Scrum guide for taking the PSM-1 in 2021
The Professional Scrum Master certification (PSM-1) is considered to be a difficult scrum certification. The Pass percentage is 85% i.e. you have to get at least 68/80 questions right.
For me taking PSM in 2021 wasn’t easy, there a new scrum guide(2020), the mock tests available outside of scrum.org had most of the questions pertaining to the 2017 guide(they are refining it everyday to fit the 2020 guide)
I am writing this not as how to pass the scrum guide or how to do well in PSM. I am writing this so that people could know the differences between the 2017 scrum and 2020. The things they can take from the 2017 guide and the things they can stay cautious on.
While attending mock exams , questions like “backlog refinement should not occupy more than 10% of sprint planning” baffled me, because they were in 2017 guide and not in 2020. Then I noted that it is a good point, it doesn’t have to be invalid just because it wasn’t mentioned in 2020 guide.
So lets look at the differences in 2017and 2021 guides and the points that could be still valid/used after 2020 scrum guide edition:
Development Team — Developers — Scrum Team:
A big difference between 2017 and the 2020 guide is there is no development team. It is either developers or the accountability belongs to the scrum team.
Sprint Backlog:
though in the 2017 guide the sprint backlog section mentions as realizing the Sprint Goal, it wasn't formally included as a step in referring the sprint backlog.
Daily Scrum:
The Three questions:
- What did I do yesterday — — — -
- What will I do today — — —
- Do I see any impediment — -
in Daily Scrum are also taken off completely where as in the 2017 guide they were optional. -It still could be optional when asked about in PSM, but they wouldn’t be a formal structure prescribed in scrum guide.
Commitment — Product Goal:
The Scrum introduces commitments for Products so that they can show transparency toward product’s progress:
· Product Backlog’s commitment Product Goal
· Sprint Backlog’s commitment Sprint Goal
· Definition of done’s commitment Increment
Introduce Product Goal:
It is different from monitoring toward goals whereas the Product Goal is the long-term objective for the Scrum Team. They must fulfill (or abandon) one objective before taking on the next.
There are no estimates:
The “Developers who will be doing the work are responsible for the sizing” where as in the 2017 guide it was “the Development Team is responsible for all estimates”
Last but not the least the - Scrum Master :
In 2017 it was given “ The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team” where as in it wasn’t interpreted properly and people had misconceptions about the role. In the 2020 guide it has been changed to “Scrum Masters are true leaders who serve the Scrum Team and the larger organization”
To conclude the Scrum guide in 2020 has gotten concise, more towards commitment, accountability, no more development team and no more structures for daily scrum or Sprint Backlog. It really shows that it is more of a framework/a blue-print just helping the Scrum team have their own ideas for realizing/creating the increment.
