Learn to write meaningful Objectives and Key Results, align them with your product backlog, and run OKR cycles alongside Scrum events without adding bureaucracy. Self-paced, exam included, valid for two years.
Holders of the Scrum Agile OKR Plus certification receive a certificate and a digital badge that anyone can verify on LiveCertification.
Learning paths
Choose the Scrum Intelligence certification on its own, or add a partner certification in the same enrolment.
Scrum Agile OKR Plus
- Scrum Intelligence certification
- Training and exam included
What you will learn
- Write objectives and key results that express outcomes rather than output
- Distinguish measurable key results from restated backlog items
- Align quarterly OKR with sprint-level delivery and backlog priority
- Run OKR check-ins and reviews inside existing Scrum events without adding ceremonies
- Balance organisational alignment with team autonomy when setting objectives
- Score and review OKR at quarter end and feed the learning into the next cycle
- Recognise and correct common OKR anti-patterns such as vanity metrics and sandbagging
- Facilitate OKR-setting conversations between teams and leadership
Syllabus
Module 1: OKR Foundations for Agile Teams
What Objectives and Key Results actually are, where they came from, and why so many implementations fail. The difference between outcomes and output, and why that distinction matters more in Agile settings than anywhere else.
Module 2: Writing Objectives and Key Results That Work
Crafting objectives that are qualitative, ambitious and genuinely motivating. Writing key results that are measurable without being trivial, avoiding the common trap of restating your backlog as key results. Includes worked examples of weak and strong OKR from real product contexts.
Module 3: Aligning OKR with the Product Backlog
Connecting quarterly objectives to sprint-level work without creating a rigid plan. How the Product Owner uses OKR to defend prioritisation decisions, how to handle backlog items that support no objective, and what to do when an OKR turns out to be wrong mid-quarter.
Module 4: OKR Across the Scrum Events
Bringing an OKR lens to sprint planning, sprint review and retrospective without adding new meetings. Running lightweight weekly check-ins, updating confidence levels, and keeping the conversation about progress rather than status reporting.
Module 5: Cascading, Alignment and Team Autonomy
How OKR connect across teams and up to organisational goals — and why strict top-down cascading usually destroys the value. Balancing alignment with autonomy, handling shared objectives between teams, and dealing with dependencies honestly.
Module 6: Measurement, Scoring and Continuous Improvement
Scoring OKR at quarter end, separating grading from performance review, and running an OKR retrospective. Common anti-patterns — sandbagging, vanity metrics, OKR as targets — and how to recognise them early in your own team.
Why this certification
Most Agile teams deliver sprints reliably yet still struggle to explain how that work moves the organisation forward. Leadership sets annual goals, teams run two-week sprints, and the two rarely meet. Scrum Agile OKR Plus is built to close that gap.
Objectives and Key Results give teams a way to express outcomes rather than output — what should change for the customer or the business, not simply what will be built. Used well alongside Scrum, OKR turn the sprint review into a conversation about progress towards something that matters, and give the Product Owner a defensible basis for saying no.
Used badly, OKR become another reporting layer: vanity metrics, targets nobody believes, and quarterly theatre. This certification is explicit about both sides. You will learn how to write key results that are genuinely measurable, how to set ambition without setting people up to fail, and how to run check-ins that take minutes rather than meetings.
The course maps OKR directly onto Scrum events, so nothing here asks you to add ceremonies. Sprint planning, review and retrospective each get an OKR lens, and the quarterly cycle sits over the top of your existing cadence rather than competing with it.
Who should take this certification
This certification is best suited for:
- Scrum Masters who want teams to connect sprint work to organisational outcomes
- Product Owners who need a defensible basis for prioritisation decisions
- Agile Coaches introducing OKR across multiple teams
- Delivery Leads and Programme Managers responsible for goal alignment
- Managers and team leads whose organisation has adopted OKR and is struggling with them
- Anyone who has seen OKR implemented badly and wants to understand what good looks like
- No prior OKR experience is required. If you have run or participated in a sprint, you have enough context to start.
The exam
The exam checks your understanding of the course topics and how to apply them to real team situations. You take it online on ExamVault once you have completed the course material.
The exam is taken online on ExamVault by CertExpert. Three attempts are included in the fee.
Career outcomes
Goal-setting and outcome measurement are increasingly part of the Agile practitioner's remit rather than something handled elsewhere. This certification supports progression into:
- Senior Scrum Master and Agile Coach roles with an organisational alignment focus
- Product Owner and Product Manager positions where outcome accountability sits with you
- Agile Programme Manager and Release Train Engineer roles across multiple teams
- Transformation and Agile PMO roles where goal frameworks are part of the mandate
- Consulting roles helping organisations implement OKR alongside Agile delivery
- Organisations that have adopted OKR frequently need people who understand both the framework and the delivery reality underneath it. That combination is uncommon and valuable.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Agile OKR certification?
An Agile OKR certification validates that you can use Objectives and Key Results alongside Scrum — writing measurable key results, aligning them with your product backlog, and running quarterly cycles without adding bureaucracy. Scrum Agile OKR Plus focuses on the practitioner reality: how OKR work inside sprints, not how they look on a strategy slide.
What is the difference between OKR and a product backlog?
A backlog describes what you will build. OKR describe what should change as a result. The most common mistake teams make is restating backlog items as key results — 'ship the new checkout' is output, not an outcome. This course spends significant time on that distinction because getting it wrong is what makes most OKR implementations fail.
Do I need prior OKR experience to take this course?
No. The course starts from first principles and assumes no OKR background. A working understanding of Scrum will help, since every module maps OKR onto sprint-level reality, but you do not need to have run an OKR cycle before.
How do OKR fit into Scrum events without adding meetings?
They do not need new ceremonies. Sprint planning gains an alignment check, sprint review becomes a conversation about progress towards outcomes rather than a demo of output, and the retrospective can include a confidence check. Weekly OKR check-ins take a few minutes and can sit inside an existing standup. Module 4 covers this in detail.
Is the training live or self-paced?
Entirely self-paced. Your material is available online as soon as you enrol and you work through it whenever it suits you. There are no fixed class timings, no need to take leave from work, and the assessment is taken online at a time you choose.
How long does the certification take to complete?
Around fourteen hours of material in total. Because it is self-paced, most people complete it within two to three weeks working evenings or weekends, though you can move faster or slower as your schedule allows.
How much does the Scrum Agile OKR certification cost?
Scrum Agile OKR Plus is US $199, which includes the full course material, the CertiPlus assessment, your three attempts, a digital certificate and a shareable digital badge. There are no separate exam charges added at checkout.
What does the exam involve?
The CertiPlus assessment is scenario-based and open-book, taken online. It presents realistic situations — a weak key result, conflicting team objectives, a quarter drifting off track — and asks how you would respond. Three attempts are included in the enrolment fee.
How long is the certification valid for?
Two years from the date of issue. We send renewal reminders as the expiry date approaches, and renewal keeps the same credential ID so anything you have already shared — your CV, LinkedIn profile or email signature — stays accurate.
How can an employer verify this certification?
Every certificate carries a unique credential ID and a QR code. An employer can scan the code or enter the ID on our public verification page and immediately see the holder's name, the certification, the issue date and the current status. Verification is live rather than a static PDF check.
Should Scrum Masters or Product Owners take this certification?
Both, for different reasons. Scrum Masters gain a way to help their team connect sprint work to outcomes and to facilitate goal-setting conversations. Product Owners gain a defensible basis for prioritisation — when an objective is clear, saying no to work that does not serve it becomes much easier.
Do OKR replace Agile metrics like velocity?
No, they answer a different question. Velocity and cycle time tell you about the health and predictability of your delivery process. OKR tell you whether that delivery is moving anything that matters. The course covers how the two work together and why using velocity as a key result is one of the more common anti-patterns.
