Learning and development support enabled my professional Scrum Master qualification

By Steve Langstaff

In DWP?Digital?we have a great learning culture. Investment in our people?and?encouraging?personal development?is?a?key?part of our employee strategy to build capability.?As?an?agile coach, teaching is one of the stances?I?adopt.?I’ve delivered?a plethora of?training to colleagues?across the?department?and?a?lot of that has been?geared towards preparing colleagues to?gain?an industry recognised certification.?With a robust assessment and validation approach,?these qualifications are?well?respected.??

My?journey?to professional Scrum Master??

I’ve recently reached a big milestone in my own learning journey.??I think everyone?suffers from imposter syndrome at some point.??Helping and teaching lots of people has been great,?but?I?began questioning myself.?Did I have the knowledge?to be teaching others??Was I good enough???How could I validate my own knowledge??So,?I set myself a personal challenge?–?passing?Professional?Scrum?Master?III?(PSM III).???

Why PSM III???

Professional Scrum Master III (PSM III)?is regarded as the toughest?assessment of knowledge?in the agile space.?There are only around?a thousand?holders?worldwide?including some?of the most respected and?influential?members of the agile community.??

I’ve?been?working?with teams?practising?agile ways of working?for many years.?I?had?already?passed?PSM I and PSM II, so?this?seemed like the logical step.??It’s a little bit different to the usual assessments.?Rather than multiple choice, PSM III is largely essay-based answers, in a very tight time?scale.?It goes well beyond understanding scrum and the scrum framework and explores situational experience and behaviours. The pass mark, as with all scrum.org assessments,?is a brutal 85%.???

The mountain to?climb?

Gaining knowledge is an interesting path.?The more you learn, the more you realise how much there is still to learn. I thought I was at the top of the?mountain;?the reality was?I?was?just at base camp.???

Last?Autumn?I decided to?prepare?for PSM III.?I did lots of reading?and?eventually plucked up the courage to take the exam.??After an agonising wait for it to be marked,?the result came back just before Christmas?2020?I got?80%.?When I was at university if I got 80% in?anything,?I’d be skipping down?to?the pub.?80% here?just wasn’t enough!?

I?was?so disappointed, close but?not?close enough.?But?I?was determined I was going to make this happen.?So, I?decided?to?put every waking moment?of my spare time into preparing?for the exam again. I read even more, I?challenged myself?even more and?geared myself up to taking the assessment again.?This time I passed!??

I can honestly say that?while?the experience has been difficult, challenging and quite traumatic at times, it has?also?been the most enriching learning experience I’ve ever had.?Right?now,?I feel like I’m at the top of the mountain again.?

Own your career?

If you want to work in an organisation that values personal development,?take a look?at the latest vacancies on the DWP Digital?Careers site.??