PMI-ACP Agile Certified Exam Prep - 21 PDUs

This section is about building a good foundation of agile principles and approaches. In this section I'll discuss:

• Welcome and expect change
• Create small value-added increments 
• Utilize feedback loops 
• Constantly learn through discovery and creativity 
• Focus on developing a value for stakeholders 
• Why it’s okay to fail fast 
• Deliver value throughout the project 
• Constantly improve upon the project and the project work 

In this lecture I’ll provide you with a quick overview of the PMI-ACP Domain: Agile Principles and Mindset. This lecture sets the stage for all the other lectures in this section. In this lecture we’ll quickly discuss what is the Agile Mindset and how it affects your ability to earn the PMI-ACP certification.

We’ll also discuss the Agile Principles and how you must embrace these for exam success, but also for your success as an agile project manager.

What does it mean to have an Agile mindset? It means to think Agile, understand the change is welcome, and for many project managers, it’s a shift from the predictive approach project management utilizes in many fields.

The agile project manager has several attributes that we’ll discuss in this lecture:

• Advocate for agile principles and values in the organization
• Ensure common understanding of agile principles
• Educate and influence agile
• Transparency equates to trust
• Safe environment for experimenting

The PMI-ACP examination will test the concepts and approaches in the Agile Manifesto. You don’t need to memorize this document, but you should be very familiar with the philosophies of what the manifesto recommends.

The Agile Manifesto is a proclamation of four key values and 12 guiding principles for managing software development projects. It’s a foundation for all that is Agile. In this lecture we’ll walk through the entire Agile Manifesto and see what you must know about this document to pass the PMI-ACP examination.

Can you really create an Agile mindset? What if you come from a traditional predictive project management environment? Yes, but there may be some challenges. The approach to take is to first be open to the possibilities that there’s more than one way to manage a project.

Second, knowledge work projects, like software development, are more conducive to agile project management than more end-driven projects like construction.

In this lecture we’ll discuss the challenges you may have when first embracing agile project management – and what you’ll need to do for this exam objective. Let’s go!

On the PMI-ACP examination you’ll have lots of questions on the Agile approaches to project management. Fortunately, the biggest methodology is also based on the Agile Manifesto, to some extent, and its components are not difficult to learn.

In this lecture I’ll discuss Scrum in agile project management. Specifically, we’ll look at:

• Scrum is easy to understand, but can be difficult to master
• Scrum is a rugby term
• Scrum uses a methodology called the scrum framework
• The scrum framework is a set of practices, roles and responsibilities, events, artifacts, and rules

Another flavor of agile project management is eXtreme Programming, also known as XP. XP has some similarities to Scrum, but there are a few different terms and approaches to how XP works. In this lecture we discuss how XP works and what you’ll need to know for the PMI-ACP examination.

We will discuss several topics, including:

• XP core values
• XP project team roles
• XP practices
• Refactoring code in an XP environment

For your PMI-ACP examination you’ll also need to know about Lean and how its characteristics have been incorporated into knowledge work projects like software development. You will have a few questions on lean, but primarily on its core principles.

In this lecture we will discuss:

• Lean core concepts
• Seven wastes of lean
• The principles of Kanban
• Little’s Law

There are a few other “flavors” of agile project management that you’ll need to be familiar with for your PMI-ACP examination. Don’t worry – these are easy and you want have tons of questions on these lesser-known agile project management practices.

In this lecture I’ll discuss:

• Feature-driven development
• Dynamic Systems Development Method
• Crystal

That’s right – just three little topics that you may see on your exam. Not tough at all – you can do this!

So what does agile project management look like when it’s actually being implemented? In this lecture we’ll examine just that: the mechanics managing a project with agile. Specifically we’ll address several things you’ll need to know for your PMI-ACP examination:

• Product vision
• Creating the product roadmap
• Release planning
• Iteration planning
• Daily scrums
• Sprint reviews
• Sprint retrospectives

There are lots of terms in this lecture, so pay close attention. You may want to watch this lecture more than once (hint!)

One of the biggest themes on the PMI-ACP examination is that you, the project manager, take a servant leadership role. This can be a big adjustment if you’ve worked in environments where you’ve taken more of a command-and-control approach. In agile, the focus is on the team while the agile project manager supports the team.

In this lecture I’ll discuss how:

• The recognition is on the team members not the project manager or coach or ScrumMaster
• The team gets the work done
• The team adds value
• Servant leaders provide what team members need 

Great job finishing up this section on the Agile Principles and Mindset. In this lecture we’ll take a quick look back at what you’ve learned in this section and I’ll highlight some of the most important topics.

This review lecture is always a good thing to review as you move through the course so you don’t lose touch with these topics. 

Ready for a quiz? The quiz for this chapter is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This is an easy quiz! It’s meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

Here's the quiz online:

Agile Mindset Quiz

1. What attribute of agile equates to trust with the project team and other stakeholders?

A. Inspection.

B. Adaption.

C. Transparency.

D. Honesty.

2. What type of processes are best described as incremental, interactive, and adaptive?

A. Empirical.

B. Defined.

C. Project management.

D. Agile.

3. Beth has just started a new job with the ABX Company. She has years of experience working on agile projects as ScrumMaster. The ABX company currently doesn’t use agile approaches, but they may like to eventually. In this scenario, Beth is likely to feel which one of the following?

A. Excited.

B. Sad.

C. Scared.

D. Frustrated.

4. Which one of the following statements best describes being agile?

A. Forcing agile practice.

B. Choosing correct practices.

C. Command and control.

D. Understanding agile.

5. As a PMI-ACP candidate you must be familiar with the Agile Manifesto. What does the Agile Manifesto value over processes and tools?

A. Individuals and interactions.

B. Working software.

C. Customer collaboration.

D. Responding to change.

6. What’s the best way to satisfy customers in an Agile project?

A. Communication on a regular basis throughout the project.

B. Involving the customers as part of the project team.

C. Early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

D. Deliver on time and on budget.

7. There are five scrum ceremonies. Which of the following is not a scrum ceremony?

A. Project backlog refinement.

B. Sprint planning meetings.

C. Daily scrum.

D. Sprint reviews.

8. Which core value of XP is demonstrated through pair programming?

A. Feedback.

B. Courage.

C. Simplicity.

D. Respect.

9. Who creates the product vision in an agile project?

A. ScrumMaster.

B. Product owner.

C. Development team.

D. Customer.

10. Servant leadership is a big part of Agile practices. In order to be an effective servant leader you must do all of the following except for which one?

A. Carry food and water.

B. Remove impediments.

C. Provide what team members need.

D. Clean up the project war room.

Answer Key

1. What attribute of agile equates to trust with the project team and other stakeholders?

A. Inspection.

B. Adaption.

C. Transparency.

D. Honesty.

C. Transparency equates to trust is an agile principle core to the agile mindset. Choices A, B, and are incorrect choices for this question.

2. What type of processes are best described as incremental, interactive, and adaptive?

A. Empirical.

B. Defined.

C. Project management.

D. Agile.

A. Empirical processes are interactive, incremental, change often, adapt, and pass through the reviews; they are change-driven. Choices B, C, and D are incorrect choices for this question.

3. Beth has just started a new job with the ABX Company. She has years of experience working on agile projects as ScrumMaster. The ABX company currently doesn’t use agile approaches, but they may like to eventually. In this scenario, Beth is likely to feel which one of the following?

A. Excited.

B. Sad.

C. Scared.

D. Frustrated.

D. An individual with an agile mindset will feel frustrated if the remainder of the organization doesn’t embrace agile. A, B, and C are incorrect choices for this question.

4. Which one of the following statements best describes being agile?

A. Forcing agile practice.

B. Choosing correct practices.

C. Command and control.

D. Understanding agile.

B. Choosing correct practices is an example of being agile. A, C, and D are incorrect choices for this question. Note that you can understand agile without being agile.

5. As a PMI-ACP candidate you must be familiar with the Agile Manifesto. What does the Agile Manifesto value over processes and tools?

A. Individuals and interactions.

B. Working software.

C. Customer collaboration.

D. Responding to change.

A. The Agile Manifesto values individuals and interactions over processes and tools. For your PMI-ACP exam be quite familiar with the Agile Manifesto. Choices B, C, and D, are incorrect choices for this question.

6. What’s the best way to satisfy customers in an Agile project?

A. Communication on a regular basis throughout the project.

B. Involving the customers as part of the project team.

C. Early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

D. Deliver on time and on budget.

C. This is based on the first principle behind the Agile Manifesto: Our highest priority is to satisfy the customers through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. A, B, and D are incorrect choices for this question.

7. There are five scrum ceremonies. Which one of the following is not a scrum ceremony?

A. Project backlog refinement.

B. Sprint planning meetings.

C. Daily scrum.

D. Sprint reviews.

A. There is no project backlog refinement; rather there is product backlog refinement. The five scrum ceremonies are: Product backlog refinement, Sprint planning meetings, Daily scrum, Sprint reviews, Sprint retrospective.

8. Which core value of XP is demonstrated through pair programming?

A. Feedback.

B. Courage.

C. Simplicity.

D. Respect.

B. Of all the choices, courage is the best answer. Team members can see one another’s code as it is being written and that takes courage. Choices A, C, and D are incorrect choices for this question.

9. Who creates the product vision in an agile project?

A. ScrumMaster.

B. Product owner.

C. Development team.

D. Customer.

B. The best answer is that the product owner creates the product vision. A, C, and D are incorrect choices for this question.

10. Servant leadership is a big part of Agile practices. In order to be an effective servant leader you must do all of the following except for which one?

A. Carry food and water.

B. Remove impediments.

C. Provide what team members need.

D. Clean up the project war room.

D. Of all the choices, cleaning up after the project team isn’t the best option for a servant leader’s time and contribution. Choices A, B, and C are incorrect choices for this question.

Updated May 27, 2016

This is fun little game to test what you've learned in this section. Click the link to launch this interactive learning game.

Value-driven delivery is the largest of the PMI-ACP Exam objectives:

• 20 percent of the exam
• Roughly 24 exam questions

Know this topic for exam and agile success. The project manager’s goal is to increase value and reduce risk as early as possible 

Value-driven delivery is a theme of the agile project management approach. In this overview video I’ll introduce this topic and help you onto the value freeway. If you want to embrace an overall strategy for passing the PMI-ACP examination, value-driven delivery is key.

This is a big, big component of the exam, so you’ll want to pay close attention to these topics. Let’s hop in and get going on redeeming and creating value for your stakeholders in this section.

Assessing value is part of the agile project management approach. In this lecture we’ll discuss what value – and anti-value – is to the project manager. We’ll look at some formulas for understanding value from both the agile project manager’s perspective and the stakeholders’ perspective.

In this lecture we’ll also review the earned value management formulas. Don’t worry – you’ll likely not have many of these formulas on the PMI-ACP examination.

Prioritizing Value is paramount for agile projects. Think about a construction project, until the project is completely done you don’t realize any value. In knowledge-work projects, such as software development, you can have intermittent releases that provide some value to the customers while continuing to work on less-valuable components.

In this lecture we’ll explore the concept of value-driven delivery and why it’s so important for agile project management and the PMI-ACP examination.

Incremental delivery is all about delivery value as early as possible. As we’ve already discussed, you’ll prioritize the requirements with the product owner, and then work to deliver those high priority items first.

In this lecture we’ll continue that conversation on these topics:

• The team regularly deploys working increments
• Usually to a test environment for evaluation
• This is an opportunity for an early return on investment 

Contracting can be difficult in agile project management. You’ll deal with sellers who want to balance time, cost, and the scope the contracted work. But you also have to deal with uncertainties of change and a developing project scope in agile project management.

In this lecture we’ll discuss the challenges of contracts in agile project management and how you, the agile project manager can overcome these challenges.

You did it! Great job finishing up this section on delivery value in agile projects. In this lecture we’ll take a quick look back at what you’ve learned in this section and I’ll highlight some of the most important topics.

This review lecture is always a good thing to review as you move through the course so you don’t lose touch with these topics. 

Ready for a quiz? The quiz for this chapter is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This is an easy quiz! It’s meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

This is fun little game to test what you've learned in this section. Click the link to launch this interactive learning game.

Stakeholder engagement happens throughout the project. 

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. 

Stakeholder management on the PMI-ACP examination accounts for 17 percent of the exam. That’s roughly 20 exam questions! Know stakeholder management, an easier topic for experienced project managers, and you’ll be on your way to exam success.

In this lecture I’ll discuss:

• Working with the project stakeholders
• Establishing a shared vision
• Creating collaboration
• Communicating with project stakeholders
• Using interpersonal skills 

This lecture is based on the PMBOK Guide and its traditional approach to stakeholder identification.

Stakeholder identification should happen as early as possible in the project. If you wait too long to properly identify the stakeholders, you may end up missing decisions and requirements that will only cause the project to stall, you could possibly create bad relationships with the stakeholders, and perhaps cause turmoil within the project. Stakeholder identification is a project initiating activity and requires the project manager, the project team, and other stakeholders to help identify who should be involved in the project. As you identify stakeholders, you’ll classify them according to their power, influence, interests, and other characteristics so as to help you better manage the project and control stakeholder engagement. Stakeholder identification should happen as early as possible in the project. This lecture will help you determine how to best to:

• Performing stakeholder analysis
• Relying on expert judgment
• Creating the stakeholder register

This lecture is based on the PMBOK Guide and its approach to managing stakeholder engagement.

As a project manager, you’ll constantly work to engage the project stakeholders. This means communication, fostering relationships, facilitating meetings, negotiating, settling disputes, and managing all of the questions, demands, and inputs from the project stakeholders. Managing stakeholder engagement is a constant, ongoing activity—it’s what’s expected of you as the project manager. You’ll have to be available to the project stakeholders, but it also means you must go seek out stakeholders when conditions and situations call for you to get stakeholders more (or less) involved in the project.

You want to keep stakeholders involved and excited about the project. That's what this lecture is all about:

• Communicating with project stakeholders
• Relying on interpersonal skills
• Utilizing management skills for engagement
• Updating the project documents

As an agile project manager you need to have a shared vision of the project with your stakeholders. This means that you and your customers, project team, product owner, and even vendors all understand the goals and priorities of the project.

In this lecture I’ll discuss creating and maintaining the shared project vision. We’ll also look at:

• Defining what done means in agile project management
• Working with agile modeling
• Use case diagrams
• Screen diagrams
• Wireframes
• User personas

Now that the project’s communications management plan has been created, it’s time to execute it. Managing project communications is the process of ensuring that the proper stakeholders get the appropriate information when and how they need it. Essentially, it’s the implementation of the communications management plan. This plan details how the information is to be created and dispersed, and also how the dispersed information is archived. Managing project communications ensures that the right people, get the right message, at the right time, in the right modality.

• Examining communication skills
• Creating an Information Gathering and Retrieval System
• Dispersing project information
• Documenting the project’s Lessons Learned
• Updating the organizational process assets

Collaboration is another key topic in agile project management. Right from the Agile Manifesto we saw the idea of collaboration: Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

In this lecture I’ll discuss the benefits of collaboration:

• Generates wiser decisions
• Promotes problem solving
• Promotes action
• Build social capital
• Ownership of collective problems 

A big part of stakeholder management is your interpersonal skills in agile project management. This means you have to have emotional intelligence and listening skills. This ties back to our conversation about communications management and the importance of communicating with, not to, the project stakeholders.

In this lecture we’ll discuss:

• Four quadrants of emotional intelligence
• Active listening
• Internal listening
• Focused listening
• Global listening

We’ll also discuss conflict resolution, decision-making, and shared collaboration.

You’re making great progress in this course!

You’ve finished section on stakeholder management in agile projects. In this lecture we’ll take a quick look back at what you’ve learned in this section and I’ll highlight some of the most important topics.

This review lecture is always a good thing to review as you move through the course so you don’t lose touch with these topics. 

Ready for a quiz? The quiz for this chapter is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This is an easy quiz! It’s meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

This is fun little game to test what you've learned in this section. Click the link to launch this interactive learning game.

This section focuses on the role of the project team. 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. 

This PMI-ACP exam domain will test you on:

• 9 tasks
• 3 subdomains
• 16 percent of exam; 19 questions

As the agile project manager you need a servant leader approach to the project team. This doesn’t mean, however, that the team runs over you in the project. This section deals with promoting team performance and your role as the servant leader.

For your exam, you’ll need to know about team performance and what steps you can take to promote team performance. Let’s dig into this section on team performance in agile project management.

Management is about getting things done. Leadership is about aligning, motivating, directing, and inspiring people. Adaptive leadership describes the activities that you'll do leading the project team.

In this lecture, I'll discuss the balance between management and leadership that you'll need to know for your PMI-ACP exam.

As an agile project manager you're responsible for building high-performance teams. While no one can make a group of individuals a team, per se, you can help facilitate the process. 

This section of the PMI-ACP exam is worth 16 percent of your exam score. You'll be presented with roughly 19 questions, so grasp the information in this section on high-performing teams.

On the PMI-ACP examination you’ll be faced with 19 exam questions about agile team management. In this lecture we’ll discuss one of the most important concepts of this exam domain: building agile teams.

In this lecture we’re going to take a deep look at:

• Create a shared vision for the project team
• Set realistic goals
• Limit team size to 12 or fewer people
• Build a sense of team identity
• Provide strong leadership 

In this final lecture of the PMI-ACP examination domain we’ll discuss tracking team performance. This is all about ensuring the project team is delivering on their promises and commitments to the project stakeholders.

In this lecture we’ll discuss burndown and burnup charts, team velocity, and calculating completion time. This is a quick and easy lecture – let’s knock it out right now!

Great job finishing up this section on managing agile project teams. In this lecture we’ll take a quick look back at what you’ve learned in this section and I’ll highlight some of the most important topics.

This review lecture is always a good thing to review as you move through the course so you don’t lose touch with these topics.

Ready for a quiz? The quiz for this chapter is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This is an easy quiz! It’s meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

This is fun little game to test what you've learned in this section. Click the link to launch this interactive learning game.

Agile, by its very nature, is adaptive. This section will cover your ability to produce and maintain an evolving plan, from initiation to closure, based on goals, values, risks, constraints, stakeholder feedback, and review findings.

The PMI-ACP exam domain includes:

• 10 tasks
• 3 subdomains
• 12 percent of exam; 14 questions  

Welcome to the adaptive planning PMI-ACP examination domain. This lecture is a brief overview of what adaptive planning and our goals for this section of the course. In this section we’ll cover three important adaptive planning subdomains:

• Levels of planning
• Adaptation
• Estimation
• Velocity/throughput/cycle time

Let’s get started on this section by completing this lecture overview right now.

Adaptive planning is different than predictive-type projects. In predictive projects the entire plan and concept is known before the project work begins. In agile projects, we expect changes to happen, so the entire plan isn’t known when the work begins.

There are five takeaways in this lecture:

• Agile projects are value-driven
• Minimize non-value-added work
• Plan to replan
• Early plans are necessary, but they’re likely flawed
• Uncertainty requires replanning

Adaptive planning is a smaller PMI-ACP examination domain; it is worth 12 percent of the exam. This exam domain will challenge you with 14 exam questions – that’s 14 questions in your favor if you grasp this information!

There are some key tasks for adaptive planning you should be familiar with for the PMI-ACP examination:

• Progressive elaboration and rolling wave planning
• Transparent planning and key stakeholders
• Managing expectations by refining plans
• Adjusting planning cadence based on project factors and results
• Inspect and adapt the plans to changing events
• Size items first independently of team velocity
• Adjust capacity for maintenance and operations demands to update estimates
• Start planning with high-level scope schedule and cost range estimates
• Refine ranges as the project progresses
• Use actuals to refine the estimate to complete 

Estimating and sizing an agile project can be tricky, but there are some approaches you can take in your project management practice. In this lecture we’ll discuss these approaches for sizing and estimating agile projects.

There are three consistent themes in estimating and sizing an agile project:

• Not as precise as predictive planning
• More uncertainty and agile projects
• Include a range of variance 

You and the project team will work with the product owner and other stakeholders to define the release and iterations of the project deliverables. In this lecture we’ll discuss how best to plan iterations and releases in an agile project.

So much of this conversation is based on visioning, a part of high-level planning:

• Prior to planning the first release
• Mapping out the overall effort of the project
• Product owner and sponsor
• Key team members
• Other major stakeholders

That’s the end of this section on adaptive planning. While this section was short (and hopefully easy) don’t underestimate it for the PMI-ACP examination. If you really know this short and easy section you’ll have 14 questions in your favor.

In this wrap-up video we’ll review these three concepts:

• Adaptive planning
• Project sizing and estimating
• Planning for releases and iterations

Ready for a quiz? The quiz for this chapter is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This is an easy quiz! It’s meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

This is fun little game to test what you've learned in this section. Click the link to launch this interactive learning game.

Problems will happen in a project - they always do. And while Agile projects are led by the team and the concept of the servant leader, you'll still have to engage and tackle problems. In this section we'll discuss this PMI-ACP Exam domain in detail. This section includes coverage of the five tasks.

On your PMI-ACP exam, this covers 10 percent of exam, roughly12 questions.

You will need to 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. 

This lecture is an overview of the problems, issues, and detection in agile project management. In this lecture I’ll introduce the five tasks you need to know for the PMI-ACP examination. As an agile project manager you will work with your project team and stakeholder to seek out problems and issues.

Part of this domain is creating a safe space where people feel that they can experiment without ramifications if they fail. This is an important part of the PMI-ACP exam concept – fail fast, but learn from the failure.

Let’s hop in and explore these topics right now!

There’s a logical approach to detecting problems in agile projects: ask the project team. This is actually a core piece of the daily standup meeting: Are there any impediments blocking your way? You’ll ask that question everyday for each project team member on the agile project.

In this lecture we’ll examine that topic, but we’ll also look at:

• Lead time and cycle time
• Managing work in progress (WIP)
• Defect cycle time
• Causes of variances
• Trend analysis

Managing Threats and Issues is a task within this PMI-ACP examination domain. In PMP land, risks can be positive or negative. In agile projects, however, we only look at risk as being negative. It’s a threat to the project success.

In this lecture we’re going to focus on three primary concepts:

• Risk is considered anti value
• Goal is to attack high-risk items early in the project
• Items with the greatest value in greatest risk move to the top of the backlog

Know these themes for your PMI-ACP examination.

When there’s a problem the project team will look to you, the servant leader, to help resolve the problem. It’s part of the mantra of the servant leader, to remove impediments from blocking the project team. Problem solving is also part of continuous improvement.

In this lecture you’ll want to look for these four concepts:

• Problem solving games to fix the problem before it happens
• Consider daily standup
• Iteration reviews and retrospectives
• Sprint planning sessions

Great job finishing up this section on finding and resolving problems. Problems and issues are going to happen in every project; some problems you can live with and they’ll work out, other problems you have to attack and find a solution. In this lecture we’ll take a quick look back at what you’ve learned in this section and I’ll highlight some of the most important topics.

This review lecture is always a good thing to review as you move through the course so you don’t lose touch with these topics.

Ready for a quiz? The quiz for this chapter is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This is an easy quiz! It’s meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

This is fun little game to test what you've learned in this section. Click the link to launch this interactive learning game.

One your goals, which we'll cover in this section, is to be continuously improve your project management approaches. In this section we'll discuss:

• Tailor and adapt the project process by periodically reviewing and integrating team practices, organizational culture, and delivery goals in order to ensure team effectiveness within established organizational guidelines and norms.
• Improve team processes by conducting frequent retrospectives and improvement experiments in order to continually enhance the effectiveness of the team, project, and organization.
• Seek feedback on the product by incremental delivery and frequent demonstrations in order to improve the value of the product.

This exam objective is worth 9 percent of the exam score - roughly 11 questions.

Continuous improvement is a goal of any project manager in an agile environment. Continuous improvement means that you and the project team look for opportunities to improve the processes, the product, and the people within the project.

In this section we’re going to discuss the process of agile project management that you should look for improvements within. We’ll also look at how the product owner and the project team work together to find improvement opportunities in the product the project is creating. We’ll also look at how the project team and the agile project manager can seek out opportunities to improve the people involved in the project.

Finally, in this section we’ll examine the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. You may see a few ethical questions on the PMI-ACP examination. You will also have to agree to abide by these ethical standards when signing up for the PMI-ACP examination.

Continuous Process Improvement is an approach to tweak and tailor the processes within your agile project management to help the project, the product owner, the project team, and the customers of the project be better served.

In this lecture I’ll discuss tailoring agile processes. Be on the lookout in the lecture and in your PMI-ACP examination for these themes on process improvement:

• Adapting agile for your environment
• There is some risk with tailoring
• Better to create processes for each project as needed
• Consider risk and reward 

Continuous Product Improvement is a key element of agile project management. Throughout the project the project manager, the project team, and the product owner will communicate about the product, the project priorities, and how to be realize value.

The PDCA cycle of Plan-Do-Check-Act is seen over and over in agile project management and is a topic we’ll discuss in this lecture. We’ll also take a look at product feedback and iteration reviews and planning. Let’s hop into this topic and talk more about product improvement for your PMI-ACP examination.

In this lecture we’ll discuss the improvement of the people on your project team. Throughout the agile project you will have opportunities to lead and coach the project. This will give you insight to what motivates the project team, what demotivates the team, and you’ll see characteristics of the project team members that may be holding themselves and the project back.

Key thoughts for this exam objective are:

• What is going well?
• What areas could use improvement?
• What should we be doing differently?

In this lecture we’ll also discuss some methods you can use to gauge how the team feels about issues, productivity, and the overall project performance.

The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility is about ethics, truth, and honesty. This document is also part of your PMI Exam application process. You are required to read this document and agree to its terms as part of your testing application.

During the PMI-ACP exam, you'll be tested on these concepts:

• Complying with rules and policies
• Being an honest project manager
• Advancing the profession
• Enforcing truth and honesty
• Eliminating inappropriate actions

This section discussed four key things for your role as an agile project manager and for the PMI-ACP examination:

• Continuous Improvement for Processes
• Continuous Improvement for the Product
• Continuous Improvement for People
• PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Continuous improvement is a goal of any project manager in an agile environment. Continuous improvement means that you and the project team look for opportunities to improve the processes, the product, and the people within the project.

Ready for a quiz? The quiz for this chapter is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This is an easy quiz! It’s meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

This is fun little game to test what you've learned in this section. Click the link to launch this interactive learning game.

Welcome to this final section in the PMI-ACP Exam Prep Course. You’ve covered lots of ground and hopefully learned lots of new topics. In this final section we’ll discuss just a few important things:

• How to create a study strategy
• Why you should apply now for the PMI-ACP examination
• How to study to pass the PMI-ACP examination
• Your certificate of course completion

Let’s wrap this course up with this quick and easy section on the PMI-ACP examination.

Now that you’ve completed the PMI-ACP Exam Prep course you’re probably ready to complete the PMI-ACP examination application. In this video I’ll walk through the process of how to complete the application with your experience and education qualifications.

In this lecture I’ll also discuss your certificate of completion. You’ll only need this certificate if your application is selected for a random audit. If you’re a PMP or another PMI certification holder you can claim this course for 21 PDUs. In this lecture I’ll also provide that information and how you can claim your PDUs.

Ready for a final exam?

The final exam for this course is in the Lecture Resources. It’s a PDF document that you can download and complete. This exam is meant to refresh you on what you’ve just learned and to underscore the important topics from the lecture.

Will these questions be just like the actual PMI-ACP examination? No. I’ve written these to be similar, but there’s no telling what PMI may do on the actual exam.

This is the course glossary.

This glossary is part of your assignment and will only help you better recognize terms for the PMI-ACP exam. If you can recognize the terms and understand their meaning, you’ll have a better probability of answering questions correctly and passing the exam.

Let’s wrap this thing up!

Congratulations on completing the entire PMI-ACP Exam Prep course. I know that learning can be hard work, but you’ve made it through all of the material, you’ve learned much, and you are well on your way to earning the PMI-ACP certification.

In this final lecture we’re going to take a look back at all of the exam objectives for the PMI-ACP examination. I’ll discuss:

• Domain I. Agile Principles and Mindset -16 percent
• Domain II. Value-driven Delivery - 20 percent
• Domain III. Stakeholder Engagement - 17 percent
• Domain IV. Team Performance - 16 percent
• Domain V. Adaptive Planning - 12 percent
• Domain VI. Problem Detection and Resolution - 10 percent
• Domain VII. Continuous Improvement - 9 percent

The PMI-REP Certificate of Completion is a resource for this lecture. Be sure to download the certificate.

This quiz will challenge your recollection of the PMI-ACP terms. It's a "fill-in-the-blank" style quiz based directly on the glossary of agile terms included in this course. 

The quiz is shared here both as an article and a downloadable PDF document.