Monthly News from Mike Cohn and Mountain Goat Software

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. 5 September 2012 The Scrum Alliance has finally introduced its pass/fail test for becoming a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM). This test has been a work in process for about two years. It's been through multiple revisions, but it is now live and a passing score is required following a two-day course in order to become a CSM. The test comprises 35 multiple-choice questions and to pass, candidates must get 24 or more correct. Candidates have 90 days following the CSM course to take the test. If you pass the test, afterwards you are shown a list of questions answered incorrectly, along with the right answer for each. Plan on taking about an hour to complete the test but you do not 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. Review your bookmarked questions before submitting your test for scoring. When you click “submit” at the end, a warning message will alert you of any unanswered questions. If you do not pass the test, you are shown the questions you missed, but are not told the right answer. You will be expected to research the right answer. If you don't pass the test, you can take it a second time at no cost as long as you do so within 90 days of your CSM class. The Scrum Alliance charges $25 for each subsequent attempt. Work is underway to translate the test into Spanish, French, German and Chinese (Mandarin). Other translations will follow. Since I always like to include a link or two, below are two links to articles I wrote for the Scrum Alliance website over the years. Regards, Mike Cohn ScrumMaster: Appointed or Team Selected? The selection of a new Scrum team’s ScrumMaster can impact the success or failure of the team's Scrum adoption. Choose the wrong person and the team could face the uphill struggle of trying to become self–organizing while under the thumb of a command–and–control style manager. Choose the right person–matching the skills of the new ScrumMaster with the initial needs of the team–and the team will have an incredible headstart in adopting Scrum. Read more... Advice on Conducting the Scrum of Scrums Meeting The scrum of scrums meeting is an important technique in scaling Scrum to large project teams. These meetings allow clusters of teams to discuss their work, focusing especially on areas of overlap and integration. Imagine a perfectly balanced project comprising seven teams each with seven team members. Each of the seven teams would... Continue Reading... Mike Cohn of Mountain Goat Software has Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Succeeding with Agile, Effective User Stories and Agile Estimating & Planning courses scheduled in Boulder, Copenhagen, Dallas, London, Orange County, Oslo, San Diego, and Silicon Valley.

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