PSM1
PSM1 Certification
PSM1 Certification - PSM1
Professional Scrum Master - Level 1
Intro
SCRUM is a framework that helps develop complex products. It’s not specific to software development, it can be used in any industry, and is based on Empiricism, which means it’s always improving.
This guide will provide resources to become a SCRUM Master, by completing the PSM1 certification.
Basic Terms
- Values: courage, focus, commitment, respect, openness
- Pillars: transparency, adaptation, inspection
- Team Qualities: productivity, creativity, flexibility, lightweight, empirical, iterative
- Development Team: self-organizing, forecast instead of commitment, learning and collaboration
- Scrum Master: teach, coach and facilitate the Development Team
- Product Owner: value maximizer, accountable for the product
- Product Backlog: owned by Product Owner, changed by Development Team with permission from P.O., contains all user stories that will be worked on for the product
- Sprint Backlog: owned by the Development Team, contains items for the current spring
- Increment: sum of all product backlog items complete during a sprint, and all previous increments. Should be potentially releasable (but doesn’t need to be). Must meet D.O.D.
- Definition of Done (D.O.D.): checklist that define backlog items as completed and accepted. Created by Scrum Team.
Reading
In order to prepare for the PSM1 certification exam, there’s some required reading to familiarize yourself with common terms used in SCRUM. Even if you’re well-versed in SCRUM, it’s a good idea to go over the the SCRUM Guide to refresh your knowledge.
Hands-on experience doesn’t guarantee theoretical knowledge. There’s a good explanation from Mikhail Lapshin on why to prepare before hand.
The PSM1 test has some questions that involve application of theory, which can be tricky in some situations. There is a great guide dealing with these type of questions here.
Practice Tests
- SCRUM.org Open Assesment basic tutorial to experience what the real test will be like.
- Mikhail Lapshin has some of the most extensive tutorials.
- Learning Mode provides explanations on each question and topic.
- Real Mode a timed exam with no explanations, just like the real thing.
After you achieve higher than 85% on practice tests consistently, you’re ready to take the test. Don’t rush this, as the test can only be taken ONCE per voucher purchase.
Applying your theoretical knowledge to a test project is a good idea before taking the test. You can test this using a tool like Taiga or Atlassian JIRA.
Good luck!