Dmitry Stupple and Anna Senkina from ITQsoftware management team have just successfully passed Professional SCRUM Master (PSM I) certification. We tell you in our blog about what SCRUM is, what kinds of international certification exist and the benefits of passing it.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is one of the most common Agile project management methods developed by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. The method allows to build effective teamwork and quickly develop fundamentally new products in an environment of agile goals. Scrum method is actively and successfully used in different areas of business, but originally it, as well as the whole concept of Agile, was created to optimize the process of software development.
Scrum is a heuristic method. It was created in contrast to the classical step-by-step approach. While the step-by-step approach assumes a progressive movement towards a specific, rigidly defined goal, which inevitably encounters a huge number of unpredictable factors (deadlines shift, budgets inflate), Scrum looks at the task from a fundamentally different perspective.
The team, independent and multifunctional, is responsible for the result itself. There are no deadlines: all tasks are solved in short sprints of about two weeks. The client participates in the work process directly, not through documentation. This makes it possible to flexibly and manually change the direction of work, set specific tasks and move towards a final result that will satisfy the customer. The entire team’s work is methodically organized by the Scrum Master.
International certification of scrum masters: for whom and why it is necessary and where you can pass it.
There are two schools that dictate the world standards in this area: ScrumAliance and Scrum.org. They were alternately founded by Ken Schwaber in 2001 and 2009, respectively. Both of these schools are equally recognized internationally, and that is where you can get a certificate confirming the qualifications of the Scrum Master. Next we will talk about the first level exam, although it should be understood that each certification has several levels.
The certification that you can take at ScrumAlliance (CSM – Certified Scrum Master), on the one hand, is easier: there are only 35 questions, time is not limited, to pass it is enough to answer 68% of questions correctly. To qualify for the exam, you need to take a training course, which greatly increases the cost and time commitment. Besides, CSM certification has one more peculiarity: it has to be renewed every 2 years. But the exam is objectively not difficult to pass, and this option is good for those who need to get an official document in a short time, as well as for those who want to immerse themselves in the subject and feel like a member of a large international community.
PSM (Professional Scrum Master) from Scrum.org is a more complex exam that requires serious preparation: 80 questions must be answered in 60 minutes. The threshold for passing the exam is also higher – at least 85% of correct answers. But the results do not need to be confirmed in the future. You can either take a training course or prepare on your own. Dmitry Stupple chose the second option and, answering the question of how long it took him to prepare, answered simply: 2 weeks and the previous 10 years of relevant experience. Anna Senkina has also spent the last few years in our company literally in the role of Scrum Master on a major international project. And she also took the path of self-training.
Due to the increased complexity of the exam, the number of people taking the PSM is much lower and the success rate on the first attempt is also lower. And our experts say that it is difficult for them to assess what it would be like to take this exam for someone with no experience. They recommend that you take it if you have at least a year of experience.
Scrum certification sets a single high standard, compliance with which may well guarantee a high level of Scrum Master theoretical training.
Who needs to be certified, for whom is it useful? “It is not just useful, it is a must for anyone who plays the role of Scrum Master, who builds the organizational and methodological work of the team.” – says Dmitry Stupple. Certification is an indicator of experience, knowledge and good theoretical understanding.
How is a Scrum Master different from a Project Manager?
If a Scrum Master is the person responsible for organizing the work of the team, then the question arises naturally: how is his role different from that of a Project Manager (PM)?
The answer is simple: a Scrum Master is not a substitute for a PM. In Scrum there is no PM at all!
The fundamental difference is as follows: the PM in the classical version is responsible for achieving the result within the existing limits of time and money. But in Scrum the result is some elusive changing goal, and this result is not the responsibility of one person, but of the whole team. The task of the Scrum Master is to assemble the team so that it is focused on the result and is responsible for it. This requires a very strong internal organization of each team member and fits well with the worldview of the western world where a high level of personal responsibility is the norm, where it is common to work well. By experience we can say that a different psychology is widespread in the post-Soviet space. And it’s difficult to fully rely on the self-organization of the team, although we are moving towards it.
“I don’t want to stimulate with a whip at all. But my dream is a self-working team that is self-focused, self-formed, self-targeted on a daily basis. A real team.” – says Dmitry Stupple.