The Scrum.org PSM-1 Assessment is a risk management tool to help organizations build strong, self-organizing, Scrum Teams that can ethically and effectively apply Scrum to increase value, decrease waste and manage risk for the business. It is not an easy assessment to pass. There are 80 questions to be answered in 60 minutes and few of them have black or white answers. Most have answers in the grey. Maybe 80 Shades of Grey. This presentation suggests 10 questions that might help you prepare to pass this challenging assessment. I wish you the best!

1. 1
80 SHADES OF GREY
10 STEPS TO PREPARE FOR SCRUM.ORG PSM-1 ASSESSMENT
smoothapps
smoothapps
orgwhisperer
Ravi Verma, SMOOTHAPPS

2. 2
• PSM-1 is a risk assessment &
management technique…
• Do our Scrum Team members have a solid
theoretical understanding of Scrum
fundamentals…?
• Do our Scrum Team members understand
the practical challenges they will encounter
in the application of Scrum?
• Will our Scrum team members apply their
theoretical knowledge to tackle challenges
in an ethical & effective way
• So that they help our business…
• Increase value,
• Decrease waste &
• Manage risk
SCRUM.ORG PSM-1

3. 3
• Unlike other Scrum Assessments
which are hard to fail, PSM-1 is
intentionally very hard to pass
• It has 80 questions that need to be
answered in 60 minutes
• There are very few black and white
answers – lots of grey.
• Maybe 80 shades of grey.
• This presentations suggests 10
questions that might help prepare
for the assessment
SCRUM.ORG PSM-1

4. 4
Empiricism
• Empiricism in the philosophy of science
emphasizes evidence, especially as discovered in
experiments.
• …all hypotheses and theories must be tested
against observations of the natural world
rather than resting solely on a priori reasoning,
intuition, or revelation.
• …"knowledge is based on experience"
• …"knowledge is tentative and probabilistic,
subject to continued revision and falsification.
Adapted from Empiricism, Wikipedia
1 What is Empiricism?

5. 5
1 What is Empiricism? Empiricism
Agile2 What is Agile?
https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/

6. 6
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto3 What is the Agile Manifesto?

7. 7
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
1. Our highest priority is to
satisfy the customer through
early and continuous
delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing
requirements, even late in
development. Agile processes
harness change for the
customer's competitive
advantage.
9. Continuous attention to technical
excellence and good design
enhances agility.
10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing
the amount of work not done--is
essential.
11. The best architectures,
requirements, and designs emerge
from self-organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behavior accordingly.
3. Deliver working software
frequently, from a couple of
weeks to a couple of months,
with a preference to the
shorter timescale
4. Business people and developers
must work together daily
throughout the project.
5. Build projects around
motivated individuals. Give
them the environment and
support they need, and trust
them to get the job done..
6. The most efficient and
effective method of conveying
information to and within a
development team is face-to-
face conversation
7. Working software is the
primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote
sustainable development. The
sponsors, developers, and
users should be able to
maintain a constant pace
indefinitely.
http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
4 What are the Agile Principles?

8. 8
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
4 What are the Agile Principles?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
HBR Article5 What is the New,
New Product Development
Game?

9. 9
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
4 What are the Agile Principles?
5 What is the New, New Product Development Game?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
HBR Article
Scrum Guide6 What is Scrum?
What are the
Scrum Values?

10. 10
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
4 What are the Agile Principles?
5 What is the New, New Product Development Game?
6 What is Scrum? What are the Scrum Values?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
HBR Article
Scrum Guide
Agile PM with Scrum7 How can we manage
practical challenges in
Scrum?

11. 11
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
4 What are the Agile Principles?
5 What is the New, New Product Development Game?
6 What is Scrum? What are the Scrum Values?
7 How can we manage practical challenges in Scrum?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
HBR Article
Scrum Guide
Agile PM with Scrum
EBMgt™
8
How can we manage
business value
through Scrum?

12. 12
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
4 What are the Agile Principles?
5 What is the New, New Product Development Game?
6 What is Scrum? What are the Scrum Values?
7 How can we manage practical challenges in Scrum?
8 How can we manage business value through Scrum?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
HBR Article
Scrum Guide
Agile PM with Scrum
EBMgt™
Scrum Pulse
9
How can we understand
the Scrum Mindset?

13. 13
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
4 What are the Agile Principles?
5 What is the New, New Product Development Game?
6 What is Scrum? What are the Scrum Values?
7 How can we manage practical challenges in Scrum?
8 How can we manage business value through Scrum?
9 How can we understand the Scrum Mindset?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
HBR Article
Scrum Guide
Agile PM with Scrum
EBMgt™
Scrum Pulse
Scrum Open10 How can we test if we are ready for PSM-1?

14. 14
1 What is Empiricism?
2 What is Agile?
3 What is the Agile Manifesto?
4 What are the Agile Principles?
5 What is the New, New Product Development Game?
6 What is Scrum? What are the Scrum Values?
7 How can we manage practical challenges in Scrum?
8 How can we manage business value through Scrum?
9 How can we understand the Scrum Mindset?
10 How can we test if we are ready for PSM-1?
Empiricism
Agile
Manifesto
Principles
HBR Article
Scrum Guide
Agile PM with Scrum
EBMgt™
Scrum Pulse
Scrum Open
smoothapps
smoothapps
orgwhisperer
Ravi Verma, SMOOTHAPPS