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I know, it’s been too long.  After serving two terms as VP of Education for the PMI Northern Utah Chapter, I decided to spend more time with my family and pursuing hobbies.  If you hadn’t noticed, Project Management can be a highly intellectual effort, with long periods between demonstrable results (depending upon your projects and the methodology/framework you use).  I needed some sort of cathartic release with fast turn-around time, so I’ve gotten into blacksmithing.  I’m in the middle of a project, setting up a small blacksmith shop in my garage, but that is a post for another time.

Historically, my blog was about getting and maintaining the PMP credential.  I’ll still touch on that, occasionally.  For example, I recently received an email from PDUs2Go that they are going to start offering free 1 PDU webinars, again.  I haven’t found information on their site, yet.  Once it’s available, I’ll post it here.  I think, however, it’s time to branch out.

As the only CSM (Certified Scrum Master) in the PMO, where I work, I was recently asked to teach a class on Scrum to another team.  The company where I work is starting to make headway into adopting Scrum, and some of the teams that normally would not consider Agile are starting to take interest.

It was a half-day class where I presented the hype, the reality, and a little bit of sarcasm about Agile and Scrum (because Scrum is not the only way to be Agile).  The point that resonated the strongest with the class, and me, is that being agile is about more than just adopting agile development practices.  It’s about so much more than just IT trying a new approach.  I think that’s the topic for my next post.

Before I close, I want to post a little about the PMINUC professional development conference I attended in April.  Kudos to the current board for a job well done.  It’s incredible how much they’ve grown in the past few years, and how much more they are doing for their members, now.  If I didn’t have other commitments, I’d be more than excited to be part of it again.  My favorite speaker was Spencer Horn.  He gave two presentations.  I would have gone to both, but decided to diversify the classes I attended in order to attempt to manage my “Talent Triangle.”  I attended the session on Branding Yourself, which was probably my biggest motivation to start my blog back up, again. If you ever have the chance to work with Spencer, or attend one of his presentations, I highly recommend it.

I was especially touched during the presentation from Operation Underground Railroad.  I don’t know if I know anyone who has been directly impacted by sex trafficking, but it was eye opening to find out how pernicious it is, and to realize that slavery is still alive and well, even in the US.  I’m going to look into ways that I can contribute to O.U.R.  Here’s a link, if you’re interested.

https://ourrescue.org/join-the-fight

My final thought from the PDC, and for this post, is that I am excited that I won a training class from the BrainTrust Consulting Group.  I’ll be taking the CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner) class in the fall – the next time it’s offered in SLC.  I feel like a dork admitting this, but I’m excited, and not just because I won something.  When I got my CSM certification, in 2007, the class placed a lot of focus on the role of the ScrumMaster and how to run a Scrum project.  I look forward to formal training on what the Product Owner should be doing, both before and during the project (especially before), as this will help me coach the business as Scrum becomes more prevalent where I work.