AdrianCarr.com ^1.0

Today, I received notice from the Scrum Alliance that my application for Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP) was approved. I've been a Scrum Master since April 2007, and became Certified in early 2008. According to the Scrum Alliance training plan, the next step after that is to become a CSP, and I am glad to say that I am now a Certified Scrum Practitioner.

What does this really mean? Probably not a whole lot right now, but it does mean that someone from the Scrum Alliance has reviewed my application and said "Yeah, he actually does know what he is talking about when he says he is practicing Scrum." The application consists of a series of questions or statements where you have to describe in detail a project where you have been actively involved in Scrum. You have to demonstrate that you not only understand Scrum, but describe how you have actually put Scrum into practice in a real-world project. You have to discuss the principles and processes of Scrum, and also some real-world intangibles that you couldn't learn simply by reading Agile Project Management with Scrum , or even learn in a Certified Scrum Master course.

I think this last point is important. Unlike Scott Ambler, I do see some value in the Certified Scrum Master certification because it at least assures that a CSM has undergone the basic Scrum training. I agree that it is fairly expensive, and doesn't really mean that you are a "master" of Scrum, but it does set the bar at a certain level (which admittedly, isn't very high). The certification should at least ensure a person knows the terminology and general guidelines that make up the Scrum process and be able to talk intelligently about it. Whether or not they can apply it is a completely different question, because some people just aren't cut out for it.

During my CSM class, our trainer described the usual attributes of a good Scrum Master. A guy from another company turned to me and said "I have no idea why I am here. I don't fit any of the criteria, and I would never be a Scrum Master." Well, not long after that, I got to wondering why they sent some people to the CSM class. Was it because they wanted to offer training benefits to their employees, and this class allowed them to provide this benefit while saving a lot of money? It cost them a lot less because the class was held locally, which is a lot cheaper than sending someone to a conference out of town. No travel expenses, no airfare, hotel, meals, and the CSM class at around $1000 is a lot less expensive than many conferences. I don't know if this is really the case or not. I hope not, because then it's not about actual training, it's about saving money.

The title of "Certified Scrum Master" is misleading for another reason. Many trainers encourage companies to send entire teams to a CSM class. So, you end up with a lot of people who are "certified", and even have the word "Master" in their title, but may not ever be on a Scrum team. Obviously, for a trainer, there is a huge financial reward for the more people in a class. From a company or manager perspective, it does make sense to send an entire team to CSM training, because as noted above, you've just set a baseline, and it is a great class for helping a team understand why they are doing what they do. It also allows the opportunity for more people to be cross-trained for the role of Scrum Master. However, this makes for a very, very large pool of "Certified Masters" where most of the people aren't "masters" at all. Of course, a typical HR person wouldn't know this, so many companies have requested a "Certified Scrum Master" in job descriptions.

The CSP application is very different, in that it requires a person to describe in detail how real-world projects have been implemented with Scrum.

The last question in the application asks you to describe how you have advanced the use of Scrum in your organization and the community. This one was fairly simple, since I started the Knoxville Agile Practitioner's Group because I found agile to be a better way of working.

I'm excited about achieving this certification. I'll probably never become a Certified Scrum Coach or Certified Scrum Trainer, but I do hope I have the opportunity to help other people experience the freedom and results that agile software development can bring.