--- title: "Scrum Certifications are Problematic" url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/17/scrum-certifications-are-problematic.md" canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/17/scrum-certifications-are-problematic.html" published: "2006-11-17T15:38:48" updated: "2006-11-17T15:38:48" tags: ["Agile"] author: "Roy Osherove" description: "I said that Scrum is easier to sell , and I meant its easier to sell to the client, but one of the few things I don't agree with is the whole notion of the Scrum Certification Course . I think the a lot the problems…" usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)." license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" --- # Scrum Certifications are Problematic By Roy Osherove November 17, 2006 In [Agile](https://osherove.com/blog/category/agile) **Historical article** · Originally published November 17, 2006; technical details may be outdated. I said that [Scrum](http://www.controlchaos.com/about) is [easier to sell](http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2006/11/17/scrum-vs-xp-why-scrum-is-easier-to-sell.aspx), and I meant its easier to sell to the client, but one of the few things I don't agree with is the whole notion of the [Scrum Certification Course](http://www.controlchaos.com/certification/). I think the a lot the [problems people have with Agile Development practices](http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-agile-bad-agile_27.html) may be attributed to the idea of "bottling" Agile and creating certifications for parts of it. It's a great way to make good money, but certifying people as Scrum Master is not something I could trust a couple of days at a workshop to do. Yes - it can teach them a lot, but a good Scrum Master (or just a team lead, in plain speak) is someone who not only knows the "rules" - but someone with experience, knowledge of the team and mostly with an Agile mind. Frankly, if you have someone with those skills, they don't really need a certification - they can take a "course" and still be just as good. It feels too much like commercializing the practices of good team management and software practices (much like MSF Certifications - sooner or later you may find that people [are going about it all wrong](http://www.testking.com/MSF-certification-training.htm))  and that's why people feel that all you're trying to do is make a buck on their backs instead of really trying to help. I think it needs to keep being a "grassroots" kinda thing, and only then can people still somehow "trust" that this isn't just a buzz. Just like any certification - managers tend to just on these things and say "ok - all we need to to "certify" 3 people here in the org. to do this, and we're home free". There's a disaster waiting to happen - if people aren't ready to accept this change, or if you send in the wrong people. Certification does not guarantee anything but a certification. A course is a better description for it - because it only means you learned something - it does not actually mean you can go and do it tomorrow. There are many talented people I know who have done Scrum Certifications - it does not mean they can't do they're job - I just think they could have done they're job just as well without that "certificate" to begin with. ## More in Agile [All posts in Agile](https://osherove.com/blog/category/agile) - Dec 10, 2006 ### [Macro - Workaround for VS 2005 unit testing build problem](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/12/10/macro-workaround-for-vs-2005-unit-testing-build-problem.html) - Dec 9, 2006 ### [Video: Implementing Continuous Integration: With and Without Team System](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/12/9/video-implementing-continuous-integration-with-and-without-t.html) - Nov 17, 2006 ### [Scrum Vs. XP - Why Scrum is easier to sell](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/17/scrum-vs-xp-why-scrum-is-easier-to-sell.html) - Nov 7, 2006 ### [Agile Development Sessions - Slides and Demos from TechEd](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/7/agile-development-sessions-slides-and-demos-from-teched.html) --- ## About the author **Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery. ### Sites - [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership. - [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts. - [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin. - [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model. - [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps. - [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes). ### Social - X: https://x.com/royosherove - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/ ### Contact - Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7 ### License Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/