Introduction

If you're preparing to take the PMI-ACP® exam, you'll undoubtedly want to find out as much information as you can about multiple Agile frameworks. The more information you have at your disposal, and the more hands-on experience you gain, the better off you'll be when attempting the exam. This study guide is written with that in mind. The goal is to provide you with enough information to prepare you for the test, but not so much that you'll be overloaded with information that's outside the scope of the exam.

This book presents the material at an intermediate technical level. Experience with and knowledge of different Agile frameworks like Scrum, eXtreme Programming (XP), Lean, and Kanban will help you to get a full understanding of the challenges that you'll face as an Agile project management professional.

I've included review questions at the end of each chapter to give you a taste of what it's like to take the exam. If you're already working in an Agile or project management field, I recommend that you check out these questions first to gauge your level of expertise. You can then use the book primarily to fill in the gaps in your current knowledge. This study guide will help you round out your knowledge base before tackling the exam.

If you can answer 90 percent or more of the review questions correctly for a given chapter, you can feel safe moving on to the next chapter. If you're unable to answer that percentage of questions correctly, reread the chapter and try the questions again. Your score should improve.

It Pays to Get Certified

In a world that is becoming more focused on technology, project management literacy in multiple modalities is an essential survival skill. Agile certification proves that you have the knowledge and skills to solve business problems in virtually any business environment.

Certification makes you more competitive and employable. Research has shown that people who study project management best practices get hired. In the competition for entry-level jobs, applicants with high school diplomas or college degrees who included Agile project management coursework in their academic load fared consistently better in job interviews and were hired in significantly higher numbers. When considered a compulsory part of technology education, testing for certification can be an invaluable competitive distinction for Agile and project management professionals.

How Certification Helps Your Career

Obtaining certifications can be highly beneficial for your career strategy and in many cases having multiple certifications shows a wide range of abilities in your chosen careers.

Agile is one of the job categories in highest demand. According to the Project Management Institute's (PMI)® digital Pulse of the Profession, Global Project Management Survey (2017), Agile is a topic of growing importance in project management, with 71 percent of organizations now reporting that they use Agile approaches to their projects sometimes or more frequently than in the past. The report states that over the past 12 months, one in five projects has used Agile approaches, whereas another one in five has used hybrid or blended approaches. Another item from the report worth mentioning is that the percentage of projects that used something other than Agile, hybrid, or plan-driven approaches, which could be a further blend or customization of other approaches, is approximately 23 percent.

Get your foot in the door. The Project Management Institute's goal in putting together the Agile Certified Practitioner exam is to call attention to the multiple methodologies and best practices involved in projects that would utilize an Agile approach. There are many other certification types that are proprietary; for example, the Scrum Alliance (www.scrumalliance.org) has numerous certifications that are applicable to the methodology of Scrum, but this is the first certification exam of its kind to combine many best practices across multiple methodologies. The content itself is not company-specific or partial to any one methodology over another. The content is based on numerous books and best practices surrounding Agile projects.

Potential income for Agile Project Managers Earn a national average of almost $90,000 to $151,000 per year depending on their location and specialty according to Glassdoor.

The Project Management Institute's Agile Certified Practioner (PMI-ACP®) certification enhances your project management knowledge. Professionals who are PMI-ACP® certified are 85 percent more likely to believe that they have the knowledge and skills needed to fulfill their jobs successfully. The PMI-ACP® certification is a big step in starting your career as a certified Agile professional.

Popularity of the PMI-ACP® certification is increasing. More than 17,000+ individuals worldwide are PMI-ACP® certified and that number is growing daily and exponentially.

Agile project management is regularly used in organizations. Companies such as Pixar, Spotify, video gaming companies, marketing organizations, staffing companies, manufacturing companies, and many software developers are using Agile methods to complete their projects effectively.

Steps to Getting Certified and Staying Certified

While the steps for gaining your certification may seem daunting, the steps below will help guide you through the process.

Review the exam objectives. Review the certification objectives to make sure you know what is covered in the exam:

www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/certifications/ agile-certified-exam-outline.pdf

Practice for the exam. After you have studied for the exam, review and answer as many sample questions as you can to prepare for it.

Submit your application. Fill out your application and determine your next steps for the 21 hours of education:

www.pmi.org/certifications/types/Agile-acp

Take the test! Once your application is approved, you will be given information on payment and scheduling options. Most exams are hosted through Prometric:

www.prometric.com/en-us/for-test-takers/pages/schedule.aspx?Type=schedule

Stay certified through continuing education! PMI-ACP® certifications are valid for three years from the date of certification. There are a number of ways the certification can be renewed. For more information, check the Project Management Institute's site.

How to Obtain More Information

There is a lot of information online about PMI certifications but it's always best to go directly through the contact information below first.

• Visit the Project Management Institute's website (www.pmi.org) to learn more about getting PMI-ACP certified.
• Contact PMI by calling +1 (855) 746-4849, emailing customercare@pmi.org, or using live chat directly from the website Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. US EDT (GMT-4).
• Connect with PMI on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

Don't just study the questions and answers! The questions on the actual exam will be different from the practice questions included in this book. The exam is designed to test your knowledge of a concept or objective, so use this book to learn about the objectives behind the questions.

Before You Begin Studying for the PMI-ACP® Certification Exam

Before you begin studying for the exam, it's imperative that you understand a few things about the PMI-ACP® certification.

There is a fine balance between doing Agile types of projects and studying and taking practice exams. Rote memorization will not help you. There's not a lot that I go through in this study guide that will help you pass by just memorizing.

Every single question will be situationally based. It will test your ability to be agile, not to do Agile.

Agile, as a term, is the umbrella over all of the different frameworks that you can absorb, use, and understand. To pass an exam like this, you have to get into that frame of mind.

The Agile mindset involves the following principles:

• Exploring, embracing, and applying Agile principles while incorporating that mindset across the team and the organization
• Value-driven delivery is primarily focused on creating high-value increments and making sure that they are produced early and often.
• Meeting and reviewing stakeholder priorities
• Gaining feedback on the increments that your team produces and then prioritizing and improving upon them

You'll see some aspects of these principles across every single one of the different domains.

When you're studying for any exam, the first step in preparation should always be to find out as much as possible about the test: The more you know up front, the better you can plan your course of study. The current exam, and the one addressed by this book, is the 2017 update. Although all variables are subject to change as this book is being written, the exam consists of 120 multiple-choice questions, there is only one correct answer for each question, and you will...