The Agile Certification Landscape

Kevin Aguanno is the agile practice lead for Procept Associates Ltd., one of PMI’s first Registered Education Providers, specializing in training and project and programme strategy consulting. Author of over 30 books, audiobooks and DVDs on project management topics, he teaches agile methods at several universities and at conferences around the world. He spends most of his time helping large, complex organizations integrate agile project management methods into their governance frameworks.

  Agile   Career Development   Scrum  

“Which agile certification is best?” is a question I have heard countless times in both the classroom and the boardroom, from practitioners through to hiring HR managers; in companies just starting to explore agile and in organizations with well-established agile teams. I don’t mind answering the question over and over again, as my answer changes often. The number of agile certifications available in the market keeps growing, and one must consider the unique needs of the inquiring company or individual to provide an honest answer.

Answering this question properly can be a challenge. If you were to try to answer this question, what factors should you consider? Do you even know the options available? Let’s start by learning about what options are available.

The Agile Certification Landscape
It is foolhardy to try and create a definitive list of agile certifications, as the list will be obsolete almost as soon as it is published--new ones appear every year. Fortunately, however, most fail to gain any serious support and fade away quickly.

Many of these new agile certifications are doomed to failure as they are fraught with conflicts of interest. For example, a majority of each new crop of agile certifications are offered by training providers as a way of promoting their courses. Many have no independent assessment (via a written, oral or …

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