Many people continue to ask me, “What does it take to become a CST (Certified Scrum Trainer)?”

I have been a CST for many years now and have had the incredible opportunity to travel the world, meet awesome new people, and help train (and mentor) new people in the possibilities of what Scrum can deliver for teams.

For the past few months, the Scrum Alliance has been looking for input on a new CST process. I have included input early on (both in person at some face-to-face meetings and via some of the discussion groups).

The decision of the new CST process will be completed by the Board of Directors of the Scrum Alliance, the non-profit organization that certifies people as Scrum Masters in a variety of programs — including the creation of new Certified Scrum Trainers.

The note below was sent to the various lists of people who have been coming up with many competing ideas for what the “new” CST process should look like.

This is no way reflects any point of view other than my own, and I wanted to put some transparency on this topic out to the Scrum community because there are some good observations we can all take and move forward with as our community continues to grow.

Comments are welcome, as usual. Please tweet about this and send it to your friends and enemies who may be interested in what is happening within this community.

I have no inside information about “what” will happen. I am not involved in the decision process.

I *will* support whatever decision comes from the Board of Directors at the Scrum Alliance.

Here is the e-mail I sent (it is a bit long!) to the current CSTs and some of the lists of teams that are creating competing processes….

========

Please note: I have cross posted this note to a few groups discussing
the new CST process… this is a long posting and I am mainly doing it
to get some thoughts out of my head. I am not asking you to agree or
disagree (smile)].

Hi all,

I’d like to just pipe in for a few moments to express some reasons for
me being relatively silent to the various “camps” coming up with new
ideas for a CST process. I’ll relate this (good or bad) using the
framework I and others teach about facilitating great retrospectives.

[tangent on]

I have the courage to state this because I think many others who have
been silent on this topic may feel the same way (based on feedback
over the years of being with this group).

Being an introvert (as many people are in this community [we found out
recently by meeting face-to-face in Orlando]), I work very hard — by
example — to try and show others how we must step out of our comfort
zones to get better (and in the case of Orlando, I thank Jean for
stepping in and help us all keep it a positive and successful event as
Jim had to bow out at the last minute for personal life reasons!). I
highly recommend someone else step out of their comfort zone and
facilitate the next meeting face-to-face.

[tangent off]

I am a current CST and have been for a while. As many people know, I
am extremely passionate about this topic and love teaching others the
possible benefits for them in their organizations. Over the years of
doing this (both coaching and training teams internationally), I have
personally mentored and been mentored by many of the people both
within and outside of the CST group. I am continually humbled by the
incredible experiences and passion of the people in this group and
amazed at how we *somehow* continually move forward.

When the stage was set for this new introduction of a CST process, I
understood the message from Tobias of the basic rules of this and we
were able to all have input, with a decision to be made by the Board
of Directors on March 28.

Then, I watched as we started gathering data. In this phase, I
observed that the various groups got into the serious phases of trying
to setup norms for the goal and then rapidly enter into the storming
phase.

When people are not involved in this storming phase face-to-face, our
non-verbal communications (90% +) are *lost* in just pure emails. The
groups continually went back to forming and into storming as new
people came into the different and various conversations. Some new
ideas came out of meeting face-to-face in both Orlando and other
places.

Many insights were being generated.

Then, various ideas and sub-teams split off so people could get out of
both the forming and storming phases into the norming phase. This is
now where a lot of the sub-teams are in today. Feedback within each
of these teams now has been much different as I watch from the outside
as an observer. There are at least four proposals for the Board of
Directors to decide upon.

We are coming soon to the point where the Board of Directors will have
to complete the next phase — deciding what to do. This is an
incredibly important decision for both current and future CSTs.

A decision WILL be made. It has to be done. It is part of the
process that must be DONE in order to move forward.

When the decision is made, we will close the decision process.

Then.

As a group, we will then go back to the forming stages and figure out
how to inspect and adapt this updated CST process.

It will change over time as we attempt to implement it. It will not
be perfect. It never is.

And this is OK.

As we scale the CST group even more, we will actually see this pattern
continue. I say this because this has been a problem facing CSTs
since the “early days” when we were a very small group. Now, all the
issues continue to be required to scale. And this will continue.

I have personally made the decision to stay [relatively] quiet
throughout this process because of a statement I interpreted early on
as being, “Shut up.”

So, I did.

Why?

I understood that the process I described above would eventually
unfold. It was a personal decision on my part, and I applaud all the
people who have been involved on the various proposals. Thank you all
for doing that.

And.

As of March 28th, a decision will be made.

I have personally decided to work with and embrace any changes that
will be required as we move forward — even if I do not agree with it
100% (as with the many contracts I have had to sign with the Scrum
Alliance in the past as a CST). I know it will not be something that
I reject 100% (and if for some reason it is, I will decide to leave
and do something else — remember, we all have a choice to do this or
go and do something else).

As a group, we need to move forward and perform on our ideas.

It will not be easy.

I hope others will join me, and encourage you to do this. If you
decide not to embrace the continual changes, leave. Really. Maybe
start something competitive (as we have seen some key founders of the
Scrum Alliance do in the past). It is OK!

This is the only way we will be able to move forward and inspect and adapt.

Let’s see what happens. Let’s also keep doing what we have committed
to do as CSTs — keep doing the best we can as the professionals we
are.

And.

Keep learning with the people who are willing to do this with us. We
all have a choice to do this.

I hope this expresses some of the reasons I have been [relatively]
silent during this process, and some of the observations I have made
[correctly or incorrectly, I accept that responsibility].

It is not that I do not care.

I am extremely passionate about what I do and will continue to learn
how to get better with each new person I work with around the world.

Thanks for reading this long thought process.

- mike vizdos

First, let me apologize for not getting the latest comic strip to you.

As I write this, I am reflecting on the past week (plus) where I traveled to London, did a free talk as soon as I landed, facilitated my first [awesome] CSM class in London, hopped back on a plane to the USA, spent the morning with my youngest kid, drove three hours south to Raleigh, NC, and have spent the past two days teaching one of the most advanced public class I have done in a while — and thank all the participants here for helping me up my own game.

And now.

I am cooked.

I am actually holding back driving to Richmond tonight so I do not wind up on the side of the road.  Or rather, in a ditch somewhere.

So.

Cartoon.

Coming soon.

I’ll probably be “off the grid” for the next few days (see my facebook and twitter status – link to me via the sidebar on the right of the site) for blogging.

On Sunday I am headed to Boise, Idaho for an incredible group on Monday and Tuesday, then am heading over to Phoenix on Wednesday, where I teach Thursday and Friday.  (www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll). It sounds like user group meetings will happen in each place I am.

So.

I am trying to keep the “balance” on in life (whatever that is), and accept responsibility for not “being there” for all you, constant readers.

I hope there is a lesson in it for all of us .

Keep pluggin’ along where you are.

You are making a difference!

- mike
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

[warning -- a little bit long -- over 802.13453223 words -- sorry]

This week has been instrumental in helping me get some great clarity of where I am taking the site in the future.  Some people I know missed my original posting earlier this week — so if you did not read them go back a few posting to see what has lead to this posting tonight!

I am headed out this weekend (a camping trip with my two boys) and will return on Monday afternoon.

And.

I have no travel plans for next week.

So here is the Product Backlog for the site (prioritized, not estimated yet) — we’ll see what makes it to the Sprint Backlog for next week.

1) Cartoons – Publish one translated (of the original chicken and pig) along with a new one (this is actually on Sprints!).  We have three more comic strips in the pipeline for release on the blog in the future.

2) Job Board – The infrastructure is setup.  Now we need about 3-5 people to help bring it to fruition.  I need to schedule a call or start an email thread with those who are interested in helping me on this project.  If you are, please contact me and you’ll hear from me early next week.

3) Training Material – The infrastructure is setup.  I need to publish the rollout plan for making this happen and start implementing it next week by people signing up for a new list.  The goal will be to get people enough information on an on-going basis that they can then take it back to their locations and deliver it with ease. Options will include FREE, a subscription to talk to the trainers who are developing this (and recorded web-casts), and of course on-site paid consultation with me and other trainers to help you jump-start the tailoring process and we will work with you hand-in-hand to develop and even co-teach the class with you.  The free information will be just as good as the other available options… I promise that!  I’ll need you to keep me honest on that!

4) Remember that “Scrum on a Page” that I asked for comments on a few months ago.  Wow.  I had so much information to synthesize that I am now ready to meet with Tony and have him do a “Implementing Scrum” overhaul on it to match the site.  This will become the cornerstone of the site and will be used in multiple ways.  I am super-excited about this!  And.  It will not be perfect; however, just like the theme of our site, we need to have something to start those tough conversations.  I think this will hit that mark!

5) Build a small affiliate program.  As many of you know, I travel a LOT around the world.  One of the ways this is possible is by making sure I can sell seats into the workshops (or create billable consulting hours).  If you are interested in becoming an affiliate for selling seats into my classes — or even consulting engagements — this is the time for you to contact me and let me know your interest.  The model rocks, and will be rolled out soon too.

6) I am in need of a developer to help me take an XML file and run it through some sort of converter so that I do not have to manually create the page www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll.  I have access to the XML file and I’d like the output to look similar to what is out there today.  This is something that just irks me because the data is available and without automation we have dual work to do (bad thing!).

7) I need to port the site www.michaelvizdos.com to a wordpress site.  The infrastructure is setup.  Just time is needed to actually do it.  Fun stuff.  But… I need to keep driving revenue from that site and keeping the implementingscrum.com site as free from advertisers as possible (I hope you enjoy that it REALLY does not have any advertising except for some things about me.

I need a few people who can commit to checking the forum a few days per week and making sure that spam does not get interjected.  I have been really bad at checking this on a regular basis and know the forum is an important place for REAL people using Scrum to exchange information.  Interested?  Please let me know.  I’d appreciate it.

So, this is the PRODUCT backlog of what I have going on just for the site.  This is in addition to all the traveling I am currently doing and plan on doing in the future.

Have a great weekend!

If you have any input on the priority of things listed above, please comment about it here and I will listen to all my stakeholders (you) [smile].

Thank you, again, for everything you do. 

- mike vizdos

Is this selfish of us doing this?

We will promise that you will not be able to “certify” new Scrum Masters (from the point of view of the Scrum Alliance, a non-profit organization).  

Does this matter?

If you *would* like “Certified” trainers to come in and help with your training roll-outs — we are available to do that.  In the end, we have realized that there is more of a need to get people exposed to the Certified Scrum Training materials that a few of us have been selling (the training services of) for many years.

Here is the plan.

Try to use this information in your organization.

If you need help, contact one of us who have basically open-sourced our full two-day CSM class.

Fair?

Inspect and Adapt.

Let’s see where it leads.

Ready?

Contact us for more information on how to get this information. Now!

Also.

Contact us with your success stories!

Thanks for believing in this.

Let’s see where it goes!

- Mike Vizdos (mvizdos@gmail.com)

Hope this is helpful for those who both attended and are reading this from afar // after…

I sat in on a discussion between Alistair Cockburn and Ken Schwaber at the Scrum Gathering in Orlando today (March 16, 2009).

It was basically a summary of what Alistair learned while co-teaching a CSM course with Ken Schwaber as he became one of “us” (a Certified Scrum Trainer, which I am one of LOL).

The list went something like this…

“You Thought You Knew Scrum?”

=====

1. Treat people as adults.

2. Teach “Ask the Team” by actually asking the team during class.

3. 3 Bells. Deliver. Ask the Team. Inspect and Adapt.

4. Scrum is a mirror.

5. Scrum with beginners produces crap.

6. Scrum is a genetic algorithm.

[oops... running out of time soon... darn time boxing]

…. and Alistair had an “aha” moment… “Continuous “us” improvement”…

7. The team does not fail a Sprint — Inspect and Adapt.

8. Don’t shun the Project Managers – turn them into Servant Leaders and Impediment Removers.

======

The bantering between Ken and Alistair was fun to watch, and as a trainer I learned some new things. There were a lot of discussions of the “list” of eight things.

This list was typed out in front of the audience as we went along through the session.

My thoughts… (an “a ha” moment in Alistair speak)…

One of the things I have been reminded of is that we all teach the Certified ScrumMaster class a little differently.

Which is a good thing. As the market continues to get flooded by new Certified Scrum Trainers, it will be up to the consumer to decide which stay and which go… and this will happen over time. There are a lot of Scrum training courses around the world… PLEASE do your due diligence before stepping into one!

And.

I think I need to create a cartoon character for Alistair (smile).

So last week I spent in Santa Clara, California, learning from some of my mentors and friends and co-workers in the agile industry and beyond.  Wow.  It was an incredible experience and I was fortunate enough to be able to also present a few different sessions there.

Yes, you have noticed as I have that we have not published a new cartoon lately.  Yes.  This is my responsibility.

I am taking time to learn more in this craft of agile and Scrum.

This week, I will be in Orlando, Florida, for a few days with the Scrum Community and then the Scrum Trainers at the end of this week.

For up-to-date information, follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/mvizdos.

And.

If you want to meet more people in the industry — follow the “mark” of #scrumgathering there.  If you are there, tag your posts on twitter with that hashmark — and let’s see where things lead.

I promise we’ll get back on track with the comic strips soon.  In the mean time — let’s learn more and check out your favorite comic strips on this site.

Comment away!

You may also see some surprises coming from me.  Who’d think.  From me? (smile).

Welcome to a new week…..

How about this.

I am working with some other Scrum Trainers right now in preparing something that is so mind-blowing in our community that well, the repricussions may be felt around our little universe.

Really.

It is THAT big.

Our Sprint One on the project we are working on will be completed and ready to roll into Production — immediately following our first iteration — will be unveiled on January 5, 2009.

This is an opportunity of a lifetime.

Just as the journey to get us all here today has been fun — you WILL receive new tools and knowledge that has yet to be released into the wild.

Woot.

There will be a sign-up page for this coming soon.

So this list can continue concentrating on announcements and cartoons, while this new list will allow you to gain greater power, have better sex, and start changing the world.

OK.

So maybe not have better sex… but I always wanted to say that in a blog posting (smile).

More soon.

YOU ROCK!

Thank you,

- mike vizdos

www.michaelvizdos.com

www.implementingscrum.com

Non-fiction?  Fiction?  It really does not matter.

And this book you read… what did you DO after you read the book?

Did you put it back on your book shelf?

Did you even finish it (smile — you see, *I* start a LOT of books!)

And there it gathers dust until one day… for some reason… you got the urge to pick it back up again.

Started at the beginning.

Or maybe a few pages back from where you left your bookmark.

And.

What did you learn after re-reading the same book again?

Anything?

Think.  Really Think. [challenge ON my reader!]

Now.

What if you read a bunch of books on a topics after using Google to search for “Scrum.” [Note: Page 1 baby!]

And.

What if you read a bunch of cool blogs on the topic of Scrum (like www.implementingscrum.com or my personal site at www.michaelvizdos.com).

And.

Did nothing with that information.

Until.

One day, you took a class from someone experienced who tied together the real-life version with the book version of the topic.

Then.

You went back and read the “books” again.

What happened?

Was it the same experience or were you able to read it from a totally new perspective?

Please share via comments…. I am looking forward to continue learning with you!

Thank you,

- mike vizdos

I know.  I know.  It’s hard to believe.

After a long hiatus, Tony and I are back and committed to weekly releases of comic strips once again.  Since literally blowing past our two-year birthday, we love to see our “original” members from the beginning hanging in there and all the “new” people joining every day.

You’ll see it around this time tomorrow.

Please do us a facor and pass this on to your teams, family, and friends who may be interested in this type of information.  If people sign up via email, they (you???) will get free stuff (always a good thing) from me.

As the travel season winds down from totally insane to just a little nutsy for the remainder of the year, I will be able to spend more time with you — my lifeblood of the community and friends that I have met or have yet to meet one day.

Thanks again, and have an incredible week. I am off to Kansas City for a few days.

- mike vizdos

www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

This is a blog entry I have been meaning to write for a while.

Earlier this year I met with Ken Schwaber at his house for an awesome discussion with other people too.

In the past (August 2002 – August 2006) Ken used to issue the Certified ScrumMaster certificates as a piece of paper directly from him.

How times have evolved.

Now, it is an agreement between you and the Scrum Alliance, a non-profit organization.

And.

It is electronic (via a PDF file).

One of the questions that came up while I was there was, “What happened to all the old original certificates?”

He took me down to his basement.

In a dark dark corner, underneath a sweat band was the pile of original agreements.

My question was answered.

I assume mine is somewhere near the bottom of that pile.

And some people say some things never change.

Just thought I’d share this incredibly useful information with you (smile).

Wow.

This is post #200 on the site.  Not bad for just over 2 years of working together.

Thanks for reading!

- mike vizdos

Pls contact me directly if you’d like me to work with your team on Wednesday next week!

Also… Cartoons restarting SOON.

This week I am doing a quick hop from Richmond to Seattle.

I am headed to San Diego next week and I need a place to host a class on Monday and Tuesday. If u have a room available please contact me directly offline from here asap.

I’ll be speaking at the users group there on Tuesday night and right now have some billable time opening on wednesday – lemme know if you’d be interested in me stopping by and working with your team.

I am then at a private client on Thursday and Friday.

Hope all is well.

Tony and I are cranking up the cartoons again very soon. I know that is the main reason you love visiting the site!

Have a great day.

-mike Vizdos

The temperature this evening is down to a cool 98 degrees (it was up over 110 today).  Either way you look at it hot = hot.  But I do love this town.  Wow.  What great people.  And great Pigs.

Or Hogs.

See.  I walked down my hall this morning to get to my car and there were 2 umm, warthogs (??) blocking my way out of the hallway.  They had little leashes on, but all I heard was the snorking sound I usually make when sleeping (trust me, as all those people around the world who have slept with me can tell you — wait, that did not sound right.  Nevermind.  Ask my wife .).).)….

So.  I turned around and walked to the front desk and bugged the lady at the front desk (as she was kicking out a crack whore from this primo hotel) about the hogs, and she said, “Oh, Piggies! [she sounded EXCITED]  They are pets of a quest.”

Man, I cannot make this up.

Stop laughing.

Yeah, I am living high on the hog babeeeeeeeee.

Now that I “know” /pigges/ are residents at this fine motel, I may hunt them down for pictures in the morning.  Trust me.  I am all over that.  Maybe I will bring them some bacon from the breakfast buffet.

Wait.

No breakfast buffet here.

So much for that sick joke.

But.

I will pick up a picture with the two little cuties and see what kind of pig-hog-swine-yuck-ill I can get from this trip as I hop over the crack whores to get to my car in the morning.

I am teaching a CSM Class in Phoenix this week with an up-an-coming Certified Scrum Trainer Ken Ward (his paperwork is “in the pipeline” with the ScrumAlliance).  I learn a lot teaching each class like this with other people, and today was not any different.  I heard that people appreciated the honest and open feedback from both Ken and I about our life experiences with Scrum and how it fits into delivering working software.

Day one of the shift in thinking.  Big one was letting go of PM versus ScrumMaster Role.

Now.. is the ScrumMaster a LEADER or a FACILITATOR.

People left — as usual — with even more questions that answers.

Tomorrow we plan to tie together their quesitons with even more of the “how to” within Scrum, along with a pretty amped-up simulation and then open it up for real world questions and answers.

Fun should be had by all.

So… End of day.

Almost.

This evening I had the opportunity to interview Alan Dayley and I plan on putting it up on the system to our email subscribers this Thursday evening.  So if you have not yet signed up for email updates, please go to www.implementingscrum.com/subscribe.

In addition to the newest interview with Alan, you’ll get a two-part series which includes an introduction to Scrum.

Membership has is pigvlidges.  Get it?  PIGvlidges.  OK… So yeah, I still suck at jokes.

Have a great day.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

www.michaelvizdos.com

www.implementingscrum.com

Wow what a day. What a week.

I finished up Day Two of the Vancouver CSM class yesterday. And wow… the changes that I see coming to Vancouver just based on the people leaving that class. Awesome people.

Today I played the plane game and landed in Phoenix tonight. 108 degrees when I landed. H.O.T. 104 when the sun was going down. Let’s hope the room is air conditioned for the next two days!

As you noticed, there are no videos that I promised on Monday night. I am hoping I can take 4 more videos tomorrow and put together a good show for you tomorrow night. We’ll see how it works and how the participants think about showing up on youtube and the net.

Until then…. Have a great evening or day!

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

p.s. And remember… If you or your friends [or enemies] have not signed up for FREE updates to this blog, please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum via Email!

Fear not, our “regular” comic strips will be continuing soon at the site. Tony (our artist) is taking some well-earned downtime with his family and if anything, Dominic (my son) will get us something to fill in next week.

So this week I am in Vancouver for a few days. I travel a lot (duh) and have been to over 25 countries. First time in Canada. For some reason my passport did not play well with their system. Spent over an hour in their “special room.” No strange probes in my exit only places. Just funny and humorous “Strange Brew” accents; which I actually did not mind with the hot babes doing the inquiries. O well. Life of a world traveler (smile).

So today I taught Day One of the CSM course. About 20 people, most of whom met for the first time. I actually recorded the output of one of the simulations I do, and will post it for you to view tomorrow night.

It is nothing exciting, but it does show you what total strangers can put together using Scrum in a simulated environment. They will not win any youtube video awards… but for regular readers, this will be interesting to see how different people produce totally different products from the same Product Backlogs. I may continue doing this with my public classes in the future…. fun stuff and good for learning.

I did not create a video of the debrief of the session; each one is different for each class. And I hope we can learn from what we see moving forward.

Have a great evening.

Am headed to Phoenix Wednesday morning to teach on Thursday and Friday.

Fun week.

Smile and I hope your Monday was awesome!

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

p.s. And remember… If you or your friends [or enemies] have not signed up for FREE updates to this blog, please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum via Email!

Hey.

I’ll be in Boise next week for a public class (July 8-9, 2008). As usual, I can offer a discount to any readers here — to see the dates and register check out www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll.

And.

As usual, I will also offer up time to hang out if someone wants to meet “off hours” to discuss Scrum, the Universe, or anything even if you cannot attend the class/workshop.

I’d also be open to recording some videos or other conversations. Or not.

Never been up there before… should be fun!

Let me know. Or let your friends know. No enemies please.

Thanks.

- mike vizdos

Need to explain the title first (smile).

I grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, and for those of you who know the area will concede that a LOT of very very old ancient people live there; the same holds through for Tampa.

During the winter, these people are called “SnowBirds”; during the rest of the year they just smell up their houses with old grandma and grandpa smells.

You all know what I am talking about (smile… really!).

Aneeehow… I had a GREAT Thursday and Friday CSM Workshop in Tampa this week. It was made up of a huge variance of expertise and skills of people implementing Scrum.

And.

It seemed like all people really were there because they wanted to be there. This helps immensely.

Now, normally my “sweet spot” for a class (based on experience around the world) is 16 people, with my max today being 26 at the most. Good guideline, and we exceeded it a bit. The largest class I was on my own for was almost 40 people in a foreign land. Oh joyous rapture was that for all (smile).

Last night (Thursday) i met up with a few people who are trying to get a local Agile / Scrum group kicked off the ground in Tampa. If you need more information about this — please contact me and I will make the connections for you.

A huge shout-out to Maureen for setting it up. THANK YOU!

The comments today were pretty typical (some people felt rushed, some people felt overwhelmed, some people absolutely loved it, etc.). The bottom line I can say is that each person in the workshop walked out knowing more about Scrum than they did just 48 hours earlier.

How they now go out and implement this in their organizations is up to them.

And as a Certified Scrum Trainer, I am OK with that. I know my job is done for now, until they continue the journey and as for more help in the future (or I ask them for help in the future).

Got some great ideas for comic strips and more blog write-ups too.

One final note: I am now charging up my latest toy Productivity Enhancer and will be planning on debuting it out in California next week. If all goes well, readers of the blog should have some new media to look over.

Have fun.

Let’s try.

And keep learning!

Peace Out.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

p.s. And remember… If you or your friends [or enemies] have not signed up for FREE updates to this blog, please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum via Email!

p.p.s. –> Meet me in Irvine next week!

Well, I landed this evening to my home State of Florida — still a five hour drive across the state to get to where I grew up, so that will not happen this trip.

But.

Tonight I was lucky enough to meet my ex-next-door-neighbor (his name is Ed) from when we were kids. The guy is like a brother to me. And last month, I was able to re-connect with another great childhood friend when I was in Michigan.

So anyway, tonight Ed and his awesome wife (a EE) met me for dinner a little way up north of Tampa. It was great.

And on the way back to the hotel, I was reminded of the great Florida “Heat Lightening” at night (like there is any other kind)?

And.

Now I am sitting on my deck at the hotel looking over Tampa Bay and thinking things here do not suck.

Hot yes.

Lots of lightening, yes.

But definitely not sucking.

I am excited that tomorrow I will be working with a rather large CSM class, and hope that all attendees learn as much as I do about Scrum while I am teaching it.

Huh?

Does this mean I do not know what Scrum is about?

No.

It DOES mean I learn from every class I teach. Be it seven or seventy people.

Each one is different.

Like the teams you work on.

Hmmm.

Nice how it all pulls together tonight.

I’ll have more tomorrow.

For those of you in the USA, I’ll give you my sneak-peak at the 30+ cities I will be in for the rest of this year.

One of the things I love doing is meeting up with either University or local Agile Groups. So if you see any city near you on the list, let me know if you’d like to coordinate something with me.

That list will come out tomorrow as a preview to you.

For tonight, I think I will continue watching the lightening show.

Peace Out.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

p.s. And remember… If you or your friends [or enemies] have not signed up for FREE updates to this blog, please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum via Email!

p.p.s. –> Meet me in Irvine next week!

Although the Tampa CSM class has been sold out this coming week, if you are interested in meeting us for beer Thursday evening I’ll post the location as an update later this week.

Looking forward to an awesome class down there this week.

My next public CSM class is in Irvine, California on June 17-18. Details can be found at www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

p.s. And remember… If you or your friends [or enemies] have not signed up for FREE updates to this blog, please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum via Email!

OK.

So what was I talking about a few nights ago with the cartoon posting above?

It really truly is not politically correct.

In no sense of any being.

But.

It is HIlarious to me.

Because it can help me make a point.

Actually tonight, eight points.

Eight Points.

Just for you.

How is that for a Thursday night or Friday morning?

Hmm.

Think about it this way.

You are arriving on “Fantasy Island” if you think…

1) You can stock the Product Backlog without a Product Owner present during Planning Poker

2) The definition of “Done” is not important to anyone

3) BurnDown Charts are useless, actually more useless of tracking tasks

4) The CSM Workshop is a waste of your time

5) You can pronounce the last name for

Ricardo

(c’mon Fantasy Island Buffs (or OK… is there even a “buff” reading this?))

6) Documentation is not needed on any agile projects

7) Scrum is a Silver Bullet

You can get a date with the “Hot” ScrumMaster replacement (smile) or Jessica Alba or with some hot babe with her Bottom Up.

9) This cartoon is about SCUBA Diving [strangely enough this is one of the most downloaded cartoon on this site)

…. OK.

Enough for now.

Man.

I can go on for a while.

But I think you get the picture.

What have I missed?

Now….

Do you see where you can spend a lot of time on Fantasy Island?

Do you want to leave it?

Really?

Why?

Gotta run! Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

More information on www.michaelvizdos.com.

Thank you!

- mike
www.implementingscrum.com

Just wanted to let you know I will be in Boston teaching a CSM Class next week in Boston. If you are interested, please contact me offline! I may also be available for a pub run on Wednesday evening too (smile).

Thank you.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

I am overwhelmed right now.

So I am going to admit I am human (smile) and will post a new cartoon next week.

The good news is I have had a GREAT week working with teams and learning tons.

About a lot of things.

My apologies.

- mike vizdos

Well, as I write this I am sitting in a hotel room in wonderment of the airline system in the USA. Guess I will get home tomorrow morning. I had a great class this week in Chicago and, as usual, I learned a lot. It was a great class with a lot of interesting and challenging questions.

And.

I think I received a really great complement.

“This is one of the only classes I have never fallen asleep in.”

Was this good?

Or was it a slam?

Personally, seeing the engagement of this person during the class over two days, I was impressed with his engagement and participation levels. This person has been in the industry for many more years than I have, and he added a lot of value to the class.

I am taking it as a complement (smile).

Assume positive intent.

Heh.

So…. Next week I will be presenting another CSM workshop in Oklahoma City on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are interested, we have a few seats left and I am always open to having others attend. If you cannot attend and would be interested in meeting before or after the class, please contact me off this blog and we can see if something can be set up.

I am happy it is Friday.

I am happy tomorrow afternoon I will be home hanging with my kids and wife.

Spring is coming in Richmond, VA.

Sounds like a cookout at my house tomorrow night.

And there is some great stuff coming next week.

As usual.

Hope you have a great weekend — or, if you are reading this on Monday — welcome to Monday morning!

Thank you,

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

[Sales voice on.... sorry gotta make a living! But keep reading as you may actually be able to meet me in person without paying a dime (maybe a beer or two!)]

I will be up on the upper east side of Manhattan on Monday and Tuesday this coming week (St. Patty’s day!) teaching a CSM Workshop.

If you are interested, please contact me or visit www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll to sign-up.

If you know anyone who is interested in a fun workshop (and you cannot go) — please pass along this information to them… Actually, either way, please pass this on to people who may be interested [thank you]!

Oh, and if you are reading this from someone who passed this along TO you (or if you have not done so already)…

Please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum by Email and receive any new comics or other announcements we publish on a regular basis.

Now for some inside information…

I am in the process of booking an ADDITIONAL nine or ten public CSM Workshops around North America right now (that’s in addition to those already listed at www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll) ) — so if you do not see one near you yet check back often or let me know if you’d like to book a private class in your organization!

You can also keep your eye on the left sidebar of www.implementingscrum.com for a list of my upcoming public appearances and workshops.

[Sales voice off, thank you for reading this!]

Eek. I really do hate sales talk. Sorry about that.

Now… for the FREE stuff… See… Aren’t you glad you read this far??

Also, as usual, I’ll make the offer to meet anyone reading this outside the class if we can make the timing work.

If you are interested, please let me know.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

OK. So I am not as geeky as I used to be. Especially to some of you reading this blog. But. Um. Errrr…. Uh…. I still code for fun, does that count? And. I work with teams and actually can code when I need to do that?!?!?!?

This coming week will be a three-city-tour for me.

On Monday and Tuesday I am teaching a CSM Workshop in Portland, Oregon. I have a seat or two left if you are interested — see www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll to sign up if you are local or want to hop on a plane there . Or drop me an email and I can offer you a discount for responding to this notice. Discounts are always good. I hope.

On Monday evening I will be meeting with a small group of APLN and other agile people at about 7:30PM local time…. good time for networking and drinking beer or whatever and talking about Scrum or not. If you’d like to attend the “meeting” please contact me off this list.

Wednesday and Thursday I will speaking at a conference (www.sdexpo.com). I’ll send more info later this week about my topic (funs stuff) and if you are interested in meeting please contact me off this list.

I hope you all have a great remainder of the weekend, or — if you are reading this on Monday morning — well…. welcome to Monday! Tony and I have a great comic strip coming to you — as usual — on Monday evening (where ever I am in the world!).

Thank you.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

I want to let you know I will be out and about traveling again over the near term (working with clients and teaching classes and speaking at conferences). I make this announcement to make sure if I am visiting an area you live in (or are interested in traveling to get there) we may have a chance to meet and chat. Plus, it makes traveling a lot more fun for me.

The “official” public places I will be include:

– Certified ScrumMaster Workshop in Portland, Oregon (March 3-4, 2008)
– Speaking on “Scrum in the Real World” at SD West Expo in Santa Clara (March 6, 2008)
– Certified ScrumMaster Workshop in New York City, New York (March 17-18).

Go ahead and check out the links to the workshops and speaking engagements and topics and sign up if you are interested.

More importantly, this is as close to a personal invitation to please contact me so we can actually meet in person // do some professional networking (over a beer or whatever is fine with me!).

It is a small world.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Well, I was able to tell you a little about my first two days of this week. If you have not seen it, go here.

Upon arriving into Richmond (my home base) at about midnight, i got the opportunity to make the final preparations for the Certified ScrumMaster Workshop I would be delivering on Wednesday and Thursday.

It would be yet another great class where the attendees walked out of there with a new respect (as did I) for what Scrum can and cannot do.

I have done this course around the world and have trained on my own, with one other person, and with two other people.

Wow.

What a change this makes to both the overall presentation and the outcome to the attendees.

Is this bad?

The easy answer to this is, “No.”

Can every Certified Scrum Trainer co-teach with other people?

Nope.

When it works though….

It is like magic.

I have been lucky enough to work with multiple trainers around the would (and most are not CST’s).

Lucky?

Am I nuts?

Think about it.

If some initial ground rules are set between the two or three people training the class — it can be extremely more powerful at the end of the two days for the attendees.

The first sentence of this is important.

And.

This last one with another Certified Scrum Practitioner (who is looking to become a Certified Scrum Trainer) worked out very well. It was, to be 100% transparent, a surprise to me.

While I was initially looking for the art of the possible, I also knew our styles of coaching in the past has been wildly (sometimes) divergent in techniques.

I made a bad assumption.

Wow.

Like a lot of things in real life that we all live in.

The course got great feedback (sorry about the air conditioning versus the constant heater war going on with the HVAC system… we finally (at the end of day 2) were shown how to useeeeeee the system). Sigh.

So now there are about 11 new Certified ScrumMasters running around Virginia in one place or another.

I’d say it was one of my best classes (workshops) to date.

Why?

Well… let me know why you think this is so….

Gotta run….Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Forum to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

After leaving town on Sunday late afternoon I arrive in Atlanta (yeah… it was not a hub for me… an actual destination!) and hopped on the MARTA (their train system) to one of the outward bound stations; I arrived around 9:00 PM. Spent the night in a decent Holiday Inn Express (non-smoking, thank you!) and got started at 7:00 AM to head to the training center via the hotel shuttle.

The first class this week was geared toward, “Agile Project Management” and about 14 people had signed up. We had 8 show up.

So.

Eight it would be.

This course talks a lot of Agile from a much different perspective than just “Scrum” — which of course I normally teach to certify new ScrumMasters.

It was a great two day course that I facilitated discussions about topics such as the origins of Agile, Agile Project Management basics, Lean and Agile, XP, Scrum, and a few other topics. As with most of the courses I teach, the feedback was great (OK… so the projector at this site sucked but I could do nothing about it turning black text into blue text).

One good story that came out of this that I feel like sharing includes a story from a company that is implementing XP (Extreme Programming... remember… the Agile Practice that actually talks about engineering practices — Scrum does not by design!). This is not a Fortune 50 company; instead, it is a company that is looking at revenue (religiously??!!) and had brought in Scrum.

What is happening in their shop?

Hmmm…. Something I did not expect.

See. The development team was/is using a modified version of Scrum and XP; and they are blowing away the quality standards that have been measured in the past (however that was).

And.

People starting seeing that the customer was astounded.

That’s a great thing, right?

Uh.

Not really.

Why?

Well…. the company using this modified version of Scrum and XP became so good at producing software without defects that….

… take a breath please….

…. the support team in operations had nothing to do.

The customers had nothing to report as not working.

Fabulous some people would think.

Including me!

But.

The majority of this organizations revenue comes from support and maintenance contracts.

Uh.

See the problem?

Do you?

Really?

And this was from bringing in Agile / Scrum / XP.

Interesting learnings.

I will cover our Richmond CSM class tomorrow.

It was awesome and I did some co-teaching with a non-CST (Certified Scrum Trainers) who should soon be a trainer. Tomorrow I will tell you more about co-teaching with another instructor and why I feel this is something everyone should try.

And try again.

And again.

Again.

I got home from Atlanta at about midnight so I could prepare the for the next days of classes — a CSM class in my home base of Richmond, Virginia. More on the tomorrow. Gotta keep you in some suspense. Or whatever we call that in geek-speak blog worlds.

Have an incredible Friday!

I will be putting in cabinets into the kitchen with my wife. For all those who have taken the course, I’d rate that a 20+ for story points (smile). Hope you understand that reference!

Gotta run….Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Forum to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

Wow. Looks like next week will wind up a little different than I anticipated (smile).

Inspect and adapt. How so very agile of me!

I wanted to let you know I *just* got contracted to do a Certified ScrumMaster Workshop in Richmond, Virginia (my home town right now!). It will be on Wednesday and Thursday, January 30-31, 2008.

You can read more about the class (and others) at http://www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll.

I want to try something new here too… if you mention to me you saw this announcement on implementingscrum.com I will take off $100.00 from the price of the workshop… and group discounts are still available.

Please let me know if you have any questions and have a great day!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

At the end of this month a friend of mine (another CST who I co-train with regularly) is hosting a public Certified ScrumMaster Course in Paris, France. The course will be conducted in French on January 28-29, 2008.

If you are interested in attending the course, please contact me and I will get you in contact with them.

Or if you contact them directly, please let them know you saw it on www.implementingscrum.com!

For a full list of my upcoming workshops and public speaking engagements, please visit www.michaelvizdos.com.

Thank you!

- mike

Quick announcement…

I have a few seats still available for my Certified ScrumMaster Workshop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, next Wednesday and Thursday (January 16-17, 2008).

For details on how the workshop is conducted, please read more about it here or directly from the Scrum Alliance Site.

If you’d like to enroll, you can go directly here. You will also be able to look at upcoming public courses (or workshops) that I will be conducting around the world in the near future.

If you are interested in helping me setup a public (or private) course or workshop, please contact me and we can talk more about it. I can basically go anywhere in the world except for about 12 places the current administration of the US government says I cannot go. Sometimes I guess it pays not to be an American (smile).

Thank you and now back to our regularly scheduled blog entries (whatever those are!).

Have a great day!

PS -> If you just want to hang out and meet after the workshop one day to talk shop, let me know and I will see if we can coordinate it together.

Today, as promised, I will tell you about the debrief related to the exercise for the cartoon this week (see above and yesterday for the actual exercise and the day before for the setup of why we are doing this!).

Please read over the past two days so you get some decent context about what I am about to cover next. It is that important (smile).

After everyone is sitting down and breathing they may actually be looking at you like, “OK, Why the heck have we done this exercise?”

First question for you to think about, then I will go about explaining why we do what we do here.

So.

Why do you think this exercise is done.

Take a moment and think about that before continuing.

I will still be here!

OK. Now that you are back… let me go into how I debrief this exercise.

First, I ask people, “How did this exercise feel?”

Leave it open ended.

And.

Shut up and let someone talk.

They will. They always do. Really.

Depending on the answers, I then take them through a guided tour of the three parts, and then ask a lot of open ended questions about the purpose of each section.

One of the things I constantly work on as both a ScrumMaster and Certified Scrum Trainer is learning how to shut up and listen — and NOT answer the questions I ask. This is a constant struggle for me and something that was pointed while I was co-teaching a class about six months ago; since then I have made sure I am aware of when I do this.

Sorry for the small tangent but I think it is important for you, my reader, that this will be a constant struggle going forward (if it is not — let me know how you are handling it!).

So.

For the first section I ask the “managers” how it felt for them. And let them talk.

Then, I turn it around to the “workers” — and how it felt for them. And. Let them talk.

This starts some light bulbs going off in some of their heads. This is a good thing.

And I point out how few (mainly by asking again) how few people completed this exercise.

No matter where I do this in the world — and it is a lot of places — the results do not vary that much.

So. It is not just a “North American” or “European” or “Indian” or “Insert your country here” thing.

Cool to see in action.

Next, I ask people who “finished” the second part of the exercise.

Almost all do.

Why?

Because they were given instructions on what the end goal was, and they knew how to do it.

It is not rocket science.

And.

Think about how to apply this on your Scrum Team.

It is that easy.

The next section was introduced to me earlier this year and I have had mixed results with it — to my surprise (wow… even I can still get shocked at results LOL).

When I ask people to become “blind” (about a third of the people attending the workshop) and give them the exact same directions as part two of the exercise…. teams doing this do one of two things. They automatically help each other or they let the blind crash into things and other people.

Wow.

How true to life is this on your team today?

How can you change that going forward?

This part of the exercises is reflected upon pretty regularly throughout the remainder of the workshop. And as the days go on, people start to see what this means in their current environment.

Is this something that has opened your eyes?

Will anything change?

Who will initiate that change?

Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

Today, as promised, I will tell you about the exercise related to the cartoon this week (see above and yesterday for more information).

This is an exercise I normally do at a Certified ScrumMaster Workshop on the first morning of the first day; the main reason for doing this is because it drives home a lot of different points that I can then reference as the workshop continues.

It is that powerful.

And.

It is easy to do.

There are three steps to this exercise, and this is not something that I have invented alone.

Today I will talk about the three steps and tomorrow I will debrief about the different sections of what has actually occurred. This is also an example of what I do in real life (smile) with my workshops and exercises.

Step one is to break the team into “managers” (chickens) and “workers” (pigs).

They can self select. One of the first lessons with Scrum and Agile in general (smile).

This is also a good introduction to the terminology of chickens and pigs, along with their “old” versus “new” roles.

The managers are given instructions that they can only tell the worker what to do. The goal is to go sixty paces in about a minute (sometimes two depending on the number of attendees). They can tell the worker to go left, right, forward, backwards, stop, or go. They may not touch the worker.

The worker must listen to all instructions from the boss/manager without question. A pace is a regular pace and people are not allowed to skimp on any of these paces (understand?).

A few things to “prepare” for this: Setup the room beforehand with some masking tape on the floor. People are not allowed outside these boundaries. They can also (for later) represent something very important to the team — organizational constraints.

Say “start” and keep time.

One more thing (ug) — you can become a “barrier” if people are progressing too quickly. This is fun. Heh. Really.
After the time is up, have everyone stop where they are.

Most of the class does not get to sixty paces.

This is normal.

Step two in this exercise is to allow all the people to self organize and get to sixty paces.

It usually takes about thirty seconds from the time you say “start” until the time the team completes this part of the exercise.

When people are done, have them stop and raise their hands.

This third part is the beauty of the exercise and brings home some other points — of which I will write more about tomorrow. I need you to keep coming back and learning more with me!

Ask for people in the room who were born on a even day. Realistically this winds up being less than a third of the attendees.

Now.

Tell them they are blind.

And.

The team must self organize to make sure everyone goes sixty paces.

And.

Nobody can get hurt in the process.

When they are all done (keep a time limit of a minute or two again if needed), have the people sit down at their original seats.

Tomorrow I will go through the questions and answers I debrief with the attendees.

At least the beginning ones.

The lessons learned in this exercise are used throughout the remainder of the Certified ScrumMaster workshop.

Think about the questions that you may have when doing this exercise, and what, as a ScrumMaster working with a team, the implications would be.

Have a great day or evening and I will have more information tomorrow for you.

Gotta run�.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

Thanks for sticking with us last week. We lost a few subscribers but by the end of the week we saw a large net increase. So thank you for helping me get the word out on this site and blog.

I also got some great feedback and ideas for content in the future.

Keep it coming please.

This week we conclude the three part series on the process of hiring a new ScrumMaster.

Part one is here.
Part two is here.
Part three is below (smile).

Part one talked about what a typical HR department posts when frankly, they are clueless on what they really need. The point here is to remember to work with the people posting the positions to make it realistic to what your team is looking to hire.

Really.

Part two talked about the interviewing process. Wow. This can be complicated – for both the potential scrummaster and the team that person may be working with.

Make it fun if you can.

Notice in the comic strip this week that the chicken did not make the final call for selecting a ScrumMaster.

Who should?

The pigs (or the scrum team).

Really.

Why?

Remember this person who will be filling the role of a ScrumMaster for the team is going to be working with the team on a daily basis.

What does a certified ScrumMaster do?

It depends on the circumstance. As I was reminded in a comment from my last comic strip (see the comment at the bottom and feel free to add to it!).

Some teams may actually like and receive a ScrumMaster who professes Scrum as the Silver Bullet.

Personally… I have not seen this work effectively; however, remember that is what I have found working with the teams around the world.

Remember though… everyone is different and we need to remember situations and teams need different things depending on their — or your — needs.

The last part of this comic strip talks about the possible need for a ScrumMaster to have to sit through the class for training anyway (and no it is not just to learn the “Secret Handshake of a ScrumMaster” (sigh).

Or.

Whatever training the Organization requires.

Read that last sentence and remember it!

Sometimes it is like the Dilbert comic I think many people have seen (and sent me!) this week. More on that later I think (smile)… this posting is long enough for today!

So.

What are you going to do differently when hiring your next ScrumMaster?

Anything?

Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

It sounds like people are getting some good value for their time (always a great thing!) while reading the Scrum Community

I hope all is going well out there in your world today (or this evening, depending on where in the world you are!).

Today we continue examining some of the postings and related comments at www.implementingscrum.com and the Scrum Community.

This entry is going to ask you to look at the topic, “Scrum vs. PMBoK“. Go ahead and take a look at it.

Thoughts?

You may also want to check out the following blog postings and comments related to this topic:

Wanted: Certified ScrumMaster.
Why are ManHole Covers Round?
More Fun Than Watching Paint Dry. Or Grass Grow.

Learn anything new or change your current perspective?

Please share it with us on the forum!

Thanks for continuing to read this — or welcome new people reading and subscribing to this forum!

- mike vizdos

Have a great day and thank you for your time.

- mike vizdos
www.implementingscrum.com
www.michaelvizdos.com

PS –> Want to join the Forum? Click here!

So. Last week I wrote about the atrocities I am seeing out there today in trying to fill new spots with the role of a ScrumMaster.

Wow.

It is amazing what people are doing.

As the comic strip above depicts, it is not always an easy thing to do.

So what should you be looking for in a new ScrumMaster — or someone to come in and coach some of your new Certified ScrumMasters?

One word.

Sorry… make that two.

“Fail Fast.”

This is something I have found as a trait that successful ScrumMaster candidates I have worked with show as a great attribute.

“Huh Mike?” you may be asking yourself.

Let me put it to you this way.

If you are interviewing some Super-Duper-ScrumMaster who appears to walk-on-water and always-has-THE-answer, can I give you a solid word of advice?

RUN!

Fast.

Or throw the candidate some stupid, off-the-wall question like they used to do (maybe they still do) over at Uncle Bill’s house of pain?

I consider myself a good ScrumMaster and Certified Scrum Practitioner and Certified Scrum Trainer. I work with many clients around the world on those thorny “Scrum Issues” and, in reality, I do not give them the answers.

Instead, I try to work with them to see if they can come up with their own answers.

Now.

Many of my prospects (or sometimes clients) do not like that way of working with me. They want me to come in like “Captain Obvious” and save the day.

Over time, I have learned this is not the best way for me to be effective.

Or.

Some teams do not like to have to “figure out” their own issues.

Some teams do not like how it feels to, “Fail Fast.”

And.

This concerns me.

If someone comes in spewing some Scrum Religion BS silver bullet theory — be very cautious.

If someone comes in with some war wounds and is humbled to be in your presence…. it may be worth a further look and more conversation.

This is only my opinion.

But I have seen it start to work in the real world.

Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I am finishing up a class on Agile Requirements in Philadelphia. It has been a great experience for me (today) and expect that the class will be a success when I leave tomorrow.

I will be headed to Arizona late tomorrow night to teach a CSM Workshop on Thursday and Friday; it is sold out and there will be a great mix of people in attendance.

Throughout today, and into tomorrow and the rest of the week — I commit to making sure that I do not “dog” traditional Project Managers but instead try to point out why anyone would have a hard time (sometimes) making the transition from traditional waterfall projects to more agile techniques.

This is something I blogged about yesterday in my current posting for the week.

One day at a time my friends and readers.

I will continue to let you know how it goes this week.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate all of your feedback and opinions!

One of the topics I see a lot (in fact, after Tony sent me the comic over the weekend, I saw a similar question on one of the yahoo groups) is, “What is the value of a Certified ScrumMaster?” I have written about the topic here (wow this is the most popular comic strip on the site!) and a summary of others here (and talked about it in person all around the world).

This is not just a question I see in the USA. This is worldwide.

Remember this!

And.

The other question I see coming from this is, “Do I need to hire a Certified ScrumMaster help me?”

This week the comic depicts what a lot of Chickens struggle with.

And Pigs.

And even newly Certified ScrumMasters.

Really.

And it is OK.

But. And you knew a “but” would be coming….

I want you to help me get the word out to the various people looking to hire a Certified ScrumMaster that it is not as easy as “just” placing an ad on one of the online job boards and hoping you will come up with the right person.

Huh?

Just to remind myself that I am not totally insane (just a little, as people who know me can attest), I went out looking on some of the more popular job boards and did a search on a few keywords — like “Certified ScrumMaster” and “Scrum” and for kicks I did a combination of “PMP (or PMI) and Scrum” in various combinations.

Ug.

It is scary what is out there today.

As I was reminded last week during a CSM Workshop I was teaching, I should not keep promoting the “divide” between traditional waterfall method Project Managers and Certified ScrumMaster roles.

It got me thinking.

Wow. I do this. And it is not a good thing.

So. I will try — and this will be hard for me (and think about it… possibly anyone in the agile community) to compare “traditional project managers” with “Certified ScrumMaster” roles.

It is easy to do.

Should we keep doing it?

No. As it was pointed out to me, this keeps the two “camps” separate on a lot of occasions.

Wow.

OK.

So.

Read the comic strip above.

Are you — and your HR or purchasing people (for contractors) doing the same thing today?

The sad thing is this instance is not made up (it is a mixture of various ad postings we see today).

Next week, I will dive a little deeper into the process of interviewing people for the ScrumMaster position.

And why this Certification is of value. Really… there is value in having it!
This week, while I am teaching and working with clients, I will make sure I stop making the distinction between “traditional project managers” and “Certified ScrumMaster” roles.

Can I do it?

How about this.

I will try.

And. I will ask for feedback during the workshops (and please send it to me!).

And.

Next week I will report on my progress AND tell you about various interviewing techniques for hiring a Certified ScrumMaster.

It may be a few more comics before we are “done” with this topic.

It has a lot to be examined.

Where are you with doing this today?

Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

I introduced each of these topics during the month (with a blog entry about my trip to Russia, and no real follow-up from Kyiv — which was awesome too!). I received some feedback that some people may have been offended by the “picture” used in the “Bottom Up” approach. Oh well. I have learned long ago that I will not be able to please everyone. And for those of you who are still hanging around — and passing around this site to your friends and co-workers — remember my more controversial comic strip is the one I published at the beginning of this year; it is located here and is the most popular comic strip on this site, exceeding all my expectations and proving that controversial topics — at least with this audience — is working to get the message across.

So.

I told you two ways NOT to do it. Well… you can — and many do — but (or AND) do this with your eyes open.

One of the best ways I have seen at organizations being able to successfully implement Scrum in their environment is by using a combination of the two methods already discussed.

It is about common sense after all.

And.

It is about people. Not technology.

So.

What can you do if you are interested in rolling out Scrum and have a chance at successfully doing this?

Remember. 75% of organizations FAIL at implementing Scrum; they die a slow iterative and incremental death. You can read more about this here.

If I were implementing Scrum (which, by the way, is what I actually work with teams around the world doing in real life (smile)), I’d make sure that the executives within your organization have a clue of what this is going to take.

Be honest with them.

This is not a Silver Bullet.

Just because people go to a CSM Course (or, as I call it, a workshop), does not qualify them to run a Scrum Team.

If you can get to the executives within the organization, have them pick someone to be the executive sponsor of this thing.

Read the above sentence again.

Someone.

One person.

And make sure this person has some large shoulders and political clout to help provide “cover fire” when the team hits their first roadblock.

When.

Not, “If.”

And.

This executive sponsor needs to be able to let the team fail. And learn from their failure. And help soften the blow if it is a bad thing for the organization.

The team needs to be responsible and not let this person “hang” in the future by making the same mistake again.

Really.

The last thing you really want to do is have an executive sponsor who continually gets burned by their Scrum Team(s).

And.

The people actually doing the work (Pigs) need to REALLY have skin in the game.

The Scrum Team needs to act like responsible adults and understand what they are getting into.

It is not all fun and games.

OK. Sometimes we have fun and play games.

But.

Remember.

The goal is to always produce business value to your organization.

What does that mean?

It varies by organization type (the different “types” are listed above).

What does this mean for you as a ScrumMaster?

Keep your eyes open.

And.

Remember.

“A Dead ScrumMaster is a useless ScrumMaster.”

Enough said?

Have fun out there!
Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

Just wanted to let you know that I will be in Moscow teaching a CSM Workshop this Thursday and Friday (October 18-19), and am planning on staying in Moscow over the weekend. So if you are interested in meeting or attending the workshop, please let me know.

On Tuesday and Wednesday next week, I will be teaching a CSM Workshop in Kyiv (October 23-24). Same offer for meeting goes while I am in town.

More information on all my upcoming workshops can be found at www.michaelvizdos.com. And there are actually some public CSM Workshops happening back in the USA too!
I will most likely blog more about the experience(s) if I can.

With my usual style and fun.

I hope!

And get ready for part 3 of the series on how to “combine” the “Top Down” with the “Bottom Up” approach to Implementing Scrum coming next week….

I just wanted to let you know that about 30 new Certified ScrumMasters joined our community today from a course Mark Pushinsky and I did in Charlotte, NC, the past two days. Mark and I would also like to thank Joe Little for helping setup the course here.

We were also fortunate enough to speak with a local agile users group (something I love doing when I travel!). We tried a new exercise about introducing Scrum and then doing a simulated 59 minute Scrum with a twist — the goal was for each team to go through the Scrum process and present their top impediments — with solutions — they have today while actually incrementing scrum in real world environments.

Think about how that may have played out.

Cool stuff.

And.

We had a small class of students (taking various courses at the university) in the audience which was mixed with professionals who had varying experiences in implementing scrum.

Fun stuff.

Next off… 2 more days of classes down in Charlotte — so Friday there will be almost 30 more CSM’s in the market down here. Wahoo!

Time to put “Zero to Sixty” back in action in my very own reality starting tomorrow morning.

Have a great day.� And check out where I have classes coming up soon (and think — Boca Raton, Florida in the winter brrrrr).

Thank you!

- mike vizdos – www.implementingscrum.com – www.michaelvizdos.com

This week I am focusing on the newly minted ScrumMaster.

This person has just completed a CSM Class and now has the audacious title of “Certified ScrumMaster.”

Gulp.

The pressure is on, or so it seems.

Or.

Is it?

One of the first things I remind people is the class is not set up to impart enough knowledge to be an effective ScrumMaster on day one.

Read that last sentence again.

You have learned enough to know the basic vocabulary and some of the many issues that you will be facing as you start working in this new role (including things like organizational change, what does “done” mean, and how to help people give and receive effective feedback).

You have been taught enough to cover the requirements of Ken Schwaber, which all Certified Scrum Trainers need to follow.

You know about the secret handshake (which I talk about but would never make them actually do — I listen to feedback then inspect and adapt… hmmm… how agile (smile)).

You can read more about the Certified ScrumMaster course here.

It is important not to fool yourself — or others — about what this certificate means. And, as much as people in other areas of “Agile” stuff complain about the certification and its name…. remember…. this has opened your eyes to possibly a very new world.

In fact, this is just the beginning of a very long journey.

For those willing to take it.

And guess what?

Most are not willing. They will take their certificate, hang it on their cube walls, update their resume, and post it on monster and other places. Some maybe will even go and make sure they get their credits with the PDU’s from the course.

But.

And I do mean BUT.

Do not kid yourself into thinking you can take on the world.

Reality will hit you sooner or later.

I have been doing work in “official” agile land (whatever that is…. for me it is when the light bulb went on for me that this DOES work) for almost 6 years out of an 18 year career in software development.

And.

I learn something new every day.

Seriously.

And.

That is the attitude I encourage a newly minted Certified ScrumMaster to take.

The rest of this posting is for those who “get it” — or are interested — or think they do.

The rest of you, go back to arguing the nuances of the agile practices or stay doing what you have done in the past.

You know… there are people that say, “This can never work in reality.” My response to them is, “In your reality.”

Heh.

OK… I just may actually think that.

This takes courage.

And there are a lot of people who will try to knock you down.

Learn from them.

And.

Learn from the community around you.

Get involved in the MANY yahoo groups out there. The Scrum Alliance (which does not endorse this site!) is also a good place to go. Heck, I have an unmoderated forum on this site which is pretty active. And a great search function on this site. For the bigger picture on all things agile, check out the Agile Alliance website.

Start learning about engineering practices. Remember… Scrum does not address them. This does not mean you can stick your head in the sand and forget about them. Look at my posting on this here.

Start learning about other agile practices.

There are many.

And.

Keep learning.

As people attack you for being called a, “Certified ScrumMaster” after only taking a two day course and paying your fee, remind them that this has helped elevate and promote all the other agile techniques out there (including XP, Agile Modeling, TDD, FDD, and other of the agile alphabet soup names). If the term “Certified ScrumMaster” bugs you or others….call yourself a Scrum Facilitator or Yellow Bearded Dragon or a Miniature Schnauzer (Luke and Leia)).

[tangent on]

Sorry… the last comment was from a recent posting from a list that said dogs could be certified. This was written by Scott Ambler (one of my mentors) who has recently been blasting the agile community about what he considers the absurdity of calling people a “Certified ScrumMaster” after only two days of sitting in a training class. Thus the thing at the end of the last paragraph to his two little doggies. Scott is a great guy by the way and I have learned much from him and others in the agile community!

[tangent off]

Still with me?

Still interested in Agile?

Still interested in Scrum and where it can take you?

Learn.

Stay positive.

And keep your sense of humor.