All About Agile

This chapter provides an overview about agile and also covers "barely sufficient" details about PMI-ACP certification examination. Part I contains introduction and all about agile. Part II consists of 10 chapters related to agile tools and techniques. Part III consists of 3 chapters related to agile knowledge and skills. Part IV consists of agile domains and tasks to be used by agile trainers. Part V consists of a sample PMI-ACP certification examination. Part VI consists of agile terms, acronyms, appendix and other useful information.

This chapter covers the following:

* PMI-ACP Certification

* Exam Content Outline

* Introduction to Agile

* Agile Project

* Agile Manifesto

* Agile Practices

* Agile Principles

* Agile Methodologies

* Agile Project Management

* Agile References

Overall the PMI-ACP exam is divided into 2 broad categories. The first category is all about agile tools and techniques. The other category is all about agile knowledge and skills.

Looking at the PMI ACP certification examination content outline, it is clearly stated that 50% of the questions are based upon agile tools and techniques; so part II of this book consisting of 10 chapters will help you to prepare for those questions. You can expect anything from 6 to 60 questions from chapter 2 thru chapter 11.

Remaining 50% of the questions are based upon agile knowledge and skills; so part III of this book, consisting of 3 chapters will help you to prepare for those questions. You can expect anything from 6 to 60 questions from chapter 12 thru chapter 14.

PMI-ACP Certification

PMI-ACP is different from the PMP credential in that the PMI-ACP specifically validates a practitioner's ability to understand and apply agile principles and practice, whereas the PMP credential recognizes demonstrated competence leading and directing project teams.

The PMI-ACP certification recognizes practitioners for their understanding of agile principles and practices. The certification represents an important facet of a practitioner's professional development.

What are the eligibility requirements for the PMI-ACP?

Since PMI is the authority providing the final eligibility requirements for the PMI-ACP, it is strongly recommended that you should visit http://www.pmi.org/ for further details.

Please check the above website to obtain up-to-date details for PMI-ACP Certification examination about:

• Experience eligibility requirements

• Education eligibility requirements

• Application process and fees

• PMI-ACP certification examination expectations

• Certification schedule and payment information

• How to register to take PMI-ACP certification exam at centers administered by Prometrics.

• Continuing certification requirements (CCR)

Exam Content Outline

The PMI-ACP examination will consist of total 120 questions, to be answered in 3 hours. Out of 120 questions, 100 are scored and 20 are un-scored. The un-scored items will not be identified and will be randomly distributed throughout the exam. The allocation of questions will be as follows:

Content % of Exam

Agile tools and techniques 50%
Agile knowledge and skills (Level 1) 33%
Agile knowledge and skills (Level 2) 12%
Agile knowledge and skills (Level 3) 5%

The entire PMI-ACP exam is covered by 2 areas, T&T (Tools & Techniques) and K&S (Knowledge and Skills). It is imperative that the PMI-ACP exam accurately reflects the agile practices, tools, and techniques being used by project management practitioners.

Questions about T&T (Tools & Techniques) will comprise 50% of the examination and have been organized into the 10 areas.

Questions about K&S (Knowledge & Skills) will comprise 50% of the examination and have been organized into 43 areas under 3 levels.

Pay most attention to agile tools & techniques. Then pay attention to Level 1 K&S and then to Level 2 K&S, rather than sweating on Level 3 K&S which carries only 5% of weight.

The PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Certification has been designed to:

• Demonstrate to employers the practitioner's level of professionalism in Agile practices of project management.

• Increase the practitioner's versatility in project management tools and techniques.

• Show that the practitioner has the capacity to lead basic Agile project teams, and

• Provide a framework for Agile training and professional development initiatives.

Candidates are urged to use the PMI-ACP Examination Content Outline as a guide to the areas included on the examination, and to study current references in agile, such as those on the PMI-ACP examination preparation reference list.

This book is based on the PMI-ACP Examination Content Outline as well as extracts from numerous books listed under PMI reference list and agile related preparation content references available online. It will NOT be possible to list each and every reference used directly and/ or indirectly in the preparation of this book due to space constraints, however the author deeply extends his gratitude towards all those authors and publishers providing tons of valuable information everywhere.

Introduction to Agile

Agile Manifesto is a philosophy about software development – a way of thinking.

Agile Methods are processes that support agile philosophy. Method or process is – a way of working.

Agile software development is NOT a specific process you can follow. Practices are an expression of underlying agile principles. Understand those 12 agile principles to choose the right practices. Agile methods combine practices in unique way, which supports agile philosophy.

Agile is a philosophy that uses organizational models based on people, collaboration and shared values. The Agile Manifesto outlines tenets of agile philosophy.

Agile uses rolling wave planning, and iterative and incremental delivery, rapid and flexible responses to change, and open communication between teams, stakeholders and customers. There are many agile methodologies that deliver to these tenets, such as SCRUM, XP, Lean and Test-driven Development (TDD), etc.

Project management practitioners can use agile principles and practices to successfully manage change, improve communication, reduce cost, increase efficiency and demonstrate value to customers and stakeholders. Agility is more attitude than process, more environment than methodology.

Agile Practices are the "Activities that are the application of agile principles".

Agile Principles are the "Fundamental truths and shared values that drive behavior in agile methodologies".

Agile Methodologies are "Frameworks and processes whose practices support the Agile Manifesto principles". Examples include: SCRUM, XP, Crystal, DSDM, and FDD etc.

Agile Manifesto is a public declaration of the philosophy and principles of agile software development.

Where can you learn more about agile?

Visit the PMI Agile Community of Practice at http://agile.vc.pmi.org/

Agile Project

An agile project is a project that is planned and executed based on tenets of Agile Manifesto. One of the best practices to execute long term agile projects is using sequential releases consisting of collections of iterations. Agile project is kicked off by at least 3 processes: vision, product roadmap and list of product backlogs. The interim phases in agile project are project releases. The release milestone deliverable is a working set of features. A release is made up of several iterations. The final process in agile project is project retrospective, which is equivalent to project postmortem resembling project closing process under traditional project management practices.

Agile project managers must be the champions of the agile process:

• Understands the principles of agile and seeks to encourage them within the team.

• Holds team accountable to seek anything and everything that adds value.

• Understands that a process needs to be continually re-evaluated and re-examined.

• Builds ownership in the process so that growth is more guidance than enforcement, moves from traditional management of "command-and-control" style to effective leadership with "servant leadership" style.

• Empowers continuous improvement in the product, process, team and self.

Agile Manifesto

This is very important section for PMI-ACP certification examination. You need to remember all words as are mentioned below. There will be multiple questions on this section, where the exam has multiple choices with twisted or wrong terms and just one with correct wording. Eliminate all those with wrong / incorrect / inappropriate order and you score 100% on these questions!!

• Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools

• Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation

• Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

• Responding to Change over Following a Plan

Note: While there is value in the items on right, we value the items on left more

Key Point: Remember exact wording and sequence of all 4 above.

What is Agile Manifesto?

Agile Manifesto is a public declaration of the philosophy and principles of agile software development, created in February 2001 in Snobird, Utah. Visit http://www.AgileManifesto.org/ to learn more.

1. Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools

Software Development Life Cycles are centered on people, processes and tools. The processes and tools are good and required. But there is a limit to what extent these tools should be used and processes must be followed. Ultimately projects are accomplished through people utilizing those tools and processes.

Agile projects put heavy emphasis on the team work, thereby on the individuals and interaction between the individuals. The agile team will eventually tailor the processes and will use automated tools if needed. Agile methodologies will work with strong team and positive interaction which must be valued more than the fact that processes and tools may or may not add that much value.

2. Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation

Traditional project management is plan driven. As per PMI PMBOK Fifth Edition, a project management plan consists of 16 subsidiary plan documents involving 10 knowledge areas and processes. All this leads to a very detailed comprehensive documentation which may or may not be needed or used at all.

On the contrary agile strongly supports creating "barely sufficient" documentation but get the working, deliverable and shippable software. The working software must have self-documented code. The working software is what brings most value to the customers whereas the comprehensive documentation only shows what is intended to be delivered. For a customer the working software is more valuable than mere documentation.

3. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

A contract is needed between customer and agile teams to have a positive starting point, whether it's in the form of contract statement of work (SOW), or project charter or requirements document. It is mainly to be used to collaborate with customers whenever there are variances and how best the differences can be resolved so that there will be always the product delivered to the customer which is desirable by the customer. Definitely there is a value in doing this.

The contract document should not be used to negotiate on what is promised, what is delivered and why the customer can't make changes to the contract. The contract negotiation has a value to the extent that the deliverables are in accordance with initial contract. The customer collaboration brings more value by leading to win-win situation by making the customer collaboration in positive direction, acknowledging what the customer wants and working collaboratively to deliver those changes rather than fighting over what gets delivered is what the customer asked whether it carries values or not now. There is more value in delivering what the customer wishes and collaborating with customer at various stages such as planning meetings, reviews, product demos. The most valuable approach in agile is adapting ATDD – Acceptance Test Driven Development, whereby all increments are demonstrated to the customer and verified and accepted by the customer before the team moves forward to next iteration. Customer gets minimally marketable features (MMF) delivered at very short duration rather than waiting all the way to the end of project duration to get all deliverables, if at all those get delivered.

4. Responding to Change over Following a Plan

Traditional project management makes a plan and then makes sure to follow that plan. Entire efforts are oriented towards following that plan to deliver as per requirements, no more and no less. In fact the terms like "gold plating" and "scope creep" are detrimental in following a plan. Plan driven project management doesn't advocate changes. There is a very rigorous process known as "integrated change control" to find impact of change on triple constraints and then approve/reject the change. There is a value in that the overall impact is assessed before actually implementing the approved change but it involves so many processes and updates to so many documentation that the value is lost in the process.

Agile always and any time welcome changes. In fact the agile methodology implementation is done such that the agile team will adapt and change the strategies to implement the changes in the code or deliverables that will bring value to the customer. The relatively smaller iterations of deliverables under agile are all meant to take care the changes requested by the customers. The basic assumption is that the deliverables are subject to change and the customer is going to request to make changes to the products. Agile team acknowledges those changes the customer wants and works collaboratively to deliver those rather than fighting over on why these can't get delivered. There is more value in responding to changes and delivering what the customer wishes and collaborating with an openness of supporting "you will be happy if you get what you want with all desirable changes" attitude.

Agile Practices

This is another very important section for PMI-ACP certification examination. There will be lots of questions on this section. You need to remember all roles and important concepts under

• XP

• SCRUM

• Lean

Key Point: Remember agile practices. Read books on SCRUM, XP, Lean and TDD listed under references.

What are some examples of agile principles and practices?

* Early, measurable return on investment (ROI) 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.

* Seek to manage change through flexibility, adaptation, and direct communication.

* Agile principles and practices are disciplined and value driven.

* Agile principles are different than practices.

Agile Principles

This is another very important section for PMI-ACP certification examination. You need to remember all words as are mentioned below. There will be multiple questions on this section, where the exam has multiple choices with twisted or wrong terms and just one with correct wording. Eliminate all those with wrong / incorrect / inappropriate order and you score 100% on these questions!!

Key Point: Remember exact wordings and meanings of all 12 agile principles.

• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

• Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

• Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

• Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

• Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

• The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation .

• Working software is the primary measure of progress.

• Agile processes promote sustainable development . The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

• Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.

• Th e best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams .

• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more eff ective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.