The PMI-ACP Exam consists of 120 questions which can be categorized into seven domains. The first domain: Domain I Agile Principles and Mindset is the knowledge about "how to explore, embrace, and apply agile principles and mindset within the context of the project team and organization" source: PMI- ACP Examination Content Outline.
Below is a collection of the key knowledge addressed in Domain I Agile Principles and Mindset and the nine tasks related to the domain:
Agile Manifesto and 12 Agile Manifesto Principles Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation Responding to change over Following a plan
Agile Project Management Fundamentals
Users Involvement Team Empowerment Fixed Time Box
Requirements at a High-Level Incremental Project Releases Frequent Delivery
Finish Tasks One by One Pareto Principle
Testing – Early and Frequent Teamwork
Agile Methodologies
The following are the common Agile methodologies in practice these days, these are listed in order of importance for the PMI-ACP Exam. An understanding of the process and terminologies of these Agile methodologies will help ensure Agile practices to be carried out effectively.
Scrum
XP (eXtreme Programming) Kanban
LSD (Lean Software Development) Crystal Family
FDD (Feature Driven Development) ASD (Adaptive Software Development)
DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Method) Atern
Information Radiators
Information radiators are highly visible charts and figures displaying project progress and status, e.g. Kanban boards, burn-down charts. This shows the real progress and performance of the project and team which enhances transparency and trust among team members and other stakeholders.
Agile Experimentations
Agile projects make use of empirical process control for project decisions, ongoing observation and experimentation are carried out during project execution to help and influence planning
Introduce spike (including architecture spike) to carry out a technical investigation to reduce risks by failing fast
Sharing of Knowledge
Ideally, Agile teams are best to be co-located (working within the same room with seats facing each other) to enhance pro-active support, free discussion, open collaboration, and osmotic communication
Face-to-face communication is always encouraged Practice pair programming if feasible
Make use of daily stand-up, review, and retrospectives Make use of Agile tooling to enhance sharing of knowledge:
Kanban boards whiteboards bulletin boards
burn-down/burn-up charts wikis website
instant messaging – Skype, web conferencing, etc. online planning poker
Since documentation are not encouraged, co-located teams can share tacit knowledge more readily
Self-organization and Empowerment
Self-organizing teams are the foundation for Agile project management Self-organization includes: team formation, work allocation (members are encouraged to take up works beyond their expertise), self-management, self-correction, and determining how to work is considered “done”
An agile team is given the power to self-direct and self-organize by making and implementing decisions, including work priority, time frames, etc. as they believe “the best person to make the decision is the one whose hands are doing the work”
In Agile projects, the project manager/Coach/ScrumMaster practices servant leadership to remove roadblocks and obstacles and to enable the team to perform best
The following domains will be published later on with separated articles, STAY TUNED!