Scrum Training Template and Checklist
A ready-to-run scrum training program and the adoption checklist to go with it. Teach the roles, events and artifacts, then see which teams are running the framework well.
Reviewed by Pradeep Arora, Chief Strategy Officer
- A seven-module scrum program, covering roles, events and artifacts
- An adoption checklist mapped to your teams and sprint cadence
- A team maturity matrix that shows where the framework is thin
- A sprint rhythm calendar from planning to retrospective
What is inside
- A seven-module scrum program, covering the three roles, five events and three artifacts, with audience and coverage for each.
- A 10-point adoption checklist you can map to your own teams and sprint cadence, and mark off as the framework takes hold.
- A team maturity matrix that scores each team and shows where the framework is thin.
- A sprint rhythm calendar so planning, review and retrospective run to a plan rather than by habit.
Who it is for
Anyone who has to plan what people learn, and answer for whether it landed.
- L&D and training teams
- People managers and team leads
- Heads of function and department
- HR business partners
- Compliance and risk teams
- Onboarding and enablement teams
- Operations and delivery leads
- COOs and HR directors
How to use this template in 4 steps
- Pick your format. Download the PDF to share, the Word file to edit, or the Excel file to work in live. All three are free.
- Make it yours. Adapt the sections, fields and wording to your team, roles and process so it fits how you actually work.
- Put it to work. Fill it in, circulate it to stakeholders for sign-off, or roll it out to your team.
- Track and improve. Review it on a set cadence and refine it as your goals, roles and priorities change.
What is inside
- A seven-module scrum program, covering the three roles, five events and three artifacts, with audience and coverage for each.
- A 10-point adoption checklist you can map to your own teams and sprint cadence, and mark off as the framework takes hold.
- A team maturity matrix that scores each team and shows where the framework is thin.
- A sprint rhythm calendar so planning, review and retrospective run to a plan rather than by habit.
Adapt the modules and checklist to your own teams and sprint cadence. This is a starting structure to build from, not a substitute for the current Scrum Guide or your organisation's agreed practice.
The training program template
Seven modules that teach the scrum framework as it is defined: the roles, the events, the artifacts and the rules that connect them. Run the full set for teams new to scrum, then use the role-specific modules for scrum masters and product owners.
| Module | Audience | Duration | What it must cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Scrum foundations | All team members | 30 min | What scrum is, the empirical basis of inspect and adapt, and how the pieces fit together. |
| 2. The three roles | All team members | 30 min | Product owner, scrum master and developers: who owns the what, the how and the process. |
| 3. Product backlog and refinement | PO and developers | 35 min | Writing and ordering backlog items, refining them, and keeping the backlog ready for planning. |
| 4. Sprint planning and the sprint goal | All team members | 30 min | Setting a sprint goal, selecting the sprint backlog, and forecasting realistically. |
| 5. Daily scrum, review and retrospective | All team members | 35 min | Running each event for its purpose, not as a status meeting or a formality. |
| 6. Artifacts and definition of done | All team members | 25 min | Product backlog, sprint backlog and increment, and a shared, explicit definition of done. |
| 7. Scrum master and product owner deep dive | SM and PO | 45 min | Facilitation, removing impediments, stakeholder management and backlog ownership for the two accountable roles. |
Delivering the modules and a short knowledge check through an LMS gives you dated completion per person and per team, so a scrum master can confirm the whole team shares the same definition of done before the sprint starts.
The adoption checklist
Ten steps to move a team from scrum-in-name to the framework actually running. Tick items to track your own progress, it stays in this browser. The download has the same list with an owner column.
- Product owner, scrum master and developers clearly namedRolesOn start
- A single ordered product backlog the PO ownsArtifactsOngoing
- Backlog refinement happening before planningArtifactsPer sprint
- Sprint planning produces a clear sprint goalEventsPer sprint
- Definition of done agreed and applied to every itemArtifactsOngoing
- Daily scrum run as the developers' plan, not a status callEventsDaily
- Sprint review demonstrates a real, done incrementEventsPer sprint
- Retrospective actions closed, not just loggedEventsPer sprint
- Sprint scope protected from mid-sprint changeProcessPer sprint
- Maturity tracked by team, not just company-wideGovernanceQuarterly
The most common gap is a missing definition of done. Without one, every developer means something different by done, and the increment at the review is not really shippable.
Team maturity at a glance
The checklist tells you what a team is missing. This matrix tells you which teams are behind. Score each team on the five parts of the framework that most affect whether scrum is working. In Excel the readiness and gaps calculate as you type.
| Team | Members | Roles | Backlog | Planning | Def. of done | Retro | Ready |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orders team | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Search team | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 70% |
| Billing team | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 40% |
| Mobile team | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% |
| New squad | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30% |
| Coverage at required | 40% | 40% | 40% | 20% | 20% | 58% |
The billing team is the exposure: no definition of done and a thin backlog, so its review demonstrates work that is not actually shippable.
The sprint rhythm calendar
| Timing | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| On joining a team | Scrum foundations and roles modules in the first week. | Scrum master and L&D |
| Sprint start | Sprint planning produces a sprint goal and sprint backlog. | Whole team |
| Daily | Daily scrum: developers replan toward the sprint goal. | Developers |
| Mid-sprint | Backlog refinement so the next sprint has ready items. | Product owner |
| Sprint end | Review of the done increment, then a retrospective that closes an action. | Whole team |
| Quarterly | Score maturity by team and coach the weakest part of the framework. | Agile coach |
How to run it
- Make the three roles clear
Product owner owns the what and the order, developers own the how, the scrum master owns the process. Confusion here breaks everything else.
- Build a real product backlog
An ordered, refined backlog the product owner owns is the input to every sprint. Without it, planning has nothing to plan.
- Agree a definition of done
One shared, explicit definition of done, or the increment means something different to everyone.
- Run the events for their purpose
Planning sets a sprint goal, the daily scrum is the developers' plan, the review inspects the increment, the retrospective improves the process.
- Protect the sprint
The scope agreed at planning holds for the sprint. Mid-sprint changes are a signal to fix, not a habit to accept.
- Track maturity by team
Roll it up per team so a squad running scrum in name only is visible before delivery slips.
Frontline teams reach 45 percent-plus completion on Disprz when training is delivered in short, mobile modules, the format this program is built for.
Common mistakes this pack prevents
- Keeping the scrum vocabulary but dropping the artifacts, so the events lose their mechanism.
- A daily scrum that has become a status meeting reported to the manager instead of the developers' own plan.
- No shared definition of done, so the increment at the review is not really shippable.
- A product owner who does not own or order the backlog, leaving planning with nothing ready.
- Retrospectives that log actions but never close them, so the same impediment returns every sprint.
Which format should you use?
| Format | Best for | What is inside | Editable | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharing and print | The full template, formatted to print or circulate | No | 55 KB | |
| Word | Editing the wording | Every section as editable text you can adapt | Yes | 86 KB |
| Excel | Filling it in live | The grid and fields set up as a working spreadsheet | Yes | 65 KB |
Questions people ask
What is the difference between scrum and agile?
Does this follow the Scrum Guide?
Who should take scrum training?
Does the Excel tracker work in Google Sheets?
Do I have to fill the form three times?
Scrum only helps if the framework is actually running. That is the part we help embed.
Bring your scrum masters to a 30-minute working session. We will show how Disprz delivers scrum training in short modules and rolls maturity up by team, so your next sprint planning starts from teams that know the framework.