Scrum certification test

At the Stockholm Scrum Gathering there was beta of the soon to be used test for CSM certification. It was an online, multiple guess test that covered topics you'd read in the three scrum books, and learn on the course or working on a project using scrum. There were a few questions on the agile manifesto, something I don't remember talking about when I did the CSM course. I thought it was quite good, and many of the questions required some thought, rather than a rote response.

After InfoQ wrote an article* on the test there has been an almighty flap (big enough to penetrate the usual volume of noise) on the Yahoo scrum development group. People firing off their 2c worth (0.5 c Australian) on things like:

• Certification means nothing
• The test is ridiculous
• It's testing the wrong stuff
• The CSM is not what people really want
  
• You could end up learning the wrong thing by taking the test

For a group of people who should be pushing the idea of continuous improvement - Inspect and Adapt people! - I am amazed at the carry on. The toys are well out of the pram on this one.

The only point from the whole broo-ha-ha worth repeating is from Ron Jeffries:

"How did it suddenly get necessary to do everything right the first time?"


* article in the sense of taking quotes from the Yahoo group and arranging them.

BTW - My mark was 88! Missed the top score by 1. Blast.