Biju David
PMP, PMI-ACP
 What
is PMI-ACP?
 Should I get certified?
 Contrast ACP to PMP
 Prerequisites
 Exam Content
 What to focus on?
 How to prepare?
 Resources
 Merits
or demerits of certifications
 Review or compare agile certifications
CSM
CSP
IBM RUP
Certification
?
PMI-ACP
DSDM Atern
Agile Project
Management
Practitioner
"Making project management indispensable for
business results"
 PMI Agile Certified Practitioner
 Purpose: Codify & standardize what “agile” means
across organizations
 Designed to:

• Recognize expertise in using agile practices in projects
• Demonstrate to employers the level of professionalism in agile
practices of project management; and,
• Increase professional versatility in both project management
tools and techniques.
• Aid Agile training and professional development initiatives.

Covers: Principles, practices and tools and
techniques across agile methodologies (Scrum,
Kanban, XP, Lean, DSDM, TDD, ATDD)


Helps demonstrate, a practitioner can select agile principles
and practices based on the needs and demands of a project.
By earning the PMI-ACP, you can:
• Demonstrate to employers your level of professionalism in agile
practices of project management.
• Increase your professional versatility in project management tools and
techniques.
• Show you have the capacity to lead basic teams using agile principles
and practices

Carries a higher level of professional credibility:
• PMI brand - Global organization recognized for PMP
• Requires a combination of:
 Agile training,
 Experience working on agile projects, and
 Examination on agile principles, practices, tools, and techniques.
• Requires on-going maintenance of credential
PMP

Recognizes demonstrated
competence leading and
directing project teams.
PMI-ACP

• What should be done
during the management of
a project.

Proficiency in project
management processes.
Validates a practitioner’s
ability to understand and
apply agile principles and
practices.
• how to do the things that
should be done

Proficiency in utilizing agile
tools and techniques
PMP



Pure management point of
view.
Role: look at results which
team produces, someone
else is responsible to
ensure that team produce
the result
Industry: Highly regulated.
PMI-ACP




Technical manager point of
view.
Responsible for your teams
productivity, you are the
one who sees the gaps and
find solutions if team fails to
produce desired results.
IT/Consulting: Both PMP
and PMI-ACP would be
helpful.
Agile Consulting: PMI-ACP
better choice.
Educational
Background
General Project
Experience
Agile Project
Experience
Training in Agile
Practices
Secondary
degree (high
school diploma,
associate’s
degree or global
equivalent).
2,000 hours (12
months) working on
project teams.
1,500 hours (8
months) working
on project teams
using agile
methodologies.
21 contact hours.
This experience
must have been
earned in the last 5
years.
Active PMP or PgMP
will satisfy this
requirement.
This experience
must have been
earned in the last
3 years.
These hours are
in addition to the
2,000 hours
required in
general project
experience.
Hours must have
been earned in agile
practices.
You
Application
Submission
(90 days)
Schedule Exam
(1 year)
up to 3 times
Submit
Payment
Provide audit
materials
(90 days)
Yes
No
PMI
Application
Completeness
Review
(10 days)
Application
Accepted?
Review
documents
(7 days)
 120
multiple-choice questions:
• 100 scored
• 20 pretest (Unscored)
Domain
% of Exam
Agile Tools and Techniques
50%
10 Toolkits
Agile Knowledge and Skills
43 Knowledge/Skills
50%
Toolkit
Communications
Examples
information radiator, team space, agile tooling,
osmotic communications for collocated and/or
distributed teams, daily stand-ups
retrospectives, task/Kanban boards, time boxing,
Planning, monitoring, and iteration and release planning, WIP limits, burn
adapting
down/up charts, cumulative flow diagrams,
process tailoring
Agile estimation
Relative sizing/story points, wide band
Delphi/planning poker, affinity estimating, ideal
time
Toolkit
Examples
Agile analysis and design
product roadmap, user stories/backlog, story
maps, progressive elaboration, wireframes,
chartering, personas, agile modeling
Product quality
frequent verification and validation, test-driven
development/test first development,
acceptance test-driven development, definition
of done, continuous integration
Soft skills negotiation
emotional intelligence, collaboration, adaptive
leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution,
servant leadership
Toolkit
Examples
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 spike
Metrics
velocity, cycle time, earned value management
(EVM) for agile projects, escaped defects
Value stream analysis
value stream mapping
Level 1
Active listening
Agile Manifesto values and principles
Assessing and incorporating community and stakeholder values
Brainstorming techniques
Building empowered teams
Coaching and mentoring within teams
Communications management
Feedback techniques for product (e.g., prototyping, simulation,
demonstrations, evaluations)
Incremental delivery
Knowledge sharing
Leadership tools and techniques
Level 1
Prioritization
Problem-solving strategies, tools, and techniques
Project and quality standards for Agile projects
Stakeholder management
Team motivation
Time, budget, and cost estimation
Value-based decomposition and prioritization
Level 2
Agile frameworks and terminology
Building high-performance teams
Business case development
Colocation (geographic proximity)/distributed teams
Continuous improvement processes
Elements of a project charter for an Agile project
Facilitation methods
Participatory decision models (eg, input-based, shared collaboration,
command)
PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
Process analysis techniques
Self assessment
Level 3
Agile contracting methods
Agile project accounting principles
Applying new Agile practices
Compliance (organization)
Control limits for Agile projects
Failure modes and alternatives
Globalization, culture, and team diversity
Agile games
Principles of systems thinking (eg complex adaptive, chaos)
Regulatory compliance
Variance and trend analysis
Variations in Agile methods and approaches
Source: Mike Griffiths: PMI-ACP Exam Prep
 To
be completely honest, I wouldn’t.
 Agile is a mindset, based on values and
principles, not a methodology or
process.
• You should be able to take the exam relying on
your experience and exposure .
 Metrics, portfolio
planning, and value
management require some exposure at
the enterprise level.
 Agile Manifesto
 12 Agile Principles
 Scrum, XP, Kanban and Lean
 Know rituals and artifacts involved.
 Know roles and responsibilities
 Agile Planning and Estimation.
 Agile Metrics
 Agile Risk and Quality Management.
 Communication/Collaboration
 Situational Questions: pick option most
aligned with Agile philosophy.

During a standup the customer says he had
prioritized the "Member Tracking" feature as the
top priority on the product backlog. This conflicts
with the previously agreed upon roadmap for
this feature. What would you do?
Add requested feature to current sprint.
Tell customer that team could work on this feature
during next sprint.
C. Add requested feature to current sprint only if customer
removes another feature from sprint.
D. Politely remind customer of the approved roadmap and
its delivery schedule
A.
B.
 Create a mind map
• Identify domains/tools you are not familiar with.
 Develop a preparation plan
• Prioritize and tackle.
 Resources:
• PMI.org: Community Guide of the PMI-ACP
• AgileBok.org
• Search for topic on web.
 Join a study group
• PMI-ACP study group on LinkedIn?
 Tutorial: 15
mins
 Exam Time: 3
 No
hours
scheduled breaks
 Followed
by Survey
You
Earn and
Report PDUs
Certificate
Renewal
Process
Yes
Certification
Suspended
(1 year)
Certification
Renewed
(3 years)
Yes
PMI
30
PDUs
?
No
Certification
Active?
No
Certification
Expires
 References:
• AgileManifesto.org
• PMI.org : PMI-ACP Handbook
• PMI.org : PMI-ACP examination content outline
• PMI.org : PMI-ACP Exam Reference List
 Resources:
• PMI.org: Community Guide of the PMI-ACP
• AgileBok.org
• LinkedIn - PMI-ACP Certified Practitioner Exam Prep
Study Group