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Professional Scrum with User Experience

Last post 07:27 pm January 13, 2024 by Jon-Paul Murrow
6 replies
03:56 pm January 10, 2024

I'm interested in the above certification and wanted to read up on the theory here:

https://www.scrum.org/resources/suggested-reading-professional-scrum-user-experience

However, the sections mentioning UX do not have that UX content in them. For example, 'Managing Products with Agility' mentions the section 'Work Management with UX' but when you click on the link it's not mentioned at all.

Is the UX content only available in the paid course? If not, where can I get hold of it?

I managed to find a sample PSU 1 exam and got 100% but there's no chance I'd be ready for the exam. I liked the flexibility of the PSM 1 certification in that all the theory was available to you so you could prepare at your own pace rather than attend a course.


04:16 pm January 10, 2024

@Jon-Paul, if you scroll down on that page https://www.scrum.org/resources/suggested-reading-professional-scrum-user-experience there are several resources that are pointed to that discuss User Experience content.  The test does also require Scrum knowledge hence the parts likeManaging Products with Agility.


09:09 am January 11, 2024

Thanks. I saw the blog links at the bottom but I was concerned with the missing sections from the main article links.

If all the UX content is in those blogs then that's great


09:38 am January 11, 2024

It's not good practice to have incomplete 'official' articles. Plus the links aren't from Scrum.org so there's no guarantee they are complete, correct or updated in the future. For example:

https://medium.com/swlh/here-is-how-ux-design-integrates-with-agile-and-scrum-4f3cf8c10e24

shows that there can be 'design sprints', however, in the mock exam I took:

https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/quizzes/professional-scrum-with-user-experience-i-psu-i-practice-assessment/

says that "there are no special sprints in Scrum" which is consistent with my understanding of sprints. Is the 'design sprint' a 'special sprint'? It's certainly implied but there's no documentation talking about 'design sprints' so I can't check against anything 'official'.

The blog suggests it is an activity, what is involved in it? I have to assume an article on medium.com, whatever that is, is accurate and up to date or go hunting for information to validate it.

Official documentation, like the Scrum Guide or Competencies, make it easy to clarify points like this.

For example, what is 'Product Value'? The answer is here: https://www.scrum.org/learning-series/product-value/

What is 'Sprint Planning'? The answer is here: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#sprint-planning

 


12:37 pm January 11, 2024

For what it is worth, when I did PSU I leveraged the articles and the Lean UX book and experience working with UX in product development (as Scrum Master). I mention this to share my experience and not to take away from your feedback on materials.

I was able to pass the exam, but I am not an expert in this topic. Regardless, I will share some of my understanding and others can chime in if I am incorrect. 

Design sprint refers to a UX approach that is different from a Scrum Sprint. It isn't a special Scrum Sprint, but a UX activity that occurs as part of refinement and/or as part of a Sprint. Design sprints are not just for Scrum with UX and can be used with other frameworks and methods besides Scrum.

Scrum with UX is still Scrum. Borrowing an illustration from one of the articles, we can see design sprint, research, hypothesis all connecting with the Product Backlog. We can see other complimentary UX practices as add-ons to other elements of the Scrum framework. The Scrum framework itself hasn't changed. The Scrum stance on "special sprints" hasn't changed. UX has been integrated. 

Scrum framework with UX activities

Does this help?


01:52 pm January 11, 2024

Jon-Paul - If I remember correctly the LeanUX authors created the PSU course in collaboration with PSTs from Scrum.org. 

I agree that there are no special Sprints, including a Design Sprint. As mentioned by Ryan, Scrum is still Scrum with UX work. Some UX work can be considered refinement activities, and some can be done iteratively and incrementally during the Sprints. And a UX person should be a Developer in Scrum.

Having taken the PSU course and exam when it first came out, many of the blog posts should be helpful. You can also find more Scrum and UX blogs here: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog?uid=All&resource_tags=202 

For me, the LeanUX book and course were helpful, as was having experience. At the time there were few blogs.

Hope this helps.
 


07:27 pm January 13, 2024

Sorry I've been away, thanks for all the info.

There's enough to go on but it would be nice for those articles to be completed so there's a more complete set of content. Then the blogs, forums and everything else builds on that as solid supporting material.

Time to order the book...


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