Companies usually exist »to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners.«. Ken Schwaber mentiones[1],[2] that Scrum is not a methodology, but a framework for risk management and value optimization by frequent replanning. The key advantage of Scrum is that impediments and dysfunctions which prevent an organisation from being successful are made transparent to everyone, so that they can be addressed and solved systematically. Ken also warns that organisations which do use Scrum not to analyse and optimize themselves will fail miserably.
Overview
Scrum professionals are rare on the employment market. André Häusling[3] mentiones that Scrum certificates are an important ingredient of someone’s curriculum vitae. Thus people may tend to attend trainings, classes, and certifications to boost their market value.
There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you consider the first paragraph of this posting. Certificates may be the key to enter the market, but in a further posting, André also mentiones that it is important as well that someone has understood and applied Scrum successfully. Boris Gloger mentiones that a certificate does not necessarily mean anything else as that the holder attended a class[4].
The Jazz Musician Metaphor
As a musician who likes playing Jazz and world music, I found a metaphor of Andrew Coote quite interesting. His lightning talk at next week’s »Scrum Safari South Africa« was announced like this:
Using a live performance of a four-piece Jazz ensemble as a reference and demonstration, Andrew will present Jazz as a metaphor for Agile teamwork and the evolution of processes. We work through a cycle emphasising the following common attributes between Jazz and Agile teamwork: Skills, Self Management, Specialisation, Collaboration, Adaptivity, Innovation, Improvisation, Risk Taking, Supporting, Delivering Value, Sustaining Pace, and Passionate Commitment. This is a light, entertaining session that is highly memorable as a metaphor for teamwork.
To ask a provocative question: Would you hire a musician for a Jazz combo just based on a certificate that proves that the prospect attended a class concerning Jazz Drumming?
Learning the Scrum basics
Scrum mainly is a mind set. Before you decide to invest in Scrum, first learn the basics about it and find out whether Scrum fits your personal imagination. If so, learn more about it. Read books, feeds, visit local user groups and conferences to get in touch with people who are addicted to Scrum. Ask yourself whether you share their enthusiasm.
Practising Scrum
Try to find an employer who already implemented Scrum correctly and completely. Work as Scrum developer or as a Product Owner. Learn from your Scrum Master, and start learning about other agile methods (like Lean Production, Kanban, Extreme Programming and the like) as well. Be prepared to help driving the change necessary to make your company as successful as possible.
Scrum Classes
Attending a class will usually teach you the Scrum framework from the point of view of one of the Scrum roles. But beforehand you already should have a clear understanding of what Scrum is. The two days usually used are too short to learn enough to do a good job tomorrow.
Scrum Trainings
If you have good luck, your employer will engage an external training company to ensure the benefits of Scrum will occur as soon as possible. The advantage of an on-site training is that it will not only teach you the Scrum framework, but help your company to implement Scrum immediately and correctly.
Scrum Coaching
In case you took over the role of a Scrum Master with little knowledge about Scrum, you may want to engage someone as a coach who teaches you Scrum. If so, try to find someone who offers a contract with several disjunct training days (instead of subsequent ones) and who grants you the right to ask questions via electronic messages during the period of a year or so.
Certification
I gained my Certified Scrum Product Owner certificate just by attending a class for two days. There were about 30 attendees, and there was no test at all. After the event, I was automatically subscribed as a member of the Scrum Alliance and was able to download my certificate in PDF format. Meanwhile this process has changed so that prospects have to perform an online test.
Additionally, one of the two propellerheads of Scrum, Ken Schwaber, who was a co-founder of the Scrum Alliance also, has founded Scrum.org, an alternative training and certification organisation. His certificates are available as an online test without the requirement to attend a class beforehand.
Boris Gloger complains about both certification processes as being the same and tries to provide an alternative, where added value for the individual and her employer is the main goal[5].
Currently the complete process of gaining certificates is changing. I’m really curious what the market will look like in two years or so.
Conclusion
To become a good Scrum practitioner, some advice from an expert is required. Of course you can try to do it the hard way by trial and error, but it is not really efficient as you will waste some valuable time.
Scrum is about learning day by day, following the »inspect and adapt« principle. Become a good Scrummer before you decide to gain a certificate. In case you pay your certification privately, it is obvious that you need to get a multiple back by an increased salary. But your current (or next) employer will not pay it just because you got the paper. It will only reward you in case you can prove that you are willing and able »to increase the wealth of their owners.«
1 I apologize for relying on german tongue resources
2 Boris Gloger, »Scrum – Produkte zuverlässig und schnell entwickeln« 2011, ISBN 978-3-446-42524-8, page XI
3 Scrumjobs.com, privately owned by Boris Gloger and André Häusling, is a personnel consulting company focussing on agile experts. I am not related to either of them, but from all books I read, theirs inspired me most.
4 Boris Gloger, »Scrum – Produkte zuverlässig und schnell entwickeln« 2011, ISBN 978-3-446-42524-8, pages 4 through 7
5 Boris Gloger, André Häusling »Erfolgreich mit Scrum – Einflussfaktor Personalmanagement« 2011, ISBN 978-3-446-42515-6, pages 81 through 85
