My path towards the PSM III certificate
The PSM III certification of scrum.org is thought of to be the hardest Scrum Master certification achievable. There are — at the time of writing — not even 1.000 Scrum Masters who have earned this certificate.
The exam is so difficult because it consists of 30 questions with the majority requiring ‘open’ answers. This means you will have to write the answer yourself instead of selecting the correct one(s), like in PSM I and PSM II. If this doesn’t seem hard enough, you only have two and a half hours to do so.
These questions are not only strict theoretically but are focused on applying the theory in practice. Scrum.org repeatedly asks you to provide real-life examples, based on your own expertise, to prove that you are consciously trying to bring their theory into practice.
I am a Scrum Master for about five years now whereas I was previously a Java developer. During the 2020 Covid lockdown, I felt the need to refresh my theoretical knowledge of the Scrum framework. That is why I decided to start my learning path to obtain PSM I.
After obtaining the PSM I certification I had the urge to continue with PSM II and finally, I also decided to take a shot at PSM III. I really wanted to add that ‘medal’ to my professional honors list. I thought to have both, enough experience and theoretical knowledge so there was in fact nothing that kept me from trying. Codrigo, my employer, gave me the trust needed to focus completely on obtaining this coveted certificate.
In February 2021 I tried the exam the first time. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to achieve the 85% score. My answers were too long so I couldn’t complete all the questions within the timebox of (then still being) two hours.
I decided to continue digging into the Scrum framework and on how the Scrum Master fulfills his role within the framework. With this additional knowledge, I hoped to be able to answer shorter and more concisely during the next exam attempt. At the end of May, I finally thought I was ready to retry the PSM III exam. In the meanwhile, scrum.org decided to broaden the timebox from two hours to two and a half hours. This was related due to the latest changes in the Scrum Guide that were earlier published in November 2020.
Early June I got the liberating mail, telling me that I passed the PSM III exam! Of course, I was very happy to achieve my goal. And by writing this blog I want to provide everyone who is also willing to try the PSM III certification some hands-on tips and tricks to succeed in their quest. Below, I will try to provide you with an overview of the steps I took to prepare myself for the PSM III exam.
Learning by research
Of course, it all starts with reading the Scrum Guide. But it doesn’t stop here: try to interpret it and check how all of the Scrum Events and Artifacts are related to the Scrum Values and the Inspect & Adapt principle.
Try to find some books which you think will help you in your journey. To me, ‘Scrum, A pocket guide’ from Gunther Verheyen and ‘Mastering Professional Scrum’ from Stephanie Ockerman en Simon Reindl were very useful. Both books provided me with useful insights on the different aspects of the framework, the Scrum Events, Artifacts, and Accountabilities in a practical way.
I also started to follow certain ‘Scrumfluencers’ (Gunther Verheyen, Maarten Dalmijn en Agile for Humans) on different Social Media channels (Youtube, Medium & LinkedIn).
Finally, you should have read the ‘Scrum Master Learning Path’ on Scrum.org. These articles provide an insight into how scrum.org thinks about Scrum and the role of the Scrum Master.
During this marathon of continuous learning, you will regularly read articles that cover more or less the same topic as you have already read before. After a while, you will instinctively browse through these texts more diagonally, because you find you have already covered content before. To me, the art lies in finding out what topics come back regularly and uncovering why they do so.
Ask yourself: this is probably something important, but why? How is this related to the rest of the framework? Which Accountabilities do they address, which Scrum Values are important here, can I relate this to the Inspect & Adapt principle?
If you approach these articles like this, you will find it feels less like studying and more like doing research. I guarantee you will have an ‘aha’ moment from time to time!
PSM III as a final stage of a certification process
As a Scrum Master, I think it is counter-intuitive to only try and obtain the PSM I, PSM II, and PSM III certifications. Your responsibility goes beyond just coaching the Scrum team.
You will, of course, interact with your Product Owner and the Developers on a daily basis. However, you will also meet several management profiles. You keep track of certain metrics for reporting purposes towards stakeholders. And it is common these days to end up in environments where it was decided to scale their Scrum.
That is why I decided to first obtain all the other scrum.org certifications before trying PSM III. This gave me the opportunity to learn how a Scrum Master can influence different stakeholders in an organization.
Each profile has a different interest, but all are connected to each other via the framework. Everyone benefits from a successful Scrum team but meanwhile, everyone should be approached differently to be successful in your coaching.
I only considered the PSM III exam after obtaining PSM I, PSPO I, PSD I, PAL, SPS, PSK, PAL-EBM, PSM II, PSPO II, and PSU.
Tried and tested in Scrum
You only gain experience while spending time in the trenches. It’s this experience you need while answering the questions of the PSM III exam. I am quite sure that you won’t be able to succeed if you are just starting on your first Scrum project.
In the introduction, I already explained having five years of Scrum Master experience over five different assignments. I thus had the feeling I had the necessary experience needed. However, I wasn’t quite aware I also had to provide actual real-life examples on the exam as well. This cost me a lot of precious time during my first attempt.
You need to have different experiences with Scrum to hold up a mirror to yourself. To evaluate what went well and what didn’t (and more important: why?).
If you already have some experience, then spend some time thinking about what went well and what didn’t for each assignment. Which approach was fine on one project, but wasn’t on another, why? How did you handle different situations in your Scrum Master role? Did you address the Scrum Values, the theory in the Scrum Guide, or maybe even the Inspect & Adapt principle?
A deeper understanding of Scrum
I deliberately saved this paragraph for the end because I wasn’t in favor of following ‘yet another’ Scrum training for a long time. However, after my first attempt at PSM III, I felt like I might need some guidance after all.
After receiving my result, I suddenly felt insecure: it felt like a failure. Codrigo had consistently supported me in my certification path but I felt guilty not being able to cash in on this $500 exam attempt.
Fortunately, Codrigo kept by my side: Luca, my supervisor, advised me to try a two-day Professional Scrum Master training. Professional Scrum Trainer Gunther Verheyen had planned a PSM Training and there were still some open seats!
That training was exactly what I needed to regain my courage to dig deeper into the Scrum framework. By using interactive examples, Gunther provides a whole range of useful details that allow you to grow in your Scrum Master role. Due to the limited (digital) audience, we regularly had interesting discussions that were facilitated by Gunther.
After the course, he sent us the course materials as a reference. They also included additional information, like slides we hadn’t looked at and books he found useful to read as a Scrum Master.
Gunther also mentioned he would soon be launching a new training. This half-day course would address the value in the Scrum Values. I didn’t doubt for a second: as soon as the registrations opened, I applied for a spot.
This training was substantially different from the ‘typical’ Scrum Master training. You cannot just teach some values, can you? During this half-day, Gunther guided us through the different Scrum Values: Courage, Commitment, Focus, Openness & Respect.
In small groups, we discussed the Scrum Values and how to interpret them in different situations. I learned to keep in mind how other people think, to be open to their opinion and to look beyond myself.
In short: these courses have taught me to take other opinions into account as well and to look further than just what is in it for myself. Scrum succeeds or fails by good cooperation. Being open to other ideas and being able to actively listen to other people’s opinions and care for them is an important aspect of cooperation. As a Scrum Master, you don’t have to provide all the answers yourself, but you should try to get the Scrum team to find them.
Conclusion
It certainly takes courage and perseverance to pass the PSM III exam, but personally, it was more than worth it! By going through the entire process, I now see that the PSM III ‘trophy’ is just the start of the journey. Throughout this trip, you will find that there’s more to discover about Scrum than just the text of the Scrum guide!
Perhaps, the biggest lesson for me was not being able to pass the exam on one try. It opened my eyes: I had to look at Scrum differently. I still had work to do. The constructive feedback I received from scrum.org allowed me to focus on my areas of attention.
Thanks to Codrigo’s support, I kept going and prepared myself for that second attempt, which was the right one. I now feel more confident to explain the theory behind Scrum to others as well. That is why I will soon facilitate some ‘Scrum Fundamentals’ courses for my colleagues. I hope to be able to pass my enthusiasm on to them so they will expand their knowledge of the Scrum framework as well.
Still in doubt to start your PSM III learning path? Don’t be! If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact me via LinkedIn. I’d be happy to help you!
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
