The concepts aren´t rocket science and so can be picked up over two days, the real learning starts when you try to use it and meet the obstacles in the way of achieving success.

So yes, I think the name should actually be changed, as I see the title on so many people´s CVs now that it could actually lessen the importance of someone with the certificate and (the more valuable) experience … and also those without it but who have the experience (like myself :-))

´Scrum Certificate´, that´s sufficient.

Don’t take it personal. As Kelly pointed out, it is the word certification that is misleading. Somebody has used this word in a very loosely defined manner.

I think Scrum has huge value. And to get full value from it, people really do need to be trained in it.

It is simply the ‘Certification’ bit that troubles me.

Kelly.

I am a Certified Scrum Trainer and work daily with teams around the world on real issues when implementing scrum in their environments.

As a trainer, I am also a practitioner too (as all trainers are).

Is the certification worth the paper it is written on?

That is up to you. It is an ongoing debate (has been since day one) in the Scrum Community.

So why do I train?

No… it is not a great “money grab” for me — it is not a core part of my business. That being said, I actually enjoy teaching this class (or actually facilitating now) and really do personally learn a lot more about Scrum each every class I teach. Eek… sorry for the run on sentence.

I have never forced a person to attend.

Nobody is putting a gun to their heads.

They are there by choice.

Does everyone leave “getting” Scrum?

No. I think that is impossible to convey in two days.

However, they have been exposed to Scrum by someone who actually uses this stuff on a daily basis and learns a lot more about this through the discussions that happen during the two days.

I have written a lot of controversial (if that is the right word — maybe “edgy” is better) information at my site. A specific blog entry and comic strip on this topic (one of the most popular on the site lol) is located at:

http://www.implementingscrum.com/blog/2007/01/03/csm-training-reality-check/

Hope this comment helps. Or opens the door for more people to either comment on or think about this topic more.

- mike vizdos
http://www.michaelvizdos.com
http://www.implementingscrum.com

I have criticised the Scrum Master certification, but Scrum has transformed my web development department, which is reasonably large at 80-90 people.

Therefore I’m a huge fan of Scrum as an agile management methodology.

Scrum does not say you should work without requirements, in fact it leaves how you engineer things up to you, and just provides a iterative management framework for planning, managing and learning.

So there it is absolutely a framework for project management. It just does it differently to a traditional gantt chart etc, so it doesn’t suit some people’s experience/preferences.

The fact you don’t see this, despite being a Scrum Master for the last four months, is exactly the problem I see with the certification programme, and why I don’t value it.

Scrum, however, I am sure will have a long life and help many development organisations to improve.

Kelly.

The real fun part is that CSM doesn’t mean anything, practioneer means much more. In Scrum and in Zen.

Never thought about that, but now everything makes much more sense.

Peace
-stephan

Do they still hand out the BS license agreement?

Cheers.

I have had people telling me they knew more about scrum than me because they were scrum master certified rather than just practitioners.

I like AgileJoe’s suggestion to rename to scrum apprentice.

But to be serious, I’m also sceptic to this. I fear old PM:s turning into scrum masters, not being transformed but rather disguised. And since they are also the certified individual on the team, they are of course always right.