8.4: Your Action Plan - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems

<v ->Now let's talk about your own action plan.</v> I hope that you found this course highly practical. Anyone who successfully completes this course should be ready to apply for the entry level Scrum Master or Product Owner role. The final section of this video will help you start preparing for a Scrum Master or Product Owner interview. And we will share multiple sources for feeling confident as you apply for our Agile roles. Scrum Master is one of the most in-demand positions at this time and has been such for the last 10 years, frankly, as Agile development becomes the mainstream development framework replacing traditional project management. The demand for Agile professionals of any level is continuously growing. This slide that follows will address the interview process for the entry level Scrum Master, as an example of preparing and succeeding in your interview process. Step one is to research the company and analyze whether you are a good fit. There are two parts to this research. One is research the company: its mission, vision, goals, culture, employee experience in general or in a similar role. Then research its state of Agility. Look on Medium, LinkedIn. Just Google. Look at the Agile frameworks that they may use. Their expectations, any previous failures, any key studies they have published. Look at your potential peers on LinkedIn. The second is analyze the fit and any gaps that you may have. For that memorize, literally memorize, the job description. Understand really well what they expect of you. Insure full accuracy of your resume. Recreate your own elevator pitch and be very explicit about any gaps based on your experience. Then rehearse this elevator pitch in front of the mirror. And what is even better with a friend to get immediate feedback. And then anticipate some of the questions they may ask and rehearse answering those. Some of those traditional questions may include: What do you know about our company? Why are you interested in working here? What is your Scrum Master experience? Why do you think you are a fit for this position? Are you aware of our company's values? Do they resonate with you? Why are you making this career move? What are your long term career objectives? What is your work experience? Why did you choose Agile as a professional? What are your professional strength and weaknesses? What makes you happy? Or what makes you frustrated and unhappy? Do you prefer to work individually or as part of the team? Why? What questions do you have for the interviewer? So once you did your research and completed step one move over to step two. Refresh your basic Agile knowledge For that, read the Scrum guide, pay attention to the definition of Scrums, Scrum values, definition of Scrum roles. If you're applying for Product Owner, you need to be very closely familiar with the details of how this role is defined in the Scrum guide. If you are the Scrum Master, do the same. Look at the Scrum events, sprints, sprint planning, daily Scrum sprint review, sprint retrospective. Review the Scrum artifacts, product backlog, sprint backlog. What's an increment? Look at artifact transparency, which is definition of read and definition of done. And then research beyond Scrum guide. For that, review Agile manifesto, values and principles. Look at the impact of Scrum. Read about other Agile frameworks. Review this course, which will help you to interview really well for any Agile position. So questions that interviewers may ask you related to this knowledge are as following: What are Agile values and principles? What is Scrum? What are Scrum values? What other Agile frameworks are you aware of? Why Scrum? What value does it bring? How different is it from other Agile frameworks? What is Scrum roles? Who owns the product backlog? What is a cross functional team? What is your experience working with a distributed team? What is your experience with the scaled Agile framework? What are the Scrum events? Who can cancel a sprint and why? I personally like this question. And the answer, if you recall, is the Product Owner only. Other questions could be related to sprint planning, techniques, sprint review, purpose of sprint retrospective, different formats. For Scrum, you can also get questions: What has Scrum artifacts? Which metrics do you track? What is the definition of ready and definition of done? What are the major challenges in implementing Scrum? How do you Scrum versus KanBan? And any other question specific to Agile frameworks? Now, step three is to get prepared to describe your own experience. For that, prepare your story or multiple stories. Enhance your elevator pitch. Rehearse it again, multiple times. Get feedback from your family friends. Tell a story, do not list bullet points. Be concise. Two minutes is maximum. Make a compelling statement and be specific at the same time. If you're saying I deliver 10 great products, then probably you do not have a chance in an Agile environment. You have to describe what the products do for the customer. And also what is the metrics associated with the success of those products? Also select relevant information based on the job description. Don't describe any of your experience as it may not always be relevant. And finally, be very clear about what you need to convey. Think in advance. What are the two or three things that you want the interviewer to take away? Imagine interviewer is speaking with 10, 15, 20 people. How would they identify you? Would they say, oh, this is this person who delivered a major banking application for thousands of customers within three months because they worked backwards from customer needs. That's the type of memory you want to trigger. Think about what was your role in the event approach artifact that you describe? Don't describe your team role. Your team is not getting hired. Your work is part of the team but now it's all about yourself your specific approach, your specific artifact, your input, and your influence on potential outcomes. And then be aware of your non-verbal communication. If you use gestures, make sure that you use them consistently. If you are not comfortable using a lot of gestures, do not do so, but be aware your nonverbal communication has to be authentic. Prepare to listen actively, to agree, to show that you are in power. This shows that you have no idea about what you are doing. So be very cognizant of any gestures you may be willing to use. So those simple steps will help prepare you for your next step as an Agile professional. If you are not looking to take an Agile project or product management path, you will still benefit from understanding and implementing Agile practices that you learned in this course. For example, if you're an executive, you are now well positioned for implementing Agile across your organization. Just don't forget to follow the eight steps. If you're an engineer, you have all you need to implement Agility on your team. So no matter what your role is, Agile knowledge gives you the power to improve in your current job and makes you ready for your future job.