I'm just back from a Scrum Master Certification Class, taught by author of "Applying UML and Patterns" Craig Larman. I have to admit I am pretty happy with the outcome: even if was not new to many of the topic presented, the course used the books as a starting point and covered many issues related to setting up Scrum, and common pitfalls that might be encountered along the way.
As it often happens, the trip is more interesting than the destination: reading a book one may have the idea of Scrum and Agile as a green field. Well, it might be so …once you manage to get there. But getting there might actually be a trial-and-error process: one might have to answer questions which are not answered in the books, and there is no dogmatic or one-size-fits-all answer. The most tricky ones are definitely "questions you shouldn't answer", meaning that just asking the question is wrong, but it takes a lot of confidence and guts to answer "Your question is not meaningful", or "I must not answer to this question" especially the asking person is your customer or your boss…
As always, the side effect of these trainings is also that interesting people gather in the same place, and so interesting conversation might happen in the coffee breaks.
Hey Alberto! Coincidentally I am going to do a Scrum Master Course with a well known author (Mike Cohn) next week. I am also not particularly interested in the certificate but in the chance to spend some time with a Scrum guru and with some like-minded people.
ReplyDeleteBtw I think that should read "Your question is NOT meaningful"
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeletesounds like a "My Scrum Trainer is better than yours" war :-)
You're right, I've corrected the sentence.
By the way, I'll be in London at the same time. Maybe a beer could fit in :-)
... but defnitely "Your Location is better than mine"... Chapeau!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed your Scrum Master training. I too felt the way you did after my training several years ago.
ReplyDeleteI recently blogged about what the CSM is and is not. The CSM is a great intro to Scrum or for those who are familiar with Scrum, it is a great refresher course with a forum to discuss ideas and questions. However, the term Certified Scrum Master is a bit, ummmm, incorrect. Not so much as master yet (at least not from just the course itself).
Details are here in my blog.
http://onemoreagileblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/certified-scrum-master-big-lie.html