Ace the PMI-ACP® exam (eBook)

Sumanta is a passionate and ardent evangelist of Agile practices, who has played all roles ranging from development, technical leadership, Scrum Master, Coach and Mentor for teams of various sizes and in various geographies. He has about 16 years of professional experience in successful implementation of technology based solutions and complex projects in the domains of telecom, finance, securities, investment banking and commercial banking. During this tenure he has served global giants like Royal Bank of Scotland, Fidelity Investments, State Street Corporation, Lucent, Ericsson, AT&T, Epson and Wipro Technologies.The author holds a few Agile certifications namely Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) from PMI and Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM) from Scrum Alliance.During his spare time, the author also provides freelance and corporate trainings on Agile and Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.r>

Introduction.--Cover sheets-Preface-Word from the author-Preface and organization of the book-Table of contentsChapter 2:  Agile Principles and Mindset (20 pages)-History of Agile-Agile Manifesto and principles-Organizational and project context-Incremental and iterative-Waterfall vs AgileChapter 3:  Agile methodologies (25 pages)-Scrum – Roles, Ceremonies and Artefacts. -XP – pair programming and continuous delivery-Lean – elimination of waste-Kanban – pull driven system, WIP limits-DSDM-Crystal family of methodologies. Chapter 3:  Value-Driven Delivery (30 pages)-Deliver value in increments, frequent review based on stakeholder priorities – ROI, NPV, IRR-Value stream mapping, Cycle time and CFD-Agile Charter-Minimal Viable product (MVP) and Minimally marketable features (MMF)-Limiting increment size-Prioritization techniques like MOSCOW and Kano-Backlog grooming-Solicit customer and User feedback-Compliance and regulations.Chapter 4:  Stakeholder Engagement (20 pages)-Balancing ROI by building trust with stakeholders-Stakeholder management matrix and stakeholder classification-Promote culture of participation and collaboration-Gaining consensus on the acceptance criteria-Information radiatorsChapter 5:  Team Performance (30 pages)-Stages of team formation – Bruce Tuckman-Shu Ha Ri-Cross functional & generalizing specialists-Self organizational-Osmotic communication, information radiators-Team space, tacit knowledge, caves and commons. -Co-located vs virtual teams, -Active listening-High performing team with interpersonal and technical skills.-Coaching-Servant leadership style, negotiations, conflict management-Agile PMOChapter 6:  Adaptive Planning (40 pages)-PDCA cycle-Planning onion-User stories – characteristics (INVEST) and best practices-Definition of done (DoD)-Agile estimation units -  t-shirt sizing, ideal days and story points.-Agile estimation techniques like planning poker-Velocity-Release planning--Other metrics like EVM, escaped defects, variance analysis.-Innovation games Chapter 7:  Problem Detection and Resolution (30 pages)-Risk management techniques, spike tasks-Risk adjusted backlog-Risk burndown graph-Visibility and transparency of lists of threats.-Frequent validation and verification-Test driven development, shift-left testing-Retrospective techniques-Process improvement and refactoringChapter 8:  Continuous Improvement (Product, Process, People) (20 pages)-Continuous improvement of product quality and effectiveness-Process improvement – Kaizen, 5 Why’s, Fishbone-System thinking – complex adaptive, chaos-Process tailoring-Individual coaching vs team coaching-Situational leadership-Agile coaching – failure and success modes.-Agile contracting and project accounting principles-Agile tooling – new tools used. Chapter 9:  PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. (10 pages)-Principles -ScenariosChapter 10 : The PMI-ACP exam (10 pages)-Eligibility criteria-Exam outline / syllabus-Application and payment-Audit-Exam format-Tips and tricks-Continuing certification requirementsAppendix  (65 pages)-Glossary-Full length mock exam-Solution to Chapter quizzes-Solution to mock exam-References and bibliography-Index-