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Codelean’s 9th ScrumMaster Course: Its Most Successful Yet
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
The ninth Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) training course—held on July 25–26, 2011, at the Diamond Hotel in Manila—is considered the most successful thus far among CSM training courses under host Codelean Inc.’s belt. Overall, the event drew in many participants from various institutions, including IT, banking, relief and community development, professional services, and education.
Once more, the two-day event was led by Bas Vodde, a Dutch software developer, who is also a certified ScrumMaster, ScrumAlliance.org coach, and founder of a Singapore-based consulting firm specializing in Agile and Lean development training and coaching.
The course included a blend of discussions, lectures, and interactive exercises that aimed to instill in its attendees the Scrum framework as well as its values and philosophies—from the fundamentals to the implementation of this nontraditional management approach.
Generally, the participants found the training to be informative, refreshing, and interesting. The program objective was clearly met, and the materials were “clear, comprehensive, and useful.” The course also provided a fresh set of ideas in product approach and software development, making it well worth the training investment. Upon completion of the course, one participant admitted that her understanding of the definition of Scrum prior the course was “totally different.”
Trainer Vodde, according to participants, knew his craft well. “He is a great trainer who takes in answers from varying perspectives and transforms them into knowledge that may be appreciated by the entire class. Also, his openness in dealing with initial cynicisms towards Scrum is remarkable, and he responds to each with confidence only an experienced coach could.”
What’s the best thing they took away from the course? One replied with, “The realization that some of the things we were doing were right, and some were not really correct and needed correcting. This gave me more conviction [to implement] changes.” Another participant delved into the specifics, citing, “how to work around fixed contracts, Scrum roles, and certain situational exercises/analyses.” Another said it gave him a different perspective in management (e.g., managing products and self-managing teams) and made him realize the need for feedback and to inspect and adapt. Knowing that a lot of people have succeeded in implementing Scrum, the participants felt they should be able to succeed at it as well.
When asked if their respective companies would benefit from the course, one answered, “[Scrum] will mitigate unnecessary processes and help individuals take more initiative in their work.” Another said that Scrum would reduce the timeline to deliver products and improve quality as well. “Being certified ScrumMasters, we are now in a better position of espousing the need for change in how the company approaches product development, and the approaches learned can be integrated into the improvements in how we do things here.” Another claimed that she had an ongoing Scrum project at the time of the training. She adopted the technique Bas uses in sprint retrospective, and her team found it very useful and eye-opening.
The majority of the participants said their expectations were met, claiming they would recommend the course to others, including their colleagues and those already practicing or wish to practice Scrum. Ivar Marohombsar even went as far as to say, “I’m ditching eleven years of iterative experience in favor of Scrum.”
After completing the course, the participants were each presented with an official certificate naming them as Certified ScrumMasters (CSMs). The new ScrumMasters’ names are now added to the CSM registry of the Scrum Alliance.
To register or learn more about the upcoming training course on November 8–9, visit www.codelean.com.