Agile Coaching Skills - Certified Facilitator with Anu Smalley

In this episode, I am joined by Anu Smalley who is here to talk about the new Scrum Alliance certification: Agile Coaching Skills - Certified Facilitator (ACS-CF). During the interview Anu and I discuss who the certification is for, the skills you develop while earning the certification, and what to expect from someone who has this certification. 

Anu also offers a discount on her upcoming classes for anyone who is interested. 

You can find the podcast here.

Developing an Internal Agile Certification Program with Dan Eberle

Dan Eberle is the Agile Coach at the New York Times where he's been hard at work developing an Agile Certification program. During this episode of the podcast, Dan explains why he developed the program, the different areas it focuses on, and how employees of the New York Times will evolve through the different levels of certification. 

You can find the interview here.

To sign up for Dave's in-person CSM/CSPO classes in Atlanta:

• CSM (April 5-6, 2022) https://bit.ly/APR5CSMATL
• CSPO (April 7-8, 2022) https://bit.ly/APR7CSPOATL

* Use the discount code DPM10 to get a 10% discount off the list price

Becoming a Certified Scrum Trainer w/ Anderson Hummel

Last fall Anderson Diniz Hummel became a Certified Scrum Trainer. This means that he has been approved by the Scrum Alliance to teach Certified Scrum Master and Certified Scrum Product Owner classes. The journey to becoming a CST is never easy and never as quick as anyone would like and for Anderson, it was over three years from the time he first started working on it. (And this is after already having taught at the University level for a number of years.)

During the recent holidays Anderson and I had a conversation about what his journey to CST was like. We recorded this in hopes of helping offer some encouragement, advice and support for others who are headed down the path.



To help provide some background about the CST designation, according to the Scrum Alliance’s 2018 State of Scrum Report, there are over 500,000 certified practitioners of Scrum worldwide. Within that community, only 234 people are certified by the Scrum Alliance as being allowed to teach Certified Scrum Master and Certified Scrum Product Owner classes. So, it is a rare certification to have and many people who begin heading down the path do not have a great understanding of what to expect. Hopefully this interview will help with that.

SHOW NOTES

• 00:09 Podcast Begins - What’s up with Anderson
• 01:56 Anderson’s background as a teacher and how that led to him applying for Certified Scrum Trainer
• 03:10 How is teaching Certified Scrum classes different than teaching at the University level
• 04:39 Anderson’s 3 year journey to become a Certified Scrum Trainer
• 10:17 Being a CST is a lot more than just teaching Scrum correctly
• 11:36 How Anderson went from failing art exams in school to excelling at creating art in his classes
• 15:45 How big a role does experience working on Scrum teams play into teaching CSM and CSPO classes
• 19:25 Anderson’s advice for coaches who want to become Certified Scrum Trainers
• 25:20 Understanding how teaching all day impacts you as a human and planning recovery time
• 27:32 A word of caution for new CSTs who try to book too many back to back classes
• 29:32 Parting words of encouragement and advice for CST candidates
• 32:25 Getting in touch with Anderson
• 32:27 Interview Ends

ANDERSON's ARTWORK

CST CERTIFICATION

https://www.scrumalliance.org/certifications/trainers/cst-certification

CONTACTING ANDERSON

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersonhummel/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anderson_hummel

Is PMP still worth it if I am doing Agile? - w/ Jesse Fewell

In each of my CSM and CSPO classes someone asks “Should I still get PMP?”

In this podcast I got the chance to check in with Jesse Fewell on the value of certification. Jesse and I have been friends since 2008 when we both started working on trying to find ways to get PMI to pay attention to Agile. We both come from a traditional background, have been heavily involved with PMI and now make a living teaching Scrum certification classes. 

Jesse and I debate the answer to the PMP certification question and along the way, discuss our differing views on the value of PMI-ACP, CSM and CSPO certifications. These are things we don’t always see eye to eye on, so regardless of your viewpoint, there is sure to be something in here to help you see things from a different perspective. 

We also have a brief conversation about what do to about PMO’s in Agile organizations.

Note: You may hear some odd background noise. This time it isn't me slurping coffee … #blamethefidgittoys

Show Notes

00:08 Podcast Starts

00:34 An update on Jesse’s recent and upcoming Agile PMO sessions, VirtuallyAgile.com and his Certified Agile Leadership Training classes

07:53 Does PMP Certification still matter? And if you are working in Agile, do you still need it?

09:57 If you are a traditional PM, are you in danger of becoming unemployable if you do not have agile?

11:50 Can a traditional PM avoid the trap of thinking they “get” Agile before they actually do?

14:26 Jesse’s involvement with PMI-ACP, it’s evolution and current relevance

16:20 What can you expect of someone who has PMP or PMI-ACP Certification?

18:10 PMI and Agile Alliance collaboration and what we can expect to see from it

20:10 PMI is working with the Agile Alliance… “It’s like the X-Men and the Justice League tried to plan something together”

21:10 “Everyone has the same mission - improve outcomes and people doing their job well”

21:43 It’s not a “standard”, it’s a “guide”

22:07 How much Agile will be in the new (6th) edition of the PMBOK?

23:00 For the skeptics… there is good on both sides of PMI and the Agile Alliance working together

24:30 Understanding the distinction between the work done by PMI and the Agile Alliance (stabilize and align vs. disrupt)

26:42 Will there be a new Agile certification coming from PMI?

29:26 If you know a PMP trying to decide between taking a CSM or a PMI-ACP course and they need advice on what to take

32:42 Dave and Jesse debate whether getting PMP is still valuable for a CSM or CSPO

36:17 “Most Agile people are punching above their weight…”

39:18 What do we do about the PMO if our organization is adopting Agile?

44:22 Want more Jesse? Here is how to get it….

45:02 Interview Ends

Links references in the podcast:

The Hybrid PMO (part of Seminars World) http://bit.ly/2tbOvM5

Solving the PMO Paradox (at Agile 2017) http://bit.ly/2sJ8wJj

Certifications and Agile Organizations Mentioned in the Podcast

PMP Certification http://bit.ly/29NtawC

PMI-ACP Certification https://www.pmi.org/certifications/types/agile-acp

CSM Certification http://bit.ly/ZtotC1

CSPO Certification http://bit.ly/1HeXnC5

Certified Agile Leadership Certification https://www.scrumalliance.org/agile-leadership

Agile Alliance: https://www.agilealliance.org

Scrum Alliance: https://www.scrumalliance.org

PMI: https://www.pmi.org/

IC Agile: https://icagile.com

Contacting Jesse

Website: http://www.jessefewell.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessefewell

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessefewell/

Contacting Dave

Website: https://drunkenpm.net

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo/

Don Kim - I Think, Therefore I Plan

A few weeks ago Don Kim put up a blog post challenging the value of certifications. I reached out to Don in hopes of doing an interview about it and found out he’s also written a new book “I think Therefore I Plan”. In this interview we discuss the pros and cons of different certifications, taking an artisan approach to managing projects as well as Don’s new book.

You can find Don’s book here: http://amzn.to/2n7VEHu

You can find Don’s blog post about certifications here: http://bit.ly/2okDUZA

Show Notes:

00:07 Interview Start

00:30 What is a Human APEE

03:38 What is an Artisan approach to Project Management

05:15 Don’s Philosophy of Project Management

07:22 Trying to slow down and do less

08:21 Don explains his way of approaching project work and the reason for the book

10:56 How has the traditional vs. Agile debate changed over the past few years

12:53 Seeing the value in every project you work on  - regardless of how you got it

16:15 The downside of certifications

17:29 The positive aspects of certifications

18:03 There is more to project management training than just PMP certification

19:48 Making the case for the value certifications can provide and how it can be misunderstood

23:22 Does it make sense for people to want to have a way of gauging their professional achievement?

23:55 What Don expected from PMP certification and how he went deep with the Kerzner to get the most learning out of it (instead of just passing the test)

26:41 Is it the certification that is an issue, or the way people interpret it as an end point rather than a beginning

27:50 An overview of the approach Don’s book takes towards the art of Project Management

30:56 Where you can find Don’s book and how you can reach him with follow up questions

31:54 Podcast Ends

You can reach Don Kim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donkim/

Feedback/Comments: drunkenpm@gmail.com