Scrum Journal : Day 3

Okay so I awoke on time but fell back asleep. I need to get myself in gear in order to be up and Adam by Wednesday 8:30am’s training. My future certification depends upon it. This means that I will be going to sleep at 10pm. I need to awake at 6am to catch that orange line train.

                I am at Cove DuPont, a work sharing space this morning and afternoon, because my apartment is getting cleaned. This also provides me with the great opportunity to use its printers and read up on Scrum. I have read and printed the Scrum Guide authored by the discipline’s cofounders Jeff Sutherland and Kenneth Schwaber. These 16 pages crystallize a lot for me. I can absorb all of the information because it is written in plain English. It is not so jargon-filled and esoteric that it flies over my head. As I mentioned in yesterday’s journal entry, I am reading up on Scrum because I refuse to waltz into my certification training without any prior knowledge. It is the Type A in me. I just always have to know what I am walking into before it happens. I always need a contingency plan just in case something does happen. I will have a back-up for it. Furthermore, I like being able to come up with a solution as soon as possible.  Reading the Scrum guide gives me this because it is from the cofounders. Furthermore, while at Cove, I get to print more practice exams because I need to have as many CSM exam ‘looks’ as possible. I will interrupt reading Scrum for Dummies in order to read the Scrum Guide because I am learning from the masters! Finally, my ultimate goals are to master scrum, to use it as a tool applying it to my personal and professional lives, and to earn CSM by successfully passing the exam (I do want to score 80% although 68% is the minimum. I just cannot be average. That’s a dreadful habit!).

                Another yesterday update: I wrote my website announcement detailing the resources that I have used to pass the certified scrum master exam. Just a little bit of positive creative visualization to get me through today. I have printed 3 copies: one I will plaster on my wall and the other two will accompany me while I get into training. I am very dogged in my CSM pursuit because it is tech-related. I am such techie. Ever since I was little, tech and space inspired me. My mother had my brother and I watch the original StarTrek with William Shatner on WUAB-43. I still feel like I can become an astronaut even with my epilepsy. All that’s standing in my way is my getting a statistics degree and then boom I qualify! By then I not only will have my CSM certification but probably also my PMI-ACP and ITIL certifications. 

Certification Networking Has Paid Off

Today a fellow test taker has told the LinkedIn study group that the business analysis practice guide is the basis of the PMI-PBA certification exam. Although it is 1 ½ months later, I am glad to have confirmation about this because now I am not wasting my time. Friday morning I will start outlining chapter 4 and purchase another notebook for this endeavor. Since I have 2 ½ weeks left before starting work, I will devote time towards outlining this entire practice guide because this will prepare me for my job. Technically, for the next month, I will work solely on business analysis. This is now my livelihood. 

Keeping At It Through and Through

I am thankful for enrolling in the Udemy Learn to Become a Professional Business Analyst course because it has explained all of the business concepts to me. This course perfectly follows the BABOK. Though I have read the BABOK by myself, this is the first time that everything has clicked for me.  I am 50% done and after completing the two lessons and two quizzes, I’ll be 75% done.  I make it a practice to watch the lesson video twice before taking the quiz to absorb everything that I have been learning. 

PMI-PBA Self-Investment and Learning that PMI Will Publish a Business Analysis Practice Guide

                Buying the Business Analyst’s Mentor Book is my best PMI-PBA investment thus far because it deciphers all of the business analysis jargon into understandable concepts. I have read 41 pages. Even though I am resting my fingers, I do see myself completing another 41 pages tomorrow and finishing the book by Wednesday when my physical book arrives.  When I get the physical book, I will reread the book and write down anything this is new. I might even write down BABOK definitions to incorporate the formal business lexicon that is on the PMI-PBA exam.  I know that this Handbook will increase my PMI-PBA online exam score. This week when I take another 50-question practice exam, I will score over 75%.  I have to because I am working on improving my scores.

                Furthermore, I have learned through my LinkedIn PMI-PBA study group that PMI will publish its Business Analysis Practice Guide online on October 28^th.  It’ll be free. In between now and then, I will read Business Analyst’s Mentor Book, BABOK, and PMBOK chapters 5, 6, 8, 10, 13. I am will be well-read and prepared to read the PMI guide. I know that following this plan gives me a very good chance of passing the PMI-PBA exam the first time.

Breaking Out of My PMI-ACP Certification Inertia

I have received my second Rita Mulachy PMI-ACP Exam Prep study guide today because I cannot find my first one.  I have completed the first chapter. This is a big step in the right direction towards earning my PMI-ACP certification, and, more importantly eradicating inertia. I have sit on the PMI-ACP certification for two years. My Program Analyst job and PMP certification consume these two years so this time is productively spent; however, clearing this hurdle liberates my time and gives me another marketing tool.  Getting the first chapter out of the way helps me off of my duff.  Chapter 2 is over 40 pages so it will take a week.  It will also be the first chapter test and exercises that I take.  I am ready for this opportunity because it will create my baseline. I think that I can complete one chapter per week so I will finish the study guide by mid-June.  Even though right now, I am fretting that it might take so long and the 2 months might obliterate my timeline, at least I have gotten started so I will be farther along than procrastinating. The one thing is for certain: Now that I have started, I am on my way!

Back to Studying for my Project Management Professional Certification with a Bang!

            I have hunkered down completing all 407 Rita Mulachy Project Management Professional (PMP) study guide today because I will pass the exam on my first try.  Tomorrow I will score it.  My baseline is scoring at least 75%.  If I score this high, then I will cut my timetable from late June to early June.  Earning my PMP certification enhances my competitive advantage against all other competitors.  Though I am working full-time with a promotion on the horizon, I am taking full advantage of this government sequester to increase my personal stock.  Though I may’ve entered without a PMP, once it’s lifted I will have it.  Combining my newly acquired certification with my MBA and 10 years of business experience and I’ll blow the competition out of the water!

            Adding to the camaraderie, one of my former bosses, comment on Facebook that she’s going for her PMP, too.  I love when people better themselves.  I feel that when people go to school or apply themselves, they want to do better.  The same with one of my high school friend’s nephew who is a second year medical student enrolled at Meharry Medical College.  He will graduate next year then start his residency. These stories motivate me to keep grinding working towards my certification because I will get it!