EXIN Agile Scrum Foundation study plan
EXIN Agile Scrum Foundation · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Agile and Scrum fundamentals & Scrum roles, events and artifacts
Distinguish the four values and twelve principles of the Agile Manifesto and explain how each principle shows up in day-to-day Scrum practice
Define empiricism, transparency, inspection and adaptation, and explain why each Scrum artifact exists to serve them
Map the three Scrum accountabilities (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers) to their decision rights and boundaries
Sequence the five Scrum events and state the timebox, purpose and expected output of each
Your checkpoint
A one-page concept map linking each Agile principle to at least one Scrum artifact or event, plus a table of the five events with timeboxes and outputs, self-scored against a 20-question practice set with 80% or better
Scrum roles, events and artifacts & Agile and Scrum fundamentals
Describe the Product Goal, Sprint Goal and Definition of Done and explain how each creates transparency
Explain how the Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog and Increment differ in ownership, content and commitment
Trace how a Product Backlog item flows from refinement through Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, review and retrospective
Identify the most common misconceptions about the Daily Scrum and the Sprint Review and correct them in your own words
Your checkpoint
A written walkthrough of one realistic product backlog item through a full Sprint, naming the artifact, event and accountability involved at each step, plus a list of five corrected misconceptions
Scrum roles, events and artifacts & Agile planning and estimation practices
Explain how relative estimation, story points and planning poker support forecasting without false precision
Apply a simple velocity or throughput measure to forecast how many backlog items fit in a Sprint
Decompose a coarse epic into sprint-sized backlog items that each satisfy the Definition of Done
Draft a Sprint Goal that expresses value rather than a list of tasks
Your checkpoint
An estimation worksheet for a fictional product: one epic split into at least eight backlog items, sized with story points, with a two-Sprint forecast and a one-sentence Sprint Goal for each Sprint
Agile planning and estimation practices & Scrum roles, events and artifacts
Facilitate a mock Sprint Planning session and produce a Sprint Goal, selected backlog items and a plan for the first days
Explain how capacity, availability and dependencies feed into Sprint Planning without turning it into a task-assignment meeting
Distinguish release planning, product roadmap and Sprint planning horizons and what level of detail belongs in each
Describe how the Definition of Done and acceptance criteria differ and why both matter for forecasting
Your checkpoint
A documented mock Sprint Planning output (agenda, timebox, Sprint Goal, selected items, identified risks) reviewed against a checklist of at least ten planning quality criteria
Scrum in context: stakeholders, teams and improvement & Scrum roles, events and artifacts
Explain how the Scrum Master serves the team, the Product Owner and the organization differently
Describe how a Product Owner engages stakeholders and manages expectations across a Sprint
Identify the symptoms of a team that is not self-managing and propose concrete interventions
Explain how the Sprint Review and Retrospective create feedback loops with stakeholders and within the team
Your checkpoint
A stakeholder engagement plan for a fictional product naming at least four stakeholder groups, their interests, the cadence of interaction and the Scrum Master interventions you would use for two team anti-patterns
Scrum in context: stakeholders, teams and improvement & Agile planning and estimation practices
Select retrospective formats appropriate to different team situations and explain what each surfaces
Translate retrospective observations into one improvement experiment with an owner and a review date
Explain how metrics such as cycle time, throughput and escaped defects support inspection without becoming targets
Describe how Scrum scales when multiple teams share one product and what coordination problems arise
Your checkpoint
A retrospective facilitation guide with two formats, a sample improvement experiment with a measurable success signal, and a short analysis of a three-team scaling scenario naming at least four coordination risks
Agile and Scrum fundamentals & Scrum roles, events and artifacts & Agile planning and estimation practices & Scrum in context: stakeholders, teams and improvement
Answer scenario-based questions across all four domains under time pressure
Diagnose why an answer is wrong, not just which answer is right, for every missed question
Revisit weak areas identified in earlier weeks and close them with targeted reading
Practice explaining key terms precisely enough to reject near-miss answer options
Your checkpoint
A full-length timed practice exam with a written error log classifying every mistake by domain and root cause (knowledge gap, misread question, terminology confusion), plus a remediation list
Agile and Scrum fundamentals & Scrum roles, events and artifacts & Agile planning and estimation practices & Scrum in context: stakeholders, teams and improvement
Consolidate the full syllabus into a single revision sheet of definitions, timeboxes and role boundaries
Re-test only the weak areas from the error log and confirm improvement
Rehearse the distinctions most often tested, such as artifact versus commitment and event purpose versus output
Plan exam-day logistics and a question-reading strategy for scenario items
Your checkpoint
A personal two-page revision sheet plus a second timed practice exam scored at or above your target, with the error log showing fewer than three unresolved items
Milestones
Week 2: Can name all three accountabilities, three artifacts, five events and three commitments, and state each event's timebox, without notes
Week 4: Can run a mock Sprint Planning end to end and justify the Sprint Goal and selected items against capacity and Definition of Done
Week 6: Can answer stakeholder, team-improvement and scaling scenario questions with reasoning that cites a specific Scrum rule
Week 8: Second timed practice exam at or above target score, with the error log showing fewer than three unresolved items