PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner

Exam Preparation
2020
 Introduce yourself

Please Introduce yourself to the group briefly

Name
Department in which s/he works
Role
Background
An achievement your are proud of 
Have you been to previous Project Management training?
Ground Rules
What are your Expectations from this Course?
 Objectives of This Course

After completing this course you will be able to:

• Describe Agile principles and mindset

• Explain how value-driven delivery is accomplished in Agile projects
• Describe the best practices involved in stakeholder engagement
• Discuss the approaches to improve team performance
• Describe the concepts under Adaptive Planning
• Discuss various problem detection and resolution techniques
• Explain the principles of continuous improvement
• Pass the PMI-ACP exam.

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Elevator vision Statement : Why this “PMI-ACP” Training

For Agile practitioners

Want to develop new knowledge and skills to continue developing

Who
their career in the Agile world

The "PMI-ACP" Instructor-led (Classroom & Online) Training

Provides a very deep knowledge related to Agile mindset and practices

That
that is based on real-world experience

Unlike Other "PMI-ACP" trainings

It goes beyond passing the exam and provides a base of knowledge and skills
Our Course
geared towards a high impact, real-world role

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 Course Content
Introduction to PMI-ACP
Day 1 Domain 1 : Agile Principles & Mindset Part1

Day 2 Domain 1 : Agile Principles & Mindset Part2

Day 3 Domain 2 : Value Delivery

Day 4 Domain 3 : Stakeholders Engagement

Day 5 Domain 4 : TeamPerformance

Day 6 Domain 5 : Adaptive Planning

Day 7 Domain 6 : Problem Detection & Resolution

Domain 7 : Continuous Improvement

Day 8 ExamTips & Tricks

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Introduction
to PMI-ACP
 PMI-ACP Eligibility & Requirements

 The PMI-ACP is not limited to project managers, Just about anyone

with experience working on Agile project teams can apply (PMs,
Sponsors, Developers, Resource managers, ..etc)

It requires High school 2,000 hours working on
diploma Associates’ project teams These hours
Degree or global must be earned within the
equivalent or higher. last 5 years, Active PMP® or
PgMP® will satisfy this
requirement (not required)
1,500 hours working on Agile
project teams or with Agile
methodologies. This experience
must have been earned in the
last 3 years
21 training contact hours
Must be earned in Agile
practices

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 PMI-ACP Exam Domain Blueprint

Domain Exam Percentage

Agile Principles and Mindset 16
Value-driven Delivery 20
Stakeholder Engagement 17
Team Performance 16
Adaptive Planning 12
Problem Detection and Resolution 10

Continuous Improvement 9
 PMI-ACP Exam Details

 100 scored test questions

 20 unscored test questions
 120 total questions
 Three hours to complete the exam
 Pre-test tutorial/post-test survey
PMI-ACP Eligibility & Requirements

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 Contents

This introduction contains:

• Why Agile?
• Agile Success Stories
• Project Management Industry Trends
• Value of this PMI-ACP training
• Waterfall vs Agile
• What Is An Agile Project Manager
• PMI-ACP Eligibility & Requirements
• PMI Exam Overview & Contents
• Exam Domains

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Why Agile
 Agile Success Stories

Kristen Wolberg was CIO

at Salesforce and vice
president of technology
she spearheaded the
cloud computing
company's move from
“We have over 400 global
teams iterating in 2 week
sprints and our velocity has
340%
business operations at increased significantly increase in revenue
the sequential enabling PayPal to release
PayPal from $500 million
Waterfall model to products faster. In the past
Agile model 18 months, we’ve released
to $2.2 billion
58 products, which is more during her 3 year
than the previous 5 years tenure there
combined”
 Agile Success Stories

“I personally believe we have delivered more

Delivered double value in the two years we’ve been using SAFe
the value Cut initial planning than we did in the four years prior” Meister says.
compared to time by 28% “Our downtime went down and that saved the
before using Agile company about 30 million over the course of the
frameworks year. Before, we had done similar things, but they
were not nearly as effective as SAFe.”
Tripp Meister, Director of Technology, PlayStation
Network
 What the PMI-ACP is not and Agile are Not
PMI-ACP is not:
• A replacement for the PMP®
• PMI’s own flavor of Agile
• Without support from the Agile community

Agile is not:
• Something New
• A silver bullet
• An excuse for little or no planning
• An excuse for little or no documentation
• An excuse for poor quality
• Undisciplined
• Unproven 19
 Project Management Industry Trends
• The world’s technology is dramatically growing everyday, accordingly the project management
industry has been affected significantly by this growth.
• The changes and new updates are happening every day, which impact the business strategies and the
market trends, accordingly customers and users are asking for changes throughout the project life
cycle.
 Project Management Industry Trends
• So in order to compete with this new trend, a new approach is highly demanded to absorb
the rapid changes in requirements the customer is asking for, and here come the Agile
project management.
• Agile approach is basically built on the Agile mindset, which means we embrace flexibility,
adaptability, eagerness to learn, helping and developing a healthy working environment, and
many other values and principles.
 Project Management Industry Trends

 Project management aims to integrate Agile and traditional Project Management principles and practices.
 In the not-too-distant future, a Project Manager who only knows how to do plan-driven project
 management will be like a carpenter who only knows how to use a hammer
 For a typical project manager, Agile can involve a significant shift in thinking and a very different mindset

PMP ACP

+ =
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 What is Traditional Approach “Waterfall” ?
What is traditional approach “Waterfall” ?
Attempts to define and stabilize detailed requirements upfront prior to the start of the project
The goal is to try to achieve predictability and control over the project costs and schedule!

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Waterfall vs Agile

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 How Does Agile Overcome The Waterfall Problems ?

How does Agile overcome the waterfall problems ?

Projects are broken up into short intervals to deliver results quickly and incrementally.
Testing is done concurrently with development.
Agile is based on a close partnership with the business users to maximize business value.

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 Waterfall VS. Agile

Waterfall
BUDGET

Development of the software flow sequentially from start point to the end point.

Strategy &
Recommendations

AI / Wire Fire

A Visual Design A
B & Copy B
Features Planned Features Developed
C Development & C
D Coding D
Testing &
Validation

Deployment

TIME
 Waterfall VS. Agile

Agile
BUDGET

Agile method proposes and increment and iterative approach to software design.

Strategy & Recommendations Development & Coding Strategy & Recommendations Development & Coding

Handoff to Dev

Handoff to Dev
AI / Wire Fire Testing & Validation AI / Wire Fire Testing & Validation

Visual Design & Copy Deployment Visual Design & Copy Deployment

A A A
B B B
Features Planned Features Developed Features Planned Features Developed
C C C
D D D
4 4
Weeks Weeks

TIME
 Project Management Industry Trends

 There has been a lot of polarization between the Agile community and the project management community for a
number of years.
 Agile and traditional project management principles and practices have been treated as separate and
independent domains of knowledge with little or no integration between the two.

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 Waterfall VS. Agile

Part of Contract Flexible

Traditional Projects (Waterfall) Agile Projects

Scope Costs Time

Fixed

VALUE
DRIVEN
Estimated

PLAN
DRIVEN

Costs Time Scope

The plan create cost/ Schedule estimates Software release themes and features determine the time
and cost estimate
 Value of this PMI-ACP training

 A Forrester study from 2009 observed that 35% of

organizations in USA used agile.
 Actuation Consulting’s 2013 research shows that
 73.68% have adopted agile to develop products.
 This PMI-ACP training will make you understand the
differences between an Agile approach and a
traditional project management approach and the
benefits and limitations of each.

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 Value of this PMI-ACP training
 Agile will have a major impact on the project management
profession.
 It “raises the bar” significantly for project managers.
 This course is not just a PMI-ACP “exam prep” course
 Developing a course that helps you prepare for a real- world
role in addition to preparing for the exam has a lot more
value

 This training will help you understand the impact of Agile on the project management profession and adapt
your career as necessary to take advantage of the new opportunities it presents

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Value of this PMI-ACP training
Value of this PMI-ACP training
 What Is An Agile Project Manager

 An Agile Project Manager is not someone who only knows how to

practice Agile.
 An Agile Project Manager understands both traditional plan- driven
project management and Agile principles and practices.
 And he/she knows how to blend them together in the right
proportions to fit a given situation

Learning Agile principles and practices will make you a much

stronger project manager even if you are never involved in a
pure Agile project

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 PMI Exam Overview & Contents

 120 multiple choice questions

Continuous Domain 1 : Agile Principles and
improvement Agile principles Mindset (16%)
and mindset
 20 Pretest (Unscored) Questions Problem detection Domain 2 : Value-driven
and resolution Delivery (20%)
Domain 3 : Stakeholder
 3 hour duration Engagement (17%)
Adaptive Value-driven Domain 4 : Team
planning delivery Performance (16%)
 Costs 495 USD (Non-members)
Domain 5 : Adaptive Planning
(12%)
 Costs 435 USD (members) Team
Domain 6 : Problem Detection and
performance
Resolution (10%)
Stakeholder
engagement Domain 7 : Continuous
Improvement (9%)

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 Exam Domains

 Domain 1 : Agile Principles and Mindset (16% of exam, roughly 19 questions)

 Explore, embrace, and apply agile principles and mindset within the
context of the project team and organization
 Domain 2 : Value-driven Delivery (20% of exam, roughly 24 questions)

 Deliver valuable results by producing high-value increments for review, early and often, based
on stakeholder priorities.

 Have the stakeholders provide feedback on these increments, and use this feedback to prioritize
and improve future increments

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 Exam Domains

 Domain 3 : Stakeholder Engagement (17% of exam, roughly 20 questions)

 Engage current and future interested parties by building a trusting environment that aligns their needs and
expectations and balances their requests with an understanding of the cost/effort involved.

 Promote participation and collaboration throughout the project life cycle and provide the tools for effective and
informed decision- making
 Domain 4 : Team Performance (16% of exam, roughly 19 questions)

 Create an environment of trust, learning, collaboration, and conflict resolution that promotes team self-
organization,

 Enhances relationships among team members, and cultivates a culture of high performance

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 Exam Domains
 Domain 5 : Adaptive Planning (12% of exam, roughly 14 questions)
 Produce and maintain an evolving plan, from initiation to closure, based on
goals, values, risks, constraints, stakeholder feedback, and review findings

 Domain 6 : Problem Detection & Resolution (10% of exam, roughly 12

questions)
 Continuously identify problems, impediments, and risks; prioritize and
resolve in a timely manner;
 Monitor and communicate the problem resolution status; and implement
process improvements to prevent them from occurring again

 Domain 7 : Continuous Improvement (9% of exam, roughly 11 questions)

 Continuously improve the quality, effectiveness, and value of the product, the
process, and the team.

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Domain 1 : Agile Principles & Mindset
 Domain Tasks

 Agility Culture
 Using Agile Concepts in Non-Agile Projects
 Organizational Mindset Shift
 Which Approach To Choose
 Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset
 Agile Values & Principles
 Agile frameworks and methods
 Practice servant leadership

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 Agility Culture

Collaboration Control
“working together”
47% “Command & Control”
3%
Personal Development Skills
“self-development with a
41% 9% “be the best”
shared and meaningful
objective”

Culture preference for the ideal Agile team as judged by +120 respondents to the 2010 survey
Source : Collective EdgeCoaching

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 Using Agile Concepts in Non-Agile Projects

 How can we use Agile concepts in a traditional, plan-driven project ?

• Developing a more collaborative approach with the business users

• Putting more emphasis on maximizing business value

• Taking a more iterative approach

• Reducing unnecessary documentation and overhead

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43
Organizational Mindset Shift

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 Which approach should we choose ?

 Misleading statements ?

Saying “agile is better than waterfall is like saying, “A car is better than a boat”

Neither a plan-driven approach nor an Agile approach is inherently good or

bad, but each has advantages and limitations
It isn’t necessarily a binary and mutually-exclusive choice between two extremes

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 Which Approach Should We Choose ?
 What should we choose ?

 Fit the approach (Agile or Waterfall) or Hybrid

 Skills needed for this tailoring.

 Low level of uncertainty calls for “Waterfall”

 High level of uncertainty calls for “Agile”

Waterfall is based on Defined Process while Agile is based on Empirical Process

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Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset

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 Agile Manifesto

 On February 11-13, 2001, at Snowbird ski resort, seventeen

 people met to talk, ski, relax, and try to find common ground.
 Representatives from Extreme Programming, SCRUM, DSDM, Adaptive Software Development,
Crystal, Feature-Driven Development, Pragmatic Programming, and others sympathetic to the need
for an alternative to documentation driven, heavyweight software development processes convened.
 What emerged from this meeting was a symbolic Manifesto for
 Agile Software Development, signed by all participants.

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 Agile is Not New
Hirotaka Takeuchi & DSDN Consortium
Ikujiro Nonaka The Dynamic System Robert Charette
New New Product Development Method
Taiichi Ohno Toyota Lean Development
Development Game Jeff de Luca
Production System
Kanban Feature Driven
Development

1943 Hardware 1985 Software 1995 1997 2000

1950- 1990 1996 1998 2001

1960s
USAF & NASA
X-15 hypersonic jet
Iterative Incremental 1990 - Sutherland & Alistair Cockburn
Delivery Schwaber 1996 - Beck, Cunningham, Crystal Methodologies
Scrum Framework Jeffries Extreme Agile Manifesto
Programming

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 Agile Practices

PMBOK

Lean

Kanban

Agile is an umbrella term for a group of iterative and

incremental software development methods.
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 Agile Evolution

 Agile evolved in the late 1990s,

 The Agile Manifesto was signed in February 2001. by 17

leading software developers.

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Agile Manifesto

Practices

Values & Principles

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The Agile Manifesto
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Individual and Interactions Over Processed and Tools

Over Comprehensive
Working Software
Documentation

Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation

Responding to Change Over Following a Plan

The Agile Manifesto - 12 Principles
12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto

Satisfy Measure Of Progress

The Customer Through Working Product

Welcome Changing Promote Sustainable

Requirements Development

Continuous Attention To
Deliver Working Software Frequently
12 Technical Excellence

Principles
Collaborate Daily Simplicity Is Essential
Of Agile

Motivated Individuals Self-organizing Teams

Regularity Reflect On
Face-to-face Conversation
Continuously Improving
The Agile Manifesto - 12 Principles
12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and

1 continuous delivery of valuable software.
7 Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors,
2 processes harness change for the customer's competitive 8 developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace
advantage indefinitely.

Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
3 couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
9 enhances agility.

Business people and developers must work together daily Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is
4 throughout the project. 10 essential.

Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the

The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from
environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job
5 done. 11 self-organizing teams.

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more
6 and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
12 effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.