Learning the PMI-ACP certification exam
Learning the PMI-ACP certification exam
Tips to Prepare
Review the current PMI-ACP reference list.
Enroll in a formal study course.
Review self-study books published by reputable training organizations.
Communication elements :
Information Radiators
Team Space
Agile Tooling : a minimal Agile tools is necessary
Osmotic Communications
Daily Stand up Meeting
Planning monitorine and adapting :
Retrospectives
Task Board/Kanban boards
Time boxing
Iteration and release planning
WIP Limits
Burn up /Down Charts
Cumulative flow Diagram
Process tailoring
Increasing or decreasing process for the sake of the particular environment; e.g. CMMI or ISO9000 compliance.
Requires tradeoffs
Agile estimating :
Relative Sizing / Story Points
Wide Band Delphi / Planning Poker
Affinity Estimating
Ideal Time
Agile analysis and design :
Frequent Verification and Validation
Verification is verifying what was specified is being made. Performed during development.
Validation is checking what was made does what it was supposed to. More holistic than verification. Prove that it does what it was specified to do by audit trail.
TDD & Test First Development
Definition of Done
Continuous Integration
Soft skills :
Emotional Intelligence
Collaboration
Adaptive Leadership
Negotiation
Conflict Resolution
Servant Leadership
Value based prioritization :
ROI/NPV/IRR
Compliance
Minimally
Marketable Feature (MMF)
Relative Prioritization / Ranking
Risk management :
Risk Adjusted Backlog
Risk Burn Down Graph
Risk Based Spike
Metrics :
Velocity
Cycle time
Earned Value Management
Escaped Defects
Control limits :
The Agile PM needs to have a sense of the control limits to set expectations and guide the project.
It helps is to remember that Quality Assurance is about making sure your process is « in control ».
If the project violates certain limits, then the process is said to be « out of control ».
Below are some examples of when an agile project has exceeded various agile process limits:
WIP limits for Kanban
Scope changes within a Sprint
Delivering defects higher than the agreed upon maximum defect rate (e.g. violating the « no-defects » process limit)
When the actual trend on a burn down / burn up chart exceeds the ideal trend by a certain threshold (see Agile EVM)
Slipping an iteration deadline, rather than respecting it
Slipping the agreed-upon time box for ceremonies and spikes When velocity dips dramatically below recent trend lines
Lead/Cycle time policy by Class of Service to this list.
General Questions About Agile
Q1. What is agile?
Agile is a philosophy that uses organizational models based on people, collaboration and shared values. Agile uses rolling wave planning; iterative and incremental delivery; rapid and flexible response to change; and open communication between teams, stakeholders, and customers.
There are many approaches to agile that adhere to these tenets, such as Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Lean, Kanban and Test-driven Development (TDD).
Although agile principles have their roots in the software and IT industries, agile adoption is growing and expanding in a wide range of industries, including health care, marketing and manufacturing.
Q2. What are some examples of agile principles and practices?
Agile principles and practices include:
Early, measurable return on investment through defined, iterative delivery of product increments
High visibility of project progress allows early identification and resolution or monitoring of problems
Continuous involvement of the customer throughout the product development cycle
Empowerment of the business owner to make decisions needed to meet goals
Adaptation to changing business needs, giving more influence over requirement changes
Reduced product and process waste
Q3. What value do agile principles and practices bring to an organization?
Organizations who use agile principles and practices have documented the value they see from these techniques:
• Adaptive to changing business needs, giving the organization more influence over adding, changing or removing
requirements
• Early and continuous customer feedback improves communication and empowers business owners who can receive and review critical information necessary to make decisions to steer the project throughout the development process
• Early measurable return on investment
• High visibility and influence over the project progress leading to early indications of problems
• Incremental delivery rather than a single complete delivery at the end of the project reduces product and process waste
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