My PSM III Journey
After I shared my achievement of PSM III on Linkedin, many people asked me for sharing materials to learn. I promised I will share my own experience instead of any specific tip or material. So please don't judge what is good or not good. I hope you can take a few good tips from my sharing. Otherwise, just go ahead with your learning process.
At the highest level, scrum.org will evaluate your understanding mostly about the followings:
- Empiricism
- Self-organizing
- Done
- Transparency
- Scrum values
And below is my PSM III journey:
(1) Set a correct objective
I believe if you make enough effort you can get anything done including passing the PSM III exam. However, to be honest I only think about PSM III when I really love and want to master my Scrum knowledge.
(2) Read a lot
Beside Scrum Guide, I studied a lot from excellent books and articles. I am grateful to learn from books of Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, Mike Cohn, Gunther Verheyen; posts by Barry Overeem, Christiaan Verwijs, Ian Mitchell, Chris Belknap & other scrum.org PSTs; many blogs & articles from Scrum.org & other websites like medium.com.
(3) Build learning in my daily work
I didn't put any pressure on me to have PSM III quickly in a few months. My role is to support the company, teams, leaders, and developers understand Agile mindset, Scrum framework, how to effectively work in Scrum teams. So, I read a lot but do this on purpose. My daily work relates to internal coaching & training, and this is my advantage as I can take time to investigate every concept, practices deeply before sharing with others and help them understand sufficiently. I also create a file to store all links to good articles, blogs so that I can revisit later.
(4) Have a good preparation with level 1, level 2 scrum.org certificates.
Before taking the PSM III exam, I prepared myself with other certificates at level 1 and level 2 such as PSM I, PSM II, PSPO I, SPS including the PSM II class training with the scrum.org PST.
- A class training 2 years ago helped me fill the gaps between knowledge I have from books and what defined by Scrum, clear the myths, and know what knowledge domains Scrum focus on.
- Other certificates don't directly help me pass the PSM III exam, but I felt inspired to keep going on the PSM III journey.
(5) Try the best and learn from failure
The PSM III will evaluate your Scrum knowledge in 120 minutes with 34 questions which most of them are essay questions. I think PSM III is not only difficult at the minimum score of 85% like other Scrum.org certificate, but also at the time pressure. I can do a search with SPS or PSM II but I even didn't have a spare second to think with PSM III. Try the best but it's normal if you don't get enough the minimum score of 85%. I failed but also learn a lot from feedback.
P/S: One feedback I felt unpleasant at receiving feedback on my first attempt was about that my English should be similar to that used in the Scrum Guide. I concerned that was unfair because the PSM III takers should answer the questions by using their own (English) languages. However, that was my misunderstanding about the feedback. To answer the questions, you should add more explanation, more details than what defined in Scrum Guide (or something is not really mentioned in the Scrum Guide), but if you are not a native English speaker you may use words incorrectly especially under time pressure and without review. The lesson learned is reading Scrum Guide many times not only to understand what it says, but also get familiar with the used language.
Very cool, and props on getting to PSM III. Thanks for the insight as well!
Congratulations. PSM III is a very valuable certification. Glad to see you mention the in-person training class. Those classes are excellent for helping you grow your knowledge and understanding of Scrum.
Congratulations and thank you for your sharing. Your post has helped me a lot and I also reached my Scrum Mastery. And here is my PSM III journey.
My PSM III is so called started on 12 Dec 2019, after I have passed my PSM II assessment. I joined the Scrum HK event “Life after PSM: Improving Productivity and Creativity Continuously after using Scrum” on that night.
I enjoyed the event very much. After the event, I have a dinner with my PSM II PST Lorenz Cheung and we have talked about many things about Scrum, Scrum.org, and PST benefits. This triggers me to inspect myself if I could reach the mastery level. After some self-reflection, I decided to kickstart my PSM III journey.
My PSM III journey is technical started from my PSM II journey.
If you have asked how I pass PSM III in few months, I would be honest to tell you that this is just an extension of my one-year preparation of PSM II journey. One year ago, I also made a decision to get my PSM II, so I study Scrum Guide again and completed all the Scrum Master Learning Path. Besides, The Liberators are very useful. Appreciate Barry Overeem and Christiaan Verwijs to create and share materials to acquire my knowledge of PSM II, also becoming the cornerstone of my PSM III. Before I took the PSM II assessment, I found there was a PSM II training. So I took it as my last preparation. This is an extremely helpful class for me to get another insight of Scrum. Before I took PSM II, I also read Coaching Agile Teams. Then I took my assessment.
My materials prepared for PSM III:
1: Scrum.org recommended Books.
To prepare PSM III, I re-read Coaching Agile Teams again to solid my PSM II knowledge. In meanwhile, I purchased the Scrum – A Pocket Guide as my PST suggested. Gunther
2: Scrum Master Competence
Even I have completed the Scrum Master Learning Path, I have adapted what I have learnt. So, I re-do all learning path again.
3. Scrum Guide
Create my Product Backlog:
1. I pretend myself as a Product Owner and my product is Me, a candidate can pass PSM III.
I broke down all materials as different Product Backlog Items in Trello.
2. One week duration Sprint
Then, I made a sprint goal to complete some studying materials in each sprint.
Study method:
1. Read Scrum Guide more than 6 time.
Maybe 6 times is not much for you. But for me, I read it sentence by sentence slowly in order to understand all content. After reading one section, I rethink how this topic links back to other Scrum elements.
P.S. I also create a Kanban board on my Scrum Guide Study progress. Sometimes, I pick up one post it to re-think or few post it to think how are they related.
2. Study the points I lost in PSM I and PSM II
Check the result email to find your weakness and refresh your knowledge to avoid losing mark again.
3. Read pocket guide 2 times.
Typing Practice:
1. PSM III consists of MC and Essays
After reading many sharing, I know typing would be the most challenging part for me. So I practiced to type Scrum Guide sentence after my reading. This is for ensuring my wording is aligned with the Scrum Guide language.
2. Try to answer the sample question
I found some sample question in Scrum.org forum and other PST website. So I drafted some answer and seeks for feedback.
3. Time-box event
I also practice to answer each question with a time-box in order to read faster, type faster. However, sometimes I still read the questions incorrectly. So practice makes prefect.
Prepare for assessment
1. Prepare timer for real assessment
I treat each question as a Sprint goal to achieve for final preparation. So I use Countdown Timer to limit my time to answer. This is a good app. If you have completed the question within the time box, a simple kick can restart the clock, so you can start next questions.
2. Prepare answer sheet
Just a simple Excel table with question number and option to select. This was aims to check back the question if I am not sure. But actually… I can just finish the assessment on time.
3. Read PSM III successor’s posts and tips
Find those who successfully passed PSM III, follow their path to prepare or adapt it in your way.
4. Apply the PSM III
Purchase the PSM III assessment early, not on the assessment day.
5. Study until you cannot tolerate
I pretend myself as a Product Owner (my product is PSM III candidate), I can decide when to release to the market (Take the assessment). I have typed many words to practice in few months. This includes typing the Scrum Guide, answering sample questions, writing some sentences from the books/blogs and remarking self reflection.
Don't gamble your money. Find your study buddy.
I understand I should not gamble my money. But Ziryan Salayi and you have showed me the Scrum value of Courage and Open. Also my study buddies Tom and Tony, and my CSP-SM colleagues Garfield are encouraging me to inspect and adapt. I keep practicing until a moment I wanna try the real assessment even it might be failed. Then I take my PSM III.
I hope this would be useful for everyone who pursue for the Scrum Mastery. My PSM III journey may different from your PSM III journey. However, once you are transparent to yourself, frequently inspect yourself, adapt any room of improvement. I believe you can reach the Scrum Mastery. Best wishes and wish you all Scrum On!
Congrats Chi Wai Lau
Your experience sharing has helped me a lot