How did you come to be the first Professional Scrum Trainer in Europe?

How did you come to be the first Professional Scrum Trainer in Europe?

That journey begins a very long time ago.

It started with my work as a programmer – software engineering – when I began to realise that the way in which you work is just as important, if not more important, than what you are working on.

At that point, we were very process driven.

We checked all the boxes from the requirements provided.The work was technically solid in terms of engineering practices.We tested the usability of the product with end-users and customers.

And so forth.

Our focus, back in 1998, was on meeting contractual obligations and making sure that we checked all the boxes according to the project management structures and procedures of the time.

It struck me that there must be a better way to create complex solutions, and my research led me to the Unified Processes (originally developed by Rational)

The Unified Processes is no longer popular and widely used today, but at the time, it was revolutionary and led me into the realm of approaching software product delivery differently and eventually to agile software development and the emerging practices and frameworks of that time.

Unified Processes

In the Unified Processes, customer or end-user use cases were the centre piece of software development rather than the system shall do requirements collection.

The use cases provided a lot of context and enabled me, as a software engineer, to think about why the work mattered, how it would enable a customer or end-user to do the things that most mattered to them, and what the primary focus of my solution should be.

I liked that.

I researched and embraced Unified Process as a better way of working and began to embrace the more agile style of working over the traditional project management approach. I worked with Unified Processes for a little over two (2) years before discovering eXtreme Programming.

eXtreme Programming (XP)

My research led me to a book about eXtreme Programming, which turned my entire belief system upside down because it challenged everything I had ever learned or believed about software engineering and product development.

Everything we know about Agile today was created back in the 1990s.

The emerging frameworks, philosophies, and pursuit of excellence was a radical departure from the strict engineering focus of software development at the time.

Concept of eXtreme Programming

The primary concept of Xtreme Programming is to move proven ideas to the extreme.

If we take this idea and move it to the extreme fringes, what would it look like?

An example of this might be testing.

Instead of testing the product or feature at the end of its construction, you would test it on a continuous basis to ensure that every single element of its construction was proven to work, in multiple scenarios, whilst you are actively building the solution.

A shift from development to test-driven development (TDD).

Once you have mastered that element of software engineering, you would recognise that integration of the solution is incredibly important, and so you would repeat the exercise by exploring the extreme fringes of integration.

Instead of building the product or feature, then testing whether it integrates into the working solution, you would focus on continuous integration and testing.

In software engineering, we used to refer to the integration testing moment as ‘plug and pray’ rather than ‘plug and play’. eXtreme Programming removed the element of surprise and uncertainty because it encouraged developers to continuous integrate and test the solution.

This concept of continuous integration and testing is now a standard part of the software engineering process, but at the time, it was revolutionary.

Just the continuous testing and integration elements of eXtreme Programming ensured that you had a significantly more sophisticated build pipeline than traditional project management processes, and with each iteration, you would increase the standards.

Customer Focus

The business element of software engineering had often been neglected in traditional project management because the focus was on contractual obligations rather than customer delight.

eXtreme Programming brought in the concept of an on-site customer.

Someone that a programmer could interact with and engage every day rather than at the end of the product development phase when they saw the product or feature for the first time. You could ask the customer:

What were they trying to achieve in their environment?What the most compelling problems were?What jobs were most important to them?Why this solution mattered?

And so forth.

Feedback and insight that could inform what you built and why you built it that way.

Context.

This customer focus was embraced by the cocreators of Scrum and incorporated into the Scrum framework in the form of a Product Owner, product backlog refinement with customers and product stakeholders, and the regular Sprint Reviews where customers and product stakeholders met with developers to provide feedback on what had been built and what the team would attempt next.

Code Reviews

Technical debt – the work you have to go back and rework to improve its quality and functionality – is a massive problem in high-pressure software development environments.

Traditionally, a project management team would cut corners and build as fast as possible to make sure they met project deadlines and operated within cost constraints, but the product would have a significant amount of problems beneath the surface.

Problems that wouldn’t be addressed because as soon as the product was delivered, the software developers would move onto the next thing, and nobody would be able to communicate with the original software development team about what was done, why it was done that way, and what needed to happen to resolve the problems that were accumulating because of the technical debt.

eXtreme Programming focused on continuous code reviews rather than a single review once in a while. It brought technical excellence sharply into focus and ensured that product development teams were accountable for delivering the highest quality work, every day.

This focus on continuous code reviews lead to the idea of pair programming.

Pair Programming

Pair Programming – where two people code together as a pilot and co-pilot – was born out of eXtreme Programming and the quest for technical excellence in software development.

The desire to eliminate technical debt and deliver the highest quality solution regardless of whether the team would be focused on the product in future or moving onto a new product or project.

Laurie Williams wrote a book about Pair Programming – Pair Programming Illuminated – that demonstrated why pair programming is so successful and how it is a game changer for organizations seeking technical excellence and improved product quality.

And so, it’s a common practice to this day and something I personally like and encourage.

The journey to PST (Professional Scrum Trainer)

As you have seen, I started early on to actively seek out more agile ways of working and actively embraced emerging agile (engineering) practices, processes, and frameworks. Things which I could incorporate in my work as a software engineer and deliver a high-quality, high-impact solution for my clients.

I witnessed the power of Agile, and especially Scrum, in creating high-performance environments that placed people, customers, and the quality of their experiences at the heart of their product development philosophy.

Project Management tended to be about delivering against a contractual obligation with the sole purpose of following the plan and being paid, whilst agile explored the entire value stream – from concept or need to customer satisfaction – and sought to make that experience and product delivery as effective, humane, and rewarding as possible for either side.

Happy product development teams + happy customers = successful organization.

I had implemented agile values, agile principles, and agile frameworks with my teams and seen:

Less problems in the environment.Improved time-to-market.Improved quality.Greater customer satisfaction.Greater employee satisfaction.

In my mind, as a software engineer as well as a business leader, the business case for Agile was significant and I continued to explore emerging agile frameworks and practices to improve.

In 2002, I discovered Scrum.

The combination of Scrum and eXtreme Programming proved highly effective, and I embraced Scrum as a powerful product development framework and set of practices. It proved itself incredibly valuable and effective, and I wanted to help others discover the power of Scrum to help them achieve their business, product development, and Human Resources team member objectives.

I wanted to play an active role in building the next generation of agile practitioners and developers.

I convinced my manager to send me on official Scrum training through the Scrum Alliance, and built up my knowledge, skills, and credentials in the Scrum environment.

Two years later I became a Certified Scrum Professional (CSP) and it struck me that I had a lot to contribute to the Scrum community as a coach, a mentor, and a trainer.

I had the practical experience, I had actively worked with Scrum and worked with teams to successfully adopt the framework, excel in product development using the framework, and to continuously improve and adapt using the framework.

It made sense to explore the Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) path through the Scrum Alliance and I began to prepare for that journey. I reached out to Ken Schwaber – the cocreator of Scrum – personally and actively requested to become a member of the Certified Scrum Trainer community.

Scrum.org

At that time, Ken Schwaber and the Scrum Alliance were parting ways and Ken was building www.scrum.org as the second certification and skills development body for Scrum which at the time had a strong focus on sophisticated agile engineering practises like eXtreme Programming.

Scrum.org created the Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) certification and licensed trainer credential, and it made sense to pursue this path because I liked Ken, I liked what Scrum.org represented, and I liked their commitment to providing the highest standards of Scrum training possible.

I worked with Ken through the process of becoming a Professional Scrum Trainer, which is very much about demonstrating knowledge, skills, capabilities, and deep experience in Scrum environments.

At that time, a handful of deeply experienced Scrum practitioners came together to certify as a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) and I was fortunate to be a part of that early group, leading to me becoming the first Professional Scrum Trainer in Europe.

As part of my ongoing and continuously evolving relationship with Scrum.org, I also worked with a small team to create the Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) course for Scrum.org and continue to play an active role in helping to improve the learning experience and grow capabilities in Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Scrum Developers around the world.

About Effective Agile

Ralph Jocham is a Change Agent in Scrum // Agile // Coaching // Evidence Based Management and also a Professional Scrum Trainer based in Europe.

As one of the first Professional Scrum Trainers in the world, Ralph has worked directly with cocreator of #scrum, Ken Schwaber, and has played an integral part in the course development of the #PSPO (Professional Scrum Product Owner) as well as the delivery of all #scrum.org certified courses.

If you’re looking to invest in training that transforms and empowers teams to successfully adopt #scrum or #agile, and create high-performance #productdevelopment environments leveraging the agile values and principles, visit https://effectiveagile.com/agile-scru...

If you would like to work with Ralph and company as an #agilecoach, #agileconsultant, or powerful change agent to get your team back on track and on the road to high-performance #agile #productdevelopment, visit https://effectiveagile.com/agile-tran...

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