What are SEUs?
SEUs are Scrum Education Units. They were created by the Scrum Alliance to foster continuous learning and reward Scrum Alliance members with benefits for investing in their self-development and profes…
Should I do the CSM or the CSPO course?
Ideally, you would do both. To summarise, if you have anything to do with product development or product management, then the Certified Scrum Product Owner course would be a great fit for you. If you …
Is there a recommended reading list for Scrum Masters?
There isn’t an official reading list from the Scrum Alliance or Scrum organisation, but I have created a recommended reading list for Scrum Masters at each stage of their career development. Scrum was…
I’m a project manager, is the CSM a good fit for me?
Yes, it is. It can be challenging for project managers though. Why? Because a project manager traditionally thrives within structured and ordered environments. Their training and experience are built …
How do I progress as a Scrum Master?
In the role of a developer, you would progress from a junior developer to a senior developer, and from there onto a role in management. In traditional project management, it is much the same. You woul…
I have experience as a Scrum Master. Do I need to do the CSM before doing the ACSM course?
If certification is important to you, then yes, you will need to do the CSM course before doing the ACSM course. There is nothing preventing you from joining the ACSM course, however, we simply cannot…
Can a Scrum Master also be a line manager?
The answer is yes, they can. There is nothing in Scrum that speaks to line management but there is no reason why a Scrum Master could not also be a line manager. I would, however, recommend that the S…
What is my earning potential as a Scrum Master?
It depends on your level of experience and the application, for example, whether you are a contracted Scrum Master on a daily rate or an employed Scrum Master on a full-time rate. According to Glass D…
What can I do with a CSM credential?
The Certified Scrum Master (CSM) credential is an internationally recognised and respected certification awarded by the Scrum Alliance. It is a valued credential for entry-level Scrum Masters who are …
Is there an exam I need to pass to become a CSM?
Yes, there is. The Scrum Alliance have created an online international examination that consists of 50 questions. To pass the examination, you require a minimum of 74%, which translates into getting 3…
Is there an alumni group for CSMs?
Officially, the Scrum Alliance acts as both the certification body and the active community of Certified Scrum Masters around the world. There are currently a little over 1 million Certified Scrum Mas…
Is the CSM course theoretical or practical?
I can only speak to my own course, and that is a combination of both theoretical as well as practical. As the Scrum Guide says, Scrum is relatively easy to learn but incredibly difficult to master. Th…
How long is the CSM course and how is it configured?
Traditionally, the Certified Scrum Master course is 2 full days. From 9:30am to 5:30am. Our online delivery has also experimented with 4 half days to accommodate people who are not able to take 2 full…
Do companies invest in the CSM course?
We do have companies who approach us to provide a private Certified Scrum Master course for anywhere between 12 and 24 people within the company. In these circumstances, we tailor the course to their …
Are there different Scrum Master certifications and how do they differ?
Yes, there are. There are several Scrum Master courses available on the market, certified and uncertified, with varying degrees of credibility. Scrum Certification In my opinion, there are only 2 cred…
Will I be able to lead a Scrum Team after doing a CSM course?
Yes. A Certified Scrum Master course gives you the confidence to set up good scrum within a small Scrum team environment and gives you a solid foundation from which to build. The CSM course does not f…
What will you learn on a CSM course?
You are going to learn Scrum. The Certified Scrum Master course introduces you to the scrum environment. You will learn about the different roles within the scrum team, and you will learn about the sc…
What is a good certification path for a Scrum Master?
A natural progression from a Scrum Master role is to evolve into Agile coaching. There are, however, also many people who love being a Scrum Master and push to become the most influential, knowledgeab…
What is a Certified Scrum Master?
A Certified Scrum Master is a person who has completed the 2-day Certified Scrum Master course and successfully passed the international CSM examination. The CSM credential is awarded by the Scrum All…
What do I need to know before signing up for a CSM course?
A lot of people think that they need to have technical expertise or previous experience with Scrum to sign up for the Certified Scrum Master course but that isn’t the case. The Certified Scrum Master …
How well recognised and respected is the CSM course?
There are about 1 million Certified Scrum Masters in the world today. It is by far the biggest, most widely recognized Scrum Master credential in the world today. The credential is awarded by the Scru…
How well does a CSM course prepare you to be a Scrum Master?
It prepares you very well. Doing a Certified Scrum Master course is like doing your driving license for a car. When you first learn to drive, you are learning how the car operates as well as the rules…
Do you get course materials and textbooks on the CSM Course?
Yes, you do get course materials. At the end of the course, I will share the course presentation PDF with you and if you are at an in-person Certified Scrum Master course, you will receive a print ver…
What is a daily scrum and do Scrum Masters lead them?
A daily scrum is a short, sharp meeting that includes members of the Scrum Team. Ideally, they are stand up meetings to ensure that they do not exceed 15 minutes and that each member of the team is fo…
What do Scrum Masters do?
When I was training to become a coach, my coach at the time, Jen Corburn, said something that answers this question beautifully. She said, “Coaches don’t do things. Coaches help other people to do thi…
What are career opportunities for a Scrum Master?
In the spheres of project management, a project manager would move from practitioner to manager and from manager to director level over the course of a career. In scrum, it works a little differently.…
Must you be an expert in Scrum to become a Scrum Master?
It depends on how you define ‘expert’. There are different stages of career development and deep, expert level knowledge of Scrum comes only with time and experience. You cannot build mastery in a 2-d…
How will I know if the Scrum Master role is a good fit for me?
One of the hardest parts for Project Managers who transition into a Scrum Master role is the lack of recognition for a job well done. The second hardest part is the lack of authority they command in c…
Do I need to be a developer to be a Scrum Master for a Software Development team?
The answer is no. You don’t need to be a software developer to be a great Scrum Master for a software engineering team. There are upsides to being a developer. If you are or were a software developer,…
Can you create a Scrum environment in a company that isn’t Agile?
Yes, you can. In fact, if it were not for people who did create Scrum pilot projects within companies that do not embrace Business Agility, the Scrum framework would never have grown as advanced and p…
Are there different levels of seniority amongst Scrum Masters?
This is a bit of a loaded question because of the tension between the Scrum Guide’s definition of a Scrum Master and the tendency for organisations to give titles of seniority to people who have excel…
What are 3 traits of a Good Scrum Master
A good Scrum Master is a servant leader of the Scrum team and works collaboratively with others to create an environment where others can excel. It is an extremely rewarding role, but it does require …
What is a Scrum Team?
A Scrum Team is a complex problem-solving unit comprised of three roles. Scrum Master Product Owner Development Team A few people. Ideally 5 to 7 people but it can be as high as 10 people on the upper…
What is the Agile Manifesto?
In February 2001, seventeen (17) individuals – considered to be some of the brightest minds in software engineering and product development – met at a ski resort known as Snowbird in Utah,…
What is the difference between a Scrum Master and a Product Owner?
The difference between a Scrum Master and a Product Owner really boils down to their focus. A product owner thinks about the customer, represents the customer, and makes sure that the customer’s probl…
Is a Scrum Master a member of the development team?
They can be. There is nothing in the Scrum guide or framework that prevents a software developer from being a Scrum Master and a member of the development team, but it can be exceedingly difficult for…
How does a Scrum Master differ from a Project Manager?
A Scrum Master differs from a Project Manager in so many ways. Project Managers are traditionally interested in delivery. They build plans. They assign work. They ensure that work is done, tracked and…
Do you need project management experience to become a Scrum Master?
In short, no, you don’t need project management experience to become a Scrum Master. Project Managers have great skill sets and work well in environments where the vast majority of variables are known…
Do Scrum Masters work outside of Software Engineering Environments?
Yes, they do. Whilst Scrum and the Agile Manifesto were initially created by software engineers to help their teams build and deliver better quality software within shorter time frames, the frameworks…
What is Scrum?
Scrum is an Agile framework co-created by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber after years of working with teams in software engineering environments. From 1993 to 1995, they co-developed the Scrum framew…
Is your Agile getting stale? Take the Mani-fresh-to Challenge today!
TLDR; Everything changed in 2020, even the Scrum Guide got an update, but the Agile Manifesto didn’t. With my good friend Chris, we came up with an idea to re-develop it and in the process, really pic…
On Agile & Mastery
I’m lucky enough to find my job professionally satisfying. That’s because I think that the line of work I’m in actually matters—not just to me, but to anyone who works in teams or with processes that …
Introduction to SAFe
SAFe® is an acronym for Scaled Agile Framework® and was introduced in 2011 by co-creators Dean Leffingwell and Drew Jemilo as an actionable framework for Business Agility, inspired by the Agile Manife…
Leading SAFe with Jon Spruce
SAFe® (Scaled Agile Frameworks for enterprise) is one of the most popular frameworks for large organisations seeking to achieve business agility. A great analogy from a friend of Jon’s was that when l…
Why OKRs aren’t enough on their own: Goals and Standards
Objectives and Key Results – OKRs – are a well known goal-setting technique; there’s a wealth of great content that explains what they are. This post is about OKRs as part of the ble…
Essential Skills – Critical Analysis
In a recent conversation with Tyrrell Basson from Manchester University, we explored the topic of ‘essential skills’ for the future. What skills would be necessary for an organisation to succeed 12 mo…
I’m in a Theory X Team, Get Me Out Of Here!
For 20 years, ITV’s “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” has been a staple of the UK pre-Christmas entertainment schedules. A group of celebrities are isolated from society, originally in the Austral…
Covid Hack – Technical Debt
We’ve all experienced massive disruption, complexity and ambiguity in the face of Covid-19 hitting the fan. It’s caused mayhem in many companies, and as people adapt to the new and foreseeable normal,…
Facilitate rapid and effective decision-making
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a collaborative, coaching-style workshop that brings together the teams who do the work and the leadership teams that support and facilitate the work. Making the value st…
Customers and Developers in the same room. WTF?
At the turn of the 20th Century, the father of modern Business Management – Frederick Winslow Taylor – discovered that he could significantly increase production output and decrease labour…
First they ignore you
‘How do I get the senior leadership team to buy into Agile?’ is a question I’m often asked. It’s a great question if the leadership team value the principles and values upon which Agile is built. It’s…
Stealth Agile
I recently connected with Tyrrell Basson from the University of Manchester in one of my ‘Ask me Anything’ one-to-one video conversations. Like most organisations, they are dealing with disruption on a…
Coronavirus and The Corner Shop – A Portrait of Agility?
If ever one wanted the ultimate portrait of a VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous – the current crazy time through which we are living is it. The novel coronavirus, kn…
Agile Bootcamp #4 – Using Story Mapping to Teach Agile
User Story Mapping is a great technique to help teams explore their product scope and plan how they can deliver value to their customers as quickly as possible. Even for large and complex problems, te…
Agile Bootcamp #3 – Scrum Simulation with the Inception Deck
There are lots of ways to help introduce the concepts of Scrum to teams and to give them a chance to put their new knowledge into practice. I wanted to try something a little different. I wanted it to…
Agile Bootcamp #2 – Behind The Scenes at an Agile Bootcamp
The bootcamp is planned, the travel arrangements made and suitcases packed. Now, the hard work starts! After a long day travelling and a chunky time-shift, we arrived at our accommodation well into th…
Predict Success by Finding Problems
Agile was supposed to make things easier. It was supposed to fix the problems of large projects with big, up-front planning ending up delivering solutions that didn’t meet the customer need. Its focus…
Scrum Beyond Scrum
On my professionalisation journey to Scrum Alliance Certified Team Coach, I am collecting badges and certifications like a cub scout at a swimming gala. I am also going to conference presentations, re…
Agile Project Management
To say the words ‘Agile Project Management’ in front of Agile purists falls somewhere in the spectrum between ‘not cricket’ and ‘blasphemy’. Why? Because Agile doesn’t in any way focus on Project Mana…
The Scrum Framework
The Scrum Framework is an Agile framework within which various Agile methodologies can be both employed and deployed. Co-created by Dr. Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, Scrum serves as a framework fo…
What is Project Management?
Project Management, as both a profession and specialised discipline, is relatively young. From the dawn of time, humans have been pretty good at setting objectives and organising people, skills, tools…
Don’t look back in anger
Continuous improvement is a core agile principle. The retrospective is an important event in all agile methods and an ideal time for teams to identify improvements. Yet too often, retrospectives are i…
Ways for a group to reach a decision
There are always moments in a project when decisions must be made. How those decisions are reached will vary according to circumstance. What is ultimately important, however, is to have the support of…
Personality traits of an excellent Scrum Master
“Bring it to the team” should be the daily motto of an excellent Scrum Master. Nobody can truly fulfil this role without being fully committed to the team. This means that Scrum Masters must be humble…
How Agile benefits Kanban and XP Development Frameworks
Above all, Agile is about focusing on the customer in the most streamlined way possible. Fundamental goals are established at the outset of a project but can be adjusted incrementally as problems or c…
The Origins of Scrum and Agile
As leadership guru Steve Denning has written, Agile is “not about doing more work in less time: it’s about generating more value with less work.” At base, both Agile and Scrum emerged from an imp…
Scrum and the Agile Manifesto
The values and principles of the Agile manifesto are designed to remind you of one thing above all: that whatever you are producing, you are producing it for actual use by actual people in actual situ…
Feedback: it’s not what you get, it’s what you do with it
When teaching Scrum a large part of the information is around feedback: product feedback, process feedback, people feedback. Moreover, it would not make sense to not ask for feedback on us, as trainer…
The Art of the Post-It®
For years I have watched my husband, John, sticking post-its all over the place while working. I never really understood why. I just thought it was one of his (many) quirks! I always thought of post-i…
Show Confidence
We hear a lot about confidence in the contexts of business, personal relationships, and just about every other element of life these days. People are always worried that they lack it, wonder how to ge…
A brief overview of Scrum
In this brief overview of Scrum, we introduce you to the Scrum Framework, roles within the Scrum methodology, and briefly touch on some of the key elements of Scrum. Scrum is a framework within which …
Sprint: the Heartbeat of Scrum
A Sprint, as described in the Scrum Guide, is a time-boxed period of one month or less during which the Development Team works to produce a “Done” product increment — a useable and potentially releasa…
What do Agile and Electricity have in Common?
In February, it will be 17 years since the writing of the Agile Manifesto. Much was, and still is, promised by those who espouse Agile frameworks. There is still a great excitement and appetite for in…
The Responsibility Process® in Action
Recently I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days with Christopher Avery renewing my practice of responsibility. The workshop was on The Responsibility Process and how to lead and coach others in …
Everyone can lead an exceptional life
You may not know who Rick Rubin is but you definitely would have heard of his music. He has been a megastar producer for over 20 years, helping a hugely diverse group of artists along the way: Johnny …
A Simple Method for Breaking down Product Backlog Items into Tasks
During Sprint Planning many teams resist breaking down Product Backlog items selected into tasks, preferring to rely on gut feel and yesterday’s weather to give them confidence in their for…
What Role do Team Members Play in the Scrum Team?
Let’s get to know the different roles and responsibilities of each person in an agile development team. Just as there are several agile approaches such as Scrum, Kanban, XP, etc … Let̵…
Acceptance Testing
Most Agile frameworks express customer requirements using simple and lightweight methods, such as User Stories. These stories represent features that reflect customer needs and are small enough t…
The Scrum Master beyond Technical Lead
The Scrum Master seeks to ensure that the team respects and follows the values and practices of Scrum. It also protects the development team by making sure that they do not over commit themselves to w…
Sprint burndown charts: Grapes of Progress or Watermelon Surprise?
In a recent discussion with an ‘Argument of Agile Coaches’ (an apt collective noun for a group of coaches), the question was raised: “Do we really need sprint Burndown char…
No Framework Will Save You
It is often said, by those in the personal training industry, that you cannot out-train a bad diet. What is meant by that, is that you could run 10 miles per day, then spend another hour in the gym pu…
What’s in a Name
Over the last few years, Agile has acquired a lot of unwanted baggage. Some of that baggage is as a result of botched transformation attempts. Some is from the pre-existing organisational dysfunctions…
What’s in it for you?
When starting any team, I ask a question that often shocks people in the room: What do you want to get out of this? At first I thought the shock was strange; Surely people are looking to get something…
Setting the agenda
At a client the meetings tend to wander, a habit the developers try to break but drift back into without realising; so when I came across a chapter on agendas in Jean Tabaka’s Collaboration Expl…
A community of thinkers
Saw this in the twittersphere yesterday and it really resonates with what I believe the software development, and IT community as a whole, should strive to attain. We may not all be there yet, h…
Stop, reflect, resume
Yesterday, during sprint planning one of the team members said he didn’t see the point in sizing stories, particularly small ones that could be done in an hour or so. Instead, he’d rather …
Beware planning poker
Planning poker is the most common sizing tool used within the Scrum community. Straightforward and fairly quickly it can give teams a good idea of what they have in front of them without going too dee…
Understanding the mission
A very American phrase I know; but it hits right at the heart of many of the problems I’ve seen in software development teams, both Agile and waterfall. Put into more understandable terms, it me…