Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) Exam Prep Course 10 - Continuous Improvement

Domain Tasks 1. Tailor & adapt the project process by periodically reviewing & integrating team practices, organizational culture, & delivery goals in order to ensure team effectiveness within established organizational guidelines & norms. 2. Improve team processes by conducting frequent retrospectives & improvement experiments in order to continually enhance the effectiveness of the team, project, & organization. 3. Seek feedback on the product by incremental delivery & frequent demonstrations in order to improve the value of the product. 4. Create an environment of continued learning by providing opportunities for people to develop their skills in order to develop a more productive team of generalizing specialists. 5. Challenge existing process elements by performing a value stream analysis & removing waste in order to increase individual efficiency & team effectiveness. 6. Create systemic improvements by disseminating knowledge & practices across projects & organizational boundaries in order to avoid re-occurrence of identified problems & improve the effectiveness of the organization as a whole. v. 6.0- Copyright and all rights reserved Looking Glass Development, LLC.

Retrospectives Steps Set the stage Check-in Focus on/focus off ESVP Participants anonymously associate themselves with an identity on slip of paper Explorer, Shopper, Vacationer, Prisoner Working Agreements Gather data Generate insights Decide what to do Close the retrospective Plus/delta Franklin T Helped, hindered, hypothesis Return on time Invested Appreciations v. 6.0- Copyright and all rights reserved Looking Glass Development, LLC.

Pre-Mortem Retrospective tool to solve problems BEFORE project is complete. Rules: Set aside 2 hours of uninterrupted time. All stakeholder MUST be present. The Pre-Mortem must be a face-to-face meeting. One person does nothing but take notes. v. 6.0- Copyright and all rights reserved Looking Glass Development, LLC.

Pre-Mortem Process Spend 1st hour listing every possible problem. Pick top 10 problems. Focus on show-stoppers. Pick problems likely to happen. Discard problems you have no control over. Spend the second hour creating solutions. Create a proactive solution for problems. Define a backup plan. v. 6.0- Copyright and all rights reserved Looking Glass Development, LLC.

Complexity Assessment Far From Agreement Anarchy Complicated Complex Close to Agreement Simple Close to Certainty Complicated v. 6.0- Copyright and all rights reserved Looking Glass Development, LLC. Far From Certainty

Review Questions: 1. PMI s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct focuses on which of the following? A. Service, Protection, Education, Honesty B. Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, Honesty C. Respect, Valor, Honesty, Transparency D. Responsibility, Transparency, Fairness, Honesty 2. When conducting a retrospective, recognized close the retrospective activities include: A. Plus/Delta: Helped, Hindered, Hypothesis; Return on Time Invested; Appreciations B. Plus/Minus, Helped, Hindered, Hoped; Return on Time Invested; Applause C. Plus/Delta; Helped, Hindered, Hoped; Return on Investment; Appreciations D. Plus/Minus; Helped, Hindered, Hypothesis; Return on Time Delivered; Appreciations 3. You have been asked to review a different project team s recently enhanced methodology to assess its effectiveness and desirable characteristics. The types of characteristics that you should be looking for include evidence of: A. A preference for face-to-face communications, significant process weight, recommendations for larger teams to use lighter methods B. A preference for face-to-face communications, not too much process weight, recommendations for larger teams to use lighter methods C. A preference for face-to-face communications, significant process weight, recommendations for larger teams to use heavier methods D. A preference for face-to-face communications, not too much process weight, recommendations for larger teams to use heavier methods 4. The concept of knowledge sharing on an Agile project is best characterized as: A. Encouraged where possible and where the team shows an interest B. Central to many of the practices undertaken C. Undertaken if there is time left at the end of an iteration D. Undertaken principally through stand-up meetings

5. Continuous improvement is a core component of which of the following set of Agile practices? A. Pair programming; daily stand-up meetings; WIP limits B. Story points, daily stand-up meetings; demos, reviews, and retrospectives C. Pair programming; daily stand-up meetings; demos, reviews, and retrospectives D. Story points; daily stand-up meetings; WIP limits 6. When considering process tailoring, it is useful to keep in mind that the network of XP practices is: A. Redundant B. Duplicated C. Optional D. Balanced 7. The recommended stages of executing a retrospective, in sequence, are: A. Decide what to do, set the stage, gather data, generate insights, close the retrospective B. Decide what to do, gather data, set the stage, generate insights, close the retrospective C. Set the stage, decide what to do, gather data, generate insights, close the retrospective D. Set the stage, gather data, generate insights, decide what to do, close the retrospective 8. You are engaging in some process analysis and have been advised to watch out for the standard anti-patterns of poor methodology practice. The types of things you should be on the lookout for are processes that display signs of being: A. One-of-a-kind, disciplined, heavy, embellished B. One-size-fits-all, disciplined, heavy, embellished C. One-size-fits-all, intolerant, heavy, embellished D. One-of-a-kind, intolerant, embellished 9. Process tailoring is best undertaken on Agile projects when: A. There are difficulties in implementing Agile practices B. Experienced practitioners want to address an issue C. The team needs new processes to keep them engaged D. A boost in team velocity is needed to meet the schedule

10. Your project management office (PMI) has suggested your project could benefit from some self-assessment work at the next retrospective. Which of the following benefits would they most likely be looking to achieve from a selfassessment? A. Improve personal and team practices B. Gain insights for salary performance reviews C. Identify personal traits for human resources counseling D. Assess compatibilities for pair programming assignments 11. When undertaking process analysis, what are the success criteria that characterize a useful methodology? A. The project got stopped, sponsorship remained intact, the team would work the same way again B. The project got shipped, leadership remained intact, the team would work the same way again C. The project got shipped, sponsorship remained intact, the team would work the same way again D. The project got shipped, sponsorship remained intact, the team engaged in continuous improvement 12. When adopting a new Agile practice, the general recommendations are to: A. Develop the new approach yourself, try out the practice on local projects, inspect and review the findings early B. Investigate the claims yourself, try out the practice on local projects, inspect and review the findings early C. Investigate the claims yourself, try out the practice in small doses, inspect and review the findings early D. Develop the new approach yourself, try out the practice in small doses, inspect and review the findings early 13. As a manager of an Agile team, when should you collect lessons learned? A. At the end of the project B. Throughout the project C. When projects go well D. When projects go poorly

14. Information exchanges in Agile methods are designed to: A. Facilitate knowledge sharing B. Leverage electronic knowledge-sharing tools C. Maximize resource utilization D. Generate stable specifications 15. Your sponsor is asking about tailoring the company s newly adopted Agile methodology. Your advice should be: A. Tailoring it will be a good way to learn the methodology B. Tailoring it will be a good way to ease into the initial adoption process C. We should tailor it first, then consider adopting it D. We should try it first, then consider tailoring it

Answer Key: 1. B 2. A 3. D 4. B 5. C 6. D 7. D 8. C 9. B 10. A 11. B 12. C 13. B 14. A 15. D