I never thought of giving PSM I exam till maybe 4 months back, when I got a job in a working environment positive towards adopting agile practices. I started following Scrum as a modern twist to the Agile Manifesto methods.
I was so glad when I passed PSM I in first attempt ( 80 questions in 35 mins)... I didn't expect my knowledge in Scrum would suffice.. But I guess the practical experience in my company helped me through...
For those who know what is Scrum.org and what is PSM I..
To CRACK the PSM I by self study, you can try these steps which I did:
Read the Scrum Guide - 16 pages ( Scrum.org website) Mandatory
Read Do better Scrum - 26 pages ( on Scrum alliance website) Optional
Read Scrumprimer - 22 pages ( On Scrum alliance website) Optional
There will be some repetitions - consider it revision, there will be some conflicts - choose the scrum guide version of the statement ( it is the most recent version, also the version that counts for the exam).
Introduction to Agile and Scrum: Part 1 by Robert Dempsey
This will quite cover all the concepts required for PSM1 except
Burndown /burnup chart Mandatory
You can find details on this in any of the Scrum reference books ( except Scrum guide, its not in detail) mentioned above.
Test driven development Optional
NOTE: Test Driven Development is NOT a part of Scrum. But it helps implement Scrum efficiently.
Give the scrum open assessment on Scrum.org till you get 100% at least three times consecutively (hat-trick!) Mandatory
The Video from the link below covers the basics you need to know to answer questions on this, but if you want to initiate the process in your company, this will need more research ( there are books specifically for these topics). I found this video series very useful.. They have Q&A which is very interactive and not at all boring.. I actually got some questions from the videos here in my exam..
And most important of all.. It is free to watch hosted by Collabnet:
Video link: www.scrumtrainingseries.com
You can keep the Scrum Reference Card with you while giving the exam, the points are precise and very useful.
You can keep the Scrum Reference Card with you while giving the exam, the points are precise and very useful.
You are ready! All the best!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Understand what you read. Rote-learning will get you nothing ( not even the certificate).
For those who prefer to hear from experienced scrum trainers before self study, you can go for the PSF-PSM courses. ( You can watch the short Training videos uploaded on Youtube for an idea before registering ).
For those who don't know anything about Scrum watch the Ontime video of Scrum under 10 minutes. There are some awesome webinars conducted by Axosoft members on Scrum, attend at least one. You can also become a member at Scrum website and Scrum groups on LinkedIn, read about Scrum and get involved in the community, post your doubts in the forum, etc.. The LinkedIn groups are very proactive, subscribe for daily email notifications, I find the topics for discussion very interesting and informative. It kind of helps you not to lose track in your preparation.. and its fun! You can also attend free Scrum Gatherings, Meetups in your area for more interaction with Scrum believers and gain some practical exposure ( in case your company doesn't follow Scrum practices as yet)...
Comments appreciated!
Cheers!
Sprint Retrospectives in the Agile SCRUM World by SolutionShortZ
Hi Aarti,
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on taking the PSM1 assessment in a few days. I have a few questions I'm hoping you can help me with:
1)If a team member is not working out in a scrum team, who is responsible for taking him/her out - the dev team, the SM or HR/management?
2)Does a tester have a wider role in scrum besides finding bugs?
3)Who decides how to organize Daily scrums when some team members are in different locations?
4)Is it the Product manager who decide on the estimate on PBIs in a product backlog?
5)If many Scrum teams are working on the same product backlog, should all of their increments be integrated every Sprint even if the increments are not dependent ?
6)If many Scrum teams are working on the same product, should all of their sprints/timeboxes be held at the same time?
7) Are the Sprint Planning meeting, the Daily Scrum, the Sprint Review and the Sprint Retropective the only time boxed events in Scrum?
8)What happen if all the engineering tools are not ready before the start of a sprint?
Thank you so much in advance!
Hello hozannaz, lets answer your questions one by one:
ReplyDelete1) Firstly it is the scrum master's responsibility to educate and convince evryone to follow scrum principles. If it gets very tough, the management deicdes whats best for the company.
2) Yes, the teams are cross functional so the tester should be an active contributor to daily status activities too.
3) Scrum Master
4) Yes, whoseover is the internediate communicator betn stakeholders and the Scrum team.
5) Not necessarily.
6) Ideally, since the sprint review meeting would be able to give stakeholders a potentially shippable demo of the product.
7) Also product backlog grooming session.
8) This is an impediment, should be discussed in sprint planning meeting and the sprint can be delayed accordingly.
Thank you so much, Aarti for answering all of my questions so sincerely.
ReplyDeleteAbout #4, is the PO qualified to make any estimates at all? Isn't it the development team who has the expertise to say that this will take approx this much time, etc.? Also, I felt the PO's job is mainly to get the product backlog into order but I read a post by Ken Shwaeber where he's not happy the the PO's role has been reduced to that of requirements engineer. So how does one consider him? A person who adds value to the product, a liaison between customer and developer?
PO is responsible for estimation & prioritization PBI.. Dev Team does estimation for Sprint Tasks.
ReplyDeletePO is responsible for estimation & prioritization PBI.. Dev Team does estimation for Sprint Tasks.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your helpful tips. Which clears my mind of planning to move from agile developer to PSM.
Thanks
T.Vinoth
Your article boosts my confidence to take the PSM I assessment. I'm taking it this week.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Ross
Aarti,
ReplyDeleteGood summary of preparation needed. I took the exam few weeks back and passed with 95% in first attempt. I didnt want to risk the exam money and spent lot of time in finding good tips, including your blog. Some comments:
- Exam also has question on scaled scrum
- don't refer the material by Scrum Alliance. There are difference especially with scrum master duties
- In addition to Scrum Guide, two more books helped me a lot. They are compliant to original scrum and interesting reads:
1. Pocket Guide on Scrum by Gunther - this has some good insights on roles
2. Scrum Narrative and PSM exam guide by Mohammed - this has plenty of questions to practice
Also - some refer to some most discussed threads on scrum.org
I am late. But wanted to answer these questions
ReplyDelete1)If a team member is not working out in a scrum team, who is responsible for taking him/her out - the dev team, the SM or HR/management?
- The first option is for the dev team to solve the conflict themselves. The team cannot delegate this scrum master. The team cannot take HR issues. Refer Gunther's Pocket Guide for more info on this
2)Does a tester have a wider role in scrum besides finding bugs?
- There is no separate tester role in scrum. They may special area of focus but everybody is responsible for progress. Refer PSM exam guide by mohammed
3)Who decides how to organize Daily scrums when some team members are in different locations?
- The dev team
4)Is it the Product manager who decide on the estimate on PBIs in a product backlog?
- There is no role called product manager. The dev team is responsible for estimates
5)If many Scrum teams are working on the same product backlog, should all of their increments be integrated every Sprint even if the increments are not dependent ?
- If the increments are not dependent, what is the need for integration? Every team should produce releasable functionality every sprint. If dependent, they should be integrated often. This is enabled by mutual definition of Done. Refer Nexus guide by scrum.org
6)If many Scrum teams are working on the same product, should all of their sprints/timeboxes be held at the same time?
- It is recommended that way so they can have cadence but not mandatory. some of the events they all participate and hence have same time
7) Are the Sprint Planning meeting, the Daily Scrum, the Sprint Review and the Sprint Retropective the only time boxed events in Scrum?
- All are time boxed. While other 3 can be shorter than prescribed time limits, daily scrum is always 15 minutes. While all these four can end before time box, the Sprint alone CANNOT end before time box. Refer scrum narrative and psm exam guide by mohammed on a very good explanation on this
8)What happen if all the engineering tools are not ready before the start of a sprint?
- It is an opportunity for organization to fix these issues. The sprint cannot delay. Proceeding with sprint and retrospecting the outcome increases the transparency of such issues so org can fix it. Bending scrum rules hide these weaknesses. Again - PSM exam guide by mohammed offers a good explanation on this
Excellent answer and Well explained. Thank you
DeleteForgot to add couple of very useful content:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-pass-psm-first-attempt-five-steps-get-most-scrum-soukath-ali - direct and relevant content
http://guntherverheyen.com/tag/scrum-master/ - lot of insights on specific areas
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