After becoming a Certified Scrum Master, the most common challenge that we hear from people is that using Scrum in the real world means making a lot of comprises when it comes to the values and roles in the Scrum framework. There are two big reasons for that.

Number one is that an ideal Scrum team isn’t supposed to have any dependancies. But in real-world teams, that’s extremely uncommon. Often, the only time you won’t have dependencies is if you’re working in a small startup and your “team” is, well, the whole company.

In most mid-to-large organizations, the Scrum team needs to manage many dependencies. And it’s the Scrum Master who is responsible for helping the team see these dependencies for what they are: obstacles that need to be resolved. That means a dependency must be removed entirely so that the team can do the work itself, or it needs to be managed with as little time and effort as possbile so it seems as if the team itself is doing the work.

These dependencies can come from anywhere within an organization—even other Scrum teams. There can be technical dependencies, business dependencies, subject matter dependancies, expertise dependencies, and so on.

The second most common problem that really affects team’s ability to do Scrum properly is interruptions. These come from various types of stakeholders: managers, users, even customers. They can be technical or quality problems. They can be competitive pressures. They can be political too. And if they’re urgent interruptions, it’s not easy to figure out they go on a product backlog. Ideally, a Scrum Master is supposed to block interruptions and prevent them from affecting the team. But in reality, that’s extremely difficult. You can get fired if you say “no” to something.

That’s why we encourage all our CSM participants to arm themselves with tools to help fight these two big challenges: a MicroLearning Event called “Kanban for Scrum Masters.”

This 3-hour class teaches you the skills, techniques and concepts that help a Scrum Master to more effectively manage and resolve dependencies and prioritize interruptions. It helps reduce stress levels within the team. It improves the business value and performance of the team because it enables you to do the right things at the right time. The team ends up a lot happier about their work environment because they have a way to understand and manage these challenges.

Anyone can set up a Kanban board. But this MicroLearning Event is about understanding critical concepts like commitment, policies and classes of service. It’s a perfect addition to the CSM class. And it is absolutely unique BERTEIG. There is no other training provider offering this. You won’t be able to find it anywhere else.

Applying the principles of Kanban to your Scrum team could save your organization, hundreds of thousands of dollars every single year. It’s that big an impact for a class that only costs $149.

CSM teaches you how to be an effective Scrum Master. With a little Kanban, you can make Scrum effective in the real world.