2010 Scrum Certification Survey Results
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This survey was performed the last half of October and early November 2010 and there was 325 respondents.  The survey was announced on my Twitter feed, on the Agile Alliance Linked In list, and on my mailing list.  The goal was to find out what agile practitioners felt about Scrum certification. The survey results Downloads What you may do with the information Discussion of the results Links to other articles/surveys Why share this much information?

The Survey Results

Some findings include:

• Figure 1 summarizes why people took a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) training course
• Figure 2 summarizes the extent to which people admit to being CSMs
• 41% of non-Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) respondents indicated that their organization's hiring managers understood what it took to "earn" the CSM designation, whereas 75% of CST respondents believed hiring managers understood this
• 14% of respondents indicated that their organizations required people to have the CSM designation
• There was a range of opinions about the value of the CSM certification.  I've listed them all in the article The Certified Scrum Master (CSM) Certification: What People Actually Think
• My detailed assessment of the survey results will appear in my forthcoming January 2011 agile newsletter entitled Certified ScrumMaster Examined for Dr Dobb's Journal

Figure 1. Why did you take a CSM course?

Figure 2. Do CSMs promote the fact that they're CSMs?

Downloads

The Survey Questions

Raw Data

Summary Presentation

What You May Do With This Information

You may use this data as you see fit, but may not sell it in whole or in part.  You may publish summaries of the findings, but if you do so you must reference the survey accordingly (include the name and the URL to this page).  Feel free to contact me with questions. Better yet, if you publish, please let me know so I can link to your work.

Discussion of the Results

1. This survey suffers from the fundamental challenges faced by all surveys. 

Links to Other Articles/Surveys

1. My other surveys
2. Agile Certification: Are You Certifiably Agile?
3. The Certified Scrum Master (CSM) Certification: What People Actually Think
4. Coming Soon: Agile Certification

Why Share This Much Information?

I'm sharing the results, and in particular the source data, of my surveys for several reasons:

1. Other people can do a much better job of analysis than I can.  If they publish online, I am more than happy to include links to their articles/papers.
2. Once I've published my column summarizing the data in DDJ, I really don't have any reason not to share the information.
3. Too many traditionalists out there like to use the "where's the proof" question as an excuse not to adopt agile techniques.  By providing some evidence that a wide range of organizations seem to be adopting these techniques maybe we can get them to rethink things a bit.
4. I think that it's a good thing to do and I invite others to do the same.