PSPO II study plan
PSPO II · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
Map every Scrum accountability, event, artifact, and commitment to its stated purpose and expected behavior, from memory, without notes
Distinguish the accountabilities of Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers in situations where one role is overstepping
Explain how each Scrum event creates transparency and enables inspection and adaptation, citing at least two failure modes per event
Differentiate the Definition of Done from acceptance criteria using three self-written product examples
Your checkpoint
A one-page hand-drawn Scrum framework map (accountabilities, events, artifacts, commitments, and the flow between them) reproduced from memory with no reference material, scored against the Scrum Guide by your own checklist
Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework & Product Ownership and Product Management
Analyze five written scenarios and identify which Scrum rule or commitment is being violated, then state the corrective action
Describe how the Product Owner accountability changes across a multi-team product and where single-backlog constraints matter
Contrast product ownership with product management in terms of decision rights, horizon, and accountability for value
Draft a product vision statement and a product goal for a real or invented product, and critique both against testable criteria
Your checkpoint
A written scenario log of five real-world Scrum anti-patterns, each with the violated rule, the empirical consequence, and a corrective action of 100 words or fewer
Product Ownership and Product Management & Managing Products with Agility (Product Backlog management and value)
Compose a product strategy outline connecting vision, target customers, value proposition, and measurable outcomes
Deconstruct a product into at least four value attributes and define one leading indicator for each
Evaluate three ordering approaches (value, risk, cost of delay, dependency) on the same set of backlog items and justify the chosen sequence
Distinguish outcome-based Product Goals from output-based release targets in four rewritten examples
Your checkpoint
A two-page product strategy brief for a single product containing vision, target segment, value proposition, three outcome-oriented Product Goals, and an explicit statement of what is out of scope
Managing Products with Agility (Product Backlog management and value)
Construct a Product Backlog with at least 15 items ordered by value and risk, and write the ordering rationale
Apply at least three refinement techniques (splitting, example mapping, acceptance criteria writing) to oversized items
Design a Definition of Done that is meaningful for a real product and explain how it enables releasing at any Sprint end
Explain how Product Backlog refinement is an ongoing activity rather than an event, and how to keep it inside a sustainable time budget
Your checkpoint
A refined Product Backlog artifact of 15 or more items, each with a value hypothesis, acceptance criteria, and a recorded ordering rationale, plus a separate Definition of Done
Stakeholders, Customers and Users
Identify at least six distinct stakeholder or customer groups for a product and rank them by influence and impact
Design a stakeholder engagement approach that states cadence, channel, and purpose of interaction for each group
Practice at least three elicitation techniques (interviews, observation, feedback loops) and record what each surfaced that the others missed
Explain how to reconcile conflicting customer requests without abandoning the Product Goal
Your checkpoint
A stakeholder map plus engagement plan covering six or more groups, each with named cadence, channel, purpose, and one open question you still need answered
Evidence-Based Management and empirical value measurement
Define Key Value Areas, Key Value Measures, and the metrics that populate them, and separate current-value from unrealized-value measures
Select a balanced metric set for a product and justify why each metric is not a vanity measure
Interpret a set of sample metric movements and formulate at least three evidence-based hypotheses for the observed change
Compute and interpret a simple forecast range from historical throughput data, and explain its confidence limits
Your checkpoint
An Evidence-Based Management scorecard for one product with at least four Key Value Measures, current baseline values, targets, and a written interpretation of what would change your mind
Product Ownership and Product Management & Managing Products with Agility (Product Backlog management and value) & Stakeholders, Customers and Users & Evidence-Based Management and empirical value measurement
Synthesize the four product-facing domains by writing end-to-end responses to scenario prompts that require trade-off judgment
Diagnose your two weakest areas from prior weeks' deliverables and re-do targeted practice on each
Explain to a simulated stakeholder why a metric moved, connecting evidence to a product decision
Practice articulating decisions in terms of empiricism, value, and accountability rather than process compliance
Your checkpoint
Six written scenario responses of 250 to 400 words each, each explicitly naming the trade-off made, the evidence used, and the accountability involved
Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework & Product Ownership and Product Management & Managing Products with Agility (Product Backlog management and value) & Stakeholders, Customers and Users & Evidence-Based Management and empirical value measurement
Complete a full-length timed practice assessment and record the reasoning behind every uncertain answer
Categorize every missed item by domain and by root cause (knowledge gap, misread, judgment error)
Re-study only the identified root causes and re-test those areas
Consolidate one-page summary notes per domain to carry into final review
Your checkpoint
A timed full-length practice run with a written error log that classifies every missed item by domain and root cause, plus five one-page domain summaries
Milestones
Week 2: Reproduce the Scrum framework map from memory and explain three anti-patterns without notes
Week 4: Complete a delivered Product Backlog with a Definition of Done and pass a self-scored 20-question check on Product Backlog management at 85% or better
Week 6: Produce a working Evidence-Based Management scorecard and correctly interpret a throughput-based forecast range
Week 7: Score 80% or better across six integrated scenario responses when self-assessed against domain rubrics
Week 8: Score 90% or better on a timed full-length practice run, with no single domain below 80%