I had just completed my talk on “Agile/Scrum Methodology” for the employees of “Om Cybertech Private Limited” a growing fintech company. This talk was to get them introduced to Agile methodologies and specifically Scrum as this company had recently moved from developing their projects using Waterfall model to Scrum.
I was interacting with the participants after the talk, when he approached me. He was an employee who had just joined the company in middle management. In his previous job, he was employed with a bank and he had a deep understanding on the business side. Based on this experience, he was recruited as a “Product Manager” for a few new banking products in this company.
He had read about Agile / Scrum, prior to attending my lecture and he was also an active participant in our discussions.
He introduced himself as Ajay and we got to chatting
| Ajay | I had a great time, attending this lecture and could understand most of the points which were covered during your talk. But I am more curious about the role of a “CSPO” which you covered briefly during your talk. Can you share some more information on that? I am curious to know about it since it seems to be related to the role which I am currently playing in this organization
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| Me | Of course, I will be glad to walk you through that. There is an organization called Scrum Alliance that provides resources, education through its various certifications, and constant support to practitioners of Scrum. There are various certifications by Scrum team role. These certifications are further divided into tracks such as the “Scrum Master Track”, “Product Owner Track” and the “Developer Track”. Within “Scrum Master we have the “Certified ScrumMaster”, “Advanced Certified ScrumMaster” and the “Certified Scrum Professional – ScrumMaster” certification. I will not go into details of these certifications, but, the next track is the “Product Owner Track” and there we have three certifications, “Certified Scrum Product Owner”,” Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner” and the “Certified Scrum Professional – Product Owner” certifications. So, when I referred to “CSPO Certification”, I was referring to the “Certified Scrum Product Owner” certification. The third track is the “Developer track” which covers the “Certified Scrum Developer” and the “Certified Scrum Professional” which we will not be covering here. |
| Ajay | I see, can you let me know as to what is the prerequisite for getting this certification? |
| Me | There is no prerequisite for getting the certification. Basically, if you are comfortable with the “Business Side” of things, like you are in your current role, you are probably the right person to aspire to achieve the “Certified Scrum Product Owner” (CSPO) certification |
| Ajay | Glad to hear that I am eligible to achieve this certification, but what steps will I need to follow to achieve it? |
| Me | You need to attend an in-person, 16-hour course taught by a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). After you successfully complete the course, you will be asked to accept the CSPO License Agreement and complete the Scrum Alliance membership profile. A key thing to note is that there is you do not need to attend any exam to get this certification. |
| Ajay | What is covered in this 16-hour training course? |
| Me | During the training the following topics are covered
· Scrum Basics o Scrum framework and its constituents o Sprints o Definition of “done” o Principles of empirical process controls o Scrum work culture · Roles and Responsibilities o Scope of Product Owner in detail o Scope of the ScrumMaster at a high level o Scope of the Team role at a high level · Product Vision o Importance of having the product vision to galvanize the scrum team o Understand the desirable qualities of the vision o Understand how the vision can be shaped o Understand the relationship between vision and product roadmap · Estimating o Estimation of product backlog and sprint backlog items o Purpose of estimating o Emphasize of accuracy of estimating and focus of team estimates · Product Backlog o Essentials of the product backlog o Product backlog grooming o Prioritize product backlog · Release Management o Goal of release management o Release burndown chart · Sprints o Role of product owner during sprint o Collaboration between product owner and development team during sprints o Timeboxed sprints |
| Ajay | The training seems to be quite comprehensive. But what are the benefits of a Certified Scrum Product Owner certification? |
| Me | The benefits are as follows
· This expands your career opportunities across all industries and industry sectors which are planning to or have adopted agile practices · You can demonstrate your attainment of core Scrum Knowledge · Learn the foundation of Scrum and the scope of the Product Owner role · Engage with Agile practitioners committed to continues improvement
An important point to note is that all new “CSPO” certification holders receive a complimentary two-year membership of the “Scrum Alliance” with the initial certification. The “CSPO” certification must be maintained by earning Scrum Education Units (SEUs) and these certificates must be renewed after every two years. |
| Ajay | What is the role of the “CSPO”? |
| Me | A “CSPO” performs the following functions on a Scrum team
· In charge of creating the product vision · Works and orders the product backlog · Fulfils the role of a “Product Owner” on Scrum team(s) · In charge of delivering the product · Ensure stakeholder satisfaction · Validation of product assumptions · Ensures that the team is aware of its priorities · Make sure that the best possible job is done to delight the customer |
Ajay indicated that he had got very detailed information on, as to what was meant by “Certified Scrum Product Owner”. He was very happy with the information which he had received and indicated that he plans to do this certification soon.
I was happy that I got the opportunity to explain as to what is a CSPO and who can do the CSPO Training.
