How My PSM II Classes Have Surprised Me

September 29, 2010 Category Professional Scrum Master 2 Comments

I have found that now that my Scrum classes no longer automatically confer Scrum certification – that must be earned by passing an assessment — the level of participation has increased and the nature of the attendees has changed radically.

I recently conducted PSM II classes in Germany and Boston. The students at each class were seasoned professionals responsible for the success of their organizations’ Scrum implementations. The questions they posed were difficult, because the questions sprang from real-world problems they had struggled to solve. In addition to the standard PSM II course material, we had great discussions about the intended and unintended consequences of various approaches to Scrum adoption, and how to manage these consequences. In part because attendees work in “teams” of five or six throughout the class, they were able to form relationships that will no doubt last past the class.

These days, people who take my courses are using Scrum and want to talk about how to use it better. They have been building up inventories of “Scrum Buts” that they want to talk about.* I find this heartening. During one class I heard someone remark, “I already know Scrum. I came to work out some of my problems. I don’t care about the certification.” This was not always the case.

Change occur. Consequences occur. Sometimes they are unexpected, and sometimes they are great.

* One example of a ScrumBut that someone brought up in class was, “We use Scrum, but we are geographically dispersed, so we only hold the daily meeting once a week.”