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Certifications? No, the whole "certified bullshit expert" thing started with XP. Before that people just did their jobs and didn't invent religious practices that had to be adhered to in order to do so.

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There has never been an official XP certification. There is a ScrumMaster certification. I'd suggest that you avoid anyone who claims certified expertise in XP.

And no, people didn't "just do their jobs." Management methodology isn't a new idea.

PMP certifications were established in 1984[1], and while I don't think the certification itself is nearly as abused as "Certified ScrumMaster", PMI and Six-Sigma are definitely touted as panacea, especially in the enterprise.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_Institute

PMI in 1984 was exactly what it says in the name, project management. It didn't become a programming methodology thing until the agile craze. Six sigma was big in the industrial world, not programming.

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