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Letter from the Managing Director
By Carol McEwan
Scrum Global Gathering: London 2011 is less than a week away! I look forward to seeing you there and if you haven't registered yet, there’s still time. Event Chair Nigel Baker did a great job of making sure there’s something for everyone at this event so don't miss out on the exciting schedule of sessions and after-hours get-togethers. Our keynote speakers, Joe Justice and Steve Denning, will get us ready each morning for a day of learning, discussion, and workshops, and Tuesday evening we’ll relax during a boat cruise down the River Thames. Scrum Alliance staff members will be on hand with me throughout the event to answer any questions you might have. We'll wrap things up with a closing keynote by James Grenning. Trainers and coaches, don't forget to register for the CST/CSC Retreat scheduled for Monday, October 8th.
I’m excited to share some important news with the community. The Scrum Alliance, in association with gantthead and ProjectsAtWork has teamed up in an effort to strengthen Scrum Alliance brand awareness within the Agile community. Our three organizations will offer consistent exposure to an Agile-interested audience, including the opportunity to feature some of our fantastic member- contributed article on their websites. Be sure to sign up for the free newsletters from gantthead and ProjectsAtWork to stay up-to-date on all the latest Agile news information.
This month, I would like to introduce another Scrum Alliance team member, Renee Myzk, our Product Owner and membership team lead. She’s been working tirelessly with the membership team on processes improvements to better serve you and we hope you’ve noticed a marked improvement. If you have a support issue, please contact support@scrumalliance.org and Renee or another team member will be glad to help you out.
Carol McEwan
Managing Director
Scrum Alliance, Inc.
cmcewan@scrumalliance.org
 
Certification Updates: CSP Beta and CSM
By Dr. Vicki Hancock, Certification Manager
CSP Beta Program
Over 75% of CSP beta candidates have now registered for the location, date, and time of their exams sometime during the month of October 2011. To help candidates prepare, Scrum Alliance and Castle Worldwide (our testing partner) have developed a downloadable “CSP Beta Candidate Handbook” that includes information about examination content, a link to a demo test, examination rules, recommended Agile- and Scrum-related resources, and test-taking tips.
Following the month-long testing period, Scrum Alliance and Castle will conduct a one-time process that will take several weeks before official exam scores are released to CSP beta candidates sometime in late November. Look for another CSP beta update in the November issue of this newsletter, and direct your questions to CSPBeta@scrumalliance.org.
Certified Scrum Master Course Content Update
Thanks to a responsive group of volunteers, Scrum Alliance and Castle Worldwide have collected important feedback on the proposed CSM content outline, helping to validate what teams of subject-matter experts have already prepared and reviewed. In early October, a group of subject-matter experts will meet in person to review the input and take a last look at the content outline and test items before the exam forms are finalized.
The product will be two forms of the same examination, of which 50% of questions are common to both, 50% are unique to each exam. They will ultimately become the CSM course examination, projected to be available by mid-November of this year. We'll keep you posted on the progress of the project as it moves forward. Watch this newsletter and the Scrum Alliance website for further information.
 Building a Collaboratively-Authored Base of Scrum InformationBy Carol McEwan
The Scrum Alliance is an important center of information about Scrum and its related practices. We were supporters of the Agile Skills Project, which has provided a valuable overview of topics relating to Scrum and Agile. As the next step in furthering the project, we'll be building on that background material to provide a collaboratively-authored, broad and growing base of information on Scrum as it is, and should be done.
The initial curators of this information base will be Ron Jeffries and Chet Hendrickson, both Certified Scrum Trainers who have been active in Agile since the very beginning. I believe they will bring the right balance of focus on Scrum and openness to what is happening in the larger Agile space.
"Chet and I see our roles here as more like editors and curators rather than knowledge creators. We propose to reach out to the Scrum community, and beyond Scrum to other experts who can provide valuable information about their specialty areas as related to Scrum,” says Jeffries.
"We envision different 'paths' through the information, depending on the reader's situation and skills," continues Jeffries. "There might be a Scrum-focused path, a path for groups looking for a good entry point to Scrum, a path for people struggling with Scrum, and so on. The purpose of an individual or organization should be on successful delivery of value. We hope to provide both a starting point and a comprehensive base of information, with linkage to valuable ideas both within and outside the Scrum community."
We anticipate seeing results from this effort within a few months. I’ve asked Ron and Chet to make the project as open as possible with a visible backlog and visible progress, in the true Scrum style. If you would like to help with this effort or have questions, please contact us via ASP@scrumalliance.org.
 Five Tips for Impediment Resolution
By Stefan Roock
Impediments can slow down or even halt the progress of an otherwise well-functioning Scrum team. Let's take a look at the most common challenges that crop up on teams and what steps you can take to resolve them.
- If the impediment backlog lives in the mysterious black book of the ScrumMaster, you have a problem.
- If your impediment backlog does not change, you have a problem.
- If your impediment backlog is empty, you have a problem.
- If you have an impediment backlog with a growing number of active impediments, you have a problem.
- If the ScrumMaster resolves all impediments himself, you have a problem.
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Now Open: Nominations for Board of Directors
As Mitch Lacey's term on the Board of Directors draws to an end, it's time to look ahead at who will fill the seat next. Nominations are now being accepted for review by the of Directors Nominating Committee in the coming weeks.
PMO hit the wall yet? Join the most comprehensive community dedicated to Project Management - gantthead.com. Thousands of practical downloads, processes, deliverable templates, project plans, checklists; access to experts; news that matters; and the ganttFACE social network with hundreds-of-thousands of like-minded members help you manage and complete your projects successfully. Claim your free subscription at www.gantthead.com.
ProjectsAtWork
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SAVE THE DATE: May 7th – 9th for the SCRUM GATHERING, ATLANTA 2012 GLOBAL EVENT!
The Scrum Alliance is excited to announce the Scrum Global Gathering in Atlanta, Georgia at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center.
BE FRONT & CENTER
Sponsor a Scrum Gathering!
When you sponsor a Scrum Gathering, your company’s message is exactly where it should be -- in front of your target audience. Gathering attendees come from all over the world and span the spectrum of Scrum practitioners, from product owners and developers to trainers and coaches.
For additional information about the sponsorship opportunities available, you can visit our website at www.scrumalliance.org or send an email to sponsorship@scrumalliance.org.
Upcoming Events
Pune, India
October 15, 2011
Chennai, India
November 12, 2011
Boulder, CO
December 7-9, 2011
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