SAFE 5.0 - Day 4

 

                I took the official Scrum Master certification exam Thursday morning right after midnight and failed scoring 31/45. It stung because I had scored 82% on the official practice test. I also scored a measly 13% on the Experiencing the PI Planning section which I felt did me in. I knew that I was in trouble off the bat when the first question was talking about program board and a swimlane (which I associated with business analysis but later learned that Kanban also used swimlanes.).

                Failing was the best thing that ever happened to me because I got to take all of my feedback and experiences to the instructor. He answered all of my questions, learned about the new score reporting structure and went through the official practice exam again pointing out the trick words. Had I taken the certification exam either during or after the fourth day of class, I would not had been able to have access to the instructor. It would had been anti-climatic. However, by learning from my mistakes it helped matters. I see myself passing the SAFe Scrum Master retake this weekend.

                On a much happier note, my attending this week’s scaled agile training helped me during my scholarship interview. Thursday I had a scholarship interview to win money to sit for the Certified Scrum Product Owner training. Before this scaled agile training, I thought that the Product Owner role only existed in traditional scrum. However, now I learned that the Product Owner existed in scaled agile too. I felt that from the interviewer’s body language that I won the scholarship.

SAFE 5. 0 - Day 2

 

Once again I am dogged with tech problems. This time it was on my older silver laptop. My Windows 10 license was at the ‘end of life’ and Microsoft would no longer support so I had to do an update. No problem, I thought. I would just do the update now and get it over with.

Wrong!

                I started the update at 2:45pm. I napped awaking at 5pm and it was only up 78%. My training started at 6pm where it (finally!) got to 100%. But once again, had I relied on the laptop, I would had been late for class. So I started my training on the red laptop. Sheesh! I just wanted one day with any tech issues.

                Today I started off mentioning that I put two questions on the collaborate Kanban board regarding the role of the scrum master regarding the backlog and program increment. The instructor said that these were good questions (I try!).

                In the second hour, the instructor ends the Zoom meeting. The entire class tries getting in after the break and we all receive a message saying that the ‘host is in another Zoom meeting’. This is the second day and as many disruptions. I’ve honestly never seen anything like this before. The instructor uses his Zoom meeting room for 5011 purposes besides SAFe exam training.

                Also unfortunately, there are some technical difficulties not just with me but everyone today. I hope that Al Gore’s Internet does not fail us tomorrow on day 3!

XD30 – Day 24 – As Long As I Don’t Get a Talker

                I returned home from an all-day event and discovered that I had way more than I thought I did. Raggedy Kinko’s self-service card readers malfunctioned on me early this morning. If I wasn’t in a time crunch, I would had asked for a replacement card to make my copies.

                Awaking at 6am on Saturday takes a lot of dedication and effort. I guess most people sleep in on the weekend. I have training ( I am big on continuous improvement and oftentimes the weekends are the only time I have time to learn. I am actually happy that this is on the weekend because I don’t have to take off.).

                I am happy that there are very few people. As I age, I have very low expectations for training. I don’t ask for much just no buttholes and group exercises. I am also very happy that I don’t have either here. I have also learned that one of the trainees received a discount on services. Hey, I want more training aligned with my current career.

                Having this instructor is eye-opening. That’s why I prefer a human being teaching versus self-study because I get out of my own head. I have trained a previous couple of days to get acclimated to the material but with the instructor explaining, I totally get it. It’s like everything is clicking. In the morning, I am like okay, I am going to pass. 

XD30 – Day 7 – What’s Her Name Again?

I have returned to the training. I have forgotten my phone. It’s a momentarily lapse because I have changed my mind about taking my laptop. Hey, it happens.

                Since I am not a government employee, I have to go to the info desk to check-in. I give the lady my ID . She looks at it then says ‘do you spell Carla with a C or a K?’ Let me repeat this again. She has my ID in her hand and still ask me ‘if I spell Carla with a C or a K?’ I say C and she prints my visitor sticker.

Scrum Journal : Day 5

Thursday, March 24, 2016, I awoke at 6am because I had the routine down pat. I nearly forgot my laptop so I had to return after getting to the basement level. At least I wasn’t on the metro. I still managed to board the earlier orange line train to Vienna station. Creating a buffer was essential since this was the metro. I transferred to the 2B and this time remembered to pull the bell in the right spot to avoid walking over the bridge. I was the fourth person there. I just prayed that there was over with so that I could take the test and pass it.

                The instructor started discussing technical debt which was because of my questions. I was validated because I did not think that I was learning a whole lot the day before. However, I did admit that doing the user stories, spring and product backlog activities taught me something. I would give the training that. During the morning break, I crossed the bridge to the PNC to get Uber driver tip money. During lunch, I dined on Uncle Julio’s patio (I fell for the trip of eating all of the chips and salsa. I filled up so much that I couldn’t finish the fajitas. Hey, I was starving. That chocolate bar wasn’t enough.).

                I returned to training still nursing a headache with no Aleve. I managed to survive more tangents and rumblings. I went to use the bathroom and boom I was shut out of the ScrumAlliance CSM exam page. That poor website said that it was busy. I packed my stuff, ordered an Uber and went on my way. Or so I thought…The Uber driver missed the Vienna exit. He asked me. I told her that I lived in DC. I did not know anything about Virginia. We managed to get to Dunn Loring metro. I did not recognize this Dunn Loring. I stopped going there ever since the silver line opened because it had Tysons Corner stops. A Smashburger franchise was built where the old parking lot was. It looked like all of those other planning communities for middle-middle class people (You would not find a Smashburger or other franchises in DuPont so that was a couple rungs below but still). I boarded the orange line returning home. I dropped my bags, reconfigured my laptop and took the test.

                My test was harder than the questions that my classmates received. Immediately I started surfing the Internet for scrum help. I found two sites which helped. Also I grabbed the Scrum Guide. It was written by scrum’s cofounders so I knew that I was good. I scored 94.3% (33/35) passing the exam. Immediately I photographed my certificate posting it on Instagram. I tried uploading it to LinkedIn, but the photo was upside down. Therefore, I found my digital camera in my black oversized Kate Spade purse and re-photographed it. LinkedIn liked that one. Afterward, I typed my CSM announcement posting it on my site. I then copied that to Medium.

                I thought that passing the CSM would be different, at least dinner. In my mind, I thought I would be dining at Bourbon Steak at the Four Seasons. I dined at Morton’s steakhouse right after passing the PMP. Nope! Combined the headache, the misfit Uber driver and the ScrumAlliance’s crashed website, I settled for a frozen macaroni and cheese dinner from CVS. Hey, at least I was certified! No one can take CSM away from me! My biggest epiphany was my emotional intelligence. I did not flip out against the Uber driver. I just got home and carried on. I did not let that affect my certification exam performance. Now that was maturity!

I fulfilled this week’s goal of earning my CSM because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired in my job search. Immediately after passing, I created a scrum job alert. There were no less than 20-25 jobs. Also I emailed the three LinkedIn connections who helped me privately and highlighted their names publicly on my LinkedIn status. Giving credit and being gracious were essential. I changed my LinkedIn profile uploading my certificate and adding it to my certifications list. It was like Christmas and I was opening up a present. After 5 days, I was finally certified! Next I told my career coach because we had to start working on integrating this new certification into my personal brand. We had work to do. I had to write a new story.

Finally, I email someone who had impacted me. I was telling him that dipping into a specific fund felt like lack. He said to view this as a business investment since I filed my LLC. That CC Pace training cost $1295. I viewed it as an investment instead of a cost. I started this Sunday sick and tired of being sick and tired. Five days later, I was now a certified Scrum Master. That was an investment indeed!

Scrum Journal : Day 4

Today I awake at 5:45am to leave the house at 6:50am and board the early orange line to Vienna. I am up early because becoming scrum certified is my goal. I admit that I am a techie and love doing statistical programming. My first foray into project management is actually IT project management. Scrum is natural to me especially since it provides the framework for continuous improvement; and, I am all about this.

This stop is the last of the line and I have never been here before. Dunn Loring, the penultimate stop, is the farthest I have even been. I then transfer to the 2B bus to the office building. The ride is going very well but I miscalculated staying on the bus an extra stop forcing me to walk back over the bridge. I have managed to find it. I arrive at 8:30am right on the dot. Well, this is an adventure.

I sit in the only remaining seat (in the front, of course). I thumb through the material and it looks manageable; that’s until the instructor starts going off on tangents. I admit that I am scared because we start at 8:30am ending at 12:20pm (Lunch was supposed to be at 12 noon but there was another tangent) and we’ve only covered 8 slides on 4 pages. I’m just happy that I have read Jeff Sutherland’s book and some Scrum for Dummies because I’ve felt abandoned. While dining at P.J. Chang’s for lunch, I am writing in my notebook about ways to study in order to pass the CSM. I have paid my own money and have been dead set on getting my scrum certification. I will figure this out. Luckily, he speeds up the pace. At the end of day one.

I do have a tablemate who lets everyone know that he is taking a graduate software engineering program. Okay, when I advise him that he convert the scrum certification into an elective. This advice is coming from someone who has earned her MBA in her 20s. His response : ‘the way that I am set up, I am only 4 courses away from my masters.’ Dummy. He could have used this certification converting it into something else. However, I must remember that I am a quick study. I bet that we are the same age but have different paths. I refuse to pay more money than I need to on anything especially my education. Good luck with that! My father fighting in Vietnam and my paternal grandfather fighting in World War II also perturbs me about this tablemate who has never seen war but always talks about the Army. Sheesh! One more day!

I have started practicing for the CSM because I am anal and need to have as many looks as possible. It is one thing for the instructor to recommend what I should study on the exam. It is another to be able to problem solve. I need to know the why because scrum is a part of agile project management. Mastering scrum is essential towards my deeper understanding of this. Furthermore, I love tinkering with technology. For me it is all about walking into the workshop knowing all of my stuff not just what is recommended.

Yippie! I have scored 80% on a mock CSM exam. I have gotten 12 out of 15 correct. Two out of the three that I have gotten wrong are because I don’t know the terminology. I don’t know anything about technical debt of maintainability. I will ask the instructor about this.

More yippie! I have taken a full 35-question mock exam and increased my score to (29/35)! That’s better than the 15-question one. It is essential to build my stamina by taking a full mock exam because I need to know how I will react. 

Scrum Journal: Day 2

                I have decided to pursue my certified scrum master license. Telvin has okayed it and I have learned that the Fairfax CSM training class has 8 more slots. Furthermore, I have learned from Peter that I can write this sucker off on my taxes (which is cool but my ultimate goal is earning my certification to increase my competitive advantage). After all of this, I have bought Scrum for Dummies reading all the way to page 57. I must admit that I have learned so much more from this than I previously thought. I was skeptical because yesterday I read a scrum book from the master! Jeff Sutherland was the discipline’s cofounder. I thought that I knew everything; but, Scrum for Dummies is teaching so much more about the discipline. Although I am resting my finger, I know that I will surpass 75 pages even the first 100 pages by the end of tonight. I am very hungry to walk into Wednesday’s workshop with working scrum knowledge. I refuse to be half-cocked rolling in there even if it is 8:30am!

                I have started developing a new morning routine. My normal routine is to work from 10am to 3:30am so when I learn that the CSM workshop starting time is 8:30am, I know that I have to change. I make my cell phone’s clock alarm goes off at 6am and 6:30am ( I have awakened at 6:20am). This course costs over $1000 which is too much money to mess up oversleeping! This is the rest of my life. I must admit that I am quite amazed that I am still fully functioning during the evening.

                I have plunked down the money for the CSM training. There is no going back. I will stick to my schedule because I truly believe that come Friday, I will be certified and my life will change. CSM will help solidify my being a techie. I always love tinkering and learning about new trends. Scrum is a framework about doing things rapidly in many iterations. In a way, Scrum resembles my life. Having been in DC for nearly 10 years, my life Monday couldn’t mirror my life Friday of the same week. I have had situations where my life has completely changed (for the better) in one year. I vividly remembered the difference before and after my Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). One day I was struggling to get by, the next day, I had more than enough income. The same with my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. After obtaining my PMP, employers just start coming out of the woodwork. Many told me that they would only interview me because I had the MBA/PMP combination. I feel the same way with the CSM. I love being a techie and an ardent advocate of continuous improvement; and, scrum is all about continuous improvement. Scrum is starting to be my sweet spot because I love continuous improvement and using my intuition to hack myself. This looks like it is going to work out well.

Getting My COTR

            I am happy that I have helped my coworker pass her COTR exam. When I return to the office, I will ask management about taking the training because I want this certification.  As a GS-14 I see GS-15 managing contracts so earning my COTR is the pathway towards that reality. I’ve already purchased the ebook and will read 20 pages per day until next pay when I buy the paper book. My goals are to finish reading the COTR prep book by November and earn my certification before year’s end. Regarding her COTR, I hope that she receives her GS-14 promotion especially since all of the COTR in our office are that grade.  I just want her to get her fair share.

Adventures in Voter Training

I’m here training at an Obama 2012 office and am the only data training participant bringing her own laptop.  This is crazy because I RSVP on My.barackobama.com and read the instructions.  Though it is an ad-hoc environment but still be prepared! When I tell them that I volunteered for Obama since 2008 they all wooed. I’m learning that the canvassing have daily quotas. I’ve asked our trainer about getting my Votebuilder account transferred to Ohio when I return home in October.  I’m calling the organizer about it because I will be ready!  Also I’ve learned during my first training that the campaign has virtual phone bank allowing me to feed in Excel spreadsheet.

One of the people stays over because I tell the data instructor that I’ve registered online.  Moocher!  Anyway, I am glad that I’m taking this training because I want to do data mining.  Lack of laptops seem to be problematic.  Hello, people how do you register for data training but not bring a laptop? C’mon people get it together!  In addition, I will speak with the organizer and sign up for a weekend event.  I’ll do this to gauge whether or not I want to sign up for Obama’s Vote Corps (It must exclusive because not even our leader knows about it.  When I mention it she gives a blank stare!  Hey, I guess I do get something since I start registering in 2008.  Early adopter status!).  Next is the 201 intermediate data training class.

Seeing the 201 data training sheet, I don’t know what the fuss about taking both classes the same night is all about?  The office must be used to Luddites because I can go through a 14-page brochure. We are learning how to become a data captain.  This position lets me oversee events and people.  I know that I can do this and will email the organizer about using my VA username on my DC and OH campaigns because I don’t want to open three different accounts.  Finally, though I’ve asked a lady for restaurant reviews, I’ve just remembered that Scandal comes on at 10pm and I will be front and center to learn who Quinn really is.