PSD (Java) First Run

Most Scrum implementations fail or have limited success for one reason. The team is not able to really deliver a potential shippable product increment according to the definition of done. This causes all kinds of problems down the road. One of the main manifestations is that the the sprint cadence goes over board. By loosing this, you loose one of the main points of transparency.

This problem was described by Martin Fowler in his Flaccid Scrum article and by Ken Schwaber in an interview. Ken, then left the ScrumAlliance to found Scrum.org so that he can address exactly this problem. Professional Scrum Developer (PSD) is the result. There are two tracks, one for .Net in C# and one for Java. I co-developed the Java course which is build 100% on open source tools. It is an intense five day class in which the developers are exposed to a real live scenario, in which they have to deliver working software according to the definition of done in 4 mini sprints. It includes all aspects of Scrum like, sprint planning meeting, daily scrum, review and retrospective. The five days are very intense. My goal is to provide each participants with the feeling and experience what real Scrum feels like. Once, you have experienced this, you know exactly what you should aim for. You want that feeling again!

The first Java PSD was held in Zürich, Switzerland from June 4th-10th. Ken Schwaber attended the first day and really liked what he saw. The overall feed-back was very positive and I am happy to know that there a eight more 'real' agile developers in the field. I believe that the earlier you get a change to work with programmers the more they get out of it. Therefore, I am wondering if it would be possible to even integrate that training into the curriculum of computer science studies.

If this sounds interesting, then go to Scrum.org and check out the available training side. Also, I will be giving a Scrum in Depth (SID) class in Bern, Switzerland on June 5th-6th.