SCRUM ClubPublic Space

The person chosen by the team to keep an eye on the rules. This isn't project management, this is team facilitation.

So where does it all go wrong?

We had a lively discussion on the LA Agile & Scrum Meetup board about CSM training and retaining information after the class is over:

"I do have to say that it was really hard to retain information after 
the class. There really is no daily reinforcement for what you learn there 
even if you are working on Scrum projects..." - Amanda Abelove, lowly CSM (but former courseware developer and technical trainer)

"If that is the case, you have an ineffective ScrumMaster.... That 
should be their main focus along with removing impediments. They are the 
champions of the Scrum process." - Bob Sarni, super genius CSC (Ultimate Scrum Consultant)

Oooh... Snap.

Here's the thing, Scrum Masters are people and:

• People forget 60% of course content after they leave the class,
• Best practices say that you should continue your education after a class is over, but who has time to read a billion blogs and books on the same subject over and over again
• Business situations are complex... It is really, really hard to remember what you are supposed to do to follow a process in the exact moment that you need to apply it
• You are then expected to be able to explain it to other people, and that means you have to communicate Scrum as clearly to them as the instructor did to you
• Communication skills are tough. Not everyone is trained in how to be a good communicator, plus you kind of start to forget what it was you were supposed to say in the first place
• The people you are trying to communicate with tend to resist change, and you are trying to get them to change
• If you need to look up what you were supposed to say, you have already lost the opportunity to get them to change
• What you were trying to get at sounded suspiciously like common sense, clearly nobody paid for you to go get trained in common sense
• When you go look it up in the coursenote takeaways, what was clear and understandable in the class is definitely not easy to read and prompt your memory from the course notes
• If you were learning Scrum in a class with a simulation you probably didn't take any notes... you were too busy doing Scrum
• When you do finally trigger your memory and remember what it was you were supposed to do and go back to that person, it will be 10 times as hard to get them to make a change becuse they have already built up a resistance
• Their resistance influences other people to join them in resistance... It is easier to resist change than to change
• You are now an ineffective ScrumMaster

How do you keep it up after class is over?

How do you continue your education after you leave the class? How about participating in an online Scrum Simulation from the confort of your Internet connection?