PMI ACP Full Mock 2

A project team trying Agile methods for the first time is considering Agile reporting methods. Historically the team has been reporting on project baselines and has used earned value management for status reporting. What should be the new approach?

• Continue using earned value management for project reporting.
• Consider ways to report project’s ROI.
• Consider ways to report demonstrable value delivery to customers.
• Agile teams do not report project progress.

Answer explanation

Agile favors empirical and value-based measurements instead of predictive measurements such as POC and earned value management techniques. Agile measures what the team delivers, not what the team predicts it will deliver. Agile is based on working products of demonstrable value to customers. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 61]

Which of the following is NOT a benefit of collocation?

• Ability to utilize usual tools.
• Increased velocity.
• Increased communication.
• Controlled changes.

Answer explanation

Change is inevitable, regardless of if the team is collocated or not. The rest of the choices are the benefits that collocated teams realize. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 40]

During which of the following Agile approaches is project planning managed through weekly and quarterly cycles?

• XP
• Scrum
• Lean
• Kanban

Answer explanation

In XP projects, planning is carried out during weekly and quarterly cycles. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 102]

Which of the following Agile terms means putting requirements in order based on what customers value most?

• Project scoping
• Backlog refinement
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Iteration planning

Answer explanation

Backlog grooming, also known as backlog refining, involves adding, removing, and prioritizing stories in the product backlog. The purpose of refinement is to help the team understand what the stories are and how large the stories are in relation to each other. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 52]

An Agile PMO is value-driven. What does that mean?

• All Agile projects are value-driven and as a result all Agile PMOs are value-driven.
• Agile projects should deliver the right value, to the right audience, at the right time. The Agile PMO’s objective is to facilitate and enable this goal.
• Agile PMOs deliver value to the organization by being the command and control center for all organizational projects.
• Agile PMOs must ensure that all organizational projects deliver organizational value. The Agile PMOs ensure that by standardizing the project management approach.

Answer explanation

Agile projects should deliver the right value, to the right audience, at the right time. The Agile PMO’s objective is to facilitate and enable this goal. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 81]

Which of the following techniques requires frequent incorporation of work into the whole, no matter the product, and then retest to determine that the entire product still works as intended?

• Continuous integration
• Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
• Spikes
• Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD)

Answer explanation

Continuous integration requires frequent incorporation of work into the whole, no matter the product, and then retest to determine that the entire product still works as intended. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 56]

ABCon is an ERP consulting firm. For the past 15 years ABCon has been implementing ERP systems for it clients. So far, ABCon has followed traditional project management approaches and is now considering piloting Agile on a relatively small and less complex ERP upgrade project that requires a single small team and then trying it on a more complex green-field ERP implementation project for another client that requires multiple Agile teams. If the pilot is not successful, what must ABCon do?

• Document lessons learned from the pilot project and try avoiding the mistakes made on the more complex project.
• Shelf the Agile transformation program as this is not producing the desired results for the organization.
• Do not try Agile on the more complex project. Instead, address the organizational impediments that prevented the pilot team from working in an Agile way.
• Identify the weaker team members from the team piloting Agile and have them replace with stronger candidates.

Answer explanation

Focusing on individual performances instead of team performance is against the Agile Manifesto. Shelfing the Agile transformation program would be a very drastic step. If using an Agile approach for a single team is not successful, it is recommending not to scale up to using Agile more broadly; instead, it is recommended to address the organizational impediments that prevented the team from working in an Agile way. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 80]

For your upcoming project, you are currently looking for a balanced Agile framework that is neither too narrow in focus nor too prescriptive in detail. You are ideally looking for a process decision framework that integrates several Agile best practices into a comprehensive model. Which of the following Agile frameworks is recommended in this case?

• Scrum
• AgileUP
• Disciplined Agile
• Waterfall

Answer explanation

Waterfall is not an Agile framework. Disciplined Agile (DA) is a process decision framework that integrates several best practices into a comprehensive model. DA was designed to offer a balance between those popular methods deemed to be either too narrow in focus (e.g. Scrum) or too prescriptive in detail (e.g. AgileUP). [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 114]

If the customer wants to incorporate new ideas or features not originally planned into a not-to-exceed time and materials arrangement, which of the following approaches is recommended?

• Converting the not-to-exceed time and material arrangement to a fixed-price arrangement.
• Replacing original work with new work.
• Issuing a new contract for the additional work.
• Adding new work to the scope of work.

Answer explanation

When customers want to incorporate new ideas in a not-to-exceed time and material arrangement, they will have to manage to a given capacity and replace original work with new work. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 78]

Which of the following is the best strategy for prioritizing features?

• Sorting the desired features based on cycle time.
• Sorting the desired features based on business value.
• Sorting the desired features based on ideal days.
• Sorting the desired features based on story points.

Answer explanation

The best strategy is to work on features in the order that optimizes the total value of the project. Story points, ideal days and cycle time are irrelevant to prioritization. [Cohn, M., 2006. Agile Estimating and Planning. 1st ed. Massachusetts: Pearson Education. Page 249]