Disciplined Agile

The following principles drove the development of this certification program:

1.Certifications must provide value. First and foremost, a certification must provide value to the person being certified. This value comes from learning new and valuable strategies during the process of earning the certification as well as greater employability resulting from the certification. Of course there are always limits to the value of any certification.
2.Certifications must be earned. The effort required to earn the certification must be commensurate with the value provided. For example, it is easy to earn and become a Certified Disciplined Agilist because this is an indication that someone has basic knowledge of Disciplined Agile and wishes to learn more. A Certified Disciplined Agile Practitioner is harder to earn because it is an indication of both knowledge and experience. It is very difficult to earn and become a Certified Disciplined Agile Coach because it’s an indication of expertise and competence.
3.Certifications must be respectable. We believe that the Disciplined Agile certifications are respectable for several reasons. First, the fact that you have to do some work to earn them is a welcome difference from other agile certifications. Second, we’re aligning with other respectable certification programmes and are requesting participation in one or more of those programmes as part of the Practitioner and Coach certifications.
4.Certifications must be focused. The focus of this programme is on disciplined agile approaches to IT solution delivery. Disciplined agile certifications are an indication of knowledge and experience in disciplined agile methods.
5.Certification is part of your learning process. Disciplined professionals view certification as part of their learning process. Learning is not an event but instead an ongoing effort. The implication is that once you have earned your certification you must continue working to keep your skills up to date.
6.Certified professionals have a responsibility to share knowledge. Not only have we adopted the concept of earning belts from martial arts we have also adopted the mindset that people have a responsibility to help teach and nurture people with lower belts to learn new skills and knowledge. The act of teaching and sharing information often leads one to a greater understanding and appreciation of the topic, and thus helps the teacher as well as the student to learn.

DA is architected into four views:

Mindset. Builds on the foundations of agile and lean to address enterprise realities.
People. Roles, responsibilities, and team structures.
Flow. This captures the dynamic aspects of processes via lifecycle diagrams and workflow diagrams.
Practices. This captures detailed strategies/techniques that are put into context via process goal diagrams.

We have adopted a Shuhari strategy for this certification program.  Shuhari is a martial arts concept that represents the stages of someone’s learning:

Shu (Learn). At the shu stage you are beginning to learn the techniques and philosophies of disciplined agile development.  Your goal is to build a strong foundation from which to build upon.  This beginner stage of learning is represented by the Disciplined Agilist designation and Certified Disciplined Agilist certification.

Ha (Detach).  At the ha stage you reflect upon and question why disciplined agile strategies work, seeking to understand the range of strategies available to you and when they are best applied. This intermediate stage of learning is represented by the Certified Disciplined Agile Practitioner and Disciplined Agile Lean Scrum Master certifications.

Ri (Transcend). At the ri stage you seek to extend and improve upon disciplined agile techniques, sharing your learnings with others. This “master” stage of learning is represented by the Certified Disciplined Agile Coach and Certified Disciplined Agile Instructor certifications.