Tips for Prospective PMPs - Edition 24

Welcome to the 24th edition of Tips for Prospective PMPs. This newsletter provides tips, advice, and lessons for those project managers pursuing the PMP?.

This edition includes an article on a brief introduction to agile project management and access to 5 practice questions and mini-lessons.

Article 1: A Brief Introduction to Agile

The agile approach is a project management approach that is used to iteratively and incrementally develop products. The following are some of the key characteristics of the agile methodology:

• Embraces change for competitive advantage,
• Promotes frequent delivery of value and products.
• Favors shorter cycles of work.
• Promotes iterative and incremental development of products.
• Promotes transparency.
• Promotes daily interactions with customers.
• Promotes frequent and early feedback from customers.
• Favors an adaptive, exploratory approach.

The Agile Manifesto

The Agile Manifesto which was created in 2001 by thought leaders in the software industry documents the four key values of Agile:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
• Working software over comprehensive documentation.
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
• Responding to change over following a plan.

For these four values, the Agile manifesto states that “while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

Common Practices

The following are some common practices in Agile:

• Daily standup meetings: These are short time-boxed meetings to promote communications and progress. Three standard questions are asked of each team member: What have you done since yesterday? What will you do today? What’s in your way?
• Product backlogs: The product backlog is a ranked list of all the work items for the project. A product owner is typically responsible for the backlog and prioritizes the items on the backlog.
• Iteration (or sprint) backlog: The iteration or sprint backlog is a subset of the product backlog that will be worked on in the next iteration or sprint. It represents the scope of work for an iteration or backlog.
• Iteration (or sprint) planning: Before each iteration or sprint, the team plans the work for that sprint.
• Product review: After the completion of an iteration or sprint, the team presents the outcomes of the sprint to the product owner.
• Retrospective:? The retrospective is a performance review meeting held at the end of an iteration or sprint to allow the team to reflect on its performance, learn from the experience of the iteration, and adapt its performance for the next and future iterations.

Scrum

Scrum is one of the most popular agile frameworks and uses an iterative and incremental approach to developing products.? The following are characteristics of the Scrum method:

• The scrum team is comprised of three roles:

- The product owner who is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and is responsible for the product backlog.

- The development team which is responsible for developing and delivering working products. Scrum development teams are cross-functional and self-organizing.

- The scrum master who is responsible for the scrum process and ensuring that the team adheres to the scrum practices.

• Work is performed in short iterations or sprints.
• Sprints are time-boxed. A timebox is a fixed duration of time.
• The product backlog is the ordered list of the work to be performed on the project.
• The work items selected for a sprint is called the sprint backlog.
• Sprint planning is conducted before the execution of a sprint. The purpose of this planning is for the product owner and the team to agree on the sprint goal and determine the items to be worked on in the sprint.
• A product review is held at the end of a sprint.
• A retrospective is held at the end of every sprint.

Kanban

Another agile method is Kanban. Unlike Scrum which delivers value and products in short timeboxed iterations, the Kanban method allows for a continuous flow of value and products.

The core processes for Kanban include:

• Visualization of the flow of work and use of Kanban boards.
• Limits are placed on the work in process.
• Manage the continuous flow of work.
• Implement feedback loops.
• Improve through collaboration.
• Evolve through experimentation.

Advantages of Using Agile

The advantages of an agile methodology include:

• Responsive to customer feedback.
• Embraces change for competitive advantage.
• Shorter iterations allow for faster delivery of value.
• Shorter iterations allow for quicker customer feedback.
• Reduces risk.
• Promotes collaborative work.
• Promotes continuous improvement.
• Promotes transparent communications.

Disadvantages of Using Agile

The disadvantages of an agile methodology include:

• Limited documentation.
• Demands more dedicated time from the team.
• Customers may not be willing to commit the time required to support the project.
• More difficult to measure progress.
• Not suited for projects that are complex and high-risk.
• Not suited for projects with predefined outcomes.

Summary

For prospective PMPs or PMPs in training, be sure to understand the agile approach to project management.

Agile isn't the answer for every project but some projects may be the perfect fit for an agile approach.

Eddie Merla, PMI-ACP. PMP

Article 2: Five Practice Questions and Mini-Lessons

Question #111: Resource Issues

Question #112: Integrated Planning

Question #113: Scope Planning

Question #114: Collect Requirements

Question #115: Define Scope

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