About Us

David Bulkin is an amazing instructor! I have taken several certification classes, and David is by far the best and my most favorite instructor ever. David is highly knowledgeable and extremely personable. He easily kept the entire class engaged the entire 16-hour session by making everyone feel included. David also made the material easily digestible by presenting a fantastic breakdown of the information along with relevant real-life examples and experiences. I was not initially excited about taking this class since it was a weekend session. Also, the class happened to fall on the same week that I moved into my new home. However, the time flew by extremely fast. During the time I was in attendance for David's class, I did not think about the many boxes that were sitting around my new home waiting to be unpacked. That says a lot about David and his teaching style. I never actually saw David take a break during the class sessions. The students recognized David as an expert in his field and used their breaks to seek advice or gain more golden nuggets of wisdom from him. David is also a very positive person with great energy, which makes him extremely approachable. If possible, I will definitely take more of David's classes.

I'm a new Product Manager at a tech startup and this was my first Scrum training. Prior to this course I read Scrum, by Jeff Sutherland and worked on a Scrum team for 2 months. I really enjoyed the level of interaction that my instructor, Dave Balkin, included in the course! I expected the course to directly address the application of Scrum from the perspective of a Product Owner. In addition to this, the course was also about how Product Owners can deliver better products through Scrum. I was very impressed with Dave's deep understanding of product roles and agile principles. There are a lot of instructional providers in the market. I'll stick with GrowLeanAgile for all of my future Scrum training and certifications. I highly recommend this family of agile courses to anyone looking to break into agile roles or refresh their Scrum skills. These will be especially valuable to fellow military veterans making the pivot into the private sector or adopting Scrum into their teams.

This comprehensive training program exceeded my expectations in terms of content, delivery, and value. The course content was well-structured and covered a wide range of topics essential for an advanced Scrum Product Owner role. One aspect that truly stood out was the quality of the instructor, Arlen Bankston. Not only does he possess extensive practical experience as a Product Owner, but he was able to present complex concepts in a clear and engaging manner. He encouraged active participation, fostered discussions, and shared valuable real-life examples that enriched the learning experience. Grow-Lean's online training for the Scrum Alliance Advanced Scrum Product Owner Certification (A-CSPO) exceeded my expectations in terms of content quality, expert instructors, interactive learning materials, and overall value. I highly recommend this company and training program to anyone seeking to enhance their skills as a Scrum Product Owner and achieve advanced certification.

The class was amazing, the instructor was knowledgeable, engaging, and dynamic! The best aspect for me, personally was that even though the class duration was and is 8.5 hours, each day for 2 days, it felt like the time just flew by! David Belkin, the instructor, is an industry professional with vast experience and deep knowledge, who makes sure to keep the class engaging, interactive, and fun. If I could give more than 5 stars I would, that’s how much I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience, all while learning at the same time! You can’t go wrong with choosing Grow-Lean and David Belkin, trust me. Plus, if you register early, you can take advantage of a significant discount off the regular price! Take their CSPO class, and see for yourself. You won’t be disappointed. I cannot recommend them highly enough. You’re gonna love it! David and crew, you’ve earned a fan for life! -Merrill

FIrst impression with Grow-Lean was their webpage That was amazing. I mean a training site that answered all my questions before I got there. Well done. The class was great. I am Scrum Master and I was looking for practical knowledge that I could apply in my job. I am not just looking to get certs. This was a great class for that. If you want the answers, then Scrum may not be for you. This course helps you think and be confident that you will work with your teams to help them get better. David Bulkin, the instructor, was fantastic. He has a vast amount of Agile experience, and still comes off genuine and relatable. He told personal stories that supported the instruction as well as stories that created a great atmosphere. I enjoyed my fellow students as well. We had time to interact and learn from one another. Let me sum it up. I am really glad I took the class. Jeff

I didn't know what to expect because I had never before taken an online class. At no point did I feel disengaged or feel that I was in a virtual class. David Bulkin is a fantastic instructor, offering guidance and helpful hints, while agilely managing the chats. The course content was clear, concise, and comprehensible. The class was set up so that I was able to learn a lot in a short period of time. It provided information that was useful in the context as to how I will be using it. After taking this class, I now have a better understanding of Agile and Scrum methodologies. This class more than met my expectations and is the reason why, I believe, I scored a 98% on the exam on my first attempt. I look forward to taking additional courses offered by Grow-Lean and hopefully with this instructor. R. Brian Perdue Certified Scrum Master

This week I had the pleasure of taking the Certified Scrum Master course given by David Bulkin of Grow-Lean LLC. He was without a doubt, one of the best instructors I have ever had. It was definitely not your typical training class. David is extremely knowledgeable and shares his wealth of experience in a manner that captures the attention of all participants. He cares about the students and does everything possible to ensure that everyone will pass with ease. I can attest to that since I completed the class yesterday and passed the test this afternoon, with flying colors and plenty of time to spare. David is extremely personable and made what some would call “dry” material, actually interesting and definitely FUN! I’d highly recommend David’s classes to anyone who wants to actually learn, not just pass the exam!!

The was one of the best continued education courses I've taken. I am genuinely impressed with the knowledge my instructor, Chris, had. He was able to answer, from experience, questions far outside of scope with ease and to offer advice on how to handle certain situations should they arise. There is zero doubt in my mind that I'm going to be able to pass this cert. It will be mostly due to the instruction I received. The presentations and group activities were spot on in my professional experience. Using those small side meetings to get people talking introduces the mindset needed to be a scrum master. This gave practical experience on top of standard slideshows. You can tell that time and care went into the lesson plan. I am beyond impressed and this was thoroughly worth the time.

This was a refresher CSM course for me. My initial experience with Grow Lean was in 2015 with David Bulkin, as my class instructor in an in-person classroom setting. I was not sure whether an online environment would be beneficial for learning. But I have to command David for clarity of communicating key Agile concepts, ability to effectively train his audience via a remote setting and just an unbridled enthusiasm for Agile methodology. David is a master motivator, who keeps all of his class attendees engaged, participating and learning while have fun! Grow Lean is clearly the best in the business and David Bulkin proved this yet again. I appreciated an opportunity to enhance my knowledge of Agile methodology and looking forward to an Advanced CSM class next month!

This is my second training with David Bulkin, David is a very active, energetic and a great trainer. He has in depth knowledge but has a down to earth personality when comes to his class. He teaches the subject extensively but in a interesting manner. I am very glad to have connected with him who's training made a big change in my way of thinking and career. Hope to get associated with David in near future. Would like to comment about Online training session - Though I read the reviews by other students about the online training, was still skeptical when I was choosing mine. But now after attending Grow Lean's ACSM training, I am convinced and have full confidence that It was really a best choice i made to attend Online session.

this was an excellent course! It was overloaded with material but Donald managed to go though all of it with a enough level of detail. I appreciate deep and wide experience and knowledge which Donald shared with us. He clearly distinquished 'official' state of the art and his own opinions during discussions. He supported the discussions and our activity (without it, remotly, it wouldn't be possible to stay active and take this amount of knowledge). The tools, technology etc worked perfectly and even when something was wrong Donald reacted quickly and effectively and modified the way of running the course in the best way. All answers, even not really about S@S were answered deeply enough. I will recommned Donald to all my colleagues :)

This class (CSM Certification) was perhaps the best delivered course I have taken in my career. Mr. Balkin was a master at presenting the material, including and engaging all of the class participants to ensure that learning was taking place, not merely knowing how to answer test questions. It was fun and interesting. Another notable observation - David Balkin was available from the beginning of the class start all the way to the ending and beyond. I don't think he ever left his teaching post. We were able to ask questions and clarifications during all of the breaks and even after the close of the day. I am HAPPY to recommend Grow-Lean and specifically Mr. David Balkin for any class course they offer!

Grow-Lean LLC provides learning course for all industries using agile methodologies. I took the Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) course. I really enjoyed learning from David Bulkin (trainer), his ability to walk our class through the course layout was a great experience and useful. Grow-Lean LLC CSPO class widened my knowledge base for understanding how to work the product backlog in reasonable (sizable) bits within Sprints through team collaboration, communications, and documenting valuable user stories and test cases. All that I learned is applicable in my current role as a Product Owner. I look forward to increasing my knowledge and taking future courses through Grow-Lean LLC.

Course content was excellent, engaging, and very well-presented. David did a masterful job of facilitating interactive group workshops from a virtual environment, giving attendees hands-on engagement in trying out the tools and techniques taught in his class. My biggest takeaway, however, is that David is intensely invested in making sure that you get the value out of this course that you expect. Due to a conflict, I had to miss the last 90 minutes of the course. Since it was close to the holidays, David had availability the following week, and set up a 90-minute meeting with me to personally go over the course material that I had missed. Very impressed by his dedication.

Grow-Lean is an exceptional training experience for anyone wishing to learn about the Scrum framework and obtain a certification. I can speak to the CSM certification experience and I learned with Chris Doss as my trainer. Chris does an awesome job in explaining Scrum using real-world applications and is attentive in ensuring that all students grasp what "good Scrum" looks like. I highly recommend taking a course with Chris or even with David Bulkin. Both are incredibly knowledgeable and keep you engaged. Thanks so much Grow-Lean for a fun and educational experience, without you I would not have passed the Scrum exam with a perfect score!

The class was excellent! David knowns his topics, presents well with examples, and explains things when questions are proposed. He utilized tools, such as Mural, very well with breakouts and activities. Although the class was 9-5, it had built in breaks and activities that kept us engaged without the meeting be a drain or feeling as though it was dragging on. The use of Mural was great; I had experience with Miro in the past and other whiteboards, but using Mural was an excellent way to get experience using a new tool. The course also discussed other tooling options and comparisons that we can use in our own daily processes.

A colleague recommended choosing Grow-Lean and David Bulkin’s CSM and CSPO classes over the other options, and I’m very glad that I listened! We covered the learning objectives and essentials while diving deeper to gain a better understanding of Scrum and the Scrum Master and Product Owner skills needed to progress in our respective Agile journeys, including exploration of common work applications and challenges. David’s experience inspires classes that are energetic, interactive, and packed with value. Each time I left feeling well prepared to implement what I learned. Bonus tip: try the book club & Agile Open Forum events!

I took a virtual 2-day CSM course with David Bulkin from Grow-Lean. I liked how he sent us pre reads ahead of time to help us make the best of the in-class time. The training was very engaging, interactive and had deep content. The games and examples were thought provoking and helped in a deeper understanding of scrum rather than highlighting just the scrum framework. Grow-Lean's sample tests in addition to David's instructions/explanations in class, made the actual CSM test very easy. I highly recommend Grow-Lean to anyone who is looking to understand Agile and Scrum and get many techniques in the implementation of Scrum.

Mr. Arlen Bankston was an outstanding instructor. He is very knowledgeable of the topic and speaks from his own experience and not from a slide. The class was very interactive and fun. I enjoyed the Mural presentation because they were a lot of fun and easy to understand. I also liked the assignments that required us to get in teams. Sometimes articles aside from the reading book gave me a better idea and understanding of the subject for the course. I never expected to learn so much from an online class; I now see Scrum in a whole new way. I will reach out to him for future classes or some advice.

Great presentation style with lots of opportunities to ask questions and talk about real life examples which all made for a really enjoyable and informative training. The virtual classroom was great! The breakout rooms were fantastic ! It could not have been any different from having a classroom with physical presence of everyone. The course helped me understand how important a PO’s role is to create an environment where creativity and innovation will thrive; that will empower the team to build a world class product! A wonderfully practical course- both personally and professionally.

Nothing but THE BEST ONLINE CLASS SECTION I ever attended, if I can give Don Patti 10 stars I will because I was new to scrum and it shows in my class responses the first day but after that, on the second day scrum became more easier and I can boast that after the class I am where I need to be but all praise goes to Don Parti explanations, videos and the way he grouped the class makes it fun and helpful. It helps me a lot and I responded to everything like a scrum professional on the second day with no fears or worries like the first day. All I can say is THANK YOU Don Patti ????????

Grow-Lean is the best Agile Training Company by far! Their instructors are very knowledgeable and give practical advice and scenarios to learn from. The medium they use for sharing and engaging students in a virtual environment is fantastic! I would recommend them over any other training company I have worked with. David did an amazing job of covering the material in an engaging way that involved everyone even though it was in a virtual environment. He is knowledgeable and experienced and is a great instructor. I would recommend him and the Grow-Lean training company any time!

Excellent overall instructor and educational materials. Pace of course was effective. As a retired educator of 30 years in the higher education classroom, this instructor provided instruction that enabled everyone in the course to learn all the information that was included in the course. I have very high praise for his integrity and ability to perform instruction at the highest level. Hope I can take more of Don's classes in the future. I do not hesitate to provide others with my highest recommendation for Don's ability to train, educate, and support his students.

I have left with numerous valuable assets that I will apply immediately to my company and peers. How to better facilitate meetings, what powerful questions to ask and when to ask them, why cycle time is a valuable metric to use and so much more. Some online 2 or 3 day sessions could be stale and boring not so with Davids class. He kept a great pace and made it fun and very informative. I am grateful I took this class. I have left this class more confident knowing I’ll be able to take what I learned and apply it to my every day life and company.

David hosted a fun and informative class and he kept me engaged during the two days. I really enjoyed learning from someone with a wealth of knowledge and experience and appreciated the extra time David was willing to spend 1:1 to address any extra concerns and learning opportunities. David, you gave great advice during the class, went above and beyond the learning objectives, and helped me achieve my ACSM. I will definitely recommend your classes to my colleagues and look forward to attending another class in the future. Thank you!

I appreciate the candor and real world practical realities of the project space as shared by the instructor rather than sticking to closely to boilerplate material. The instructor prepares you for the CSM exam, but goes above and beyond to ensure you take a way useful skills and knowledge to further develop your acumen and maturity in dealing with complex people/process situations. Likewise, the humor and atmosphere created by the instructor opened up the rest of the class to encourage participation, comfort and a friendly environment.

I highly recommend the Grow-Lean Certified Scrum Master course! David Bulkin is an exceptional, personable, and fun teacher who made the learning experience engaging and enjoyable. I specifically sought his course out because I enjoyed his teaching style in the CSPO course so much. The course content was highly relevant and tailored to current workplace trends, which makes it easy to apply in real-life scenarios. Hugely valuable learning experience! I'm confident in my ability to apply the principles of Scrum to my work.

Had the pleasure to take Donald Patti's Certified Scrum Master training, and as always his structure and content delivery makes it very easy to follow intense course work. There are many simulations and group exercises discussed through Miro board with Zoom breakout rooms for team discussions. Don makes his class very engaging, and quite entertaining with metaphors and real life examples. I previously took his SAFe POPM class and I personally find him to be a tremendous teacher. Highly recommend taking Don's classes.

David was a fantastic instructor and teacher. Days later I am still thinking about what we learned and what real-world practices David used during the class that I can bring and utilize to improve our team and therefore improve our client's experiences. David and the others at Grow-Lean come with a lot of experience to back their techniques and approach to CSPO. I will recommend to others to take their course and I, myself, will take more of their courses in the future. You will NOT be disappointed.

I did the Scrum Alliance CSM course on April 24-25, 2021 with this institution. David Bulkin is an effective Scrum Trainer. He understands that new material is not immediately registered in the brain and so he repeats and asks questions in different ways just to get us thinking. I appreciate his methods. He is also energetic. The course materials were useful and I am of the impression that he gauges his sessions based on the experience of his audience which is good. I plan to do the A-CSM with him.

I took a virtual 2 day CSM Course with David, who is really amazing at keep us as engaged as an in-person class with interactive exercises and partner work. Very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and earnestly wanted his students to become aspiring scrum experts in the real world, not just to pass the test. It was also interesting to learn from classmates how Scrum can be applied to industries outside of tech. Highly recommend David and Grow-Lean!! Will be signing up for other classes in the new year!

Our trainer, Arlen, gave me an incredible experience. I appreciated the way he translated industry-specific terms into broader vocabulary so that people from different professional backgrounds could really connect with the content. He paced the curriculum perfectly to fit our needs and was mindful of creating space for us to interact. The session was a perfectly sized learning environment - intimate enough to have meaningful interactions, but enough variety to make every activity feel fresh.

To be very honest, I thought this is going to be just like other certifications I attended: CSPO and A-CSPO where we'd sit and talk about the basics of PO role and learn about 5-10% of new stuff. This class completely exceeded my expectations. Arlen was an amazing mentor. I learned plenty of new stuff: different PO techniques and tools, how to think like a PO person from different angles I've never encountered in my career so far. This was definitely a course worth attending.

The class had a TON of real world examples and really puts a lot of your current mindset into perspective. It gave me a handful off new tools and ideas I could apply to my job the very next day, in fact I actually did apply a few. David was really willing to go over something that I either had questions on or I was confused about. I could write a 5 paragraph essay about the parts I enjoyed but that is probably overkill. It was overall a really solid experience.

This was another great course provided by David Bulkin! The content was conveyed in a way that was easy to understand, and the ability to work with other class members via breakout rooms helped me practice what was taught. The pace of the course was good, and the structure of the course kept me interested the entire time. I definitely learned a lot from this course; and will apply it to my current job. I plan to take another course from David in the near future!

I enjoyed David's examples from his real-world experience and that he referred to class members to talk about specific applications of Agile that they've seen. The group was able to learn about applications of Scrum through each other's experience and see shades of different practices for unique needs at different companies. We also could learn about what others disliked, giving us something to think about as aspiring facilitators or eventual Scrum Masters.

Donald Patti is an amazing, engaging instructor whose patience, expertise, knowledge, and experience introduced me deeper into Scrum. I had some experience, but after spending three days in his class, I left feeling more confident and more knowledgeable. He has supplied me with great amount of material to prepare for the CSM certification exam that I plan to take in the next 21 days. I will provide an update soon because I have much material to study.

I took the CSM course virtually with Grow-Lean for 2 back-to-back days. Donald Patti, who was our trainer, clearly articulated the CSM concepts and highlighted the practical practices that a Scrum Master would implement in the industry. Don kept the session very engaging and encouraged participation from all students. Highly recommend this course with Don if you are pursuing a CSM certification or want to increase your knowledge on Scrum/Agile topics.

An amazing introduction to Scrum Product Ownership. David Bulkin brings a fantastic amount of energy and passion to the subject of Scrum Product Ownership, going beyond standard topics such as backlog refinement and user story creation, and instead putting a primary focus on the concepts and tools related to Product Ideation with plenty of real-world examples. I.E.) "Building the right thing." What a fun weekend, and I learned something too.

David was incredibly passionate about the material he was teaching. Every time I attend a training somewhere, a part of me is always worried that the course and/or trainer will be rigid, leading to boredom, less retention, and not an overall great experience. With David, he took the time to show why what he was teaching was important, and always kept the dialogue light-hearted and entertaining. He's a great asset to Grow-Lean!

Chris Doss did an awesome job teaching the class, keeping everyone involved. I think the pre read material was perfect for people like me with zero scrum experience. The only thing I would have liked to do was mix up the groups when we were paired up. We had a small class size and would have benefited from pairing with others as well. I highly recommend this course for anyone looking to learn more about scrum/agile framework.

Grow-Lean's Certified Scrum Master training provided by David Bulkin is fun and engaging. David does a great job at encouraging students to think outside the box and use teamwork to tackle all the unique situations one may encounter in the workplace instead of just trying to apply the same repeatable steps in all cases. I left this training not only with tools and techniques but the mindset to apply Scrum. Would recommend!

David was a fantastic facilitator. The two days flew by quickly and everyone was engaged in the conversation. David effectively used Mural to create fun activities and made sure everyone had a voice and participated. There was also enough humor to keep learning fun and interesting, but not enough to be a distraction. I would absolutely take another course with David and Grow-Lean. Overall, this was a wonderful experience.

David (and Don) were great instructors, probably the best virtual hosts I've experienced. David's enthusiasm and passion for both the topic (PO) and teaching in general were infectious, and he had the whole group interacting well. My only change would be around the length and mixing it in with a working day - the 8.5 hours could have used maybe a few more quick breaks to check emails and ensure nothing has burned down.

Great course, Don kept things moving along and interesting for all of us. Good balance of typical "lecture" class and interactive activities. Highly recommended if you are looking for a CSM or first Agile certification. If you already have another Agile cert, this course is going to be about 70% review of Agile and Scrum principles and maybe 30% focused on the Scrum Master's role. I honestly enjoyed the review though.

Highly interactive two day course focusing on many of the pillars of the Product Owner role. Many of the skills being shared were not only communicated, but more importantly, demonstrated during the course. Would highly recommend for POs just getting started and in their first years within the role to hear other perspectives. Many of the exercises are usable tools for day to day work within the role, thank you!

Arlen was a wonderful class leader. He kept the class interesting by including historical stories about where concepts came from, productive breakout sessions and timely coffee/lunch breaks. He was also very nimble and adjusted content on the fly as questions came up. I would definitely recommend this class to any leaders interested in learning more about Agile methodologies and how best to support their teams.

This is one of the best PD courses I've ever taken. It moved at a good pace, covered all relevant points, and had relevant group exercises. It was obvious the instructor, Donald Patti, was incredibly well versed in the subject details with plenty of life experience to pull examples from. I would highly recommend this course for anyone either working as a Scrum Master or someone transferring into this role.

Don was extremely knowledgeable about the subject and was able to meaningfully explain how various principles fit together. When someone in the class had a question, Don was consistently able to pull on excellent real-life examples to cement our learning. This is the kind of topic excellence, trainer empathy, and real-world applied experience that makes for really effective learning. Well done & thank you.

I enjoyed taking my Certified Scrum Product Owner course from Grow-Lean with David Bulkin. He was a great instructor and easily created a solid and interactive course that allowed us to be engaged and learn/deepen our knowledge on the subject with ease. It was also a great experience to take this course with my classmates as we shared experiences and had a great time doing the hands-on exercises together.