PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)

Introduction covers Course Objectives, an introduction to the Project Management Institution, and explains the ACP Exam including first steps for starting up for the exam, terms that you’ll need to know for the course, what’s needed to get the ACP, recommended application steps and what’s needed to keep the certification. This chapter also reviews expectations for the exam, what its like to take the exam (onsite or online).

Project Management Fundamentals discusses project management fundamentals, defines a project and describes the difference between factories and operations versus projects. This chapter defines project and program management and reviews more on the PMI ACP Exam.

Agile Fundamentals introduces agile, the agile manifesto, and agile principles including types of agile, Scrum, Scrumban, Kanban, scaled agile (SAFe), and implementing disciplined agile delivery.

Agile Principles and Mindset discusses strategies to advocate for agile principles within organizations, creating common understanding of agile values, establishing organizational effectiveness and efficiencies and using visualization and information radiators. This chapter also reviews pursuit of continuous improvement, experimenting with new techniques and process ideas, team collaboration, fostering self-organization and empowerment and the concept of servant leadership.

Domain II: Value-Driven Delivery focuses on incremental production, justin-time delivery, defining team processes, identifying and responding to risk in agile projects, and the importance of regular retrospectives. This chapter also discusses prioritizing units of work, quality techniques, and various environmental, operational, and infrastructure factors. Chapter 4 closes with looking at operational reviews and
checkpoints, the total value proposition, reprioritizing to maximize value, nonfunctional requirements, and strategies for overall improvements in the process, product, and/or service.

Domain III: Stakeholder Engagement discusses stakeholder interests, needs, and expectations, knowledge sharing (definition, key components, and best practices), stakeholder working agreements, and change management for the stakeholder. This chapter includes group decision-making and conflict resolution, highlevel vision and objectives as it pertains to stakeholders, aligning expectations for the
team, communicating with your stakeholder, and forecasting for your agile projects.

Team Performance introduces team coherence including team development, building high-performance cross-functional teams, team selforganization and strategies for team morale in the agile world. This chapter includes team co-location and communication, distractions, team vision, and wrapping up with
team performance measurements using burndown and iteration status charts.

Domain V: Adaptive Planning looks at rolling wave planning and progressive elaboration, publishing planning results, communicating deliverables (to teams and leadership) and adapting cadence. This chapter includes concepts of inspect and adapt, adjusting for variables, and adjusting projects for maintenance and
operational demands. Chapter 7 also reviews estimating (scope, schedule, and cost
Range), refining delivery, using data for calibration.

Problem Detection and Resolution focuses on fostering the right environment for your team. This chapter includes views around conflict resolution and the improvement process, risk resolution for risks in the project
process, and risk management to avoid and mitigate risks. Chapter 8 also explores the
most effective processes for communicating risks in projects.

Continuous Improvement looks at continuous improvement through periodic reviews of team effectiveness, frequent organization retrospectives, using demonstrations, and encouraging learning. This chapter introduces value stream analysis and creating/ maintaining systemic improvements.