From a conversation with one CEO, I have expanded my plan to train 100 CEOs to 200

I am Dr. Roger, the first Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) and Scrum Ambassador in Taiwan, dedicated to promoting Scrum across various industries as my mission. As an official certified trainer, my goal is to adopt Scrum and its principles to businesses and help them introduce agile mindset. In the second -ever of the CEO CSM training, I had the opportunity to witness a group of CEOs who were eager to learn and understand how to internalize agile mindset and incorporate it into their business empires. This exploration and inspiration not only deepened my reflection on teaching methods but also reaffirmed the potential of Scrum. I am excited to share the insights from this journey with you and enable more people to benefit from the wisdom of CSM.

   Throughout this learning exploration, I personally taught and experimented with an innovative teaching strategy—a dynamic presentation created using Prezi, complemented by Flip chart poster illustrations, departing from the conventional PowerPoint format. The interactions with these CEO students were exhilarating, and I witnessed their gradual deconstruction of Scrum thinking and its application in corporate execution.

    After the completion of the first day of the course, Ms. Wei Bifen, the CEO of XinYa Digital, shared her learning insights with me. She mentioned that before learning Scrum, the traditional division of labor did not yield the desired results in project progress and, instead, led to project delays. However, after learning Scrum, she realized that a cross-functional learning organization could effectively drive projects forward, enabling them to respond more flexibly to market demands and create greater value. Here is her complete message:

    On 230716, CEO Wei Bifen's early morning message to Dr. Roger regarding the first day's learning experience: Dr. Roger, I believe the biggest difference lies in how I approached the operations of the programming development team. I feel that my thinking has changed a bit compared to before. Previously, I would divide my development team based on their expertise. For example, those who had a better understanding of HR would handle HR-related development tasks, while those knowledgeable in finance would handle finance-related tasks, and those with web development expertise would work on web-related tasks. This resulted in everyone working on their individual projects, using their respective areas of expertise, but ultimately causing significant delays in each project.

    After today's learning, I may need to change my approach and use Scrum to handle things differently, with a cross-functional learning organization, allowing them to autonomously complete tasks. For example, everyone could first focus on completing the finance-related tasks together, even if they don't fully understand them. Through learning, they will eventually grasp the concepts. This way, we can complete and launch one project after another. As we all know, the current market is constantly changing. If I wait until everyone completes their individual projects, it will be a year later. Instead, I would rather have the team fully focus and dedicate themselves to completing one project first, which can meet market demands and create maximum benefits and value for the team and the company. This is what I have come to understand after learning Agile today.

      The deep understanding of the entire class was not only reflected in their learning insights but also confirmed by their remarkable achievements. In the simulated exam on the second day, their average score reached an impressive 75, surpassing all the students from my previous courses. This result is the best proof of their comprehension and successful application of Scrum.

    What's even more astonishing is the unprecedented level of focus and team cohesion exhibited by all the students in preparation for the CSM exam after the course concluded. Despite the exam running until 7 p.m., they were determined to fight together until the very last moment. After the exam, all the CEOs even gathered at a nearby restaurant to celebrate, with an attendance rate almost reaching 100%—an occurrence I had never witnessed before.

Actions after the second cohort of CEO CSM:

    The experience with this group of CEOs has greatly inspired me, so I have decided to expand the CEO training program from 100 participants to 200 CEOs. I look forward to more individuals, like Wei Bifen, deeply understanding the spirit of Scrum and applying it to their own companies, thereby transforming the entire operation of their organizations, improving efficiency, and creating value.

    I firmly believe that everyone has the potential to learn and master Scrum, as long as they have the courage to embrace new challenges and try new approaches. Here, I sincerely invite you to join us in learning Scrum together, as we create different possibilities.

Starting from 18th July (Tuesday), an additional 100 CEO slots are open.

Roger CST's declaration: Nurturing 100 CEOs to become CSM professionals without charge, opening up new perspectives for businesses:  https://bit.ly/3O4ABF4

View the current registration status: https://bit.ly/3Di3abG

Accumulated total number of participants for the second -ever of CEO CSM as of July 16, 2023

Appendix 1: CEO/ Senior Executives/ Principals' CSM Declaration on their Facebook:

1. Principal Song Wenfa of Jinmen County Jinning Elementary and Middle School https://bit.ly/3pYtPa9

2. General Manager Lin Xianzhong of Xiangli Industry https://bit.ly/3PZh3mp

3.General Manager Wang Xiantang of Guancheng Energy https://bit.ly/3Oi8OAT

4.Director Wen Jin-Feng of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University's Department of Business and Management https://bit.ly/3Oe9Dun

5.General Manager Hu Ruirou of Ruiyang Information https://bit.ly/44sucZK

6.Chief Consultant Professor Chen Jiasheng of National Taiwan University's Department of Business Studies https://bit.ly/43uqRYS

7.Chairman Wei Bifen of Xinya Digital https://bit.ly/3rwqmjG

8.CIO Guo Huimei of Inventec Corporation, Inventec Appliances https://bit.ly/44H749s

9.Director Zhang Youming of the Smart Promotion Department of Innolux Corporation https://bit.ly/3rx3Rv3

10.Vice Chairman Huang Yixian of Total Precision Co. Ltd. https://bit.ly/44KnVrT

11.Chairman Xu Qingyi of Anxin Technology https://bit.ly/3pJMqqD

12.General Manager Chen Jinhui of BoShuo Culture https://bit.ly/3DhfdG8

13.Deputy Researcher Tsai Chia-Jin of the National Civil Servant Academy https://bit.ly/3PZKwN3

14.Vice President Fu Zhaoming of Fo Guang University https://bit.ly/3NWqJf1

15.Director of Asia Pacific Ming Daozeng of Taiwan DuPont https://bit.ly/44somr7

Appendix 2: Introduction to the Benefits of Learning CSM in the second-ever CEO CSM Class

Appendix 3: CSM Declaration at the Graduation Ceremony of the Participants

• Yang O-Wen: Applying the knowledge learned in the course to the workplace, assisting colleagues and supervisors with the right methods, and more effectively executing tasks. Actions start to advance, and the right methods will be effective.

• Ming O-Zeng: Be the Scrum Practitioner and Advocator to make positive influences of agile management within organizations and communities.

• Chen O-Xuan: Within two years, apply CSM to the Navy's clothing procurement project, and continue to promote agile thinking to the national military and cooperative manufacturers.

• Chen O-Sheng: In the journey of education and training, combine cognitive innovation with agile coaching thinking to expand digital transformation, with a first-year goal of 50 enterprise executives and enterprises!

• Jiang O-Ting: Become the first Qualified Scrum Master in the current company and promote the first successful Scrum project!

• Tsai O-Jin: Use agile spirit and thinking to optimize my project output and influence others.

• Song O-Fa: Promote agility at the school level, use agility to make curriculum reform, teacher training, educational administration, talent cultivation, more competitive in the era, and better respond to rapid changes in the times.

• Xu O-Yi: Complete Scrum training for 10 supervisors within the company within six months and promote at least one Scrum activity. Introduce 30 CEOs to attend CSM training within one year.

• Jian O-Xuan: Share the key talents of the investment company and after obtaining the CSM in 2024, work together to achieve each phase's goals and then achieve the overall goal for 3 years (2027).

• Li O-Ting: Practice Scrum for personal growth, family, and work, and influence friends around you, Sprint#1: Get PBA within 2 weeks, Sprint#2: Plan for family travel, Sprint#3: Find a job, continue to influence colleagues and friends.

• David Lin O-Zhong: Share the learning content and results of CSM to 100 CEOs, and encourage them to actively learn and become CSM.

• Gu O-Qing: As the company's CSM seed, create an agile culture, promote the company's agile project.

• Fu O-Ming: Share Scrum concepts with university teachers and students and local business communities where I teach, and practice healthy and happy production and learning project development.

• Zhang O-Ming: Become the ambassador of SCRUM, lead the department to develop in an agile way, and let the company's managers see the value of SCRUM!

• Mark: Complete the transformation of the PM department into SM within one year and successfully assist in more than 30 successful products.

• Fang O-Xiang: Let the team better understand the benefits of implementing Scrum, instead of just following along.

• Peng O-Yu: Let the company's senior executives come to attend the CSM course, and make CSM one of the required certifications for promotion.

• Hu O-Rou: Make the product team implement Scrum, have a good product that meets market needs, good market competitiveness and significantly increase operational growth!

• Chen O-Hui: Within my authority, I must actually promote Scrum once and give it a try.

• Guo O-Mei: Organize the first Scum project internally, and assist 10 small and medium-sized enterprises in implementing Scrum.

• Wang O-Tang: Train more than 3 CSMs internally, and introduce a successful agile project within one year.

• He O: Continuously optimize my work process and output, and continuously assist team members to grow together, so that the product performs better in each cycle.

• Daphne Huang: Recommend each CEO within the group to attend the CSM training course.

• Wen O-Feng: Let 50 graduate students have a deep understanding of agile and scrum concepts and methods every year.

• Fang O-Ling: My first sprint: make exclusive personal business cards, Product goal: establish a personal brand foundation.

• Lin O-Wei: Let the company where I work accept the concept of Scrum within one year, and complete the first Scrum project within two years.

• Wei O-Fen Vicky: Introduce SCRUM into Xinya Digital, becoming the main process and tool for project management!

Appendix 4: Highlights and Interactions from the second-ever CEO CSM Class