If you answered yes, this article is not for you. If you answered no, read on.

COVID-19. Coronavirus. Pandemic. These words dominate our headlines and have changed all our lives. Everyone's forced to adapt. If you have tried to buy toilet paper or hand sanitizer you know what I’m talking about. Even if you try to buy online, some firms who claim to have stock want prices ranging from $20-$50 and even travel size hand sanitizers are selling in that range. Our lives are turned upside down! Don’t worry…this post is not about politics or supply chains but is one observation about the world of work since stay at home orders began.

Now more than ever organizations need to learn how to work. To change, to adapt, to be “agile”. To continue serving the world of work without lowering quality standards, the Scrum Alliance has pivoted and is allowing Certified Scrum Trainers® (CST®) to lead Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) and Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®) courses virtually. These courses have become industry standard based on the Scrum Alliance reputation and high-quality standards for its trainers.

My profession is guiding business agility. I help individuals and organizations perform work . This requires making structural and behavioral changes. The certifying body I choose to represent is the Scrum Alliance. The Scrum Alliance is a non-profit organization whose mission is to transform the world of work (scrumalliance.org). I could represent for profit organizations who only care about their bottom line. That’s not what gets me out of bed every day. Making real change, positive change, in the organizations I serve is what gets me racing to work every day.

In the last 3 weeks my inbox has been hit hard with advertisements from every FOR profit service corporation that I know of, and many that I didn’t know existed before, offering to sell me 100-120 hours of Scrum “certified” prep training and Agile project training for the low, low price of anywhere between $20-$50 per person. These companies have fooled students and prospective students before the pandemic! I hear stories of wasted time and wasted money from students and companies who wind up with no recognized credential and not knowing where to begin with Scrum or Agile.

These companies have no affiliation with an accredited Scrum or Agile organization, no experience implementing the frameworks they are advertising to teach, no credibility in the Agile or Scrum space, list no trainer name, no biography and no recognized credentials. Now, they are counting on people being at home. They are counting on people suddenly out of work who have an opportunity to re-skill or educate. They are counting on companies needing to educate a distributed workforce. Most of all, with their pricing structure, they are counting on volume.

Please don’t assume I’m sharing this because I feel threatened by these organizations. I don’t. These organizations are chasing anyone and everyone. If companies believe they will be able to educate their workforce on agility and reinvent the way work has been done through these types of organizations, then they probably aren’t serious about making real change anyway. And what does it say about a company who is only willing to invest in their people, their future for the same price they will pay for toilet paper or hand sanitizer right now? Those are not the people who want to make real change.

The hard part is to explain to a student, prospective student, or company that what they spent their time and money on is not the CSM® or the CSPO®. When we start talking about the Scrum framework or Agile, what the student or company learned in the 100-120 hours spent doesn’t resemble Scrum or Agile at all. Now the student or company is even more confused. The FREE, official Scrum Guide is available to anyone at: scrumguides.org The Agile Manifesto is also free and available to anyone at: agilemanifesto.org.

If you're interested in learning about Scrum or Agile, check out the free sites referenced in this post. The Scrum Alliance also shares many free blogs, videos and webinars for anyone to learn more if funds are tight and better spent on toilet paper and hand sanitizer right now. Our website also hosts free podcasts and blogs to provide education. Scrum Alliance credential holders can also earn free Scrum Education Units (SEUs) by taking advantage of the free content on scrumalliance.org or coleadteam.com.

If you're interested in earning the official CSM® or CSPO® credential, and want to avoid click-bait or bait-and-switch ads from imposters, the best source to learn more and to register for a class is: scrumalliance.org. If you have recently lost your job and will be pursuing assistance through the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development, CoLeadTeam is an approved provider: https://apps.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/cpt/EducationResults.

We hope you’ll join us in changing the way the world does work. Stay safe and wash your hands!