PMI-ACP® Study Notes & Exam Cheat Sheet
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PMI-ACP® Study Notes & Exam Cheat Sheet By Aleem Khan, PMI-ACP, PMP, CSM, CSP
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1. Agile Framework
What is Agile Agile Manifesto -Values and Principles Agile Practices / Techniques
Agile methodologies Complex Adaptive Systems
1.1 What is Agile? Agile is a Philosophy that uses organizational models based on people, collaboration and shared values. Agile uses rolling wave planning; iterative and incremental delivery; rapid and flexible response to change; and open communication between teams, stakeholders, and customers. 1.2 Agile Manifesto Agile Manifesto is a public declaration of the philosophy and principles of agile software development, created in February 2001 in Snowbird, Utah, USA. 1.3 Agile Values
INDIVIDUALS AND INTERACTIONS OVER PROCESSES AND TOOLS WORKING SOFTWARE OVER COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTATION CUSTOMER COLLABORATION OVER CONTRACT NEGOTIATION RESPONDING TO CHANGE OVER FOLLOWING A PLAN
1.4 Agile Principles 1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. 2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. 3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale. 4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. 5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. 6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is faceto-face conversation. 7. Working software is the primary measure of progress. 8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. 9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. 10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential. 11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. 12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
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1.5 Agile Methodologies Agile is an umbrella term that describes several Agile methodologies. Examples include: Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Crystal, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM Atern), Feature Driven Development (FDD). Lean practices have also emerged as a valuable Agile methodology.
The various Agile methodologies share much of the same philosophy, as well as many of the same characteristics and practices. But from an implementation standpoint, each has its own recipe of practices, terminology, and tactics. 1.6 Agile Practices / Techniques Activities that are the application of agile principles, some of them are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
Time-boxing Retrospective Spike Solution Planning Poker Backlog Prioritization Progress Elaboration Minimal Marketable Features Personas Quality Assurance Refactoring Relative Sizing Product Vision Pair Programming Story Mapping User Stories
16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.
Product Backlog Visualize Workflow Wireframe Daily Stand-up Limit Work in Progress (WIP) Project Chartering Osmotic Communication Test Driven Development (TDD) Velocity Unit Testing Test First Development Technical Debt Avoid Waste Short Iterations Sprint Goals
31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.
Servant Leader Self -organization Team Agreements Release Goals Release Plan Task board Swarming Regression Test Minimum Viable Product Last Responsible Moment (LRM) 41. Team contracts/Rules of engagement 42. + Many more.
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2. Agile Teams
Agile Teams Team Brainstorming Techniques Five Dysfunctions of a Team Development Mastery Models Traditional vs. Agile Generalized Specialist
Caves and Common Osmotic Communication Information Radiator Swarming Six Thinking Hats Collaboration Games
The core of Agile is high performance teams. Agile teams are Cross-functional and have all competencies needed to accomplish the work without depending on others not part of the team.
Team organized around the work Empowered Self-organize / Self-managed Team pull s the task from queue /backlog Cross functional Intensely collaborative
An empowered team is one that is both self-organization and self-directing. In self-organizing, teams focus on how the work will be done; in self-directing, they focus on how team members will work together. Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team. Agile emphasizes the notion of generalizing specialist, as opposed to role specialist. In other words, anyone who is qualified for a role can undertake it. This practice helps optimize the use of resources, since people who can perform multiple jobs are able to switch from one role to another as the demand arises. The practice allows for more efficient sharing of information and helps eliminate circumstances where people in certain roles are idle or overstretched at any point in the project. 2.1 Team Brainstorming Techniques Agile teams use brainstorming to identify options, solve issues, and improve their processes. The three common brainstorming techniques are free for all, round robin, and quiet writing.
Free for all is an informal method in which participants spontaneously shout out their ideas and build on each other’s suggestions. In round robin, everyone takes a turn suggesting an idea, or building on another idea that has been raised. In quiet writing, team members are given quiet time to generate a list of ideas on their own before sharing them.
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2.2 Five Dysfunctions of a Team 1. 2. 3. 4.
Absence of Trust: The fear of being vulnerable with team members prevents the building of trust within the team. Fear of Conflict: The desire to preserve artificial harmony stifles the occurrence of productive ideological conflict. Lack of Commitment: The lack of clarity or buy-in prevents team members from making decisions they will stick to. Avoidance of Accountability: The need to avoid interpersonal discomfort prevents team members from holding one another accountable. 5. Inattention to Results: The pursuit of individual goals and personal status erodes the focus on collective success.
2.3 Five levels of conflict and resolution Level 5: World War (destroy the other, little or no language is changed) Level 4: Crusade (protecting one’s own group becomes the focus, language is ideological) Level 3: Contest (winning trumps resolving, language includes personal attacks) Level 2: Disagreement (personal protection, language is guarded and open to interpretation) Level 1: Problem to solve (information sharing and collaboration, language is open and fact based)
2.4 Developmental Mastery Model - Tuckman's Stages of Group Development According to Bruce Tuckman model, the typical stages team follow in their formation is: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.
Bruce Tuckman’s team development model provides a helpful explanation of how team develops and suggests the leadership appropriate at each stage. The model includes four basic stages that Tuckman refers to as forming, storming, norming, and performing.
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2.5 Class of Service
Classes of service are a powerful way to make your policies explicit around the service level for certain type of work. Assigning a class of service to a work item can influence the work item: visualization, prioritization, impact on WIP, and workflow. Classes of service help the team to self-organize around (Work selection and scheduling, Work distribution and Making sure the work capacity is distributed as decided) Common classes include
Urgent (or Expedite) - Prioritized over other work
Fixed Delivery Date - Needs to be completed on or before a certain date
Regular - Normal items, increasingly urgent, pulled FIFO-style
Defects - Rework produced by bad quality (you want as few of these as possible)
Intangible - No tangible business value now, but later: paying off technical debt
2.6 Scrum vs. Kanban SCRUM
KANBAN
Fixed time-boxes
No time-boxes
Tasks are Estimated
No Tasks Estimates (optional)
Track velocity
Track flow (Queues, WIP, Cycle time)
Scrum Master own the process
Team own the process
Cross-functional teams prescribed
Cross-functional teams optional. Specialist teams allowed
Cannot add items to ongoing Sprint
Can add new items whenever capacity is available
Prescribes roles (PO, SM, Team)
Doesn’t prescribe any roles
A Scrum board is reset between each sprint
A Kanban board is persistent Page 8
3. Lean Software Development
What is Lean Lean Software Development Principles Just in Time (JIT)
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Theory of Constraints (TOC) Kaizen
3.1 What is Lean “A production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination.” Source: Wikipedia
Lean focuses on the elimination of waste in a process
3.2 Lean Software Development Principles Lean development is a translation of well-know and accepted lean manufacturing practices to the software development domain. Mary and Tom Poppendieck identify seven fundamental Lean principles: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Eliminate Waste Optimize as whole Delivery fast Amplify learning Build Quality In Empower Team Defer decision
Lean focuses on the elimination of waste in a process. It is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Page 9
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4. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59.
Manifesto for Agile Software Development Principles behind the Agile Manifesto from www.agilemanifesto.org PMI-ACP® Practitioner FAQs http://www.pmi.org/~/media/Files/PDF/Certification/PMI-ACP_Practitioner_FAQ_March2012.ashx An introduction to the Cynefin Framework by Dave Snowden http://cognitive-edge.com/ Cynefin Framework. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_Framework Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process, by: Kenneth S. Rubin Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional. Integrating Agile Development in the Real World, by Peter Schuh, Published December 2nd 2004 by Cengage Learning. Adaptive Engineering of Large Software Projects with Distributed/Outsourced Teams by Jeff Sutherland, Anton Viktorov & Jack Blount, http://www.necsi.edu/events/iccs6/papers/ee6637fd0a1f958002d8f242162b.pdf Agile Principles and Values, by Jeff Sutherland, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997578(v=vs.100).aspx, accessed on May 02, 2013. Source: “The Agile Impact Report” http://media.rallydev.com/events/pdf/Agile-Impact-Report.pdf, accessed on July 11, 2013. “Hohe Mut Restaurant” Photo by Nicholas Durin, http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Obergurgl/photos/11805, accessed on May 05, 2013. "Manifesto for Agile Software Development", http://www.agilemanifesto.org/ access on April 20, 2013. "Principles behind the Agile Manifesto", accessed on April 20, 2013, http://www.agilemanifesto.org/principles.html. Adaptive Engineering of Large Software Projects with Distributed/Outsourced Teams by Jeff Sutherland, Anton Viktorov & Jack Blount. Source: Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products, Second Edition By: Jim Highsmith Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Agile Estimating and planning, by: Mike Cohn, publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: November 01, 2005 Moore, Geoffrey A. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. New York: HarperBusiness, 1991. “How To Make Your Project Not Suck by Using an Agile Project Charter” by Michael Lant, http://michaellant.com/2010/05/18/how-to-make-your-project-not-suck/ Story Maps, Jeff Patton, http://www.AgileProductDesign.com. "The Scrum Guide, the definitive guide to scrum: The rules of the game" by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland Extreme Programming Explained, Kent Beck (Addison Wesley 2000). The Art of Agile Development, James Shore and Shane Warden, 2008 O’Reilly Media, Inc. Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, Second Edition by Kent Beck, Addison-Wesley Professional. Extreme Programming Explained 1st Edition by Kent Beck, 1999 Jeffries, Ron. “Essential XP: Card, Conversation, and Confirmation.” XP Magazine (August 30, 2001). User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development, by Mike Cohn, Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional. INVEST in Good Stories, and SMART Tasks, Bill Wake http://xp123.com/articles/invest-in-good-stories-and-smart-tasks. "The Scrum Guide, the definitive guide to scrum: The rules of the game" by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland User Stories, Epics and Themes by Mike Cohn, accessed on July 10, 2013, http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/stories-epics-and-themes. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process, by: Kenneth S. Rubin Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional. Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility By: Alan Shallowly; Guy Beaver; James R. Trott, Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional, 2009 Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process, by: Kenneth S. Rubin Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional. Problem detection and resolution, PMI-ACP exam prep by Mike Griffiths Kanban vs Scrum, A practical Guide by Henrik Kniberg, accessed on December 09, 2014, http://www.slideshare.net/ RossC0/kanban-vs-scrum In 1981, Barry Boehm drew the first version of what Steve McConnell (1998) later called the “cone of uncertainty.” Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn, Prentice Hall, 2005. Source: http://www.gettingagile.com/2008/07/04/affinity-estimating-a-how-to/, accessed on June 22, 2013. Agile modeling, Scott Ambler, Source: http://www.agilemodeling.com. Photo Source: http://www.xconomy.com/national/2013/03/08/what-makes-an-app-awesome-a-case-study-with-mokriya-craigslist. Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams, by: Lisa Crispin; Janet Gregory Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Agile testing, Google tech talks, http://youtu.be/bqrOnIECCSg, accessed on May 3, 2013 Agile testing, nine principles and six concrete practices for Testing on Agile Teams, Elisabeth Hendrickson Test-driven development concepts, taxonomy, and future direction, Janzen, D. and Saiedian, H., 2005. Derby, E., & Diana, L. (2006). Agile retrospective: Making good team great. Dallas, Texas: The Pragmatic Bookself. The Power of Retrospectives, accessed on July 12, 2013 http://www.kruchten.org/agilevancouver/presentation_slides/Retrospective.pdf Ries, Eric (August 3, 2009). "Minimum Viable Product: a guide". 2. Wikipedia PM network magazine December, 2012 by Matt Alderton. Earned value and Agile reporting by Anthony Cabri, Mike Griffiths, Quadrus development Inc. What is risk management, PMBOK 5th Edition and Managing Successful projects with PRINCE2 "The Software Project Manager’s Bridge to Agility" by Michele Sliger, Stacia Broderick Osmotic communication, Alistair Cockburn, source: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Osmotic+communication Value stream mapping: Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility By: Alan Shalloway; Guy Beaver; James R. Trott Shu H Ri, Martin Fowler http://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html Evaluation of Agile triangle, Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products, Second Edition By: Jim Highsmith Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Agile modeling, Scott Ambler, Source: http://www.agilemodeling.com/ Wireframe photo Source: http://www.xconomy.com/national/2013/03/08/what-makes-an-app-awesome-a-case-study-with-mokriya-craigslist/ Adaptive leadership: 1. Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. USA: Harvard Business Review Press. Adaptive leadership: 2. Heifetz& Laurie (2003). The leader as teacher: creating the learning organization. Ivey Business Journal: Improving the practice of management, p. 1-9. Adaptive leadership: 3. Obolensky (2009). Complex adaptive leadership: embracing paradox and uncertainty. Gower Publication Company Yesterday’s weather, Martin Fowler, http://martinfowler.com/bliki/YesterdaysWeather.html Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play by Luke Hohmann Published by Addison-Wesley Professional, 2006
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