I am a Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org

Published: 2018-Dec-27

Roughly 600 people worldwide are authorized, by the authors of Scrum, to teach Scrum. I am honoured to be part of that expert community. I am a Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org.

This news is not a surprise to people who know me. I’ve been teaching people about Scrum for years. More than 2000 certified Scrum Masters and Product Owners earned their accreditations in my classroom.

But in one very important way, this news will surprise many: Scrum.org!

I set a personal goal years ago to achieve a high-level designation as a Scrum Trainer. But the journey I started years ago was not toward Scrum.org. I met amazing people along the way and many of those colleagues and close friends are not affiliated with Scrum.org.

But, the individual members of a community are not the same as a community in aggregate — while individuals within a community may embody Scrum's values, it doesn't mean the community in aggregate possesses those values. The goal I set years ago was to teach Scrum and to do so with a community of experts who respect each other and Scrum's values. When I realized the path I chose initially was not leading in that direction, I did what every Agile practitioner ought to: I inspected the landscape, adapted my plans, and kept my eyes on the goal.

Along the way, my personal philosophies and affiliations have been tested. I spent effort, money, and time in the pursuit of a community with which I feel alignment, respect, appreciation. I have found such a community…in Scrum.org.

My decision to join the PST community with Scrum.org is influenced by these factors:

Scrum.org’s certifications are life-long – like knowledge.
Basic Scrum.org certifications are earned through objective assessments and not solely by the judgement of a trainer. This philosophical choice of Scrum.org acknowledges humans are great learners and even self-taught practitioners can achieve 'certifiable' knowledge and skill. Those learners then seek guidance from the trainer community as needed.
The paths from entry-level through advanced Scrum.org certifications are clear and logical.
The curriculum for each Scrum.org course is crowd-sourced/authored by the PST community and moderated by experienced stewards. Every PST has their own style of instruction but teaches a consistent and shared interpretation of Scrum.
At every step to become PST, I felt the evaluation criteria were based on my knowledge of Scrum and my abilities as an instructor. Those criteria were rigorously and appropriately tested at every step. The feedback cycle was on a timescale that is both actionable and respectful. And the feedback I received at each gate was concrete, actionable, and for reasons I agreed with. I.e. "Yes, I agree I need to improve upon that. Thank you for pointing it out. And now let me demonstrate that I've incorporated your feedback by changing my behaviour, approach, method, technique, or mental model."

I am available for private Professional Scrum training. As well, I enjoy creating custom agile and Scrum training sessions for private clients. Please contact me to:

develop and deliver custom curriculum for your company
develop sales channels (maybe you'd like to refer people to my classes and earn a referral fee?)
develop partnerships with other Professional Scrum Trainers

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