I mentioned that I was attempting to attain being a Certified Scrum Trainer earlier in the year. Today was my interview day and I…wait for it…PASSED!
As much as I didn’t find the documentation process endearing, I found this stage to be challenging yet encouraging.
What I did to prepare:
- I met with several people who have been through the process. I appreciate the words of wisdom and support from each one. Well minus, Richard Cheng trying to tempt me into a late evening of drinking the night before 😉
- I reviewed by CSM course.
- I reviewed the Scrum Guide.
- I reviewed the Learning Objectives.
- I reviewed the topics that the Scrum Alliance listed in their preparation email.
- I attempted to get a good night’s sleep and somewhat did with sleeping from 10-1:30 and 4:30-9:30. I was wide awake in the middle of the night…good thing my interview was scheduled for 1!
- Right before I walked in – I made myself reach for the sky (thanks to Henry Dittmer) and then anchored myself (thanks to Bernie Maloney) and walked into the room as a peer.
What happened:
- The first 20 minutes were Q&A – and really anything was game. Why this community? Why now? What would I want my working agreement for this to be? Questions about my course? My strengths? I was extremely comfortable with this part and the time flew by.
- Then I stepped out for them to select a topic: Where does Scrum not fit? Now this topic is not covered in the scrum guide but is a question that comes up in a course. This is also a contextual, opinion-based question with a variety of answers. Because I’ve had this conversation with several people over the years in a variety of situations, the topic didn’t concern me nor did my stance. Turning this specific topic into a 20 min training module within 10 mins was the interesting part.
- I decided that I wanted to highlight several key aspects regarding scrum while covering this topic (to demonstrate knowledge), such as Defined vs Empirical.
- I also decided to not adhere to the TBR model and did more of a connection exercise, concept and conclusion.
- I also decided to challenge myself with a little imagery and topic connection with Cynefin.
- I’m pretty happen with the results. My big what-if was I added a second pair-share exercise before the conclusion and it wasn’t done smoothly (instructions) plus it repeated what I started with as an exercise…turns out getting rid of practice didn’t feel natural and even in the moment, I tried to incorporate it but it could have gone better. My highlight was my presence, stories and ultimately the connection I could develop even in 20 minutes. My ah-ha was it felt very odd to cover a formal training topic of this nature with no prior relationship. I would never start a class with this topic and yet starting with this topic and building relationships was tricky. I noticed it the minute I started the connection exercise and realized how much I leverage the build within my courses.
- Then they discussed as a committee and brought me back in…I PASSED!!!. They asked for my notes above and then provided feedback to me as well.
- We ended with hugs, handshakes and taking a photo.
I didn’t do this alone by any means. My Agile For All teammates challenged me to consider what I could give back by becoming a CST. Numerous people texted, called, emailed me to wish me luck today. I felt so supported and am grateful beyond words.
With all this said, by far the best part was having an opportunity to hang out with my friend, Emily. I met Emily at college orientation (let’s just say several years ago). This trip was perfect in so many ways!
No question today. Simply, WOOT!!!
