8 Best Agile Project Management Courses to Learn Online for 2023

Agile project management methodology is winning popularity in today’s corporate world. More businesses, corporations, enterprises, and organizations are shifting to agile to enhance team performance and customer satisfaction.

Undoubtedly, if you want to pursue a lucrative career in project management, you should master these methodologies and be able to use them handily in your everyday work.

Taking an online Agile project management course is the fastest and most efficient way to become an Agile expert. However, this does not mean that you should take any random course because some courses are no more than a cash grab and provide meager educational value.

Hence, I decided to do the heavy lifting for you. This blog post will provide you with a list of the best agile project management courses that will help you master the concept and set up your own thriving agile environment practically.

Affiliate Disclosure: This article from Victory Tale contains affiliate links. We will receive a small commission from the course provider if you purchase one of the courses through those links.

Nonetheless, we always value integrity and prioritize our audience’s interests. You can rest assured that we will present each course truthfully.

Things You Should Know

Type of Courses

The courses featured in this post will cover the fundamentals of agile methodology and relevant practices, which will be extremely useful for those who aspire to become agile project managers.

However, these courses will not include sufficient knowledge for learners to take project management or Agile certification exams, such as PMP, PMI-ACP, SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework).

If you are looking for prep courses for those exams, it would be best to take those designed specifically for the tasks (read the last section of this article).

PDUs

Some courses on this list will grant students PDUs (Professional Development Units) once they complete all lessons and assignments. Thus, if you have already become a certified project management professional, you can take these courses to earn PDUs.

Criteria

Below are the criteria for the best Agile project management courses.

Project Management Academy

Project Management Academy (PMA) is undoubtedly one of the best choices to learn about Agile project management.

As an authorized training partner of the Project Management Institute (PMI), PMA offers multiple in-depth training courses that aim to help students grasp Agile principles and be able to use them in their careers handily.

All PMA instructors are certified project managers with decades of work experience. Thus, you can ensure that you will learn from the cream of the crop.

1. Agile Fundamentals

The first course will discuss core Agile principles along with numerous tools and techniques. You will perceive the value of Agile approaches and how to implement them to deliver improved project results and higher ROI.

Course Content and Format

Below is a summary of topics that you will learn from this course.

• Agile Foundations: Overview of Agile Development, Ideal projects for Agile practices, Agile Manifesto
• Agile Fundamentals: Environment, Product Backlog, User Stories, INVEST, Story Maps, etc.
• Agile Methodologies: Scrum framework, Sprint Backlog, Daily Scrum Meeting, DoD, Scrum Team, etc.
• Agile Communications: Stages of Team Development, Task/Kanban Board, WIP Limits, Sprint Burndown Chart
• Agile Estimating: Techniques to estimate work more accurately and deliver commitments timely such as Test-Driven Development (TDD), Unit Testing, and Acceptance Testing
• Methods to increase customer interaction and transparency to ensure customer satisfaction
• Agile Metrics and Product Quality: Usage of agile methodologies to reduce defects and improve overall quality
• Agile Leadership, Agile Contracts, and Accounting Principles

The course is approximately 9 hours long, mainly covering all aspects of the Agile framework that an agile project manager needs to master in detail. Thus, it is optimal for absolute beginners who want to become Agile professionals.

Regarding the course format, you will learn live online through the video conference platform on the specific date that you can select from. You will be able to ask questions to your instructor and communicate with your classmates.

The course will conclude within a single day through a 9-hour session. It is thus best if you have a busy schedule and want to learn the core Agile framework in the least time-consuming manner.

Besides the live session, you will also access the digital training materials for six months, including a video-on-demand course that allows you to review topics that you may not understand well and other materials that test your knowledge and provide you with hands-on experience.

Important Note: the PMA has offered this course only once every month. You should then reserve your seat in advance.

Pricing and PDUs

This course costs $695 one-time without hidden fees. Once you complete the course, you will earn 8 PDUs.

2. Agile in Action

Agile in Action is another Agile course offered by the PMA. Unlike the first course that elucidates key methodologies, this one will focus on applying Agile principles to your everyday work.

Therefore, if you have completed the first course or mastered core concepts through learning elsewhere but still cannot manage Agile projects productively, you may want to take this course.

Course Content, Pricing, and PDUs

The following is what you will learn from this course:

• Systems Thinking Principles and Organizational Traits
• Agile Team Members’ Roles and Responsibilities (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team)
• Methods to refine product backlogs (Value-based Prioritization, Kano Analysis, etc.)
• Agile Estimating Revisited (Relative Sizing, Affinity Estimating, Ideal Time, etc.)
• Agile Team Management and Soft Skills
• Organizational Changes
• Additional Agile Best Practices
• and many more

Like the first course, this one will conclude in a single 4.5 hour-session through an interactive video conference platform.

Regarding pricing, this course costs $495 one-time without hidden fees. You will earn 4.5 PDUs upon course completion.

The drawback of this course is that the PMA rarely offers it. According to this year’s schedule, this course is available only once (on Sep 30).

Furthermore, there are no digital course materials and VODs that help your review and practice to gain more project management experience. In other words, you will pay $495 for a 4.5-hour training session, which makes it extremely pricey.

Pros & Cons of PMA Training Programs

Master of Project Academy

Master of Project Academy is another PMI-authorized training provider that you can always rely on. Currently, it offers various project management training programs, including several on Agile and relevant certifications.

3. Agile Scrum Certification Training

In essence, this training program will guide you through the fundamental principles of Agile and Scrum. Upon program completion, you will be ready to proceed to more advanced courses and be able to implement Agile methodologies for your organization.

Course Content

The following is a summary of topics that you will learn from this 12-hour course.

• Framework-Methodology-Process
• Agile Principles, Agile Manifesto, Lean, and Kanban
• Scrum Framework: Theory, Scrum Team, Scrum Events, Product/Sprint Backlog, etc.
• Scrum/XP Hybrid, Scrumban
• Guides for students who want to take the certification exams

The program is 100% online self-paced. Hence, you can take the lessons anywhere, anytime.

Apart from the 10-hour lessons, the curriculum is equipped with 150+ practice questions that will help you test your newly acquired skills and supplementary materials for reviewing the concepts and preparing for the certification exams such as PMI-ACP and CSM.

Still, if you are interested in taking those exams, I advise enrolling in the prep courses created specifically for them.

Pricing and PDUs

The pricing structure for this program is extremely flexible. You can opt for one of the three options below:

• Monthly – $52 per month (cancel anytime)
• Annual – $237 per month
• Lifetime – $457

Since the course is not very lengthy (12 hours long), I think you should subscribe to either monthly or annual plans. The Lifetime plan may not be the best option unless you want to revisit the lessons to review core Agile concepts.

Regarding PDUs, you will receive 12 PDUs upon program completion.

Pros & Cons

4. Professional Certificate in Agile Project Management (edX)

This edX program from the University of Maryland is another promising option to learn Agile project management.

In essence, you will learn how Agile methodologies can be instrumental in reducing project failure risks and accelerating project delivery in various industries, such as software, aerospace, finance, and many more.

Course Content

This program consists of five skill-building courses as follows:

1. Applied Scrum for Agile Project Management – The first course will introduce you to Agile and Scrum concepts. You will perceive why both are used together in project management and show promising results.

Subsequently, you will learn all the steps, methods, and techniques to develop a Scrum team. This includes user stories, sprint planning, execution, and retro tools.

The last section will delve into Agile pitfalls and how to control risks that may harm your Agile projects significantly.

Throughout the course, you will explore various case studies across multiple industries. Thus, you will quickly grasp how to apply Agile concepts to your everyday career.

2. Sprint Planning for Faster Agile Team Delivery – Speed is one of the core strengths of Agile project management. Thus, you will explore sprint planning in the second course.

First, you will learn the principles behind sprint planning and backlog refinement and how to accelerate the process by selecting and limiting work-in-progress. Later, you will perceive the steps to run effective sprint planning meetings.

Also, you will look into various other tools and techniques beneficial to faster Agile project delivery, including Rolling-Wave Planning, Kanban Boards, the Pareto Principle, and many more.

3. Agile Innovation and Problem-Solving Skills – The third course will discuss the innovation process. You will understand how innovation plays a role in managing project risks and achieving competitive advantage.

In addition, you will delve into the “optimal” innovation process and how to employ one that fits your company’s business model.

The second part of the course will drill deep into problem-solving techniques. You will learn how to find new creative solutions and test and evaluate them to find the most promising one.

Finally, you will add everything together and learn ways to create a sustainable innovative environment that benefits your team.

4. Agile Leadership Principles and Practices – The fourth course will guide you through traditional leadership principles and styles. Subsequently, you explore how robust Agile and Scrum techniques can help a leader enhance team productivity, decision-making, and problem-solving.

In this course, you will explore multiple aspects of decision-making. Specifically, you will grasp the science behind decision-making and human mind heuristics and pinpoint styles and techniques that you can employ to negotiate and handle conflicts.

Later, the instructor will introduce you to beneficial lean-decision making tools that Agile project managers use in real life.

5. Agile Process, Project, and Program Controls – The final course will explore why traditional controls fail frequently and how Agile controls can be instrumental in delivering results more smoothly.

Regarding the pace, the university recommends 2-3 hours per week for five months. However, as this program is self-paced, you can create your own study schedule.

All the courses are free to audit. However, if you want to access assignments and a digital certificate, you need to enroll in a verified track, which costs $79 monthly.

Note: You will earn 10 PDUs for each course you have completed (auditing the course will not grant these credits, though).

Pros & Cons

5. Agile Project Management

Created by Google, this Coursera specialization will guide you through Agile and Scrum fundamentals and equip you with sufficient knowledge to create a highly effective Agile team for your organization.

Course Content

Below is a summary of topics you will learn from this 22-hour course.

• Fundamentals of Agile: History, Agile Manifesto, Agile Mindset
• Scrum 101: Pillars, Values, Scrum Master, Traits
• Implementing Scrum: Product Backlog, User Stories, Backlog Refinement, Sprint Planning, Kanban Boards, etc.
• Applying Agile to the organization: Value Roadmap, Agile Team Challenges, Organizational Change, etc.

The best thing is that the course covers both the theoretical and the practical parts equally. However, the content of each lesson is not as in-depth as other alternatives. You will need another course if you want to master Agile project management.

You can audit this course for free or subscribe to the entire specialization for $39 per month to access the full course.

Important Note: As indicated above, this course is a part of a project management specialization. You will need to subscribe to it to access graded assignments and a digital certificate for this course. However, once you subscribe, you will get the same access to all other four courses as well.

Pros & Cons

6. Agile Leadership Specialization

This Coursera specialization from the University of Colorado is fundamentally different from others since it focuses only on developing Agile leadership skills.

The program is designed exclusively for managers and executives with years of leadership experience who want to adopt an Agile approach. However, anyone who is interested can take it as well.

Course Content

This specialization comprises five minor courses as follows:

1. Agile Leadership – The first course will introduce you to crucial Agile leadership concepts. You will create a toolbox that will enable you to evaluate yourself, your team, and your organization as an Agile leader.

2. Agile Leader Training – The second course will drill deep into the science of “change.” You will perceive why many humans are change-averse and develop a practice and mindset to make you more change-ready.

3. Developing an Agile Team – The third course will explain steps to build an effective team based on Agile and Scrum methodologies.

You will explore social psychology to be able to evaluate your team’s change resilience and learn to use multiple tools that assist you in managing, leading, and facilitating a Scrum team.

4. Agile Organization – The fourth course will discuss the adoption of Agile methodologies at an organizational level. You will learn about seven change management theories and how to best apply them into practice.

Subsequently, the course will delve into how to scale Agile in an organization and some crucial indicators that show that Agile may not be optimal for adoption.

5. Capstone – The final course is more like a project. You will use everything you have learned from all previous courses to create a comprehensive Agile transformation guide for an organization.

I appreciate the cohesion of the curriculum. All minor courses are connected flawlessly with each other. Thus, you will not be confused when you start a new course.

According to the course page, you should spend three hours per week on the lessons and assignments, and you will complete the program in five months. However, the lessons are pretty short. You can finish them much faster than recommended.

Like other Coursera specializations, you can audit all courses without charges. However, since this course features a compelling real-world project, it would be best if you opt for complete access, which costs $49 per month.

Pros & Cons

Coursera Plus

If you are interested in more than one Coursera specialization, I suggest you switch to Coursera Plus instead of subscribing individually to each.

This is because Coursera Plus will grant all-inclusive access to more than 7000 courses and specializations on the Coursera platform at a far lower price.

In other words, Coursera Plus costs only $33.25 per month (if you choose annual billing) for all 7000 courses compared to $39-$79 monthly for a single subscription.

Hence, it is a no-brainer to subscribe to Coursera Plus since it offers far more value for money than subscribing individually.

7. Agile Leadership and Management

Suppose the above course on Agile leadership appears to be too superficial for you. In this case, you may want to enroll in this micro credential program from the Open University on the Future Learn platform.

Note: The program page specifies that you should have two years of project management experience before enrolling.

Course Content

The Open University does not provide many details on the course content. Below is a summary of what you will learn from the program.

• Agile leadership concepts
• Tools, Techniques, Behaviors, and Principles relevant to Agile leadership
• Methods to strengthen leadership skills in an Agile environment
• Communication and Feedback skills
• Strategies to work with your team and the broader organization
• and many more

Apart from video lessons and minor assignments, you will create an action plan to reshape your workplace based on the nine principles of Agile leadership at the end of the program.

Hence, upon completion, you will be confident to apply Agile methodologies and principles to your actual team and organization.

Because this program is instructor-led, you cannot create your own study schedule. Thus, before enrolling, please ensure that your current schedule is flexible enough for you to handle a 13-hour weekly workload for 12 weeks.

Regarding pricing, this program costs $1044 one-time.

Pros & Cons

8. Agile Project Management Program (Getsmarter)

Suppose you are looking for a self-paced, all-in-one Agile project management training program that grants very high PDUs to maintain your PMP certification. In that case, this program on the Getsmarter platform may be the best available.

You will learn from faculty members at the University of Cape Town, one of the highest-ranked universities in all of Africa.

Course Content

The curriculum is separated into eight modules as follows:

1. Introduction to Agile Project management – You will learn about the history of the Agile approach and grasp its values and principles. Subsequently, you will know how it fares against the Waterfall approach.

2. The Agile Project Environment – The second module will explore project management fundamentals and describe appropriate conditions for Agile project management. Later, you will also learn about the phases of an Agile project.

3. Value-Driven Delivery and Stakeholder Engagement – The third module will drill deep into identifying the values driving a project and handling stakeholders.

4. Adaptive Planning in Agile Projects – The fourth module will explain how to plan, adapt, and implement strategies when the environment changes. Also, you will learn to articulate scope in an Agile context by developing a product backlog.

5. Facilitating High-Performance Teams – The fifth module will guide you through the process of forming, managing, optimizing high-performance teams based on the Agile approach.

6. Continuous Improvement: Product, Processes, People – The sixth module will be dedicated to continuous improvement. You will grasp methods and strategies to improve the products, processes, and teams continuously.

7. Quality and Risk Management – The seventh course will focus on quality and risk control for Agile projects. You will learn to assess project quality and relevant risks and implement appropriate strategies to alleviate them later.

8. Agile Project Management Framework in Business – The final course is a deep dive into Agile methods. You will perceive the optimal way to select the right approach for specific projects.

The second part of the course will then discuss the limitations and prospects of Agile project management. You will then work on a final task by developing a suitable Agile framework for a virtual business.

The best part of this program is that there are class-wide forums and small group discussions that you can interact with classmates, like attending classes on-site. Hence, you can take this opportunity to network and connect with other project managers worldwide.

Regarding the pace, the university recommends spending 7-10 hours on each weekly module. Therefore, you will complete the program in 8 weeks. Upon program completion, you will receive a certificate from the University of Cape Town.

Pricing & PDUs

This program costs $986 one-time, while completion of this program will grant you 68.5 PDUs.

If you are unsure whether the program fits your preferences, I suggest downloading a course prospectus to grasp the information about course content and format.

Pros & Cons

Related Courses

The links below will direct you to articles that provide lists of courses that will help strengthen your skills relevant to Agile project management.

• PMP Certification – PMP is the most significant certification in the project management space, practically required if you want to manage larger projects and earn higher salaries from your job.
• Certified Scrum Master
• SAFe Certification – Coming Soon
• PMI-ACP – Coming Soon
• Agile Software Development – Coming Soon