Last year I reached a very important goal I had set for myself: I became a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) on behalf of Scrum.org. But why was this so important to me, and how did I get on this path?
Why?
In 2011 I got introduced to Scrum and I became a member of a Development Team. I was a complete newbie to Scrum and Agile, and started learning by doing it. In 2013 I became the Product Owner for the same Scrum Team. That was the moment I realized I needed to up my game, because I didn’t have a clue how to fulfill this role properly. I started studying different books on Scrum, Agile and Lean Thinking, and discovered there was much more out there than I was putting in practice at that time. I convinced my manager to invest in a Product Owner training course, so I could take it to the next level. This training experience turned everything upside down for me.
During that training course I discovered that it’s not about following the process, but about changing persistent behavior patterns and paradigms that lead us to where we are today. I became aware that there are alternatives for our current way of working, and I felt energized after that training to take this back to my own Scrum Team and organization.
When I was driving home after the training course, I said to myself: one day I want to be that trainer that inspires other people to take action and make their organization a better place. This lead to my personal mission statement:
“To inspire others to discover new ways of working.”
How?
I knew I had a long journey ahead of me. I only had two years of experience and – as I learned – although I did Scrum, I wasn’t doing it professionally. It was a daunting challenge. And I needed some guidance from someone who already walked this path. This is how I came in touch with Prowareness. I had a coffee with an experienced Agility Consultant and I got the advice I was looking for: Get more experience in different contexts and environments. And that’s what I did. I changed jobs and joined a company in a very challenging environment: a globally distributed Scrum Team, spread across different time zones, and globally spread stakeholders as well. I started working there as a Product Owner, and after one year I became the Scrum Master where I supported two Scrum Teams and the rest of the organization.
And that was the moment I got contacted by Prowareness again, and they basically asked: Would you like to work for us as an Agile Coach?
After a couple of talks I said “yes”, and my journey accelerated rapidly. Next to doing Agile Coaching, I started co-training with experienced Professional Scrum Trainers – Prowareness has around fifteen PST’s – and was learning from the best. I wasn’t sure yet if I had what it takes to become a good trainer, but the feedback I got from co-training gave me the final push I needed. I co-trained with six different PST’s, and one PST became my mentor during the Professional Scrum Trainer application process, with the goal to become a PST from the Professional Scrum Master training course.
It took me one year of commitment, focus, and a lot of practice, to complete the PST application process. One year ago I passed the final step – the peer review – and became part of the Professional Scrum Trainer community.
Do you want to be a PST? Come to Scrum Day Europe!
If you have a passion for Scrum and training as well, I would love to get in touch and maybe I could be your mentor during your journey to become a Professional Scrum Trainer. Let’s talk in person at the most important Scrum community event in the Netherlands: Scrum Day Europe 2018, on July 5th. If you can’t make it, feel free to connect via LinkedIn.
Originally posted on https://debooij.training/