What are SEUs, how do I get them, and why do I care?
By: Dusty Corro
In the world of post-baccalaureate trainings and certifications, the idea of tracking our hours spent pouring over new concepts, taking notes on printouts of power point slides and struggling through simulation exercises with a classroom ‘team’ may seem a bit ‘college’ on its surface, but unlike top ramen and jungle juice, this is a piece of the university experience that can serve us very well, if properly tracked and recorded as SEUs.
SEU – the sixth hit on a Google search after Southeastern University, an obscure physics term and Keoki Seu’s Flickr Photostream – in the Agile world stands for Scrum Educational Units, issued by the Scrum Alliance.
SEUs are the mark of educational experience needed to earn the CSP (Certified Scrum Professional) certification. Unlike a CSM, CSPO or CSD certification (Certified Scrum Master, Product Owner and Developer, respectively) a Certified Scrum Professional must have spent time actually using their knowledge gained in Scrum trainings and must also be actively involved in self-directed learning and be committed to continuous improvement. The CSP certification sets it’s holders apart from all those who have taken a class and passed a test, marking these dedicated individuals as experienced professionals and ongoing students of the art of Scrum.
How to Earn SEUs
SEUs can be obtained in several ways, some of which you may already be doing or planning. SEUs are granted to attendees of Scrum Alliance Gatherings (or other Agile Conferences) for the value of interaction with other professionals, by obtaining any of the certifications listed earlier, by receiving documented one to one or small group coaching from a CST or CSC, by volunteering as a Scrum professional, and even by authoring original works such as books, articles, blogs and webinars on Scrum practices. You can find plenty of details about all this on the Scrum Alliance website , as well as instructions for registering and tracking your SEUs.
SEU Categories
Category A: Scrum Alliance Scrum Gatherings
Category B: Scrum Alliance Courses or Coaching
Category C: Outside Events
Category D: Volunteer Service
Category E: Asynchronous Learning
Category F: Synchronous Learning
The nutshell version is this: the Scrum Alliance values active community members, continued learning, experience, participation and original creation just as it values your test score on that CSM test. At cPrime, we value these things too, not only in our excellent staff of Agile Practitioners, but in our customers, like you. For this reason, we offer a variety of ways to earn some of those precious SEUs, and beef up your Agile skills along the way.
Check out our list of offerings, and stay current, stay involved, stay Scrum!
