Quick Solutions Announces Strategic Alliance with Ken Schwaber of Scrum.org

Quick Solutions, Inc. (QSI) has formed a strategic alliance with Ken Schwaber of Scrum.org to collaborate on Agile-Scrum enterprise adoptions across the country.  This partnership makes QSI the only partner of Scrum.org in North America, and only one of four partners in the world. QSI will work with Ken and Scrum.org’s “Path to Agility Engagement” model.  Quick Solutions will work with organizations to methodically drive adoption based on demonstrable return on investment. The organization will use Scrum to become agile. A sequential series of plays and change mechanisms deliver this agility incrementally, as its value is proven. QSI will bring together a Scrum Team comprised of the clients’ people, augment it with experts, and build the product.  QSI will employ all of the techniques to build high value, low cost of ownership, and products that can create market advantage. This alliance also brings Ken to Quick Solutions as an executive engagement manager that will oversee all activities and apply his experience to optimize results. 

Q: How has Scrum adoption changed over the past 10 years?

A: The first three years consisted of the experiments and the organizations that already had experience with extreme programming or other iterative incremental techniques. Training was usually enough to get these people and projects going. Around 2004, more and more mainstream organizations began adopting Scrum, both in select projects and sometimes throughout the enterprise. Most enterprise adoptions were in product companies with competitive demands. Expanded training and coaching capabilities were enough to support them. Starting in 2008, we started seeing mainstream organizations bring in Scrum as the alternative to older waterfall methodologies. They first experimented and measured, and then started serious enterprise adoption. We have developed enterprise adoption models for these organizations, as well as deeper training and coaching facilities.

Q: How does the Scrum / Agile methodology improve the overall operations of a business?  How does it integrate IT with Business?

A: Scrum / Agile offer the organization and business the ability to minimize risk to one month maximum, provide predictability, increase productivity and quality, and remove waste. Early and frequent delivery of capabilities takes advantage of opportunities and to addresses the risks, which are the significant benefits to the business. They are achieved by the customers working closely with the development teams to rapidly spot opportunities and frequently deliver value.

Q: What kind of businesses will benefit from Scrum / Agile?

A: Any business that is engaged in complex operations and that uses or builds complex products, particularly those that are dissatisfied with traditional and waterfall methodological approaches.

Q: What kind of competitive advantage do Scrum-operating companies have over their competitors who don’t function under Scrum / Agile?

A: The ability to provide services and products more rapidly, with better quality, and value than their competitors, is one distinct competitive advantage. Also, Scrum gives the ability to satisfy customers so much that they are reluctant to use competitors. Finally, Scrum significantly reduces total cost of operations for maintaining, sustaining and enhancing existing products and systems.

Q: What does the strategic partnership with Quick Solutions mean to Scrum.org?

A: Scrum.org has training, assessment, and certification products that are uniform and high quality. It also offers engagement products to allow organizations to use Scrum to gain Agility. QSI offers all of these in conjunction with Scrum.org. I will work closely with QSI and its partners to manage critical engagements.

Q: How will businesses find value in the partnership between Quick Solutions and Scrum.org?

A: Both have been helping companies gain competitive advantage with agility for years. We know what works. We also know what doesn’t work and can help businesses avoid time-consuming, costly mistakes. The businesses do the work, and we provide coaching and services they can employ.

The Professional Scrum Master (PSM) course is the first significant update of the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) course that Ken Schwaber introduced and shared in 2002. As in the original course, the framework, mechanics, and roles of Scrum are covered. The course then goes further by teaching students how to use Scrum to optimize value and productivity, and reduce the total cost of ownership of systems and products. Students will learn through instruction and team-based exercises, and will be challenged to think on their feet to better understand what to do when they return to their workplaces. More information about the PSM course can be found at www.quicksolutions.com/PSMTraining.aspx.

Q: Who would benefit from taking the Professional Scrum Master course? What prerequisites are important for the course?

A: Anyone who will be a ScrumMaster or engineering manager in an organization employing Scrum to build complex products, particularly software. They should have a knowledge or product development practices and be familiar with management techniques.

The Professional Scrum Developer (PSD) program trains, assesses, and certifies Scrum developers working on a specific technology platform. The program includes a five-day course, an online assessment, and an industry-recognized certification. Each Professional Scrum Developer program targets a specific technology stack. At present, Scrum.org offers programs for Microsoft .NET and for Java. 

Q: Who would benefit from taking the Professional Scrum Developer course? What prerequisites are important for the course?

A: Agility requires Scrum teams to rapidly build deployable increments of business or product functionality. This requires teams of developers to work collaboratively in self-organizing, cross-functional teams using modern engineering practices (such as test driven development and refactoring) on specific stacks of technology (.NET, Java, Java RTC, etc.). Teams that are not capable of doing this or that want to improve their productivity need this course. They should know how to build software on that particular technology stack.

The Professional Scrum Team Member course is a rigorous two-day course offered to solidify the core principles of Scrum for individuals or teams. Common missteps in the adoption of Scrum have been seen over and over again across industries, companies, and teams. Rather than coaching teams back from a poorly functioning Scrum implementation, PSTM exposes these common missteps, increases the awareness of the associated symptoms, and provides prescriptive guidance to avoid going off track.

This practical classroom experience equips attendees to get started with Scrum, to sustain successful habits, and to avoid common Scrum pitfalls. Students learn the basics of Scrum and how to implement Scrum effectively and keep their team practicing healthy behaviors.

Teams implementing Scrum without a fundamental understanding of the framework are far less likely to succeed than those who experience Scrum together in a learning environment. This class deliberately addresses common challenges teams will face in their Scrum adoption by equipping students to mitigate threats that can derail Scrum in some organizations.

Q: Who would benefit from taking the Scrum Team member course? What prerequisites are important for the course?

A: Anyone who wants to be drilled in how to use Scrum to iteratively, incrementally build products. No prerequisites except desire to learn.

The Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) program teaches people how to maximize the return on investment (ROI) and optimize the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of products and systems. Agile Product Ownership today requires more than knowledge of how to write a User Story or manage a Product Backlog. Professional Product Owners need to have a concrete understanding of everything that drives value from their products. The PSPO course helps students develop and solidify this understanding - from early stakeholder management to release planning and delivery.

Q: Who would benefit from taking the Product Owner course? What prerequisites are important for the course?

A: Managers of business operations that gain competitive advantage through systems, Product managers at product companies, program managers in large organizations and development managers in IT organizations. They should already be able to vision value and formulate strategies and tactics for creating that value. Agility just makes them better at doing so, and we show them how.

About Ken Schwaber

Ken Schwaber co-developed the Scrum process with Jeff Sutherland in the early 1990s to help organizations struggling with complex development projects. One of the signatories to the Agile Manifesto in 2001, he subsequently founded the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance. He recently left the Scrum Alliance to found Scrum.org.

Ken is a 30-year veteran of the software development industry (from bottle washer to boss), he has written three books about Scrum: Agile Software Development with Scrum, Agile Project Management with Scrum, and The Enterprise and Scrum. He lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.

About Quick Solutions, Inc.

Quick Solutions, Inc. is one of the largest privately held Information Technology and Solutions providers in Ohio. Organizations trust Quick Solutions to provide cost effective solutions to all projects, exceeding their needs and expectations. QSI drives success in your business by accelerating time to market, decreasing costs and reducing risk in order to maximize revenue. QSI delivers thought leadership and expertise in Information Technology competencies strategic to today’s businesses, including Project Management, Application Development, Business Analysis / Quality Assurance, IT Strategy, Business Intelligence, Creative Services, Infrastructure, and more.  

Quick Solutions utilizes Agile to build partnerships with clients that embrace transparency.  Agile allows QSI to deliver business value and eliminate waste. Adopting Agile practices can help to deliver the right solution, accelerate time to market , reduce total cost of ownership / improve quality, drive innovation and accountability, reduce cost of change , improve schedule and budget forecast accuracy, create / optimize transparency, recruit and retain employees, and adopt world class processes / technologies.

Quick Solutions has an extensive history of utilizing Agile to meet and exceed the expectations of clients.  Since 2002, QSI has delivered over 150 Agile projects utilizing our SureSolve™ methodology. QSI operates two state-of-the-art Agile delivery centers located in Westerville, OH.  The QSI Practice Management team possesses over 54 years of Agile experience. QSI consultants and executive management holds leadership positions in several Central Ohio User Groups specializing in Agile Professional Development.  QSI partners with national Agile Thought Leaders to validate and improve our delivery framework and processes. For more information, visit http://www.quicksolutions.com.