Two certificates. Valid for life. No small print.
Master a single tool, or hold a whole role – there are exactly two credentials for that. What separates them is the object, not the duration. You then hold proof that never expires and costs no annual fee.
The two certificates
A skill certifies a tool, a professional certifies a role. The separation runs through the object – duration follows from it and is not the criterion. Both lead to verifiable proof and a badge for your LinkedIn profile and signature.
For anyone who wants one concrete tool they can actually apply: OKRs, Lean-AI foundation, AI fundamentals, working with coding agents, delegation and leadership, estimation and planning, agile fundamentals with a simulation, spec driven development, requirements engineering and product design.
- One tool, usually half a day to a day – spec driven development takes two
- Online self-paced or online live
- Multiple-choice exam at the end
- Counts as a building block towards a Certified Professional
For anyone taking on a role: value owner, flow owner and architecture owner in the team, plus Lean-AI Leader, Large Scale Expert, Lean-AI Portfolio Expert and Lean-AI Coach.
- The included skills at role depth plus the role module, three to five days
- Self-paced, online live or in person (from 6–8 participants)
- Exam plus optional practical submission
- Facilitation, leadership and hands-on – not just theory
“HeptaMS Explained” covers the why in two hours – an open webinar, free of charge, with no exam and no certificate. Three skill courses are free as well: OKRs for Lean-AI, AI foundation and AI Coding foundation. If you want the proof there, you buy the certificate on its own.
What you get
Every certificate carries a QR code. Employers and clients verify it publicly, without an account – permanently, including older versions.
Certified Skill or Certified Professional as a mark for LinkedIn, your CV and your signature.
No recertification, no annual fee, no expiry date. Minor updates are free.
No retake fees and no waiting periods between attempts.
Included in the certification fee: community, wiki, materials and office hours – useful while you prepare.
Practice questions and an exam simulation for your course, available permanently.
How it works
Four steps, no surprises. The exam only comes with a course – we do not sell a certificate without training.
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1
Choose and book a course
In the course finder by topic, format and date. Some courses are free.
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2
Complete the course
Self-paced once all lessons are done. For live formats the trainer confirms attendance.
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3
Certification
For paid courses it is included in the course fee – no second invoice. Only for the free courses is it bought separately.
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4
Pass the exam
Multiple choice, 10–15 questions, 70 % to pass, three attempts included. Then your certificate with its verification link.
The VFA triad: the three roles in a team
Value, Flow and Architecture Owner are functions, not job titles. They answer three questions that come up in every endeavour – and that nobody can afford to leave unanswered.
Stands for working on the right problem: product vision, backlog ownership, prioritisation, stakeholders.
Makes sure the work flows: cadence, events, impediments, protecting the team, flow metrics.
Owns technical viability: decoupling, operations, security – and specification in the age of AI.
Every certificate at a glance
A certificate shows what someone can actually do: a single tool, or a whole role. Which one fits depends on what you are expected to do the Monday after.
- OKRs for Lean-AI 1 day
- HeptaMS Lean-AI foundation 1 day
- HeptaMS AI foundation 1 day
- HeptaMS AI Coding foundation 1 day
- HeptaMS Lean-AI Delegation and Leadership 1 day
- HeptaMS Lean-AI Estimation and Planning 1 day
- HeptaMS Agile foundation 1 day
- HeptaMS Spec Driven Development 2 days
- HeptaMS Requirements Engineering and Product Design (Lean-AI) 2 days
The same three roles on three levels
Team, domain, portfolio. The question stays the same, the altitude changes – so there is no new role family per level, just the same cut one level up.
SAFe defines two intermediate levels between team and portfolio (ART and Large Solution). HeptaMS merges them into the domain level: a clean domain cut covers what SAFe needs an entire solution train for.
Why "owner" rather than "manager" or "lead"? The term carries responsibility in the sense of rangatiratanga – responsibility for your own contribution and for the whole, not ownership. A Value Owner does not "own" the product; they stand for the team working on the right problems.
In-house cohorts from 6–8 people, tailored to your context – across all three levels if you like, so team, domain and portfolio speak the same language.
Exam, validity, proof
Multiple choice, 10–15 questions, 70 % pass mark, three attempts included.
Training is a mandatory part of certification – there is no exam without the course.
Versioned and valid for life, no mandatory recertification. Minor updates yearly at no cost, major versions every 24–30 months as an upgrade course.
Every certificate carries a QR code with a verification link: anyone can check its authenticity publicly, without an account.
Where we deliberately do it differently
Certification is a market full of small print. Here is ours – in full.
No recertification fee, no expiry date, nothing lapses. What you know does not expire.
No waiting periods between attempts, no extra charges.
Skill or role. Nobody needs more to prove competence.
The verification link stays live permanently – even when your membership ends.
HeptaMS role names compared
The HeptaMS function names describe what the role is responsible for; framework names label the role inside a specific method. The mapping shows the closest functional equivalent, not an exact match.
Team level
| HeptaMS | Scrum | SAFe | LeSS | DA (DAD) | PRINCE2 / PMI | German |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value Owner | Product Owner | Product Owner | Product Owner | Product Owner | Product Manager | Wertverantwortlicher |
| Flow Owner | Scrum Master | Scrum Master | Scrum Master | Team Lead | Project Manager | Flussverantwortlicher |
| Architecture Owner | – (implicit in Developers) | – (only at ART level) | – (implicit) | Architecture Owner | Technical Lead | Architekturverantwortlicher |
Domain / programme level
| HeptaMS | SAFe | LeSS | PRINCE2 / PMI | German |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domain Value Owner | Product Management | Area Product Owner | Senior Product Manager / Programme Manager | Wertverantwortlicher (Programm) |
| Domain Flow Owner | Release Train Engineer (RTE) | – (no equivalent) | Programme Manager / PMO Lead | Flussverantwortlicher (Programm) |
| Domain Architecture Owner | System Architect | – (implicit) | Solution Architect | Architekturverantwortlicher (Programm) |
Portfolio level
| HeptaMS | SAFe | PRINCE2 / PMI | German |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio Value Owner | Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) | Portfolio Director / Investment Board | Wertverantwortlicher (Portfolio) |
| Portfolio Flow Owner | Agile PMO (APMO) | Head of PMO | Flussverantwortlicher (Portfolio) |
| Portfolio Architecture Owner | Enterprise Architect | Chief Architect / CTO | Architekturverantwortlicher (Portfolio) |
Notes on use
The absence of an explicit architecture role at team level is not an oversight but a design decision: Scrum assumes the Developers carry architectural responsibility together. With experienced teams that works; with mixed teams or under AI-assisted code generation a vacuum often appears.
Deliberately functional – "Wertverantwortlicher", "Flussverantwortlicher", "Architekturverantwortlicher". They avoid both the English framework terms and traditional hierarchy language, and can be dropped straight into job descriptions and org charts.
The title comes from the TOGAF® tradition (business, data, application, technology). SAFe adopted it but narrows the scope to agile portfolio architecture. Organisations using TOGAF as their EA framework will find the mapping to the Portfolio Architecture Owner in the book.
Find the right course
The course finder lists all courses with dates, formats and prices. For in-house cohorts and team events, get in touch directly.
The role model and certification logic follow the book "Hepta Management System". The course range and formats keep growing; the course finder is authoritative.