Workshop Topics of PMI-ACP Exam

Introduction

PMI ACP exam expects from a candidate who is appearing for the exam that he must understand the following topics. It is an exhaustive check of the knowledge, skills, and attitude. This is the reason I love and value this certificate most over other methodology specific certification of the Agile world. This is best for the both coach level and the introduction level. At the introduction level, it helps a team in understanding what is agile in nutshell. At the coach level, it helps the coach to select the best-suited practices for any organization’s need.

11 Recommended Books by PMI-ACP course outline are

  1. Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great, Author: Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, Ken Schwaber, ISBN #0977616649
  2. Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition, Author: Alistair Cockburn, ISBN #0321482751
  3. The Software Project Manager’s Bridge to Agility, Author: Michele Sliger, Stacia Broderick, ISBN #0321502752
  4. Coaching Agile Teams, Author: Lyssa Adkins, ISBN #0321637704
  5. Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products – 2nd Edition, Author: Jim Highsmith, ISBN #0321658396
  6. Becoming Agile in an imperfect world, Author: Greg Smith, Ahmed Sidky, ISBN #1933988258
  7. Agile Estimating and Planning, Author: Mike Cohn, ISBN #0131479415
  8. The Art of Agile Development, Author: James Shore, ISBN #0596527675
  9. User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development, Author: Mike Cohn, ISBN #0321205685
  10. Agile Project Management with Scrum, Author: Ken Schwaber, ISBN #073561993X
  11. Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility, Author: Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, James R.Trott, ISBN #0321532899

7 Domain and their subdomain

7 Domain and their subdomain along with their weightage in the exam are as below.

# Domain # Sub Domain # Tasks Weightage %
1 Agile Principles & Mindset   9 16%
2 Value-Driven Delivery (15 tasks) 4 14 20%
3 Stakeholder Engagement (7 tasks) 3 9 17%
4 Team Performance 3 9 16%
5 Adaptive planning (9 tasks) 3 10 12%
6 Problem detection and resolution (5 tasks)   5 10%
7 Continuous Improvement (Product, Process, People) (8 tasks)   6 9%

13 Subdomains and their tasks are below.

Value Driven Delivery

  1. Define Positive Value- 3 Tasks
  2. Avoid Potential Downsides – 3 Tasks
  3. Prioritization – 3 Tasks
  4. Incremental Development- 5 Tasks

Stakeholder Engagement

  1. Understand Stakeholder Needs- 2 Tasks
  2. Ensure Stakeholder Involvement-3 Tasks
  3. Manage Stakeholder Expectations-4 Tasks

Team Performance

  1. Team Formation- 2 Tasks
  2. Team Empowerment- 3 Tasks
  3. Team Collaboration and Commitment- 4 Tasks

Adaptive planning

  1. Levels of Planning- 3 Tasks
  2. Adaptation- 2 Tasks
  3. Agile Sizing and Estimation- 5 Tasks

Introduction to Agile

  1. Modern Project Management Challenges
  2. How to address modern-day PM challenges?
  3. Challenges in Starting Agile Project Management
  4. What is Agility?
  5. Which Project Management Methodology is best?
  6. Type of Systems
  7. Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)
  8. Defined vs Empirical Processes
  9. Values in Agile Manifesto
  10. Agile Principles
  11. Agile Methodologies
  12. When Does Agile Methodologies Works Best?
  13. Value Delivery & Project Life Cycle

Agile Mindset

  1. Iteration
  2. Incremental Delivery
  3. Travel Light
  4. Agile Product Building
  5. Agile Documentation
  6. Agile Architecture
  7. Agile Testing
  8. Last Responsible Moment
  9. Refactoring
  10. Technical Debt
  11. Mindfulness
  12. Energized Team
  13. Poka-Yoka
  14. Agile Roles
  15. Agile Health Checkup

Communication

  1. Communication Management Plan
  2. Team Space
  3. Information Radiator
  4. Osmotic Communication
  5. Daily Stand-ups
  6. Dimensions of Communications
  7. Level of listening
  8. Communication Skills
  9. Communication Barriers
  10. Communication Methods
  11. Communication Model
  12. Communication Technologies & Effectiveness
  13. Collocated vs Distributed Team
  14. Skills to Manage Stakeholders
  15. Define Positive Values

Planning

  1. Progressive Elaboration
  2. Adaptive Planning
  3. User Story
  4. Types of User Stories
  5. 3Cs of User Story
  6. INVEST Model of User Story
  7. Epic, Feature, Story, Task
  8. Agile Planning
  9. Time-boxing
  10. Minimum Marketable Features (MMF)
  11. Process Tailoring
  12. Agile Contracting Methods
  13. Agile Project Tracking
  14. Innovation Game

Monitoring & Adapting

  1. Information Radiators
  2. Self-assessment
  3. Kanban Board
  4. Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD)
  5. WIP Limit
  6. Burn Charts
  7. Retrospectives

Agile Estimation & Metrics

  1. Size Estimation Techniques
    • Relative Sizing
    • Story Points
    • Wideband Delphi
    • Planning Poker
    • Affinity Estimation
  2. Metrics
    • Velocity
    • Lead Time
    • Cycle Time
    • Ideal Time
    • Escaped Defects
    • Project Scheduled
    • Features & Value Delivered
    • Delivery Performance
    • Product and Technical Quality Assessment
  3. Cost Estimate
  4. Basis of Estimation
  5. Earn Value Management
  6. S Curve

Requirement Analysis & Design

  1. Product Roadmap
  2. Backlogs
    • Product
    • Release
    • Sprint
  3. Story Maps
  4. Requirement Collection and Validation
  5. Agile Modeling
    • Prototype
    • Wireframes
    • Personas
  6. Agile Design Principles
  7. Agile Chartering

Product Quality

  1. Cost of Quality
  2. Definition of Done
  3. Feedback Techniques of Agile Project Management
  4. Verification and Validation
  5. Test-Driven Development (TDD)
  6. Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)
  7. Exploratory Testing
  8. Continuous Integration
  9. Continuous Process Improvement
  10. 7 Wastes
  11. House Keeping Standard (5S)
  12. Version Control
  13. Agile Tooling Mistake
  14. Typical Software Tools in Agile Projects
  15. Quality Tools
    • Benchmarking
    • Control Charts
    • Affinity Diagram
    • Force Field Analysis
    • Quality Checklists
    • Cause and effect diagram
    • Pareto Charts
    • Histograms
    • Run Charts
    • Influence Diagram or Decision Network
    • SWOT Analysis
    • Design of Experiments (DOE)

Softskills

  1. Emotional Intelligence
  2. Self Organizing Team
  3. Shu-Ha-Ri
  4. Active Listening
  5. Collaboration
  6. Adaptive Leadership
  7. Interpersonal Skills of a Project Manager
  8. Negotiation Strategies
  9. Type of Powers
  10. Group Decision Making Techniques
  11. Conflict Management
  12. Team Management
    • Agile Team
    • Agile Team Scaling
    • Team Types
    • Agile Team Stage
    • Ground Rules
    • Mentoring and Coaching Styles
    • Learning & Working
    • BART Analysis
    • Teams Self-Assessment Chart
    • Servant Leadership
  13. Mentoring & Coaching Team
  14. Learning and Working
  15. BART Analysis
  16. Team Self-Assessment Chart
  17. Servant Leadership

Value-Based Prioritization & Value Streaming

  1. What is value?
  2. JIT in value delivery
  3. Sources of revenue
  4. Value Evaluation Techniques
  5. Value-based Analysis
  6. Minimum Marketable Features (MMF)
  7. Non-Function Requirements
  8. Relative Prioritization and Ranking Techniques
    • Prioritization
    • Customer-valued Prioritization
    • Forced Ranking Technique
    • Analytical Hierarchical Process
    • Paired Comparison Techniques
    • Weight-based Prioritization Techniques
    • Kano Analysis
    • 100 Point Method
  9. Value-based Prioritization
  10. Value Stream Mapping
  11. Compliance
  12. System Thinking

Compliance in Agile

  1. Agile Compliance
  2. Regulatory Compliance
  3. Agile Self-Assessment Chart

Risk Management

  1. What is Risk?
  2. Risk Attitude
  3. Risk Management Terminologies
  4. Plan Risk Management
  5. Project Risk Profile
  6. Risk-Adjusted Backlog
  7. Risk Burn-down Graph
  8. Identify Risks
  9. Probability and Impact Matrix
  10. Qualitative Risk Analysis
  11. Risk Categorization
  12. Decision Tree
  13. Sensitivity Analysis
  14. Risk-based Spikes
  15. Risk Response Plan
  16. Monitoring & Controlling Risks
  17. Understanding Reserves

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