Indite

I want to share with everyone hear my article in this months PM Network, 'Open Doors' (March 2018, page 25). It is an article on the importance, value, and benefit of transparency in project management. 

How do you use transparency in your projects? 

(Click on below to open article)

Having both a client that is currently in their Agile Transformation, implementing Portfolio SAFe, and hearing of the increased number of other organizations doing the same, I was motivated to go through this course and training to not only have a better understanding of SAFe princples, but also position myself as an individual who can offer support and guidance, coupled with my current skills and experiences, to organizations going through their internal change. 

I signed up and completed a two-day class. The class was comprised of myself and eleven other professionals of whom were there for the same reasons. It was a great mix of backgrounds, organizations, and cultural diversity. I met some really great individuals and look to continue our relationships even now the class has completed. 

We were all provided course workbooks, going through the slides with intermittent group activities and videos to help add further context to the principles described in the text. The trainer provided good professional insight and experiences, keeping the class engaged throughout. 

The exam was fair, taken through a web browser, consisting of 45 questions in a 90-minute timebox needing 34 correct answers to pass. I was able to take and pass the exam after completing the course, though to be fair, I had already spent time studying, navigating through the SAFe site, reading up on the different aspects of the roadmap, and reading through a colleagues training materials from a different course prior to the class, I had an advantage going in. There is a practice test (only 10 questions) on the Scaled Agile Framework site, and Without that, I probably would have spent a couple days reviewing prior to sitting the exam. 

To take the exam, it is required to attend a relevant SAFe course

References:
http://www.scaledagileframework.com/
https://www.scaledagile.com/certification-basics/
https://www.scaledagile.com/certification-and-exam-information-sa/

Jeff Sutherland launches the Scrum@Scale Guide!

Check it out - HERE 

Jeff recently stepped down as CEO of Scrum.inc to focus on spreading Scrum and Scrum@Scale. 

"Scrum@Scale is a framework within which networks of Scrum teams operating consistently with the Scrum Guide can address complex adaptive problems, while creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. These “products” may be hardware, software, complex integrated systems, processes, services, etc., depending upon the domain of the Scrum teams."

I'll be very interested to see how Scrum@Scale 'compares' to SAFe as both continue to mature. 

This is a professional designation I have had on my list for quite some time, but with Scrum not a focus in my current organization and role, it has remained on the bucket list as one of those long-lasting items.

Recently, there have been some role shifts for me, bumping the desire of attaining the Scrum designation to the top of the list.

Okay, great. So I have my motivation. Now what? Which Scrum designation - CSM or PSM? What is the difference? I won't go into the details, but in short, Ken Schwaber, the co-creator of Scrum, founded Scrum.org in 2009 as a global organization. Here are other distinguishing differences from an organizational perspective.

From a certification perspective:

CSM - It is required to take the 2-day class prior to sitting the exam. The cost for the course can be upward of $1200 USD. The exam, first two attempts, are included in that price. Subsequent attempts come with a cost. The exam is online, 35 questions, with no specified time limit - you don't need to finish the test in one sitting. You can stop and restart as many times as needed. You can also skip, go back, and bookmark questions for later review. A passing score is 24/35, which equates to 68%.

PSM - No course is required. Study materials are user chosen. The exam is based off the Scrum Guide. The exam is online through Scrum.org, 80 questions, with a time limit of 60 minutes. The passing score is 85%, or 69/80. The cost of the exam is $150 USD. You have one attempt per fee.

Which One - As far as which designation is respected more in the industry, seemingly it would be PSM, as the test is more difficult, structured, and based specifically on the core values of Scrum. But, I'm sure there are varying opinions.

Another consideration is cost. One can essentially get their PSM for the cost of the exam itself. That is an obvious factor, especially when you are paying out of pocket.

My experience - I was not interested in going the Scrum Alliance route, sitting a 2-day class, and applying for reimbursement. From my research, though the CSM is seemingly more widely attained, my impression and decision was that the PSM was in fact more distinguishable.

I found a class on Udemy - on sale for $10 USD, regularly $195 USD. Here is a link to the class. It is on sale again, and seems as though sales are frequent.

Post completion of the course, I paid for my PSM exam code, and began studying the course content, my notes, the Scrum Guide, and taking practice assessment exams - both the Scrum.org Open Assessment exams and from Mikhail Lapshin.  I continued my studies and practice assessments until I was consistently scoring 100% on each. At that point, I felt I was ready, and had a solid understanding of the material, and the manner in which the understanding was expected.

That's $160 USD compared to $1200 USD

Taking the actual exam - there were some similarities in the real exam compared to the open assessment, but many of the questions were more difficult, as expected, than the practice exams. So, studying and understanding the Scrum principles is core in passing the exam.

I bookmarked 4 questions. I finished my first pass at the questions with 10-minutes remaining. Then had an opportunity to review my bookmarked questions. I completed the exam with approximately 5 minutes left. My final score was 77/80, 96%! It was actually a bit harder than I had expected - I spent almost all the time!

Lessons Learned - I was happy with my preparation. I took a span of a couple weeks and dedicated myself to focusing and immersing myself into the content. Though purchasing the exam added to my motivation, it does not have an expiration. As far as content, the one thing I would do different, is take the Product Owner Open Assessment as there were questions on the actual exam related to PO where it seemed those open assessments might have helped - but that is simply conjecture.

Final Thoughts - The PSM is certainly not like the PMP as far as difficulty, breadth, and preparation time - but it is worth it if it relates to your current role, industry, or career path. I had a good experience and would recommend to others. If your organization is sponsoring employees to attend a Scrum Alliance training, then definitely take advantage of it! There is certainly something to be said for an on-site event with other professionals - both networking and the atmosphere that comes with a group event.

I am super happy to have achieved my PSM, and proud to showcase it.

Until next time!

/Andrew

Using Project Management to prepare and execute on my mountain bike races. 

There is a lot of work in preparing for a mountain bike race. What type of race is it - distance race (50 or 75 miler), or time race (6, 13, 24 hours)? What is the terrain like - technical, extremely technical, medium climbing, ridiculous climbing? Weather? How far away? 

So all of that answered, I can begin to tackle the details - travel plans, bike set-up, nutrition, etc. Let's take an example. 

Twenty-four hour race, 2 person team, at a ski-resort. So what this means is between my partner and I, we need to race around the course as many times as possible during the 24-hours. The race starts at 11am through 11 am the next day. The course was (I forget the miles, but it was about 2 hours/lap). The weather - well that is where it gets fun. We had the reminisces of Hurricane Ernesto, so the course was already super muddy, and it was still raining. That significantly increases the logistical nightmares, and preparations for your next turn. 

Our plan was to go out at first for single lap turns, with cleanup, gear change, and bike tuning while the other was out riding. Turns out, there was not much time to rest, so we decided to do double laps - 4 hours a stint. That would give the other rider plenty of time to cleanup, eat, and rest for their next turn. The course conditions were very difficult and progressively got worse as the race went on. 

Once nighttime came, lights came out. I had a light for my helmet. It was brutal. I did two separate 4 hour stints during the course of the night, my second taking me to around 5am. Did I say it was brutal. The rain had let up during the race, but the damage was done, the course was a mess, and some parts were not even rideable, having to dismount and run/walk, but it was slippery, it was slip 'n sliding all over. 

Eating, yeah, that was interesting. I would have a camelback for water, with gels. I had spare parts and tools in case I had a mechanical. There is no support. You are out there completely on your own. Other riders will help if you need it, we are all supportive - it's a friendly competition. Now, the team I rode for had support at the main area. We had a large tented area. There was several of us racing from the same team, but in different teams and categories within the race. I would have a team support person meet me at the checkpoint to hand me a pre-baked sweet potato for good energy. Between laps, there was food I could eat, either food I brought, or something off the grill.

The category we were in was the duo-team. I don't remember how many laps we did. Around 15 or so. The distance was about 14miles/lap. We got 3rd place. I don't think we realized how we were doing until the middle of the night. We benefited from our bike setup. Both of us rode bikes with only one-gear, so the mud did not effect our gears and shifting. It's called single speed. 

You're probably asking yourself, how does this relate to project management. I used project management practices in preparation for my mountain bike races; planning and executing on my strategy, monitoring my performance and surrounding elements, controlling my efforts and actions, and lastly, reviewing my race, results, and planning post race for lessons learned for the next one. 

I wanted to provide the details to provide context around how difficult the planning can be, all the environmental factors at play, mitigating risks (known and unknown), and dealing with issues all on the fly while racing - flat tire, crash - you're on your own, but you had thought about this particular scenario, playing it out in your mind, leveraging experience. Cramps? Getting lost? Bees! Snakes! You name it. Trust me, I've dealt with them all. 

Bike set-up - what is the weather? Terrain - hills, technical terrain, wide-open?  What is my gear ratio? Tire pressure? What do I carry with me? I would spend hours in the weeks leading up to the race preparing for all these scenarios, and mentally preparing. Once at the race, it was a matter of executing the plan, monitoring and controlling all actions and scenarios. 

In the end, I analyze my results, and how my planning worked in reality, then take that for the next time. 

I have also done 13 hour races solo, and many, many 6 hour (laps around a ~10 mile course) and 50 mile races (one loop, which are also about 6 hours). 

I miss my racing days ....