Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®) Questions

Are you interested in doing PMI’s Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®) certification? If so, here are some of the toughest ACP® questions that we have come across.

Turlon & Associates (www.turlon.com) next Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®) preparation course is being held in Dublin, Ireland on 5th to 6th September 2016. Our course outline can be viewed here

Question 1

At a sprint review meeting (demo), the product owner reviewed the working software and indicated that it does not fully meet what was required in the user story. Which of the statements below is not accurate?
 
A. This should not happen because the Product Owner is expected to verify and approve working software prior to the demo
B. This may have happened because acceptance criteria for this user story were not defined in sufficient detail to avoid ambiguity
C. A possible cause is that the Product Owner was not really available to the team during the Sprint
D. There is nothing wrong with the situation if the team's definition of done does not include Product Owner verification and acceptance

Question 2

Cognitive intimacy allows teams to better understand individual perceptions, thoughts, frames of reference and general reactions. Aside from this beneficial attribute, why is it imperative that managers coach their teams to communicate through some degree of cognitive intimacy?
 
A. Cognitive intimacy not only allows team members to identify group level misunderstandings but also helps members to remedy those misunderstandings before they become serious issues
B. Team members who are cognitively intimate have the ability to better calculate potential issues with project processes before they become serious
C. Cognitive intimacy allows team members to better understand each team member's individual intentions in behaving a certain way
D. Cognitive intimacy allows managers to better understand group level mistakes at a macro-level

Question 3

An agile team is beginning a new release. Things are progressing a little slower than they initially estimated. The project manager is taking a servant leadership approach. Which of the following actions is the project manager most likely to do?
 
A. Create a high-level scope statement and estimates.   
B. Intervene in non-productive team arguments.   
C. Do administrative activities for the team.   
D. Demonstrate the system to senior executives.

Question 4

Two of your expert team members have been in a heated argument over the use of new software plug-in. Now, recently you noticed that the argument, instead of increasing creativity is bringing in conflict between the team members. All of the following statements about a conflict are false EXCEPT:
 
A. Conflict resolution should always be done by scrum master 
B. Conflict is a team issue 
C. We should not have conflict in team 
D. Conflict resolution should focus on personalities

What are the Program Management Challenges?

As part of a project and program management consultancy company, I visit companies which both struggle and succeed with program management. I sometimes stand back and ask myself the question, "why"? Why does program management fail or doesn't have a presence in this company? I do not believe company's overall problems in program management can be attributed to specific tools or techniques or even the process of working. To me the problem stems from a culture of acceptance and need. Let me explain this. Do you or your company believe program management to be a vital part of the company's overall performance? If the answer is YES, then you will be more successful than a company who considers it irrelevant. In other words, program management needs to be an integral part of the corporate culture.

Let's consider some of the challenges / barriers to successful adopting of a program management culture within any company:

• Develop knowledge – your people can simply lack the basic knowledge of what program management is trying to achieve. I do not run into too many companies anymore with a total absence of knowledge in this regard. The conceptual foundation of program management has been around for a number of years. But the gap in knowledge is not what program management is, but how it will be adopted to drive success through the organisation.

• Lack of organisational view – adopting a formal approach to program management and showing how it links with project management and strategic management is a must. A company that does not adopt a formal structure / process for program management will struggle. Consequently, informal and inconsistent approaches to program management are used with mixed results. This is a much more common occurrence than finding a company devoid of knowledge in program management.

• Poor connection to strategic management - People seem to naturally underestimate the magnitude of program management and what it can achieve. For example, program management is another level of business management and should be treated as such. Program management should be used to run the business and deliver the strategy of the business. This is the primary purpose of what textbooks say. However, program management needs to be adopted to deliver value on how strategy can be delivered on.

It must be remembered that program management is first and foremost a philosophy of management, not an elaborate set of tools and techniques, nor is it an administrative function. Rather, it is concerned with managing an organisation towards the accomplishment of whatever it has set out to do. As such, program management will only be as effective as the people and structures that are used.

Ultimately, program management represents discipline, organisation, and accountability within a multi-project environment. 

Turlon & Associates (www.turlon.com) are leading providers of program management consultancy and training services

What is the role of ‘The Project Transformational Manager’?

I have just completed a fantastic workshop for project managers that are leading some key transformational projects for their organisation and it got me thinking …. what is the most effective way of using Project Management for Transformational Projects

So let’s start at the start of this journey … there are three types of change occurring in organisations today are:

• Developmental
• Transitional, and
• Transformational.

From talking with practitioners, it is widely thought that project management is a key asset in managing the change and developing a “change management” mind-set. However, can project management do all forms of change management and the answer is NO … project management can effectively support developmental and transitional change BUT it is also thought that project management in today’s terms is not sufficient for transformational change.

Transformational change is far more challenging because the future state is unknown when you begin, and is determined through trial and error as new information is delivered. Any this is where project management as a core assets lacks. This makes it impossible to “manage” transformation with the traditional format of scoping, scheduling and dedicated project plans. So to manage transformational change, project management needs to evolve from traditional principle and embrace relationship management, cultural diversity and business / value analysis skills … and here is my message, these are the core center-pieces of the project management plan.

For transformational projects, the future state can be so radically different than the current state that the people and culture must change to implement it successfully. New mind-set’s and behaviours are required. So what can project managers do to be equipped: - 

1. Embrace a mind-set and culture change and diversity that is a centre-piece of change. For example new systems require people to share information across strongly held boundaries or put the needs of the enterprise over their own personal / departmental agendas
2. Focus on where value is and how to realise this in a manner that all parts of the organisation understand and accept. To lead change, the project should lead the business and develop sound business case’s based on measured value propositions
3. Transformation impacts people and leadership is required to nurture the personal divide. Project managers should get people involved in it to garner support and become embedded in the personal dilemma’s that are prevalent
4. Get people engaged by building a strong business case for change and determining the vision. Consider putting a wider representation of people on your leadership team. This will help in identifying requirements for the transformation, and to benchmark what “best-in-class” is to you and your organisation.

This is bring project management to a new level of application and I would like to call this a ‘The Project Transformational Manager’

Eight Steps to becoming a PgMP®

If you have made up your mind take PMI’s Program Management (PgMP®) Accreditation , how should you go about it? Here I put forth some pointers based on my experience.

1. Go through the certification handbook. Get to grips with what is required and what you need to do. This is available on the PMI® website.
2. Ascertain your eligibility: Go through the PgMP® eligibility criteria in the handbook. The experience requirements call for 4 years of project and 4 years of program management experience. If you do apply and have your application rejected, be aware that you will lose 50% of the application fee.
3. Join PMI® (www.pmi.org) and  download the Program Management standard and read through it quickly to get an idea of how PMI® positions Program Management. I will guarantee that it will be very different to how you may see Program Management been practiced. Go to the appendix and look at the long list of artefacts used on a program. Take note of the terminology.
4. Start building your application. Choose programs that have had a strategic value to the organisation you worked in. There are three key points you will have to discuss: -
• what the program delivered
• how the program was delivered
• examples of the program processes / procedures
5. Once your application is ready, get a current PgMP® to review and comments on the application. This is a crucial step for success.
6. Post application review, you will receive instructions about audit requirements. The application will undergo a panel review and this is where your application will be fully scrutinized with respect to the application of program management.
7. Once the application is successful, start to think about the exam. Schedule a date and begin the study process.
• Read the Program Management Standard fully
• Go through the PgMP® Exam Specification document. It gives lot of information about the exam and topics that you need to study. Make sure you are at least familiar with all those topics.
• Look for other practice exams, reference material and possibly PgMP® Preparation courses. 
• Don't be afraid to practice the same question because there is a lot to be got from understand why you may be getting questions wrong
• Contact admin@turlon.com for a free sample of PgMP® questions
8. Go do the exam and be a success

Turlon & Associates will be hosting PgMP Exam Preparation Courses for those wishing to take the PgMP® Exam