Journey to CST: Pairing isn’t just for coders or teams

Some of you know that I’m on my journey to become a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). It’s interesting to see how concepts of Agile and Scrum are embedded in the certification process itself, specifically pairing.

Pairing in Scrum teams can be an incredibly effective technique to boost learning and performance. I’ve observed teams that use pairing generally outperform teams that don’t by a wide margin within a few sprints.

But why stop at Scrum teams? What about other applications of pairing?

Pairing appears quite predominantly in the form of the co-training requirement for CST candidates. We need to co-teach at least 10 sessions with other CSTs as part of the process. This is pairing. And *gasp* it’s outside of a Scrum team.

All sarcasm aside, pairing can and should happen beyond Scrum teams.

Pairing isn’t just about “knowledge transfer” from one to another. Pairing should be exactly that. Pairing. It’s about collaborating, communicating, and literally continuously improving in-the-moment to enable better outcomes for both members in the pair.

Every chance I get, I pair.  Some say it’s inefficient and that resources should be maxed out to the highest utilization possible.

In my experience, every workshop I’ve co-taught with someone else, I’ve learned something new and have personally improved. I usually hear the same thing from my workshop partner in return. Utilization, while important, is not everything. We should be focused on bringing value. Pairing contributes to enabling even greater value over time.

Don’t just stop pairing at Scrum teams – or even for training. What about pairing managers? Executives? What about pairing on a marketing campaign? In human resources? In hardware design? It doesn’t just have to be for software or for teams.

Try it. My advice for experienced folks is to keep an open mind. Yes, you may have many years experience in your respective craft. But, there’s always something to learn. I do. Every time I pair.

Want to help me in my CST journey? Register and/or let your friends know I’m co-teaching! Visit my website for registration information including discount codes for selected upcoming CSM and CSPO workshops.