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Are there any respected, or at least well-known, Kanban certificates? There are many Scrum certifications, some of them can be taken online (scrum.org), others require participation in a stationary course (scrum alliance), but I could not be able to find any Kanban course (preferably with certificate) that would encourage my trust.

And by the way, do you find this kind of certificates any useful? Do you think, that candidate with such certificates (assuming the same achievements and experience) have any advantage over the others?

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  • Didn't you read about Kiyosaki?
    – Leo Mag
    May 20 '16 at 11:51
  • No, what's the point there?
    – KlimczakM
    May 20 '16 at 12:00
  • This is pretty explicitly a solicitation of opinion. "respected" is a subjective term; a certificate that is respected in one domain may not be relevant in another, "Do you find this kind of certificates...." is an opinion question. VtC; suggest you revise the question to ask for some empirical evidence that Kanban certifications have value.
    – MCW
    May 20 '16 at 12:18
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Kanban certifications are definitely not as well established as Scrum training/ certifications. But they certainly are available.

The Lean Kanban University, with active involvement of/ direction by 'Kanban Method for Software' pioneer David J Anderson, has been issuing 2 kinds of certifications - AKT - Accredited Kanban Trainer - and KCP - Kanban Coaching Professionals. Both of these require undergoing fairly rigorous training and evaluation by an Advisory Board that governs each of the AKT/ KCP Programs.

Both require Kanban training from an AKT, work experience with Kanban in order to present a case study (for KCPs) and an application process including a review by the respective advisory board.

I believe that in the Kanban community, these 2 certifications carry the most weight. You can find out more about them here - http://edu.leankanban.com/lku-programs-trainers-and-coaches

Additionally, I know of other consultants/ coaches that also provide Kanban training and their own certification. One of these is Dr. Masa K Maeda (Valueinnova) - who provides extensive Lean/ Agile Project Management training. He has a complete approach that he refers to as Serious LeAP. He has a Kanban Methodologist certification. You can find more about it here - http://valueinnova.com/training.html

HTH

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    I feel I should add, that the KCP hasn't really taken off as hoped. A couple of years ago a bunch of charter members joined, since then only a handful have gained the certification. The focus of the Kanban community has oriented itself around more of a training provider model rather than e.g. consulting. Companies don't seem to seek new employees with a KCP cert, but they are sending existing employees to get trained by AKTs. So if you want to be a trainer you need AKT, but I would not really bother with KCP at the moment.
    – Kurt
    Jan 22 '15 at 6:48
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Certifications are (Just) Sales Tools

[D]o you find this kind of certificates any useful? Do you think, that candidate with such certificates (assuming the same achievements and experience) have any advantage over the others?

While I won't address the state of available certifications (as I consider that a searchable question with non-canonical answers) I think the question of the value of Kanban certifications is really no different than that of certifications in general.

Certifications are a sales tool for the candidate and (sometimes) for the hiring company. The value of any certification will depend on:

  • Mind share of the skill that's being certified.
  • Market share of the certifying body.
  • How well the candidate is able to leverage the certification on a resume or cover letter.
  • How valuable a company's clients find the certification, especially in the government sector or in regulatory compliance fields where the certification may be a contractual requirement.
  • Whether the certification can be presented as valuable to the hiring company because it adds perceived value to their client base.

As an example of the last item, a security certification like the CISSP might add value to a professional services company whose marketing pitch is that all their experts are certified security management professionals. If the project is a regulatory compliance project, this may be important as part of the sales cycle. Both the candidate and the hiring company might use the certification as a sales tool in such a situation.

In most cases, though, a certification by itself has no value unless you can sell it as a differentiator. A Kanban certification could certainly help differentiate a candidate from a more traditional PMI practitioner, but any value will depend on the role and how well the candidate sells it as a key differentiator.

Your mileage will vary.

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