Renewing your certification / Furthering your education

I am re-posting this, as I have new information.

1. Introduction

You may want to skip to sections 4 and 5 below.

2. Why is this important?

Learning so that you can act better or more effectively is good. Acting better or more effectively is definitely good!

First, can knowledge decay?  Yes.

Is it possible that you are mis-remembering knowledge, and you think you are doing Scrum right, but in fact you are doing it somewhat incorrectly?  As you know, this is very possible, even likely for various reasons.

Is there a magic pill to make sure everyone’s knowledge is perfect and everyone’s intention is perfect?  No, of course not.  But we think learning more can help.  The basics of Scrum are quite simple.  But doing it well in your situation is, actually, very hard.  You need many things to make it better, and more learning is one of them.

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3. Basic Scrum Alliance approach

So, Scrum Alliance has come up with some practical things.  They are attempts to deal with these problems.

To be honest, the ideas in my opinion are a bit bureaucratic (I tend to naturally be anti-bureaucratic), but I have some sympathy.  It is a hard problem, and the proposed solution is still a reasonable partial solution.

If you dislike their proposals, please tell me, and please do propose an alternative.

Valid Certification

Scrum Alliance wants everyone to have an up-to-date, valid certification.

And a certification that we can at least hope is currently meaningful, given that humans ultimately forget everything.  (Well, a lot.)

And your certification expires after two years.  (The expiration date is shown on your Scrum Alliance profile.)

Get SEUs to renew

One way to renew your certification is to obtain SEUs.  Scrum Educational Units. And pay a fee.

Basically, the SEUs represents the idea that you have some new learning in that (2 year) period.

And the idea is that the new learning justifies letting you continue with your certification.

Lots and lots of industries do this kind of thing.  Lawyers, doctors, etc, etc.

Is it perfect?  No.  Does it help?  Probably on average YES.  Well, make it help for you.

Here is a page that talks about renewing:

https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/renewing-certifications

Get a new certification (to renew)

Whenever you get a new ScrumAlliance certification, this renews all prior certifications, and causes all certifications to expire on the same date (two years from the new course).

For example, an A-CSM certification would renew a CSM certification.

You can also re-take a certification (course) and renew.  For example, you have a CSPO and a CSM now.  One of them needs to be renewed.  You can retake the CSM (at a low cost with me) and that will renew both certifications.  If it is the CSM, you do not have to re-take the CSM test.

(I do not know for sure if this applies to a “lower” certification.  So, would a CSPO renew an A-CSM?  I think so, but I am not certain.  Clearly an A-CSM will renew a CSM.)

What are the different ways of getting SEUs?

Here is a page that explains the different types of SEUs and gives you ideas of how you can earn SEUs.

https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/scrum-education-units

Coming to one of our courses is one of them.

4. What LeanAgileTraining offers – 1

New Certification Courses

We are offering new SA certification courses, both publicly and inhouse.

These include:

• The A-CSM (Advanced CSM) course
• The CSPO course

These are explained on the website.  Start here: https://leanagiletraining.com/lean-agile-and-scrum-courses/scrum-and-agile-course-descriptions/

New Courses or Workshops for SEUs

We are offering new courses for the SEUs, both publicly and inhouse.

These include:

• Scaling Workshop
• Agile Release Planning workshop
• The Team Level-Up Workshop

These are explained on the website.  Start here: https://leanagiletraining.com/lean-agile-and-scrum-courses/scrum-and-agile-course-descriptions/

5. What LeanAgileTraining offers – 2

We encourage you to “renew”.  For us, that means you can come to any course again, for “free”.  That is, you have to pay a small charge to re-take the course. Currently that is $100 per day for Online courses or $125 per day for in-person courses.  Plus $50 for the Scrum Alliance charge for me to upload your name/address.  This in part pays for the next 2-years of your membership in Scrum Alliance.

You can only renew for those courses or workshops you have taken already, with us.

If you re-take (renew) the CSM course, you do not have to re-take the CSM Test.

6. Additional Information from Scrum Alliance

How many SEUs do I need?

If you are renewing only your CSM or CSPO, you need 20 SEUs.

These SEUs must be earned AFTER you get your CSM or CSPO.

You earn 8 SEUs per course or workshop day, normally.

Other situations can be more complex.  Depends on several factors.  For example, say you have BOTH the CSM and the CSPO.

Then see this calculator.

https://certification.scrumalliance.org/renewal_requirements

Note: You can also see this general information (not just the calculator) reviewed in this video:

We will try to keep up with this.  We do have more to say about how we can help.

You can email: support@scrumalliance.org.  Or talk to us.

More soon.

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