After successfully completing my Scaled Agile Framework Program Consultant (SPC) certification at the beginning of the year, I’ve been asked several times by colleagues and friends what they should read if they were going to pursue this certification from the Scaled Agile Academy.
Here are my recommendations.
First I recommend that you go to http://www.scaledagileframework.com website and peruse the information that is publicly available there. The benefit of this site is that it’s constantly being updated with new content.
The following books I made sure I was very comfortable with:
- Scaling Software Agility by Dean Leffingwell
- Agile Software Requirements by Dean Leffingwell
I read Scaling Software Agility first and then I read Agile Software Requirements. I found this to be very interesting reading it in this order because I could see the thoughts and ideas mature as I moved between the two books.
I also read:
- The Principles of Product Development Flow by Donald Reinersten (this book and the author are referenced a good deal by Dean
- Implementing Lean Software Development by Poppendieck
- Scaling Lean & Agile Development by Larman & Vodke
For agile background (if you haven’t read these, I recommend the following):
- Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck
- Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber
- Test-Driven Development by Kent Beck
Good luck with the test!
And remember, don’t just “Do Agile,” “Be Agile!”
I am debating on taking the certification and was wondering has it helped your career?
Hello Kathi,
It’s too early to tell. It depends on what you want to do with the certification. My biggest desire was to learn about SAFe and what was being proposed. I wanted to see how it matured over the years. The Program Level concepts have been flushed out nicely, but the Portfolio Level is still maturing.
Clients are asking about SAFe, but they don’t know what it means to them yet and they don’t really know how to interview a consultant for it. Sort of reminds me of the 2006 when people were starting talking about Scrum and CSM, it took a couple of years before people understood what it meant.
I hope that helps!