Does Anyone Still Care About Scrum Certificates? - Conversation with Sjoerd Nijland, Serious Scrum Co-Founder
Let us take you on an Agile learning journey...
Nyland and I talk about leadership, Scrum Master and Agile Coach accountabilities. We explore if anyone cares about certifications anymore, and talk about professional courses. What makes us become good Scrum Masters? Nyland, who has almost the full suite of Scrum.org certifications, explains what Road to Mastery is and how it differs from the typical two-day training. Let us take you on an Agile learning journey!
Serious Scrum Community
Sjoerd Nijland aka Nyland is the Co-Founder of the Serious Scrum Community and the creator of Road to Mastery.
We are here to support Scrum practitioners who are serious about Scrum.
Sjoerd Nijland
The Serious Scrum Community, which you can join here, is about all things Scrum — how to introduce Scrum to your team, how to live the Scrum values, and any day-to-day challenges the practitioners face in their jobs.
It was founded as a response to unverified content about Scrum and Agile that spread a lot of misinformation.
We wanted to create a home that if you go there, you’d find good content about Scrum. This is where the real people are at, this is where they talk and share. And sometimes also to complain about it a little bit. All in all, to create a safe space where professionals can openly talk and discuss these things.
Sjoerd Nijland
Since we are on that subject, let me share with you that there is a Serious Scrum conference-unconference coming up on April 14th! We are currently looking for speakers, you can send your application here.
Do we still care about the certifications?
Sjoerd Nijland has almost the full suite of Scrum.Org certificates. And to the question, if anyone still cares about the certificates he replies:
We secretly do. Because it validates our knowledge. It’s actually fun to get them because you have to solve a puzzle to get the validation and the score. Although we know certification is not a validation of experience. But we also know that it is valued in the market. It creates opportunities for people which is good but it’s not the end of the journey.
Sjoerd Nijland
He considers that to a certain degree, the certification, validates your sense of professionalism with the material and your profession.
Road to Mastery — a Scrum learning journey
Road to Mastery, created by Sjoerd, sounds more like an experience than training. The description on LinkedIn reads:
If you’d like to boost your knowledge and learn how to put that into practice — as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach — the Road 2 Mastery will help you bridge that gap.
We train by doing things together and learning from each other. It’s not the teacher doing all the teaching, we are building on the experience that people bring. We bring knowledgeable and experienced people who have stories to tell and knowledge to exchange. And it also helps to develop relationships.
Sjoerd Nijland
Sjoerd calls himself a guide because he guides the participants on their learning journey. You can see how people grow together and that is something you won’t get on a typical two-day training. There is time and space for that because this journey takes from three to six months. Some participants still hang out together after two years. They get so much value from it that they continue as a community of practice.
We call it “plays”; we make learning interactive.
Sjoerd Nijland
There is also the Scrum and Agile theory but it comes to life when people share their experiences based on that theory. And they exchange that, so they build connections on how they are connected to the material, what they already know about it, and if they have any anecdotes.
Who is Road to Mastery for?
It is for people who are already in the field and have some experience. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to get value from it. The criteria for getting on the journey of Road to Mastery is that the applicants are already in an environment where they are familiar with the challenges Scrum and Agile pose.
And people do switch careers thanks to the journey. They become more confident in their skills and they get plugged into the network.
The motivation to create the journey
Working in iterations doesn’t mean one does Scrum. Especially if there is no self-management and no one is following the values. Sjoerd noticed that:
Many companies use Scrum in a very mechanical way to maximize productivity and force predictability.
Sjoerd Nijland
That creates a lot of frustration among the Developers and Scrum Masters. Then there is the lack of real product ownership. When you go through all the certifications and training to build your knowledge then it creates a massive gap between where the organizations are and where you are. That’s a frustrating, and very difficult to bridge, gap.
At the same time, Sjoerd admits he felt ill-equipped to deal with that gap. Because you don’t get an answer from the training on how to deal with it. Neither do you get the support.
Either you act or you stay frustrated
Sjoerd was determined to do something about his frustration so he consulted a life coach on what kind of a job he could do to overcome that. What came out of the questionnaire was to become a travel guide. That wasn’t an option as Sjoerd just started a family and had young kids. So the coach asked him, “Isn’t there a way you could make your current job more like guidance?”
The assessment showed that he liked to explore, share his experiences with others, do things together with other people, and have meaningful experiences. And obviously, he valued autonomy and freedom. And then there was the journey element to it that he enjoyed. This is how the idea came to create a learning experience where he could guide people on an exploration journey.
When something magical happens
During the road to mastery, something magical happens. People join and share their challenges, some say they experience the impostor syndrome and they are looking to understand what it means to be “a good Scrum Master.”
Sjoerd Nijland
Nyland noticed that people are trying to find a template and expect to get into the role of this “good Scrum Master.” As the journey progresses Sjoerd guides them to look at it from a different point of view.
There is no template, no role for you to play. It’s rather a set of accountabilities. And you get to design how you get to live and act in that.
We are going to design the way we want to live those accountabilities (…) We should make it authentic. And that is also what true leadership means, being true to yourself.
Sjoerd Nijland
Leiding geven — giving leadership feels gezellig
Unfortunately, too often people try to emulate the leaders they were exposed to. And those weren’t necessarily good or true leaders. In any case, trying to imitate someone else means becoming inauthentic.
We all know people who are not authentic, who are playing games, who don’t really see us or care in that regard. Are those really leaders?
In Dutch, there is an expression “leiding geven” — giving leadership. Which means that you want to empower people to become leaders. The intention of the leaders is not to have all the leadership but to give it away and empower other colleagues. And that’s what both Sjoerd and Willem-Jan are doing through their work on creating one of the most vibrant Scrum Communities in the world.
I love Sjoerd’s story. I find it very inspiring! Not only does he have my dream job but he actually created it for himself after getting frustrated at work.
He shows us that we are not doomed if we hate our job or see that people don’t understand the value we are providing. We can do something about it. And that’s what he did despite having a family with young kids. He not only created a job that fits his personality traits but he has also redefined the way we learn and network.
Sjoerd, I’m looking forward to seeing a TEDx with your story!
You can watch my Serious Scrum Conversation with the other Co-Founder, Willem-Jan Ageling here.