At the start of September, CIO contributor Sharon Florentine conducted an interview with Jeff Sutherland, one of the co-inventors of scrum development methodology. You can read it here. But to reduce Sutherland’s comments to their Cliff’s Notes, we’d say that for anyone who’s considering certified scrum master or certified scrum product owner training, the major takeaway should be that that methodology has consistently proven itself to be versatile and capable of standing the test of time.
And if software development firms have found CSM and CSPO training to be consistently useful in coordinating their teams and improving efficiency, broader categories of training have been even more broadly influential. Agile training in the USA has impacted the ways in which teams work collaboratively not just on software development but also in business processes.
Thus, it has proven to be a valuable supplement to business analyst training and certification, PMP training, and more. Sutherland even points out that people have found outlets for scrum and Agile methodology outside of the business world altogether, such as in the planning of weddings. This goes to show that Agile training in general and certified scrum master training in particular are parts of that category of professional development that are worth pursuing even if you’re not sure exactly what trajectory your career will take.
Integrate scrum into a larger round of information technology training and it doesn’t even matter whether you remain strictly within the limits of information technology job placements – you’ll have developed a set of skills that can serve you well in a variety of professional and personal circumstances.
This speaks to the versatility of CSM and CSPO training and Agile training in general, and Sutherland does a good job of citing concrete examples to demonstrate that an increasing number and variety of companies have latched onto the methodology over the past 20 years.
And what’s equally important is that the methodology has remained relevant and relatively unchanged for that entire period of time. Sutherland says quite explicitly, “the scrum framework today is almost exactly the same as it was in 1993.”
Of course, in a prior post at this blog we referred to the fact that that framework has seen some recent modifications and supplements, such as secure scrum. But this only seems to add to Sutherland’s point. The existing framework for certified scrum master training has remained in place, and as weaknesses or specific, modern needs have been identified, the overall methodology has remain in place and has simply adapted to fit new circumstances.
“Nothing ‘new’ will ever be able to replace the principles scrum is built on,” Sutherland says, “because they are so fundamental to human behavior and existence, in my opinion.”
You can decide for yourself if this is the case, provided that you have a solid understanding of the principles and practices of Agile training and scrum certification. If you don’t yet know enough to decide whether this type of information technology training will suit your career and life both within and beyond your IT job placements, get in touch with an information technology training consultancy to get a sense of what’s involved in their certified scrum master training programs, and then determine whether Sutherland’s arguments for their versatility and permanent relevance hold water.
And if so, you should be ready to take the next step right away.