1. Introduction to the PMI-ACP
Certification
Brought to you by the
PMI-LA Professional Development Group
2013
2. Agenda
• Who should apply?
• Eligibility requirements
– Experience
– Training
– Examination
• Overview of exam components
• Tips for passing the exam
• Reference material
3. Who should apply?
• Practitioners who are seeking to:
– Demonstrate to employers their level of professionalism in
agile practices of project management
– Increase their professional versatility in both Waterfall and
agile techniques
– Hold a certification that is more credible than existing entry-
level, training or exam-only based offerings
• The PMI-ACP is not limited to project managers or
Project Management Professional (PMP)® credential
holders
– Individuals with experience working on agile project teams
can apply
4. Eligibility Requirements
Requirement Description
General Project Management • 2,000 hours working on project teams
Experience • These hours must be earned within the last 5
years
• Active PMP® or PgMP® will satisfy this requirement
Agile Project Management • 1500 hours working on agile project teams or with
Experience agile methodologies
• These hours are in addition to the 2,000 hours
required in “general project experience”
• These hours must be earned within the last 3
years
Agile Project Management • 21 contact hours
Training • Hours must be earned in agile practices
Examination • Tests knowledge of agile fundamentals
5. 6 Major Domains of Practice
• Domain 1: Value-driven delivery
– Define positive value
– Incremental development
– Avoid potential downsides
– Prioritization
• Domain 2: Stakeholder engagement
– Stakeholder needs, involvement and expectations
• Domain 3: Boosting team performance practices
– Team formation, empowerment, collaboration and commitment
• Domain 4: Adaptive planning
– Levels of planning
– Adaptation
– Estimation
– Velocity/throughput/cycle time
• Domain 5: Problem detection and resolution
• Domain 6: Continuous improvement (product, process, people)
6.
7. Agile tools & techniques – 50% Agile knowledge & skills – 50%
Communications - information radiator, team space, agile tooling, osmotic Level 1 (33%)
communications for collocated and or distributed teams, daily stand ups Active listening, Agile Manifesto value and principles, Assessing and
incorporating community and stakeholder values, Brainstorming
Planning, monitoring and adapting - retrospectives, task/kanban boards, techniques, Building empowered teams, Coaching and mentoring
time-boxing, Iteration and release planning, WIP limits, burn down/up charts, within teams, Communications management, Feedback techniques
cumulative flow diagrams, process tailoring for product (e.g. prototyping, simulation, demonstrations,
Agile estimation - relative sizing/story points, wide band Delphi/planning evaluations), Incremental delivery, Knowledge sharing, Leadership
poker, affinity estimating, ideal time tools and techniques, Prioritization, Problem-solving strategies,
tools, and techniques, Project and quality standards for Agile
projects, Stakeholder management, Team motivation, Time, budge,
and cost estimation, Value-based decomposition and prioritization
Agile analysis and design - product road map, user stories/backing, story Level 2 (12%)
maps, progressive elaboration, wire-frames, chartering, persona, agile Agile frameworks and terminology, Building high-performance
modeling teams, Business case development, Co-location (geographic
proximity)/distributed teams, Continuous improvement processes,
Product quality - frequent verification and validation, test-driven Elements of a project charter for an Agile project, Facilitation
development/test first development, definition of done, continuous methods, Participatory decision models (e.g., input-based. Shared
integration collaboration, command), PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional
Soft skills negotiation - emotional intelligence, collaboration, adaptive Conduct, Process analysis techniques, Self assessment, Value-based
leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution, servant leadership analysis
Value-based prioritization - return on investment (ROI)/net present value
(NPV)/internal rate of return (IRR), compliance, customer-valued
prioritization, minimally marketable feature (MMF), relative
prioritization/ranking
Risk management - risk-adjusted backlog, risk burn down graphs, risk-based Level 3 (5%)
spike Agile contracting methods, Agile project accounting principles,
Applying new Agile practices, Compliance (organization), Control
Metrics - velocity, cycle time, earned value management (EVM) for agile limits for Agile projects, Failure modes and alternatives,
projects, escaped defects Globalization, culture, and team diversity, Innovation games,
Value stream analysis - value stream mapping Principles of systems thinking (e.g. complex adaptive, chaos),
Regulatory compliance, Variance and trend analysis, Variations in
Agile methods and approaches, Vendor management,
8. Tips to prepare for the exam
• Review the PMI-ACP Handbook
• Use the PMI-ACP Examination Content Outline to guide your
study
• Review the current PMI-ACP reference list
• Enroll in a formal study course offered by PMI chapters or
Registered Education Providers (R.E.P.s).
– You can also review self-study books published by R.E.P.s and
other reputable training organizations
• Form a study group with colleagues or friends; you can meet
in person or virtually
• Read the AgileBOK - www.agilebok.org (Not endorsed by
PMI)
• Take practice exams