Summary and Schedule
Designed and developed by Adina Rahim, Research IT, University of Manchester.
| Setup Instructions | Download files required for the lesson | |
| Duration: 00h 00m | 1. Learning Objectives | |
| Duration: 00h 10m | 2. Outline and Agenda | |
| Duration: 00h 15m | 3. Getting a Scrum Project Started |
What is a Product Vision and how does it guide product
development? How do we create the Product Backlog as a User Story Map? How do we prioritise User Stories and plan the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? |
| Duration: 01h 15m | 4. Sprint Planning |
How to prepare for Sprint Planning meetings? How to conduct Sprint Planning meetings? How is the Sprint Backlog created? |
| Duration: 01h 45m | 5. Sprint Development Work |
How do Developers select, manage, and progress User Stories during a
Sprint? How can teams improve collaboration using agreed ways of working? |
| Duration: 01h 57m | 6. Sprint Review |
How do we conduct Sprint Review meetings? What does this meeting achieve? |
| Duration: 02h 12m | 7. Sprint Retrospective |
How do we conduct Sprint Retrospective meetings? What does this meeting achieve for the team and the Scrum process? How can previous retrospective actions and Sprint Velocity inform future sprints? |
| Duration: 02h 22m | 8. Backlog Refinement | How do we refine the backlog? |
| Duration: 02h 32m | 9. References | |
| Duration: 02h 42m | Finish |
The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.
The Agile Fundamentals course introduces beginners to the core principles, values, and practices of Agile in a fun, practical, and interactive way. Through hands-on exercises, participants learn how teams start a Scrum project with a product vision and work together as a Scrum team, taking on different Scrum roles throughout the course. They practise collaboration, planning, adaptation, and delivering value in short cycles. They will experience sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives firsthand, seeing Agile in action.
The course is designed to support both in-person and online formats:
- In-person participants use physical materials, and face-to-face collaboration to practise Agile techniques.
- Online participants use digital collaboration tools.
Note: This is an introductory course and requires no prior knowledge of Agile or Project Management. However, participants must complete some setup tasks and familiarise themselves with their roles before the workshop. See pre-requisites below.
Course Availability
We are not currently offering this course online to teams external to the University of Manchester due to technical limitations that we are working to resolve.
1. Prerequisites for Course Participants
Learn Scrum Roles
- Check your assigned role for the course, which will be shared with you before the workshop: Developer, Scrum Master, or Product Owner.
- Review the Learner Profiles to understand your role, your responsibilities, and what is expected of you during the course.
1. Set Up Minecraft Education
This course requires Minecraft Education to be installed and ready to use before the session.
Download Minecraft Education
- Visit the official Minecraft Education website: Download Minecraft Education here
- Select the version that matches your device (Windows, Mac, iPad, or Chromebook).
- Install the application by following the on-screen instructions.
For Linux Users
Minecraft Education is not currently supported on Linux operating systems.
- Use a Windows or macOS device to install and run Minecraft Education.
- If you don’t have Windows or macOS, access the online Classic Minecraft to work on tasks during the sprint development.
** Important: Collaboration mode is not available in the online Classic Minecraft so, you won’t be able to collaborate with your teammates during the sprint development work but you can work on your tasks individually.
Sign In and Prepare Minecraft Education
- Open the app and sign in using your organisation’s email account (gmail, yahoo, or other accounts won’t work).
- Check that the app runs properly before the course.
- Familiarise yourself with Minecraft by watching this short YouTube tutorial.
- Learn movement and interactions using this controls guide or this YouTube tutorial
2. Create an account on Miro
Create your account on Miro if you don’t have one, using the email address that you signed up to the course with, so that you can be assigned tasks on the boards, and your participation in the course can be tracked. If you don’t create an account then you will still be able to access the board but anything you do on the board will be difficult to keep track of.
The facilitator of your group during the training will then add you to the correct team for the duration of the training.
Once your access request has been sent and accepted, you will be able to log in to the board for your training day (which should be labelled with your group and the date of the training) and read up on the instructions for use.
2. Prerequisites for Course Facilitators
- See Facilitator responsibilities in learner’s profile here.
- You need to switch the course from “Learner View” to “Instructor View”, you can find the option on the top right corner. In “Instructor View”, you will find additional guidance notes for facilitators in each chapter, including step-by-step guidance and extra details to support you.
If you are a facilitator or organiser of this course and require information on how to run it and the necessary requirements for running in-person and online, please refer to the Organiser’s Guide here.