Growing Scrum Masters

Curious about whether you will be able to coach new scrum masters after doing the ACSM course? John McFadyen explains.  

Yes, you can.  

In fact, I am hoping that you would already be mentoring and coaching new scrum masters before attending the Advanced Certified Scrum Master course.  

A scrum master is a natural coach and will be coaching the scrum team through scrum and each iteration. In some cases, a scrum master will even be coaching people outside of the scrum team to help remove impediments and ensure that each increment contains the seeds of improvement.  

The Advanced Certified Scrum Master (ACSM) course is going to help you improve your coaching and facilitation skills. You will work through simulations in the course that help you embed the theoretical elements of coaching and use the sessions to actively practice the actionable elements of coaching.  

A scrum master will already be facilitating scrum events such as the retrospectives and the Advanced Certified Scrum Master course will help you build on that foundation knowledge with more advanced tools, insights and techniques to help you become a more effective facilitator.  

Again, you will actively practice these elements on the course and have an opportunity to demonstrate that you have mastered this skillset.  

The ACSM course validates as much as it teaches. By that, I mean that the course is designed to validate your skillset as an advanced scrum master and give you the confidence to move forward with your practice as a scrum professional.  

In your working career, you will have come across several obstacles and impediments that need to be overcome for the team to progress. You will be discussing those elements in the course and the knowledge you share in the class will help others who may be facing the same issues in their workplace.  

Likewise, you will be a part of discussions with scrum masters that have over a decades' worth of experience in the field and will be actively learning from their insights, recommendations and actions.  

So, will you be able to coach new scrum masters after attending the ACSM course? Yes, you will. You will also have a greater arsenal of tools, techniques and models that you can coach them through to help them progress in their career and overcome obstacles that may be holding them and their scrum teams back.

An advanced scrum master straddles the line of scrum master and agile coach. You will have a minimum of one years' worth of experience as a Scrum Master before attending the ACSM course and the ACSM course will prepare you for the Certified Scrum Professional Scrum Master course  a year down the line.  

You have the opportunity to actively practice what you have learned in the ACSM course for a minimum of one year before attending the CSP-SM course. A year where you also get to work through the recommended reading list for advanced scrum masters and learn from professionals who have worked at the coalface for decades and shared their knowledge, insights and tools in the form of great books.  

The ACSM course gives you the tools, techniques, and insights necessary to actively coach others but you will need to actively practice on a daily basis in order to become better.

As you move through the natural apprenticeship of an advanced Scrum Master, you are going to be perfectly positioned to help young scrum masters in their career.

If you want to become an Advanced Scrum Master, visit our Advanced Certified Scrum Master course page on https://www.agilecentre.com/courses/scrum-master/advanced-certified-scrummaster/

For an idea of progression upon completion of the ACSM course, visit our Certified Scrum Professional Scrum Master course page on https://www.agilecentre.com/courses/scrum-master/certified-scrum-professional-scrum-master/