Career studio / Scrum
Build evidence for the Scrum Master role
A product team starts more work than it finishes, carries unfinished testing between Sprints and uses the Daily Scrum as a manager status meeting. Facilitate a small, measurable improvement.
Your outcome: Team improvement case study with working agreement, Definition of Done and retrospective experiment.
Start with the right expectations
Who this is for
Experience participating in a team; understand basic Agile terms. This is a practice route, not a Scrum certification.
This path develops a demonstrable work sample for the named role. It does not replace employer-specific experience, professional qualifications or supervised practice.
Plan your study time
Use a flexible six-week project schedule: one week for each of the first four stages and two weeks for the portfolio and review. Allow roughly 3–5 hours per week for the case work, in addition to course study. This is a planning suggestion, not a measured course duration or a promise of job readiness.
Read the course access notes before starting. Free viewing or reading does not automatically include certificates, graded assessments, software licences or paid cloud resources. Core case work can be documented with a free editor and spreadsheet; optional implementation tools may have additional requirements.
Your course sequence
Start in the order below. Use the course outline to select the sections relevant to the stage tasks, and complete foundation exercises before moving on. Full provider courses can be substantially longer than this project schedule. These are course resources, not a claimed count of individual lessons.
Resource 01 / Google
Free Project Management Course by Google
Purpose: Build the foundations. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; a Google certificate is not included
Resource 02 / Scrum.org
Definition of Done in Scrum: Free Course
Purpose: Develop the role-specific method. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Explain how a Definition of Done makes the quality and completeness of an Increment transparent, so that a team can discuss finished work using shared expectations.
- Distinguish the product-wide Definition of Done from acceptance criteria for an individual Product Backlog item, and recognise why satisfying one does not automatically satisfy the other.
- Examine the difference between technical debt and work that does not meet the Definition of Done, rather than treating every unfinished quality activity as the same problem.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; certificate not included
Resource 03 / Management Courses
Managing Workplace Teams: Free Course
Purpose: Strengthen practical application. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Compare team-development models and use them to frame questions about team needs.
- Organise team routines for collaboration, reviews, problem solving and learning.
- Adapt leadership and support when a team faces pressure, change or conflict.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; certificate not included
Learn, make, check
Keep a decision log as you work. For each stage, capture the assumption, your work product, a check and the change you made after that check. The acceptance criterion is the stopping condition for the stage.
Stage 1 / suggested project week 1
Observe the system
Understand: Separate an impediment from an individual blame story.
Make: Map the team’s work states and record three observations without assigning motives.
Check before moving on: Describe an observable behavior and impact for each observation.
Study companion: Free Project Management Course by Google. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 2 / suggested project week 2
Clarify Done
Understand: Acceptance criteria belong to a particular item; Done is a shared quality standard.
Make: Draft a Definition of Done covering review, testing and usable documentation.
Check before moving on: Show one item that meets acceptance criteria but is not Done.
Study companion: Definition of Done in Scrum: Free Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 3 / suggested project week 3
Facilitate an experiment
Understand: A retrospective should produce a testable change.
Make: Design a 30-minute retrospective and agree one WIP or testing experiment for the next Sprint.
Check before moving on: The experiment has an owner, measure and review date.
Study companion: Managing Workplace Teams: Free Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 4 / suggested project week 4
Review the evidence
Understand: Improvement is not proven by a busier team.
Make: Compare completed work, work-item age and unfinished testing before and after the experiment.
Check before moving on: Discuss confounders and avoid equating velocity with individual productivity.
Study companion: Managing Workplace Teams: Free Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 5 / suggested project weeks 5–6
Present your portfolio
Assemble the four work products into Team improvement case study with working agreement, Definition of Done and retrospective experiment. Write a README explaining the problem, your assumptions, the decisions you made, tests actually performed and what remains incomplete.
Give a five-minute walkthrough: one minute for the problem, two for the work and evidence, one for trade-offs and one for the next improvement. If you have not implemented a proposed system, label it a design or prototype rather than a deployed solution.
Acceptance: a reviewer can locate each work product, reproduce the key reasoning and identify the limits without a private explanation from you.
The portfolio brief
A product team starts more work than it finishes, carries unfinished testing between Sprints and uses the Daily Scrum as a manager status meeting. Facilitate a small, measurable improvement.
Deliver: Team improvement case study with working agreement, Definition of Done and retrospective experiment.
| sprint | started | implemented | tested and done |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 8 | 5 |
| 2 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
| 3 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
Use these small inputs to make the reasoning visible. They are not a representative dataset, a real client engagement or evidence of production performance. Where the brief requires additional sample records, create them yourself, label them synthetic and explain why you added them.
The ZIP includes the case CSV, four stage worksheets, course sequence, decision log, test log, portfolio README template, review rubric and reference reasoning. It is a starter kit for your work, not a completed application, professional report or proprietary project file.
Check your reasoning
The team completed 8 items but 3 lack testing required by its Definition of Done. How many are Done?
Write your answer and assumptions before opening the reference.
Read the reference reasoning
Only 5 meet the stated Definition of Done. The 3 unfinished items should remain transparent rather than being counted as usable completed work.
Portfolio review rubric
| Criterion | Points | Evidence required |
|---|---|---|
| Problem and scope | 4 | A clear user, need, boundary and assumptions |
| Role-specific work | 8 | 2 points for each of the four stage acceptance checks |
| Reasoning and validation | 4 | Independent checks, actual results and uncertainty |
| Communication and reproducibility | 4 | A usable README, source links and reviewable work products |
Aim for at least 16/20 as a self-review target, with no missing stage acceptance check. This is a WikiFree practice rubric, not an industry credential or a hiring assessment.
Interview practice
Describe a facilitation choice that helped the team make its own decision.
Answer using the case: context, your action, evidence and limitation. Describe this honestly as a self-directed project. Do not present fictional organizations, invented interviews or practice results as paid work experience.
Your progress
Use this checklist as a personal study aid. Progress is stored in this browser when local storage is available; it is not an account record or a certificate.
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Questions before you start
Will this path qualify me for a job?
It helps you study relevant foundations and produce a work sample. Employers may require additional skills, qualifications and experience. Review actual role requirements before applying; no job or certification is guaranteed.
Are all tools and certificates free?
The linked learning routes were selected for free viewing or reading. Follow the separate access and certificate notes on each course. Paid tools and cloud deployment are optional; document a local design when implementation resources are unavailable.
Can I follow this on a phone?
You can read the path and many learning resources on a phone. Coding, detailed spreadsheet work, design tools and mobile-app development are easier or require a suitable computer. The page is designed to reflow; that is not a claim that every physical device has been tested.
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