EXIN Agile Scrum Foundation Course

The organizations behind ASF

Agile Scrum Foundation (ASF) is a certification program from EXIN about the Agile delivery approach, the common Agile systems (especially Scrum), and the common Agile practices.

You can think of this certification as one about Scrum, with additional information about fundamental ideas, practices, and alternative methods.

You can use eLearning courses, classroom courses, or just self-study, and then buy a voucher for its online exam from one of the accredited training organizations such as us.

Agile Scrum Foundation vs. PSM/CSM

PSM (Professional Scrum Master) and CSM (Certified Scrum Master) certifications are completely focused on the core Scrum framework and do not cover anything else. ASF (Agile Scrum Foundation) has a wider scope and aims at familiarizing the learners with common practices in Agile projects (e.g., Pair-Programming and Test-Driven Development), alternative methods (DSDM^® and XP), and pays more attention to the fundamental ideas in Agile.

The ASF exam is easier to pass than the PSM exam, so the candidates don’t need to worry about the exam and can focus on learning.

In contrast to the ASF and PSM certifications, CSM is only possible with classroom courses, which makes it difficult or impossible for people who are too busy to take classroom courses, or those who don’t want to spend a lot of money.

Agile Scrum Foundation vs. PMI-ACP^®

The scope of ASF and PMI-ACP is less or more similar. The biggest difference is that there are many more questions in the PMI-ACP exam, and while they are about the same topics, the way they are formed makes them a little harder to answer.

Lastly, the ASF exam is less expensive than PMI-ACP.

Is it the right program for me?

If you’re looking for a simple way of learning what Agile and Scrum are about, without aiming for an extensively difficult or costly exam, the ASF program is ideal for you.

If you’re already certified as PSM or CSM and want to widen your knowledge of Agile, the ASF program can be helpful, but we would recommend AgilePM because it has less overlap with what you’ve already learned.

How can I learn more about Agile Scrum Foundation before making my decision?

You can start taking our eLearning course and see if the topic is interesting to you. The first 30% of the course is free.

This Agile Scrum Foundation eLearning Course

This eLearning course is accredited by EXIN and is fully aligned with the latest definition of the ASF program. Your trainer in this course, Nader K. Rad, is the coauthor of the official manual for the ASF certification program.

The course is equal to a 3-day classroom course and consists of 41 lessons. The lessons are kept short and relatively independent, so that busy professionals can easily take and finish the course with as little time as 15 minutes per day. Regardless, it’s self-paced, and you can decide how quickly or slowly you want to take the course without putting too much pressure on yourself.

There are multiple quizzes and Integrated Flashcards throughout the course, as well as one sample exam at the end.

In short, the course provides everything you need to learn the topic and prepare for the exam. The first 30% of the course is free, and you can take it and see if it meets your needs before finalizing your decision.

These are the main sections in the course:

• Agility: about the Agility concept, the way it works, and how it’s different from predictive, plan-based methods.
• Scrum: a complete section about the Scrum framework.
• XP: a section about the most practical Agile system, and an excuse to review the most common Agile practices such as Test-Driven Development.
• DSDM: a quick review of the most comprehensive Agile method, and an excuse to discuss how contracts work in Agile projects.
• Kanban: an overview of the Kanban technique and the Lean concept.
• Exam Preparation: final advice and the sample exam.

Here’s the complete list of lessons:

• Introduction
  • 0. Introduction
• Agility
  • 1. The Predictive Approach
  • 2. The Adaptive Approach
  • 3. When to use Agile
  • 4. The Agile Manifesto
  • 5. Agile Principles
  • 6. Practical aspects of adaptive development
• Scrum
  • 7. A quick overview of Scrum
  • Scrum Roles
    • 8. Product Owner
    • 9. Scrum Master
    • 10. Development Team
    • 11. Additional roles
  • 12. Events overview
    • 13. Sprint
    • 14. Sprint Planning
    • 15. Daily Scrum
    • 16. Sprint Review
    • 17. Sprint Retrospective
    • 18. Product Backlog Refinement
    • 19. Releases
    • 20. Testing
    • 21. Planning Onion
  • 22. Product Backlog
    • 23. Product Backlog items
    • 24. Size of the Product Backlog items
    • 25. Jargon!
    • 26. Story Points
    • 27. Ideal Time
    • 28. Planning Poker
    • 29. Triangulation
    • 30. Information Radiators
  • 31. Sprint Backlog
  • 32. Increment
  • 33. Scaling Scrum
• XP
  • 34. Daily Routine, part 1
  • 35. Daily Routine, part 2
  • 36. Other activities
• DSDM^®
  • 37. Types of Contract
  • 38. MoSCoW Prioritization
• Kanban
  • 39. Kanban Technique
  • 40. Kanban Development Framework
• Exam Preparation
  • 41. Sample Exams

Welcome to the course!

In this lesson, we’re going to have a quick overview of the course.

The last question was: what are the type of technical activities you do in your project? Try to create a simple, generic list. We’ll talk about it in the next lesson.

About your trainer

Nader K. Rad is a project management author, speaker, and adviser. His career started in 1997, and he has been involved in many projects in different industries. He has designed a number of project management courses, prepared a number of e-learning courses, and written more than 40 books.

Nader has been an official reviewer or consultant for the 6th edition of PRINCE2^®, PRINCE2 Agile^®, P3.express, NUPP, and EXIN Agile Scrum Master.

More about Nader…