By Platinum Edge, LLC

Project progress should be visible and measurable in order to be useful. In addition to the three scrum artifacts (product backlog, sprint backlog and the increment), agile project teams often use three additional artifacts (product vision statement, product roadmap and release plan) to enhance their effectiveness. These artifacts provide both strategic and tactical direction to the team as well as radiate project progress to the organization.

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Many of you who come from a Traditional Project management Background are beginning to understand that Agile is not a passing fad, and can actually be a very important ingredient of successful project implementation. However, it may be difficult for you to understand how your Traditional Project Management skills and experience can fit in an Agile World. The truth of the matter is that although there is not a one-to-one relationship between Traditional Proejct Management roles and Agile Project Management roles, there are Agile Project Management roles available to individuals from traditional backgrounds who want to transition over to Agile. Which agile role you choose to pursue will depend on both your previous Traditional Project Management experience, as well as your career goals in the Agile World. Let’s review a few of these roles and how they fit into agile project management.

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Congratulations, you have started the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® application process and you are preparing to take the PMI-ACP® Exam. Wonderful career move! PMI-ACP® certification is highly sought after in both challenging and prosperous economic times. It is the recognition of “an individual’s expertise in using agile practices in their projects, while demonstrating their increased professional versatility through agile tools and techniques.” Project Management Institute (PMI)®. As part of the application process, each candidate is required to submit experience performing activities covered under both general project experience and agile specific project experience, and then pass a three-hour / 120 question PMI-ACP Exam.

By Platinum Edge, LLC

The scrum framework consists of five events. Each event provides the scrum team transparency into either the product or their processes to enable regular inspection and immediate adaptation. 

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By Platinum Edge, LLC

Although there is no formal project manager position on agile projects, under a Scrum model, project management responsibilities are fulfilled through the following roles.

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You have probably heard quite a bit of discussion about how Traditional Project Management differs so much from Agile Project Management. However, many Agile Project Management  concepts have been around for quite a while and several of them are found in Traditional Project Management, as well as in the A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). These include the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle, Progressive Elaboration, Rolling Wave Planning, Decomposition and Continuous Improvement. Although both Traditional Project Management and Agile Project Management are similar because they both share these five concepts in common, it is ‘how’ they are implemented that is different.

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At its core, agile project management is an empirical approach to projects, focused on incremental delivery of highest business value through:

•    Scope flexibility
•    Iterative planning, development and testing
•    Continuous improvement of product and process through customer feedback and team input

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Ninety-five percent of companies are adopting agile approaches for building products (according to the 10^th Annual State of Agile Report). Industries outside of software now make up the majority. Companies want to become agile because agile values and principles:

• Ensure customer satisfaction by frequently delivering working functionality.
• Fully empower cross-functional and self-organizing teams to build what their customers want.
• Rely on simple, low-fidelity communication (e.g. physical collaboration tools, face-to-face communication and collocation) to optimize team collaboration.
• Require simplicity and removal of wasteful activities.
• Use feedback loops to continuously inspect and adapt functionality and process.

The benefits of agile adoption are real, and some are immediate. But complete agile transformation typically takes at least 1-3 years. The top five reasons companies make such an investment include 30-40% faster time to market, 30-70% cost savings, greater flexibility for mid-stream changes, higher quality and greater transparency.

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Are you thinking about studying for and obtaining the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® certification?

Are you wondering what study tools and methods others have used to successfully pass the PMI-ACP® Exam?

Are you interested in reading about and learning from the exam experiences of those who have already passed the PMI-ACP Exam?

Then there is a forum you should check out on The PMI-ACP Lessons Learned Forum website. All of the posts are lessons learned and tips from those who have recently passed the PMI-ACP Exam, who have become Agile Certified Practitioners, and who probably started with many of the same questions and concerns that you have right now.

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Do you work in an environment where you use one or more Agile methodologies regularly? Do you have both general project experience as well as Agile project specific experience? If either of these scenarios apply to you and you are interested in earning your PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® certification, then you may be wondering how you can tell if you are eligible to take the PMI-ACP® Exam.

Have you been hearing coworkers talk about taking the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Exam?

Or have you been seeing the acronym PMI-ACP® more frequently? Has that left you wondering what exactly the PMI-ACP Exam is and if it is for you?

Here we will look into what PMI-ACP means and provide you with information outlining the exam requirements, the exam content, and what you need to do to maintain your PMI-ACP certificate once you pass the exam.

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Everyone has their own method for studying for the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Exam. You might carry the PMI-ACP® Examination Content Outline or some Project Management Institute (PMI)® recommended study material around with you. You might join your local PMI® Chapter to study with others who also have the goal of passing the PMI-ACP® Exam. No matter what study method or methods you choose, someone has been there before you.

While everyone may have a slightly different story to tell, there are some things that can make a big difference in your success with passing the Exam. Luckily, exam candidates are more than happy to share their personal stories and lessons learned with you. We have reviewed and analyzed a number of lessons learned from the PMI-ACP Exam that successful exam takers have posted on our website. Below is a summary of 7 lessons learned.