College Seniors Prepare for the World of Work with Scrum

While most college students graduate with textbook knowledge, not all will be adequately prepared for real-world business challenges. A recent study by the Adecco Group surveyed college students and recent graduates and found that 74 percent felt their schools failed to prepare them for the professional world.

While most colleges and universities are experts at teaching theory, Dr. Rosie Hauck, Associate Professor of Business Information Systems at Illinois State University (ISU), and Tom Mellor, Professor at the ISU College of Business and Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST®), have been teaching a nontraditional Information Systems course for the past decade. 

Seniors in the Advanced Business Systems Analysis BIS 362 capstone course at ISU learn new ways of working and building technology products and services by being agile and using scrum. They put their knowledge into practice by working on technical services and products delivered to non-profit clients. They have been extending beyond traditional philosophies and practices in traditional academia.

A Professor and Scrum Trainer Create a Unique Partnership

"Of all the courses I took at ISU, [the] capstone course has best provided me with the skills I have needed to be successful at each step of my career regardless of the work I was doing." – John M., ISU graduate and former BIS capstone student

Dr. Hauck learned about scrum at a college alumni event. She was so intrigued by this collaborative approach to doing things that she wanted to find a way to incorporate it into her classroom.

To deepen her understanding of this project management framework, she spent an entire summer shadowing employees at a local company. 

While she learned valuable information through observation in a real-world setting, she knew she needed more help. She found Tom Mellor, a local CST in the area, through the Scrum Alliance website. She asked if he'd be a guest speaker at her class and he agreed to share his expertise with her students.

Tom said, "I've observed and dealt with less healthy work environments and cultures in the 'real world' for over 20 years. I tell our BIS 362 students they will need to deal with them, too, when they leave the friendly confines of college. In this class, they get a great experience and a small taste of what it's like to create an agile culture, self-organize and self-manage as a team, and build products and services by being agile and using scrum. I suspect many university students never get such an opportunity, experience, or benefit. It's been a great 10-year run for Rosie, me, and the students. Rosie and I look forward to many more years of success with the class."

Dr. Hauck realized she needed formal training to learn the scrum framework. The professor then became a student, earning her Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) in Tom's class.

She found the class so valuable that she asked Tom if he'd offer it to her students. He agreed, and they've been collaborating since 2014.

While it started as a fall semester capstone course, its popularity has grown, and it's now offered in the spring and fall semesters. The program is well-known locally, and many of Dr. Hauck's graduates utilize the skills they learned in their careers today.

How ISU Teaches Students Scrum

Within the first few weeks of the semester, students learn what it means to be agile. Tom then offers a weekend CSM training for them (and Certified Scrum Product Owner®(CSPO®) for those interested after CSM). Upon successful completion, every student earns CSM (and some earn CSPO, too).

Tom said, "Students learn that doing scrum doesn't make you agile, and being agile doesn't mean using scrum. They have to understand that those are completely separate contexts around what they are learning. However, they need to be agile whether using scrum or any other approach to delivering products and services."

While the students love this aspect of the course, it's just the beginning of their journey. Dr. Hauck carefully designed the course with real-world application as a fundamental learning objective.

Each year, a local non-profit organization gets selected for a product(s) and service(s) the students build using the scrum framework. The students have built an iOS app for the local zoo, improved social media for law enforcement, created a new database system to help a local theater improve its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) effort, and built websites for other organizations. It's a win-win for the students and organizations.

While scrum is the foundation that Dr. Hauck built the course around because of its tangibility, real value is also in the application of soft skills that go with it, such as client interaction, communication, and collaboration, problem-solving, teamwork, innovation, and decision-making.

Applying Learning to Non-Profit Value Creation

The students learn how to navigate professional business relationships. The non-profits are their clients, and students learn the importance of collaborating and working with them. Some clients have heard of modern product development approaches, but many don't have first-hand experience with them. Students have the opportunity to educate them.

The student scrum teams are each assigned separate products or services, all for the same non-profit client. The students have autonomy in establishing their working relationship with the client and how they will deliver value. The organization understands that students need to work quickly, so the client's responsiveness and engagement are critical to success.

Students learn a valuable lesson in self-managing teams and autonomy. "It's up to the students to figure out how they will work with each other, how they will communicate inside the team, and how they will collaborate and communicate with the client," says Dr. Hauck.

Students don't always do scrum with rigidity, like holding a daily scrum every day. The concepts of the scrum framework are taught to them, but teams can do what they decide is best for them and for the client's unique situation. They hold "reflections" or retrospectives to determine how to adapt.

Students Graduate with a CSM and Work Experience

Before the students graduate, they earn their CSM and possibly CSPO. However, that's only the beginning of their agile journey. "They go through the class and get CSM and some get CSPO, but it's using the concepts with clients and trying to implement these things, where they say, 'Oh, I get it,'" says Dr. Hauck.

It's no secret that it's a challenging job market, so having agile skills and practical knowledge to land a job immediately after graduation is an accomplishment. With four two-week sprints of practical application under their belts, they're already a step ahead of their competition in the job market! 

According to a Harvard Business School study, 37 percent of employers rank experience as the most important qualification in an applicant. Dr. Hauck's graduates are well-positioned for the job market, obtaining the trifecta—a college degree, a CSM, and vital hands-on experience employers seek in candidates.

Students who've taken Dr. Hauck's capstone courses have landed jobs as scrum masters, product owners, and product managers. Even students who don't pursue these roles have found that skills learned from the course are beneficial in any profession. One of Dr. Hauck's former students hires graduates from the course every semester.

Dr. Hauck's graduates are well-positioned for the job market, obtaining the trifecta—a college degree, an in-demand professional certification, and vital hands-on experience employers seek in candidates.

As any recent graduate (or someone who's tried to change careers) can tell you, employers value credentials but also want proof of relevant experience. Degrees and certifications are just part of a career journey. Students who have both academic knowledge and real-world experiences are more likely to be hired.

Dr. Hauck and Tom Mellor's joint efforts have diminished barriers to entry in a competitive job market by providing college graduates with a golden ticket—college degree, certification(s), and demonstrable experience. The graduates of this program have gone on to have successful careers and truly understand how to be agile in any job.

Hear From the Former Students!

"I am currently a Strategic Planning Consultant for [a leading insurance and financial services organization]. My main job tasks are to coordinate the planning and the management of the technology budget. The three most important agile skills I need to utilize in the annual budget build are Adaptability, Leadership and Facilitation, and Communication. Of all the courses I took at ISU, [Rosie's] capstone course has best provided me with the skills I have needed to be successful at each step of my career regardless of the work I was doing." – John

"I am a Technical Customer Success Manager at a leading SaaS technology company.

Agile is at the core of businesses today, especially in the tech industry. One of the most significant skills you become aware of while progressing through a technical career is the ability to process constantly changing requirements and ensure progression with changes made to field these.

'Working software is the primary measure of progress.' This is a key principle of Agile and one that sums up my role incredibly well.

As the key contact from a customer's perspective, I am the centerpiece in ensuring products progress with a customer-centric approach. I am constantly linking customer feedback and requests back to the company, looping in teams such as Product and R&D as necessary. 

Customer needs constantly change and the digital media market is ever-evolving. This requires quick adjustments to prioritization recommendations provided both internally and externally. Gaining agile skills at ISU created a baseline that enables me to constantly evolve to align business and customer expectations." – Kristen

A former capstone student describes finding balance and adapting agile practices to your team and organization:

"Starting with what the Scrum Guide recommends is a great foundation as it's lightweight and familiar to many. From there, the several teams I've been on have taken very different, but very intentional, steps to cater to our goal of business agility. Bringing in other stakeholders into our daily stand, going on team walks for retrospectives, opting for a kanban approach, having a pair programming rotation, demos as part of acceptance testing, etc. These are approaches that have been useful in very specific scenarios that wouldn't be an improvement for just any team. There have also been experiments that we've tried and found them to be detrimental or of no benefit so we immediately course corrected. I suggest you find that balance as a team. One key takeaway is also not to change for the sake of change. Ideally, there will be team stability, and as familiarity grows so too will certain non-verbal agreements (culture). Remember those aspects as well. Being intentional is important as the ultimate goal is delivery of value to the user.

As it relates to me, the experience gained in the capstone course was invaluable for my career today. Having received the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certification (and back a few years later for the Certified Scrum Product Owner!) was a big aid to my corporate entry as a Scrum Master. Having gone through the capstone course as Product Owner also provided context for my eventual step as Product Manager. Those were experiences that one has to go through first hand to garner navigational know how. I couldn't recommend the capstone course more!" – Danny

"I feel I talk about the capstone experience regularly at work. 

Having the experience [in the capstone course] working with a client, co-managing groups, being delivery-focused, and learning how to pivot were instrumental skills I needed to succeed so far in my career. These are skills that need to be experienced and can't be learned in a traditional classroom setting. I was able to leverage this experience when I switched career fields early in my career and would not have been able to transition without this class." – Michael 

Ready to Learn More About Scrum?

To start your own scrum journey, register for Scrum Essentials. This course introduces you to the core concepts of the scrum framework and equips you to start practicing scrum at your job, no matter your industry or role. Plus, you'll earn a microcredential to showcase your knowledge.

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