PMI-ACP Lesson 01 Nugget 1 Introduction to Agile

Copyright 2014, Simplilearn, All rights reserved.1
PMI® & ACP are the registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc. Copyright 2014, Simplilearn, All rights reserved.
Introduction to Agile
PMI®—Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®

● Explain Agile development
● Describe the principles of Agile Manifesto
● List the core values and principles of Agile
● Explain what is not Agile
● Describe the benefits of Agile methodologies
After completing
this lesson, you will
be able to:
Objectives

Agile is a family of project development processes.
Agile emphasizes:
● face-to-face communication;
● business and developer collaboration;
● working software as the primary demonstration of progress;
● emphasis on effective engineering techniques;
● frequent demonstrations of progress and early return on
investment;
● adaptation to business change; and
● retrospectives and continuous improvement.
What Is Agile

Agile evolved in the late 1990s in response to the burdens of heavy documentation and frequent
requirements change. It started as a collection of lightweight and quality driven approaches to
software development. Some of the more prominent techniques included:
How Has Agile Evolved
Merging all developer working copies with a shared mainline several times a day.
Writing tests before writing software. This creates a rich collection of tests.
Test Driven
Development
Continuous
Integration
The process of restructuring existing computer code without changing its
external behavior.
Refactoring
Technique that captures the end user requirement and what a user needs to do
as part of his job function, in one or more sentences in simple language.User Stories

Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto was
signed in February 2001 by a
group of 17 leading software
developers.
This is considered the key
reference for all Agile
practices.

Principles of Agile Manifesto
Following are the 12 principles given in the Agile Manifesto:

With the Agile Manifesto, a framework for approaching agile development was created and this led to
a clearer definition of the term Agile.
Definition of Agile
Agile is an iterative and incremental (evolutionary) approach to project development
which is performed in a highly collaborative manner by self-organizing teams with
"just enough" ceremony that produces high quality software in a cost effective and
timely manner which meets the changing needs of its stakeholders.
- Scott Ambler, www.agilemodeling.com , Managing Agile Projects

Over time, Lean and Six Sigma techniques began to infuse themselves into Agile practices.
These include the following:
Agile—Less Engineering, More Enabling
The entire team regularly discussing what worked and what didn’t work in an iteration.
Continuous
Improvement
Extending Agile techniques, particularly ‘Pull’, across each segment of the value chain.
Focus on the
Value Chain
Understanding the business value of work and prioritizing effort around this work.
Business Value
Emphasis
Delivering measurable value early in the project lifecycle.
Incremental
Delivery

The PMI-ACP recognizes a number of core Agile principles and practices.
Agile Core Principles and Practices

Agile does not involve:
● big design and requirement gathering up-front;
● predictions on project completion;
● ‘death march’ projects where project teams make up the difference for poor estimates with unpaid
overtime;
● use of tools that force behaviors, such as, task management tools;
● top down management/control; and
● ‘heavy’ documentation, particularly Status Reports, Software Architecture Diagrams, Software
Requirements Specifications, Test Plans etc.
What Is Not Agile

As Agile has rapidly become one of the more popular and effective techniques to manage projects, it
is important to understand the benefits to its adopters.
● Emphasis on collaboration, team empowerment, and frequent demonstrations of progress
● Lightweight, relies on whiteboards, index cards, and facilitation techniques
● Very appealing to developers with its development focus
● Idea of time-to-market opportunities and driving the features of the development lifecycle
● Agile focus on pull instead of push
● Simple and easy to understand
● Contemporary
Benefits of Agile

Struggling with traditional methods, Kiandra, a custom software development and outsourced IT
Services company decided to take up agile transformation. They realized that Agile provides better
outcomes than the traditional software development approaches. The graphic below shows how the
transformation benefitted them as they developed each portal and gained a better understanding of
Agile principles and practices.
Agile—Real Life Example
Portal 1
Delivered all the
features in half the time
and for 10% less than
originally estimated.
Portal 2
Delivered in 30% less time
and 10% less cost than
originally estimated with
half the functionality
deployed early.
Portal 3
Reduced the time taken
for placing a business
order from ten minutes
to three minutes. It was
80% less than what it
had taken to do a similar
project two years
before.
The outcomes of the changes made to the requested features in various web portals are:

Copyright 2014, Simplilearn, All rights reserved.
Quiz
13

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
14
What does the Agile Manifesto principle “Build projects around motivated individuals”
mean?1
The best architectures emerge from self-organizing teams
Trust the team to get the job done
Do projects that will ‘excite’ the customers
Only engage in projects that motivate individuals

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
15
What does the Agile Manifesto principle “Build projects around motivated individuals”
mean?1
Answer: c.
Explanation: Principle number 5 of Agile Manifesto states, “Build projects around motivated
individuals. Give them the environment and support they need and trust them to get the
job done.”
The best architectures emerge from self-organizing teams
Trust the team to get the job done
Do projects that will ‘excite’ the customers
Only engage in projects that motivate individuals

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
16
Which of the following is not seen as a benefit of Agile?
2
Accurate predictions of project completion
Lightweight, relies on whiteboards, index cards, and facilitation techniques
Implicitly focuses on ‘pull vs. push’
Emphasis on collaboration, team empowerment, frequent demonstrations of progress

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
17
Which of the following is not seen as a benefit of Agile?
2
Answer: b.
Explanation: Agile does not emphasize accurate project completion as a benefit of its
practices.
Accurate predictions of project completion
Lightweight, relies on whiteboards, index cards, and facilitation techniques
Implicitly focuses on ‘pull vs. push’
Emphasis on collaboration, team empowerment, frequent demonstrations of progress

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
18
3
The best designs emerge from code overtime.
Agile does not recommend design as it constrains development velocity.
Designing up-front wastes time that can be better spent on other activities.
Too much emphasis on design limits the amount of requirements gathering.
Why doesn’t Agile recommend Big Design up-front?

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
19
Why doesn’t Agile recommend Big Design up-front?
3
Answer: b.
Explanation: Agile does not emphasize trying to design a system in advance of developing it.
Instead, design should evolve and adapt with development and changing requirements.
The best designs emerge from code overtime.
Agile does not recommend design as it constrains development velocity.
Designing up-front wastes time that can be better spent on other activities.
Too much emphasis on design limits the amount of requirements gathering.

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
20
4
Why is Continuous Integration seen as valuable?
Integration is hard and often delayed just before the final build; if code is continuously
compiled and checked, conflicts can be identified when they are easy to manage.
It is part of the technique called Kaizen that emphasizes continuous improvement.
It ensures that Scrum of Scrum projects can deliver a potentially implementable
shipment of software.
By using a continuous integration approach, a project can offload many core
development processes to an automated server.

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
21
Why is Continuous Integration seen as valuable?
4
Answer: a.
Explanation: One of the learnings from the Chrysler project, where Kent Beck developed XP,
was that code integration was a significant contributor to project delays and defects. He
decided to focus on integrating continuously to identify defects as early as possible.
It is part of the technique called Kaizen that emphasizes continuous improvement.
It ensures that Scrum of Scrum projects can deliver a potentially implementable
shipment of software.
By using a continuous integration approach, a project can offload many core
development processes to an automated server.
Integration is hard and often delayed just before the final build; if code is continuously
compiled and checked, conflicts can be identified when they are easy to manage.

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
22
Which of the following Agile Manifesto values is incorrect?
5
Responding to plans over reacting to change
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Working software over comprehensive documentation

QUIZ
a.
b.
c.
d.
23
Which of the following Agile Manifesto values is incorrect?
5
Answer: b.
Explanation: The correct value is “Responding to change over following a plan.”
Responding to plans over reacting to change
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Working software over comprehensive documentation

● Agile techniques emerged from software engineering approaches to deal
with changing requirements and to improve quality.
● The Agile Manifesto was signed in 2001 that captured the values and
principles of the agile movement.
● Agile Manifesto highlights 12 principles.
● As a lightweight project management approach, Agile avoids big design,
heavy documentation, and top-down management or control.
● Agile emphasizes collaboration, team empowerment, and frequent
demonstrations of progress by focusing on ‘pull vs. push’.
Summary
Here is a quick
recap of what was
covered in this
lesson:

PMI-ACP Lesson 01 Nugget 1 Introduction to Agile

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PMI-ACP Lesson 01 Nugget 1 Introduction to Agile