by on April 13, 2010 in Agile, Scrum

Certification is Evil, but…

image For all the reasons Ron, Cory and others have mentioned Certification is Evil:

  • The certification(s) only prove that you attended a two day course and may have paid attention
  • Certifications alienate other members of the Agile community
  • The CSM doesn’t create people who understand Agile
  • ….

N.B. In this context we’re all talking about the CSM and CSPO, which are just two-three day courses. The CSP (Scrum Professional) has some teeth and the CSC (Scrum Coach) is hard to get. Also I don’t know enough about the CSD to judge yet.

But there are some other issues that we can’t ignore:

  • HR departments and some Managers continue to demand certifications
  • The pull of the certification has drawn many people to Agile in the first place. The result many people know about Agile who never would have before.
  • Without the CSM the Agile Community would be much smaller and not on the edge of mainstream adoption
  • In a vacuum other certifications will appear (google the WAQB) and gain credence instead. At least we know that the CST’s are knowledgeable about Agile and have met a minimum standard (the bar has just been raised considerably).

In fact I would venture that most of the people complaining about the certifications would not be employed today as Agile Coaches, Trainers and Consultants if weren’t for certification having helped to grow the market.

Instead of fighting over certifications lets work to make them better – where we can. Lets also rate the certifications on several axis using the outputs of the Agile Skills Project. Finally you could pitch in with Cory Foy, Uncle Bob et al: Create and Promote their Agile Skills Videos.

But whatever we do lets stop fighting and create some value.

Caveat Emptor I will be applying to become a CST – i.e. one of the evil people who hands teach certification courses. You might be concerned that this has coloured my thinking. That these were my views before I considered joining the dark side.

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  • http://agile.conscires.com/ Bachan Anand

    Hi Mark,
    Totally agreed with you statement , “….lets stop fighting and create some value” . I also believe that the agile values and principles and this community has so much to offer the world instead of fighting over small things. finally we are not in any position to make someone do something , all we can do is to take action on our own.

    Here is an article I wrote with similar thoughts

    http://agile.conscires.com/2010/04/02/lets-build-agile-community/

  • http://dhondtsayitsagile.blogspot.com D. André Dhondt

    Agreed. Agile is about finding win-win situations, it’s a cooperative game. We’ll build something better for the community by working with the certification authorities than by boycotting them or fighting against them.

  • http://agilefocus.com/ William Pietri

    It’s not clear to me that a mildly better certification is a good idea. So far I think the opposite.

    There are two sorts of current developer certifications. Real degrees (E.g., BS or MS in CS), and weak non-accredited certifications (e.g., SCJP). When I’m hiring, the first is a resume bonus (size of bonus depending on school, mainly), the latter earns a resume penalty. Why? Because in my interviewing experience, people highlighting clearly inadequate certificates as if they mean something are people I end up not hiring.

    If you make a slightly better certificate, then you may just take them from their current level one where they’re obviously inadequate, to one where they are subtly inadequate, or covering a range near the border of adequacy. Either would increase waste in the system.

  • http://agilesoftwarequalities.blogspot.com/ Scott Duncan

    William,

    Guess, for me, it depends on what you mean by “mildly better.” I’m not sure “mildly better” certifications would mean much more either.

    A degree is certainly a more substantial “certification” in the general sense. But actual certifications are usually in some specific area. For example, doctors are not “certified” except in specialties though they all have been through degree programs, residencies, etc.

    So a certification that covers a very broad area would have to be looked at more closely since it would claim so much more.

    And then there is the issue of re-certification, if a body even does that after granting the initial certification. Another issue in itself.

    I’ve commented on certification at http://agilesoftwarequalities.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-thoughts-on-certification-and-some.html (among other places).

  • Mark Levison

    So William you would penalize me because I’m a CSM? Interesting.

  • http://www.lookforwardconsulting.com Carlton Nettleton

    I think we are teaching the wrong things in certification – we have to help people understand the Spirit of Agile, not the mechanics of what the trainers do. That is a lot harder to communicate in two days and difficult to evaluate. However, that does not mean we should not try.

  • Tero Lahtinen

    IMHO, scrum master certification mostly is a marketing gimmick for the course.

  • Mark Levison

    Tero – oddly enough it started as joke on Ken’s part. He wanted to thumb his nose at PMP certifications. Since then its taken on a life of its own.

  • http://agilesoftwarequalities.blogspot.com Scott Duncan

    And, here we are, a year and a half or so later.

    Ken has a new organization with his own new slate of certifications.

    There are 1000s of more CSMs.

    PMI has begun to release their own Agile certification.

    The cycle continues, except, this time, in earnest and not intended as a joke.

  • Mark Levison

    Scott – Certification was always going to happen, the real question is can we help make it better over time?

    Cheers
    Mark

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