How I Earned My PSM I Certificate

4 articles

Four posts of notes from the road to the PSM I (Professional Scrum Master) certificate: the basics of Scrum, the training and our trainer’s books, the exam process and the practices I saw at the companies I worked for.

SoftwareHow I Earned My PSM I Certificate #1

How I Earned My PSM I Certificate #1: What Is Scrum?

What is Scrum, and which roles, events and artifacts make it up? The basics from a developer who earned PSM I, plus how Scrum differs from Kanban and XP.

14 min

September 23, 2026

SoftwareHow I Earned My PSM I Certificate #2

How I Earned My PSM I Certificate #2: The Training We Took and Our Trainer's Books

Notes from a 15 hour Scrum training: hands on sprints, hard lessons about the Definition of Done, and what Mehmet Yitmen's two Scrum books added in practice.

19 min

September 24, 2026

SoftwareHow I Earned My PSM I Certificate #3

How I Earned My PSM I Certificate #3: The Exam, Using AI and Tactics

What the PSM I exam is really like: 80 questions in 60 minutes, why using AI during the exam doesn't work, the questions I found hardest and my tips to pass.

12 min

October 5, 2026

SoftwareHow I Earned My PSM I Certificate #4

How I Earned My PSM I Certificate #4: Scrum Mistakes at the Companies I Worked For

Scrum mistakes I saw at eight companies: blurred roles, events that became a formality, Sprints that turned into mini waterfalls and a missing Definition of Done.

16 min

October 5, 2026