Agile Essentials

Agile Essentials offers a fast, flexible, and focused path for individuals and teams to build foundational agility boosting market responsiveness, alignment, and value delivery.

Key benefits

·       Earn a professional micro-credential from the globally recognised Scrum Alliance

·       Build high-demand Agile skills and knowledge for any role, level, or function

·       Improve customer value and outcomes with practical Agile ways of working

·       Equip teams to deliver in rapidly changing environments

·       Adapt, innovate, and improve engagement and alignment across the organisation

What you’ll learn (learning outcomes)

By the end of Agile Essentials, you'll be able to:

• Define and apply the Agile mindset and values
• Understand Agile frameworks and team roles 
• Identify when and how to leverage Agile in non-software environments
• Support Agile adoption and drive adaptability across the organisation

What is Agile?

Agile is a mindset and a flexible, iterative approach to project management and product development designed to help teams adapt quickly to change, improve collaboration, and deliver value early. It emphasises a human-centred, collaborative culture based on the Agile Manifesto, focusing on responding to change over following a rigid plan.

Key characteristics of Agile include: - Iterative and incremental: Deliver value early and often - Adaptive: Respond to change rather than follow a static plan - Collaborative: Cross-functional teams working together to reduce silos - Customer-centric: Focus on value and outcomes, not just output.

About the Agile Essentials micro-credential

Agile Essentials is a targeted learning experience that builds core knowledge of what agility is, when it supports organisational strategy and goals, and how to apply Agile practices to deliver better outcomes in software and beyond.

Who this micro-credential is for?

Agile Essentials is ideal for complete beginners and seasoned practitioners who want a modern, practical view of Agile principles and applications, including: 

• Anyone who wants to build Agile work skills
• Team members
• Executives and leaders
• Managers and directors
• Professionals from any industry and job function (marketing, healthcare, logistics, product design, and more)
• Anyone who wants to add an in-demand qualification to their resume.

Course modules

Module 1: What is Agile?

• Define agile
• Describe the Agile Manifesto for Software Development
• Describe the core values of agile
• List the key principles of agile
• Identify the benefits of agile ways of working
• Describe different types of agile frameworks

Module 2: The Agile Team

• Describe an agile team
• Describe the difference between agile and traditional roles
• Define how the role of middle managers changes in an agile organization

Module 3: My Performance on an Agile Team

• Compare traditional ways of working with agile ways of working
• Describe how success is measured differently in agile versus traditional ways of working

Module 4: Working on an Agile Team

• Describe agile operating rhythms
• Describe how success is measured differently in agile versus traditional ways of working

Module 5: Agile Practices

• Define user stories and understand their benefits
• Describe methods for prioritizing features

Module 6: Agile Evolution

• Give examples of common potential obstacles in agility
• Give examples of ways to prevent or address potential obstacles
• Describe how success is measured differently in agile versus traditional ways of working

Module 7: Agile Beyond Software: Applying Agile to Diverse Fields

• Explain how agile is not just for software development

How is this course delivered?

Self-paced online

This on-demand course (4+ hours) is a self-paced exploration consisting of written content, images, flash cards, and other interactive modules that reinforce your knowledge of Scrum essentials. This is an interactive, text-based learning experience (not video-based).

Onsite or private courses (team delivery)

Bring us onsite and our facilitator can deliver training for your team at your premises. Private courses can also be conducted in our virtual classroom on dates and times that suit your teams, ideal for remote or hybrid workforces.

Request a quote and our team will be in touch with a proposal.

What’s included in your course fee?

·       Access to Scrum Alliance’s official on-demand eLearning via the ITSM Hub learning portal

·       Written content, flash cards, and interactive modules to reinforce learning

·       4 hours of on-demand learning

·       A Scrum Alliance Scrum Essentials digital badge to showcase your new skills

What is a micro-credential?

Micro-credentials are short, flexible, industry-aligned qualifications that certify a specific, in-demand skill or competency. They’re designed for rapid upskilling or reskilling and are often issued as a verified digital badge you can share with employers and on social platforms like LinkedIn. Many micro-credentials can also be stackable over time toward broader learning pathways.

Will I receive a digital badge?

Yes. You’ll receive a digital badge to showcase your knowledge once you complete Scrum Essentials. This micro-credential badge never expires.

Who is Scrum Alliance?

Scrum Alliance is a global, not-for-profit professional membership and certification body best known for advancing Scrum and Agile practices worldwide. It supports a broad community of practitioners, coaches, and leaders through education, credentialing, and continuous learning.

What are Scrum Alliance micro-credentials?

Scrum Alliance micro-credentials are bite-sized, targeted learning experiences that validate specific skills and knowledge areas. They’re ideal for professionals who want to upskill quickly, build capability for a new role or responsibility, strengthen Agile ways of working across teams, and demonstrate ongoing professional development.

Why do micro-credentials matter for ITSM and digital teams?

Many IT and service organisations operate in hybrid environments, balancing ITIL/ITSM practices with Agile delivery, product management, and DevOps ways of working. Micro-credentials make it easier to build Agile capability across the organisation in a practical, low-friction way. They’re particularly valuable for service management professionals working alongside Agile delivery teams, product and platform teams, leaders reinforcing Agile behaviours without long programs, and teams adopting Scrum who need a consistent baseline.

Are micro-credentials worth it?

Micro-credentials are a practical way to continually add new skills with fast, flexible formats. Key benefits include faster focused upskilling, role-aligned learning, practical outcomes (not just theory), cost-effective professional development, scalable capability building across teams, and stronger alignment between ITSM and Agile delivery.

Why should I take Agile Essentials?

Take Agile Essentials for a foundational understanding of what agility means in the context of product development and how it can be expanded to any field of complex work (including government, healthcare, education, marketing, and others). Equip your workforce with these in-demand skills or complete the course as an individual to strengthen your resume and credentials.

What do I get when I complete Agile Essentials?

You'll receive the digital micro-credential badge plus a two-year renewable membership with Scrum Alliance when you successfully complete Agile Essentials. Membership includes a profile listing in the professional directory, discounts to global and regional Scrum Alliance events, access to User Groups, and access to the Comparative Agility improvement platform.

What are the most popular Agile frameworks?

Scrum is one of the most popular product development frameworks, along with Kanban, Extreme Programming, and Lean. More than implementing a framework or a series of steps, Agile is a way of thinking, behaving, and approaching problems. Agile Essentials explores this definition of agility so organisations can adopt Agile from the top down making it possible to pivot, adapt, and stay ahead of the competition.