Scrum Training today is available in many different flavors and formats around the world.

People are always debating the values of “certification” and this will be an endless discussion.  While everyone is having these discussions (yawn to me), I continue to travel the world training people on Scrum.  And other agile techniques.  I also *use* this stuff daily  to run my company (more on this in another posting) and coach individuals to help us both keep improving our skills.

Welcome back to the ImplementingScrum site.  If this is your first time here, take a peek around.  There is a TON of information here.  This site has been around for almost five years now, and while some of the ways I implement techniques today are different (they keep improving) the comic strips here usually start some good conversations.

So I selected one of the most popular and un-politically-correct comic strips from a posting I published a LONG time ago (take a look at it here — cute, and wow that was so long ago in this internet age we live in today).  I have mostly been using things like Twitter and FaceBook (and others) to get information out — but also realize this channel of communicating with people (via the blog) is important… so it is [again] restarting with more postings of my [possible rants] in the future!

And. I titled this blog posting pretty provocatively.

I know the combination of un-politically-correct and provocative will help open conversations.  Who knows what kind of conversations, but hey that is up to you!

THAT is the important thing with this blog.  People either love it or hate it, but talk about it.

So… Let’s bring that to the topic of “Certified Scrum Training – Debunking the Bullshit.”

This should be fun, huh?  I figure if you are still with me than you are wondering why this is  important.

I am a Certified Scrum Trainer and that is a trademarked name from the Scrum Alliance, the body that certifies people who have taken my class as Certified ScrumMasters.

It does not certify competency.  It cannot.  OK… Like it or leave it, that’s an established fact (that people will debate!).

It does certify people who have taken the workshop have paid their money, the Certified Scrum Trainer has paid the Scrum Alliance a $50.00 fee so that they can take the assessment and become members (all Certified Scrum Trainers must do that).  And you can do a lot more with the Scrum Alliance — and should.  Here is some good background information from the Scrum Alliance FAQ that tells you how to move forward with them after you are a Certified ScrumMaster.

There are still a limited number of Certified Scrum Trainers in the world.  The market is showing that there is still a pretty strong demand for this type of Certification.  Why is there a demand?  People want it (possibly not the people taking the workshop — could  be their bosses or organizations are forcing them to attend or organizations want to send one person expecting that the newly Certified ScrumMaster can train the rest of the organization).  All of those statements are up for debate, and will always be debated.

Fine.

Move on with the debate.

So if it is so controversial, why do I do it?

I LOVE teaching this workshop.  I have fun.  I learn.  Every time.  Every place.

Here is a current description of what it is like to take the workshop with me… www.michaelvizdos.com/experiential-csm.

It has evolved (and will continue after each workshop, as no one is ever the same).

People who have taken the Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop with me are usually satisfied.  I know I cannot solve problems for all of the attendees — that is not the purpose.

The purpose of the Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop that people attend with me today (and remember it continues to evolve) is to learn about Scrum in an experiential way.  They should be able to answer questions about Scrum on their own by the end of the two days — using the framework and experiences from attending.

People who attend my Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop receive a lot of value — because it is an environment where people can learn (from me and mostly the other attendees).  My training is different than any other Certified Scrum Trainer.  It should be (other organizations disagree and that is OK).

I also tell every attendee that this will not make them experts at being a ScrumMaster, Product Owner, or Team Member.

In fact, I now understand  that each individual will walk out at the end of the two days latching onto only one or two things that we discussed AND that fits into their current world paradigm (it used to bug me, now it does not).

Wow.

Two days… and only one or two key things (that was said and they heard what they wanted to hear).

Is this cutting through the bullshit of debates and bla bla bla out there about Scrum Certification?

I am sure there is SO much more that can (and will be) said on this topic.  Like I said up front, this is a provocative and controversial topic.

And the purpose of this blog over the years has evolved into learning about how to have tough conversations about Software Development.

Yes… Scrum can be used outside of Software Development (another topic for later again!!) but here’s the thing…

Talk about this stuff all you want.

Get out there and practice it.

Thank you!

Looking forward to hearing comments, suggestions, and ideas on here, in FaceBook, GooglePlus, or however else you want.

Talk.

But do.

Go….

Just confirmed that I will be teaching a course in Zurich (Switzerland for the geo-challenged) on April 16-17, 2009.

It will be an affordable European CSM class in a very unique setting with limited access.

Let me know if you are interested…

I may not even publicly say where it is located (it is THAT cool!).  It’s not on my site yet but contact me for more info.

More later…

Just thought I’d share that with you as some late-breaking news for my European friends (or others who want to hit an uuuuuuber-cool place for a CSM class!).

- mike

One of the things I hear a lot about (both inside and outside of our little industry in the world) is the differences between coaches, consultants, and mentors.

Which brought me back to a discussion I had a few years ago with John Snuggs (shout out!) who used to poke me about wearing my “Captain Obvious” hat.

Which then lead to the super-hero-wearing-ScrumMaster in the comic strip above.

And.

Then the elephant.

Huh?

What does that elephant represent?

In America, we talk about this thing called, “An elephant in the room” which is something reallllllllllly uncomfortable that everyone knows is there but is afraid to bring it up.  Make sense?

Sooo… besides being the elephant in the room… what does Captain Obvious need to teach us about Scrum “Coaches” versus “Consultants” versus “Mentors”?

This could be one of those epic postings with me talking about the ins-and-outs of the three words and how they not only sound different — but in the real world ARE different.

So.

Question to you… and I will talk and post more about this… in the comments section write more about the good, the bad, and the ugly about the differences you see in either the people you hire, work with, or ARE.

Elephant recognized.

Let’s hear more about what this means to you.  And your teams.  And your organizations.

And of course… this is leading somewhere.  It always does.

And it usually surprises even me (heh).

Time for Captain Obvious.  Pointing out the elephant in the room.

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

Lyssa Adkins and I are co-facilitating a Certified ScrumMaster class in Richmond this coming Monday and Tuesday (January 26-27, 2009).

If you are interested in seeing us in action, and learning a LOT (us included!) please visit www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll to sign up.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

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

Dunno what else to say the describes the title of this blog entry any better.

Tomorrow.

Stay with me.

Please.

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!

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

Welcome back!

This is an exercise that has evolved over the years of me teaching the Certified ScrumMaster Workshop (by myself and with others).

First let me explain the “idea” behind this cartoon (smile).

I recently spent some time back down in Boca Raton to see my parents (and have my boys spend time with their grandparents); for those of you who have not heard of it, let’s just say its where a lot of people go to retire — what a place for me to grow up! My father told me about a new law passed in Florida — and I am not kidding — that says a dog can not be considered a “second passenger” for the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) Lane (where vehicles with 2 or more people can drive on the highway because it is “faster” in lots of traffic).

Aneeeeway…. this brought me to a funny conclusion of, “What if the dog was a seeing eye dog?”

See the humor in it?

OK. It is pretty weak and not intended to tick off any person who is blind. Really.

The point is (finally Mike!)…. sometimes on a team you will have people that do not have a clue of what is happening around them. They do not see things that have happened in the past.

And.

This happens a lot of times when teams are either forming or add new people onto their existing Scrum Teams.

Wow.

So one of the exercises I do in the Certified ScrumMaster Workshops is the following:

WAIT.

I will post the exercise tomorrow.

Before reading the post tomorrow — THINK about what this can mean to your team, organization, and enterprise!

Wow.

More tomorrow on this.

I promise!

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!

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!