Scrum Certificate – That’s the first thing someone who is interested in the career of a Scrum Master chances.

A few years ago when I became certified, there was only access to the official Scrum Master Certificate. One you can still find in Scrum.org or directly at the Scrum Alliance. Along with the official Scrum Guide.

You know, the one and ONLY official Scrum Guide out there. That allows all Scrum Masters in the world to work with the same highly effective framework.

If you’re a frequent visitor of my blog and my content, you know what I’m talking about, because like a good Scrum Master who is certified to train other people, I diligently follow the Official Scrum Guide.

Now, why am I telling you all this?

I’m constantly on the internet and social media, and the algorithm knows to show me a LOT of Scrum-related content.

And nowadays a lot of that Scrum content started looking suspicious to me.

This brings me to introduce you to: ScrumStudy, and no it’s not worth clicking into it, I’ll save you the trouble.

But I do feel it’s important to bring it up in case you ever wondered into it thinking it could be a good option to learn and get certified on Scrum.

This is not a typical blog, but I’d like you to take it as important information to consider regarding what Scrum actually is and which sources to trust when it comes to Scrum Guides and more Scrum content like this.

Scrum Guide

So, you’ve heard about the Scrum Guide before of course. It’s the most important document in the world of Agile software development.

The Scrum Guide provides a framework for developing and delivering high-quality software products, and it’s used by Agile teams all over the world. It defines the roles, events, and artifacts that make up the Scrum framework, and it’s a valuable resource for anyone who wants to learn how to implement Scrum in their own organization.

There is ONLY ONE Scrum Guide that it’s regularly updated by the creators of Scrum, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. This means that the guide always reflects the latest best practices and innovations in Agile software development, and it’s constantly evolving to meet the changing needs of the industry.

This Scrum Guide is also really important for ensuring that everyone on a Scrum team is on the same page.

How does one little document do this?

We’ll, it provides a shared language and set of practices, the guide helps to create a common understanding of how the team will work together to achieve their goals. This is especially important when working on complex software projects that require a lot of collaboration and coordination between team members.

But what happens if a company comes over and decides to come out with a whole new different document that uses a different language, concept and even uses it’s own framework with different names and sells it to you as a Scrum Guide?

Is that Scrum Guide preparing you for your job as a Scrum Master in a company? Now what happens if you actually get the job, but now you’re working with a Scrum team that works on the official Scrum Guide framework?

It will and it is already creating a LOT of confusion.

Just by going through my LinkedIn feed, I can tell you that I’ve been running into some polls and post that talk about Scrum in a completely different language and with very different concepts.

Scrum Certification

So we’ve talked about the Scrum Guide, the tool that all Scrum Masters and Agile teams follow to work within the Agile framework. Now usually, if you’re seeking a job as a Scrum Master, you would need to prove to the company hiring you that you know your way through the Scrum Guide and it’s applications into working with an Agile team.

This is where the Scrum certification comes in. The Scrum certification is popularly a great way to stand out from other professionals in your field and demonstrate to employers and clients that you have the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver successful projects using Scrum.

There are several different Scrum certifications available, each with its own level of complexity and expertise required. The most well-known Scrum certification is the Certified Scrum Master (CSM), which is offered by the Scrum Alliance. This certification demonstrates your knowledge of Scrum framework and your ability to lead a Scrum team.

Another popular Scrum certification is the Professional Scrum Master (PSM), which is offered by Scrum.org.

So here’s the deal what happens when a company like ScrumStudy, makes their own Scrum Guide and sells their own Scrum Master Certification exams?

Here’s what happens:

1. This is a certificate that cannot be considered as valid
2. It’s price is way over what the actual certification costs. (If you don’t believe me check out my latest video)
3. It may confuse Agile teams and potential Scrum Masters.

Can you imagine you studied hard from a Scrum Guide, paid a $400 dollar test, passed it, and then when you go try to get a job from it, you learn you have no actual knowledge of what Scrum is?

Scrum Certification Cost

After making this video, and learning a lot more about ScrumStudy other than the fact that they are pure miss-information. I also learned how much the certificate costs.

I usually wouldn’t mind, it’s a capitalist economy and there’s supply and demand. But I do have principles, and I believe that knowingly over charging for an empty product like that is cruel and immoral.

So I decided to make a video, a blog and even a full week of content to put an end to misinformation and by doing so giving you the tools to access the real information and the real certificates out there that will actually help you excel in your career as a Scrum Master.

The danger of these Scrum Certifications

The Scrum Guide is the most important document in the world of Agile, It’s the one thing that provides a framework for developing and delivering high-quality products and results, and it’s used by Agile teams ALL over the world.

Whether you’re in India, Canada or Mexico, we’re all Agile teams working the same Scrum Meetings, probably the same Jira app and separating work into Sprints.

The Scrum Guide defines the roles, events, and artifacts that make up the Scrum framework, and it’s a valuable resource for anyone who wants to learn how to implement Scrum in their own organization. And then we have the Scrum Certificate that’s popularly a great way to stand out from other professionals in your field and demonstrate to employers and clients that you have the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver successful projects using Scrum.

As a Professional Scrum Master Trainer, with more than 10 years of experience in this framework. I’m deeply concerned about the fake information about Scrum being spread around the internet by ScrumStudy.

Scrum requires a deep understanding of the principles and practices that underpin it. And some organizations seek to exploit the popularity of Scrum by spreading misinformation about it in order to sell their phony products or services.

This is why it bother’s me so much that companies like ScrumStudy, are making their own Scrum Guide and selling their own Scrum Master Certification exams, creating thus confusion among Agile teams and potential Scrum Masters.

But you may think: “Hey let them do their own thing, it’s not harming anyone”

The problem with this is that it can lead to confusion and misunderstanding about what Scrum really is and how it should be applied. When people are exposed to inaccurate information, they may start to believe that certain practices are part of Scrum when they are not, or they may miss out on important aspects of the framework that are essential for success. This can result in teams that are not fully aligned with the values and principles of Scrum, which can lead to suboptimal outcomes and missed opportunities for improvement.

In my eyes it IS harming our industry.

I wrote this blog and made this video because I truly believe that it’s important to be vigilant about misinformation and to promote a clear and accurate understanding of Scrum. By doing so, we can help teams and organizations achieve the full benefits of Scrum and continue to improve the way we work.