PSM II I passed 2nd time around

Hi
So what difference will PSM II make with regards to the management of project compared to PSM I?

Pankaj

None, but perhaps it could be used to evidence a degree of competency in a wider Scrum coaching context. The questions I was asked seemed oriented that way to me.

Hi, I couldn't answer the question as I am not a scrum master, I am a DBA. My interest in agile is purely to understand what is going on with the change our company is currently experiencing. From my perspective, I got a lot out of doing the psm II as it opened my eyes to what is involved with a scrum team and how it should function. I was still waiting for databases coming with full specification etc. so I was getting annoyed when they weren't, so in terms of managing my expectations there was a lot of value to be had.

> So what difference will PSM II make with regards to the management of project compared to PSM I?

I'm not sure the exam or cert itself will make a difference, but the experience and studying required to pass the exam is what will vastly improve a Scrum implementation when guided by someone with a PSM II.

I just passed PSM I yesterday with 88% which is very marginal. So I feel I need to have a solid preparation for PSM II . So I am not sure where to start , with my preparation with PSM II.

I have taken several scrum courses and worshops before. so i am not sure if i should go for a course. Will that make any difference in passing PSM II ?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Firstly congratulations on passing your PSM I exam !! Many (including myself) have failed by much narrower margins than 3% , so don't detract from your result ... 88% is respectable in my books , a well deserved pass. From what I've read here , and I don't have a PSM II so please anyone correct me if i'm wrong, the PSM II is a more essay type exam , for questions that require you to give a logical response to the process you followed to get your decision .. I'd take the suggested reading material , and treat it is mandatory reading ! I personally feel that doing the PSM I exam helped me grow substantially as a scrum master , i didn't teach me "new" scrum rules, but it challenges you to think , analyze , inspect and either be damn sure of your thinking, or adapt to think beyond the common anti patterns that have become almost accepted dogma in many scrum circles of thought ...

again, well done !

Thanks Garin. That was very encouraging. I will start reading the books from today :)

I was using the exams just to see if I improved
PSM I 30-Apr-14 91
PSPO I 02-May-14 89
PSD I 05-Jun-14 85
PSM II 06-Jun-14 70
PSM I 10-Jun-14 99
PSM II 21-Jun-14 93

so... I read gunters book and scrum guide for psm1... just practiced the online one and waited until I could score 100% in 4 minutes or so. I then read all the parts around the questions, read that product owners book and had a go at pspo and psd... but I'd also done foundation testing and application lifecycle from Microsoft.

psm II, I wasn't sure what to expect, so just went for the have a go approach. Once I'd seen the format of the questions, this then led me to the resource videos on this site, software in 30 days, scrum in the enterprise. I then went looking for all sorts of papers and videos of kens.

I got a lot of very useful feedback from the exam results.

I then went back and did psm I again to see after studying, I had improved and hit 98.4% - 1 question wrong and knew why it was wrong, so happy that I improved.

then back to psm II and 93% along with some feedback on why I was wrong.

Whilst I'm on... things worth thinking about and relating to scrum \ work... self-organizing (how would you define it) and look at what you actually do. Ethics, values and being professional (mapping them to company values) - that's more interesting a question --- what do YOU do (I didn't like what I saw, when I looked at myself and the I.T. team) - respect is the killer.

So whats next for me.

reading pmi-acp and then back to learn some more about other frameworks etc. Look at system centre, labmanager, test manager etc and tfs.

Then back for resits to see if I've improved.

If you scored 88%, then I would think about what went wrong and use the exam to correct any misinterpretations you have. Read through the forums and listen to questions \ Answers and then read some more and decide what you think is best answer.

I know i'll be doing pspo and psd again and I might or might not do PSM II again (new questions are always good)... as I'm fairly clear on what I did wrong, but new questions becomes new knowledge check.

As I already stated, I don't work in either an agile or scrum environment, so there might be more value in other members opinions who do, but I use the exams to validate my learning as it is the only feedback loop available to me at the moment.

I think that I'm more of a glass half empty sort of person judging by my above post.

My favourite quote at the minute is "second place is just first loser" :-)

I will never be happy with anything less than 100%, but I also understand about diminishing return and value, there would be little point in re-vising psm I for me, when I know what I did wrong.

That works for me and my personality and how I learn, but other people do things differently and that works for them.

If I looked objectively at my score and adopted an agile approach then I would describe my less than 100% score as a technical debt and eventually it will come back to bite me. Now balance that against cost and would there be value in reading a lot more ?

I think that I'm more of a glass half empty sort of person judging by my above post.

My favourite quote at the minute is "second place is just first loser" :-)

I will never be happy with anything less than 100%, but I also understand about diminishing return and value, there would be little point in re-vising psm I for me, when I know what I did wrong.

That works for me and my personality and how I learn, but other people do things differently and that works for them.

If I looked objectively at my score and adopted an agile approach then I would describe my less than 100% score as a technical debt and eventually it will come back to bite me. Now balance that against cost and would there be value in reading a lot more ?

Once again thanks a lot for this deep insight Byron. I will start with reading the books.

Thanks for your transparency and sharing, Byron. I wish you well with your Scrum implementation.

(I meant to say Scrum Journey, not implementation)

Thank you all for sharing your insides about the PSM II exam.

I am currently preparing my first PSM II attempt.

I made a significant progress by reading and understanding "Software in 30 days".

Since I am not a native speaker of the english language, I suppose I should look into the art of writing an essay in an english textbook?

Hi Byron,

As you mentioned for PSM1 we can prepare by reading Scrum Guide and Scrum Pocket Guide can you please tell how we can prepare for PSPO 1 and PSD 1 exams. Do you recommend any books for PSD1 or foundation testing and application lifecycle exams were helpful in achieving the certification.

Regards.

Hi Byron,

As you mentioned for PSM1 we can prepare by reading Scrum Guide and Scrum Pocket Guide can you please tell how we can prepare for PSPO 1 and PSD 1 exams. Do you recommend any books for PSD1 or foundation testing and application lifecycle exams were helpful in achieving the certification.

Regards.