Learning the PMI-ACP certification exam

avril 21, 2018

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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