These days, Agile professionals are in demand across organizations. Over the past few years, the number of companies hiring Agile professionals has increased with an adoption rate of approximately 95% across the globe. With this adoption rate, the requirement for Project Management practitioners to adopt agile has also increased.
Whether an individual is working as a project manager in an agile environment, is an aspiring agile or a development team member, the PMI ACP certification can help to sustain in the competitive environment.
Insights to PMI ACP Certification
The acronym ACP stands for Agile Certified Practitioner. This certificate is accredited by Project Management Institute (PMI). ACP certification comes with professional integrity as it combines agile training working on projects and analysing agile fundamentals, principles and tools. This certification is universally accepted. It allows people to address the requirement of organisations that rely on qualified Agile professionals to use their varied skills to carry out the projects efficiently.
What is Agile?
Agile is a common approach to delivering software or its features in segments right from the beginning of the project rather than delivering the entire project at the end. The agile method is largely applied in project management. If a team gets a typical project then the agile method is the finest method to follow. This method aims to deliver the project in small segments or sprints to the client instead of delivering it at a specific time. Moreover, it will be also easy for the customer to test the project module and ensure the quality of the product.
How to Get a PMI ACP Certificate?
Get the PMI ACP certification to strengthen the knowledge and skills relevant to the Agile framework. Verify Agile practises with the fastest growing PMI certifications. Here are the steps to follow for getting the PMI ACP certificate.
- Get trained- Get trained through an Authorised Training Partner of PMI. Enrol on the course and attend 21 hours of training.
- Take the PMI ACP exam- Sit for the PMI ACP course after completing the course to test how much an individual has understood about the agile methodology.
- Become a PMI ACP professional- After completing the course and passing the exam, candidates need to accept the PMI ACP licence provided by PMI.
Requirements for PMI ACP Training
No prerequisites are needed to attend the PMI ACP training. To appear for the PMI ACP exam, PMI requires applicants to complete 21 hours of training in the Agile framework from an accredited partner of PMI.
Who Should Attend The PMI ACP Course?
Project managers, software engineers, product managers, business analysts, team leaders, development team members, aspiring agilists, testers can attend the PMI ACP course.
What Will The Candidates Learn?
Candidates will learn the following things.
- Agile Projects– Here the candidates will learn about Agile Project Management and how to implement it in the organisation.
- Agile Mindset– It gives a deep insight into having an Agile mindset and how it can upscale the business.
- Product Quality– It deals with the quality of the product that needs to be tested by the Agile practitioner. It helps the professionals to ensure the product quality before delivering it to the client.
- Stakeholder Engagement– It allows candidates to upscale their communication skills to effectively ] communicate with the stakeholders and work according to the provided inputs.
- Risk Management- It helps to manage risks in the organisation through Agile techniques.
- Continuous Improvement– It enables candidates to learn new methods for improving the output of the organisation.
What Skills Will An Individual Gain?
PMI-ACP certification allows people to learn the following skills.
- Agile Project Management
- Agile Design and Analysis
- Value-based Prioritisation
- Agile Estimation
- Planning, Adapting and Monitoring
- Quality Management
- Agile Risk Management
- Earned Value Management
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Process Improvement
- Vendor Management
- Building a high-performance team
- Team Motivation
- Problem-solving Skills
- Coaching and Mentoring
- Communication Skills
- Facilitation Skills
- Intrapersonal Skills
Description of PMI Agile Certified Practitioner Curriculum
The PMI ACP training usually includes a collection of eight courses supported by an Agile Certificate Practitioner exam organised by the Practitioner Management Institute.
The courses include,
- Agile Project Management Essentials– This module helps to understand the characteristics of agile project management, its importance, methods to distinguish between primary and secondary agile values, how this can help in work, how to recognize and apply agile practices in work, identify and use the differences between empirical and defined methodologies.
The second part of the module helps to understand the different Agile models and methods. After completing this course an individual can- compare the forms of conventional project management to those with agile framework projects and understand the differences between them. It enables people to understand how a project manager’s roles can change while handling an agile project as compared to normal projects.
- Adopting an Agile Approach- This course guides people on how to foot forward on adopting an agile project management approach for those who use conventional and plan-driven methods. The course discusses some misconceptions related to agile development processes, identifies factors to consider whether to adopt agile practices or not. Highlights what agile practises should a company adopt.
The course guides project leaders by providing general guidelines on how to develop an agile thinking way, to begin with transitioning teams.
- The Scrum Development Process– Scrum is a highly popular agile method to date. The method has different tools and techniques that are applicable to different software development projects. This course will assist product managers, Scrum masters and team members in having knowledge of the Scrum framework. This includes the roles and responsibilities of the Scrum team, the significance of good communication skills, and the responsibilities of project stakeholders. The Scrum development process is divided into three phases as per the course. These are- pre-game, game and post-game. The course describes the activities and tools for each phase. Scrum basics include product and sprint backlogs, use of sprint reviews, etc.
- Project Beginning and Requirements Collection– It provides an outline of the agile approach that the teams have adopted from the methods like Scrum and XP. The aim is on releasing planning methods that are the first step of agile planning levels. It focuses on the importance of an established product vision developed by the product manager and stakeholders before developing the project backlog.
- Planning And Operating Iterations– The course aims at the activities performed during the planning and execution of a project sprint or iteration. In the previous phase of release planning- the team creates a product backlog containing features. Iteration planning refers to focusing on the details of the product.
- Leading An Agile Team– An efficient agile team is required to make a project successful. The course helps to build strong leadership skills including the unique skills, the responsibilities of an agile project leader and the features of the team.
- Managing Stakeholder Engagement– The course showcases the importance of stakeholder engagement, collaboration and communication during agile project planning and development. It discusses the role of stakeholders in the project and how an agile project leader or Scrum Master should encourage the involvement that lets the team understand the expectations of the stakeholders.
- Value And Quality in Agile Projects- The course consists of agile practises and techniques that focus on achieving the quality and value of products. It also covers the factors affecting the product quality including agile strategy testing the product quality.
Agile Certified Practitioners are in high demand in every business in the current scenario. People who want to do something different in their lives while earning a decent income can choose this career.