About the Authors
S. Chandramouli, PMP, PMI-ACP, is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K), and a prolific writer of business management articles dealing with delivery management, Program Management, competitiveness, IT, organizational culture and leadership. He has experience in Software sales management, client relationship management, competency management, people management, financial management and quality management. He has strong experience in Project/Program/Account delivery and escalation resolution- providing executive oversight and monitoring the overall portfolio and program health.
He is certified Green Belt in six sigma methodology. He is also ITIL(F) Certified. He Conducts training programs on variety of subjects like Project Management, Program management, software engineering, quality system. He has been an invited speaker at various management conferences.
He is also the author of the book titled PMP CertificationExcel with Ease published by Pearson, which has been recognized as a reference book in various universities across the globe. Second edition of this book got released based on the latest PMBOK(R) 5th Edition.
Saikat Dutt, PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, has 19 years of IT industry experience managing large-scale multi-location and mission-critical projects. He is a project management professional (PMP) and PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), certified by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the United States. He is also a certified Scrum master. He is involved in the coaching of large-scale Scrum implementations in a big MNC in the IT sector. His other two booksSoftware Engineering (ISBN: 9789332537293) and Software Project Management (ISBN: 9789332542143) are also best sellers and used as text books in reputed universities and business schools. He is also an active speaker on Agile best practices and project management methodologies in several forums.
Foreword
Agile Project Management is gaining increasing attention among executives, business leaders and IT management professionals. Thus, Agile Certification from PMI is becoming more and more important for the IT project manager to have in his toolkit. I look at this book in two ways. First, this is an excellent guide to put you on the solid path to becoming a PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP). Second, even if you have mature Agile process capabilities in your organization, this is a great reference book to identify areas for improvement. This book is a serious compilation of Agile Project Management ideas, techniques, and disciplines and is written for professionals who have a passion and love for Agile Project Management.
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New to the Third Edition
This third edition of the book, in keeping with the trend set by the earlier two editions, continues to focus on real-life situations and endeavours to hone the skills of those who aspire to crack the Project Management Institute (PMI) certification examination.
The first and second editions of the book were designed in accordance with the syllabus of the first version of the exam. With PMI rolling out its revised examination pattern in 2015 with changed syllabus and question structure, it necessitated a modification in the books contents to suit the new curriculum and exam pattern. The current edition captures the defining features of the changed question pattern and maps the books contents directly to the PMI ACP syllabus topics for the readers benefit.
In addition, the contents of the books second edition have been enhanced on the following fronts:
- Chapter coverage: Introduction gives a direct mapping of all Knowledge and Skills and Tools and Techniques mentioned in the PMI ACP course content. The details of PMI ACP exam process starting from preparation to filling up the form and guidance for requirements of making payment are provided in this chapter.
- Added topics: All topics newly added to the syllabus are added in relevant chapters. The Q&A section at the end of each chapter is augmented with new questions on these topics. In-depth discussions have been included on topics like XP, Lean, VSM, user stories, relative sizing, requirement management and estimation topics to match with the depth of knowledge now expected in the exam.
- More diagrams: A picture speaks a thousand words. To make complex concepts clearer, more diagrams are added in the second chapter. These diagrams will help the reader relate to the actual scenarios while going through the concepts.
- There are four full-length question papers at the end of this book which would come in handy at the time of preparing for the exam. All question papers have been modified to match the actual question patterns and topic coverage to ensure that readers are not caught on the wrong foot when taking the real exams.
It is our continuous endeavour to keep ourselves abreast of the changes happening in the field of Agile. This is a very dynamic area, with new concepts evolving every day. We hope that this third edition is helpful to all our readers.
S. Chandramouli and Saikat Dutt
Preface
Why Take the PMI-ACP Exam?
The PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) exam focuses more on real-life situations and hence when you are preparing for the exam by practising real-time scenario, the confidence level automatically increasesthere is no magic in it. Certified people are paid at least 10% more than non-certified people. I have come across many situations where professionals are getting higher salaries just after acquiring PMI certification. I wish the readers of this book to get the benefits of PMI-ACP certification.
About PMI-Agile Certification
The PMP and PMI-ACP certifications are the project management professions most recognized credential from PMI. At present, PMIs project management certifications are well-accepted ...
1
Introduction
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS LEVEL