Learn to manage Agile Projects: Get PMI-ACP® CertifiedLearn to manage Agile Projects: Get PMI-ACP® Certified

By Jose Barato

September 8, 2020

8 minutes read

Earning the PMI-ACP® enhances your ability to manage Agile projects effectively. Whether you’re a project manager, team leader, or Agile coach, this certification helps you gain a competitive edge in the industry.

How to manage a project if the requirements are not clear?

Imagine that you are tasked with leading a project that involves producing 7 red lines perpendicular to each other, some painted with green ink, others with transparent ink.

Project: 7 red lines perpendicular to each other, some painted with green ink, others with transparent ink.

This is how the famous video “The Expert” begins, which already has more than 25 million views on YouTube. Please watch it again, but this time with a critical eye. What mistakes does the expert make? When I watch this video, I always have to make an effort not to empathize too much with the expert, because I have experienced similar scenes, but when I look at it objectively, I think he is wrong. When the client says that “geometry must be ignored”, he shows that he does not know what he really wants. When planning the project, is it so rare to find clients who do not know what they want? The expert is wrong because he wants to discuss and clarify all the requirements at that moment, but it is clear that, in this meeting, setting the requirements is impossible. What is the alternative? Not doing the project? That is not the solution either. Let’s go back to the video. The only ones who seem to show good judgment, even if we don’t like them very much, are the sponsor and the project manager, when they say things like:

“Let’s not have unproductive discussions now. The mandate is clear and simple. If you have specific questions, ask them.”
“Let’s look at the solution from above, in a broad sense.”.
“I’m sure it’s not hard to start painting something, it’s 7 lines, not 20”.
“Start by producing a partial solution that anyone can criticize.”.

That is, instead of debating something abstract, you propose to move forward in an iteration to present something concrete. Customers may not know what they want, but they always know what they don’t want. For example, we could present 7 segments (not lines) forming a square and a triangle:

It may not be the final solution, but now we can debate what we see. Of course, seeing this, no one will say that the geometry should be ignored. They will see red lines and probably not ask what ink was used. They will appreciate the work because it will allow them to eliminate some uncertainties. At worst, they will be certain that the project is not possible and must be cancelled. A timely withdrawal is a victory. This approach has a name: value orientation. Here I share the result of a practice with students sharing a presentation on Google Slides:

Two types of projects: predictive and adaptive

The following figure, taken from the DSDM agile framework, clearly shows that there are 2 ways to manage projects:

If there is certainty about a high percentage of the requirements, the right thing to do is to apply predictive management (also called waterfall). Starting from a good number of clear requirements, we establish the scope baseline and, based on this constraint, we estimate the cost and the deadline, writing a detailed plan for the management of the project. The plan is like a score and the project manager is like an orchestra conductor. Most engineering and construction projects follow this development life cycle model.
If there is uncertainty about a high percentage of requirements, the right approach is to apply adaptive management (also called agile, value-oriented, or change-oriented). Considering the time constraints and the estimated cost on a more or less fixed team, the scope is derived from iterative feedback on the value perceived by the stakeholder group. Changes are welcome. We may think that they “don’t hurt much” because they take place in a list of stories (in agile, requirements are not called) called product backlog, which has not yet reached the development team. Most IT and consulting projects follow this development lifecycle model.

It is also common to have to apply hybrid models, but this does not usually mean predictive and adaptive simultaneously, but rather predictive or agile is usually applied in successive phases:

It can be said that the project, seen as a sum of phases, follows a hybrid management, but in each of the phases we are oriented towards the plan or the value.

Only one type of project manager: the one who is prepared to manage any project

For the past few years, PMI has been sending a clear message: “Project management professionals must be able to manage predictive and adaptive projects.”

Project Management Institute Recommendation: “The project management professional must be able to manage predictive projects and adaptive projects.”

Some clear signs in this regard:

The current version of the PMBOK Guide, published in 2017 It already includes many adaptations, techniques and agile tools.
The Agile Practical Guide is required, but not sufficient, study material for preparing for the current PMP® exam.
The new version of the PMP® exam, starting in January 2021, will have 50% of questions on agile or hybrid approaches.
The new version of the PMBOK standard will be based on 12 principles, 7 of them closely aligned with the agile principles: (1) Servant leadership; 3) Involvement of stakeholders to understand their interests and needs; 4) Focus on value; 7) Adaptation to context; 9) Managing complexity using knowledge, experience and learning; 11) Adaptation and resilience and 12) Facilitation of change towards the future state).

As with predictive projects, everything you need to know to manage adaptive projects has already been invented. Agile methods have been used for over 20 years with notable results and are applicable not only to information technology projects, but to any knowledge worker project. Agile methodologies such as Scrum, XP, Kanban, Lean, etc., provide us with valuable resources to know how to manage an adaptive project. Although agile methods have their origin in operational product management, rather than project management, this gap is not difficult to bridge. In this type of project, too, the project manager can provide great value from the management perspective.

Course to prepare for the PMI-ACP® exam

With the PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner) certification, PMI is making the project manager the central figure in adaptive projects once again. To obtain this accreditation, the candidate must demonstrate that he or she has practiced agile projects, but must also demonstrate that he or she has structured knowledge of the techniques, tools, knowledge, skills and activities required in agile projects. Some practices will have already been applied, and the rest of the referenced practices must be demonstrated by demonstrating that he or she would know how to apply them, if the case arose. At PMPeople, we offer courses to prepare for the PMI-ACP exam.

Our next course to prepare for the PMI-ACP exam will begin on October 5th. This course examines the role that a project manager should play in an adaptive or agile project. It explains the techniques and skills popularized by agile methods in each of the 7 knowledge domains that apply to adaptive project management. This course is aligned with the exam specification published by PMI®. The program is structured in 8 modules, alternating theory, practice and tests to be solved by the student:

PMI-ACP Certification / Agile Principles / Agile Methods
Scrum Case Study
Delivering Value-Based
Engaging Stakeholders
Promoting Techniques to Improve Team Performance
Plan Adaptively
Detect and Solve Problems
Continually Improve

Our method is based on 3 key points:

Conceptual understanding: Explain the 7 domains of the exam in a practical way, especially in agile projects that the teacher has managed.
Practice: Reasoning many tests in Spanish and English (why is this answer correct and the others not?) during the 5 weeks that the course lasts, and after the course until the exam date. Students measure their level of preparation before booking the exam date.
Individualized support: for each student during the course and until the exam day.

Schedule and registration

The 10 sessions are spread over 5 weeks, to give the student time to process the live sessions taught by the teacher, participating in discussions and answering tests. Live online sessions, from 19:00-21:00, will take place on the following days:

05/10/2020
07/10/2020
14/10/2020
19/10/2020
21/10/2020
26/10/2020
28/10/2020
04/11/2020
11/11/2020
16/11/2020

Finally, you should know that PMPeople’s support does not end when the last session ends: PMPeople helps you until the day of the exam. It usually takes 2-3 months or more, depending on each person’s personal circumstances. You have to spend a lot of time training for tests, and the closer the exam is, the more and more doubts arise and the more specialized support is needed. We are there to answer all your questions.