So 2021 is coming to an end, it was tough and very interesting, full of a number of events. I think it’s high time to do a retrospective of the year. How do you like the idea?
Let’s go. What happened to me in 2021? I will tell you about the key moments and events.
February. In February I finished working at Sberbank as an Agile coach / Scrum master. It was great experience and gave me a lot of practice. More detailed description you will find in my post “My Experience as Scrum Master and Agile Coach in SBER Bank“.
March. The 3 Months Agreement with SBER Bank has ended and that is why in March I started interviewing at SBER Bank to be hired. There were many of interviews, the intervals between them were long. And I decided that I needed to look at the market, what other vacancies are there? I didn’t want to limit myself to just one option. I started applying for vacancies, getting invitations for interviews. It was a very important and useful period in my life, because I started my path in a new profession. I met a lot of people, some of them became very good acquaintances to me, someone gave advice and feedback after the interview. I didn’t give up, moved further and during the interviews I was gaining experience. Spoiler: in a month of interviews, I actually had 4 very tempting job offers. And I chose one of them and do not regret it at all.
In March I also took part in Agile Days 2021. Amazing days, read about it in my post “I participated in Agile Days 2021“.
April. The job offer, I have chosen, was the Alfa-Bank one. Since April 2021, I have been working as a Scrum-master at Alfa-Bank. I would like to tell you a little story. In 2019, just taking the first steps in a new profession, I saw an invitation to the Retrospective of the Year, which was held at Alfa-Bank. And I took part in it. At that time, I could not even imagine that I would work in a team of those guys and girls who then held this event. Do you think this is a coincidence? I don’t think so – this is a sign that I have chosen the right path. Here is my advice to you: you should never put eggs in one basket. Do not get hung up, search, try, everything will definitely work out. By the way, I have not yet received any response from SBER Bank. You can read more about it in my post “I am a Scrum Master in Alfa-Bank“.
There was another event in April. I took the Agile Team Facilitator course at ScrumTrek and received the ICAgile ATF certification. The training lasted for two days. In my blog you can find more detailed description of it. Really interesting course, read about it in my post “I am a Certified Agile Team Facilitator“.
May. In May with the help of Pavel Dabritsky I held my first meetup, where I told how I became a Scrum Master. A lot of people came, the meetup lasted almost 3 hours, instead of one. I described this event and you can find it in my post “My First Mettup“. Here you can find the presentation and the recording of the meetup – just click the words.
June, July and August. During these months I was working hard with my teams. I got three teams: two Scrum Teams and one Kanban Team. I held workshops, different team meetings. And in July I had two weeks of vacations.
September. September I dedicated to Kanban studies. I’ve passed the Team Kanban Practitioner training at ScrumTrek (Kanban University) held by Vasiliy Savunov and the Kanban System Design training by Arthur Nek at ScrumTrek (Kanban University). I felt like I needed to systemize my knowledge to help my team to develop. You will find more detailed description in my posts “I am a Team Kanban Practitioner” and “I took Kanban System Design training“.
October. In October I decided to test and confirm my knowledge of the framework. I had already the certificate issued by Scrum Alliance, but that certification was based on Scrum Guide 2010. I thought it woukd be good if I prove my knowledge with the new certification, based on Scrum Guide 2020. And I did it. As a result, I successfully passed the test at srum.org and received the PSM1 certificate. I have the post about it “I got PSM Certificate”.
November. In November I began to train new Scrum Masters at Alfa-Bank School of Scrum Masters. It is great experience. Students of this School study by eduScrum framework.
December. In December I got new inspiring work experience – Scrum Examiner. For the first time in my life, I have conducted an exam with students who want to become a Scrum Master. of course there were other trainers who conducted the exam, but we were devided into small groups: two examiners and one student. I described it in my post “I am a Scrum Examiner“.
Well this wonderful year comes to the end, we are all summing up the results, I am preparing two large retrospectives for my teams. One will be directly devoted to the results for 2021 and the second will be morefestive, where we will look back, make plans for the future and wish each other something kind and magical in the coming New Year.
I have plans for January: Advanced SAFe Scrum Master training and eduScrum training. Besides I am preparing for PSM2 exam.
And what about you? Are you planing the retrospective of your year? Please share you plans and experience with me. You can send me e-mail, send messages to Telegram or at LinkedIn.
