product Owner worth it?

Yes, Certified Scrum Product Owner training and certification is well and truly worth it according to graduates from Scrum WithStyle’s Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) courses. You can find many testimonials from such participants at https://www.scrumwithstyle.com/certified-scrum-product-owner/

Is there an exam for CSPO?

No, there is currently no exam for CSPO. The CSPO accreditation is based on fulfilling the CSPO learning objectives through full participation in the CSPO training. This includes not only recall of knowledge but demonstration of your practical application of techniques taught during the training. Awarding of a CSPO certification is decided by your Certified Scrum Trainer (CST).

How do I get CSPO certified?

You earn CSPO certification by participating in a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) course with a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). This involves a minimum of 16 contact hours for in-person training and 14 contact hours for interactive virtual training. There is currently no exam to pass to earn this certification.

Who can do CSPO certification?

Anyone can do CSPO certification as there are no prerequisites. Familiarity with a small amount of preparatory material is expected prior to the interactive training.

 

CSPO certification is particularly relevant for those shaping the product/solution from a business perspective. This includes Product Owners, Product Managers, Product executives, Business Owners, and Business Analysts.

 

CSPO is also highly relevant to those involved in coaching a Product Owner to be effective in their role. This includes ScrumMasters, Development Managers, Iteration Managers, and Project Managers.

Your Certified Scrum Trainer

Rowan Bunning CST

Rowan Bunning

Trainer, Coach & Org Design Consultant

Rowan Bunning is a pioneer of Scrum in Australia with a passion for entrepreneurial product innovation. Shortly after beginning as a Scrum Master in 2003, He brought in the company’s visionary managing director as Product Owner. This, in combination with an exceptional team, unleashed an incredible era of innovation on an enterprise collection management product.

 

Invited to join a software start-up as Product Manager, Rowan worked as Product Owner from 2003 until 2007. He was subsequently hired by the United Kingdom’s leading Scrum consultancy where the Product Owner insisted that he coach the online business in Agile ways of working post launch in 2008.

 

Working in both project and long lived product development environments without temporary projects has provided Rowan with extensive lived experience of the benefits of #noprojects environments. He has also demonstrated how the Product Owner role can scale up to working with 7 teams using LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum).

 

Rowan has been delivering Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) courses since April 2009 in Australia, New Zealand and Asia making him one of the most experienced CSPO trainers in Oceania and Asia. Many participants on Rowan’s courses are referred by word-of-mouth by our enthusiastic alumni.

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