Aspiring DM

So, now I had a direction to follow with a goal at the end of it, Professional Scrum Master. But how, where and when?

Scrum.org was (and is) recommended as a great place to look for courses. A quick search on the site led me to a very long list of short courses for PSM I all over the world. Both online and in person. I decided that for the initial course I’d like to do in-person training. I spent a short while trying to work out how I could justify a few days away to Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam or even Chicago to my wife. Surely she’d understand I need to do this, right? In the end, for my own safety, I erred on the side of caution and settled for one in London.

I filtered the search for in-person training in London and started to go through all the feedback. The good thing about Scrum.org is that they have lecturer profiles and reviews of all the courses, enabling you to make a very well informed decision on the course and lecturer you want to learn with. I kept coming back to an upcoming one at University of Westminster. This course was led by John Coleman who had a very impressive background and feedback. So that was it, decision made.

Then I did it, I couldn’t quite believe I was doing it, but I was. Prized open my wallet, dusted off my card and booked. I had now committed myself . No going back!

Shortly after I received a confirmation email from Westminster University with course details, a copy of the Scrum guide, the PSM Suggested Reading List and Topic Areas and a link to the PSM open assessment.

There were clear instructions on signing up and accessing the online course content through the blackboard interface. All very user friendly, accessible and, thankfully, very straightforward.

Six weeks felt like ages away. As it turned out however, it was a blessing. Coming in as a complete outsider I needed to do some background reading, a lot of background reading it turns out. I had no knowledge of this whatsoever but I had, at least, taken another step….

Now to start learning.