Information Technologies & Business and Management Agile Project Management Certificate Program Accelerate Your Career extension.uci.edu/agile
Improve Your Career Options with a Professional Certificate University of California, Irvine Extension s professional certificate and specialized studies programs help you increase or enhance your current skills or prepare for a new career. Courses are highly practical and instructors are qualified leaders in their field. Convenient online courses make it easy to learn on your own time, in your own way. A certificate bearing the UC seal signifies a well-known, uncompromising standard of excellence. Agile Project Management Certificate Program Annual employer demand for individuals with Agile development and program management skills has increased by 32% nationally since June 2010, according to research from the Education Advisory Board. This is in response to business and industry transitioning from a more rigid process-driven culture to a customer and business value-driven approach. High profile products such as Apple s ipad owe their commercial success to the Agile techniques used during their development. For business executives, the key issue is not if but when, and under what circumstances, to incorporate Agile techniques. The Gartner research group reports that more than 80% of all software development projects are now managed using Agile. Once a technique used exclusively for small scale projects, Agile is now commonly applied to large, company-wide projects at corporations such as Google, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, and GE in both software development and internal information technology infrastructure projects. Because of its applications beyond IT, Agile Project Management techniques are now being adopted in industries such as engineering, product development, healthcare, financial services, and commercial products.
The Agile Project Management certificate is designed to help students become change agents within their organizations, leading projects and motivating operational and cultural changes that drive innovation, lower risk, improve collaboration and customer satisfaction, and deliver high quality, timely business value. The required curriculum focuses on developing a comprehensive understanding of the management and coaching techniques, frameworks, and tools required to successfully implement Agile within an organization. To align with the needs of students from a variety of industries, elective courses have been grouped into two areas of study: (1) Business Operations and (2) Software and Product Development. Who Should Enroll This program is intended for professionals who wish to expand their knowledge of Agile Project Management in order to optimize business performance in a wide range of industries including software development, high tech products, engineering, commercial products, healthcare, logistics, and financial services. The Agile Project Management program is often the logical next step for project and program managers, project team members, and those who currently hold the Project Management Professional certificate (PMP) or are seeking the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) designation. Program Benefits Learn the skills needed to apply Agile techniques to a broad range of industries and projects Online program consists of group projects to prepare students to work in large, distributed, virtual teams Effectively manage unclear or changing customer requirements using continuous, highly interactive planning Learn to transition your management style from rigid frameworks and plans to a culture of support, empowering and inspiring team members Become a strong servant-leader by gaining the fundamentals to keep projects on track while contributing to the organization s bottom line Utilize iterative and incremental processes that focus on team and customer collaboration and continuous improvement, using project reflections and daily standup meetings Improve operational efficiencies using small, crossfunctional, self-organizing teams Increase visibility and adaptability while decreasing risk by dividing work into smaller, prioritized tasks, and regularly integrating the work Frequently test incremental project progress against user s stories and customer feedback to ensure you are meeting their needs Gain powerful insights, techniques and skills to successfully coach a new or existing Agile team Report on metrics such as burndown charts, iteration tables and Agile earned value management Differentiate between and utilize traditional, Agile, and hybrid frameworks such as Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), and Lean, and select the most suitable for the specific domain and project Understand the use of commercial software tools that support Agility such as Rally and VersionOne For class schedule: extension.uci.edu/agile
Certificate Requirements To earn the Agile Project Management Certificate, participants must complete one (1) required course and twelve (12) units of elective courses for a minimum of fifteen (15) units or 150 hours of instruction, with a letter grade of C or better. To become an official candidate in the program, students pursuing the certificate must submit a Declaration of Candidacy. To receive the certificate after completing all program requirements, students must submit a Request for Certificate. All requirements must be completed within five (5) years after the student enrolls in his/her first course. Students not pursuing the certificate program are welcome to take as many individual courses as they wish. Course Sequence Program Fees The total cost of the program varies depending on the electives chosen. Actual fees may differ from the estimate below. Fees are subject to change without prior notice. Course fees $740 per course Candidacy fee $125 Textbooks* (approx. $100 per course) $700 *Available for purchase at the UCI Bookstore (www.book.uci.edu) Corporate Training Extension s Corporate Training specialists can deliver this program or customize one that fits your organization s specific needs. Visit extension.uci.edu/corporate, or call (949) 824-1847 for more information. C O U R S E # R E Q U I R E D C O U R S E U N I T S I&C SCI X494.80 Agile Project Management 3.0 E L E C T I V E C O U R S E S (Choose any 12 Units) Business Operations MGMT X473.4 Agile Facilitation & Coaching 2.0 MGMT X473.5 Agile Planning, Estimating and Scheduling 2.0 MGMT X473.6 Agile Execution and Control 2.0 I&C SCI X494.84 PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Exam Preparation 3.0 I&C SCI X494.91 The Scrum Framework for Agile Project Management 2.5 Software and Product Development I&C SCI X494.83 Agile Development 2.5 I&C SCI X494.85 Agile Software Design and Programming 2.5 I&C SCI X494.87 Test-Driven Development (TDD) 2.0 I&C SCI X494.88 Agile for Software/Hardware Combination Products 2.5 I&C SCI X494.89 Agile Systems Engineering, Product Testing and Validation 2.5 For class schedule: extension.uci.edu/agile
Curriculum Required Course Agile Project Management I&C SCI X494.80 (3 units) Understand and leverage the foundations of Agile techniques and culture within your organization. Frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban will be used to develop practical skills and a clear understanding of the Agile process. Discover how Agile and Lean can perform side-by-side with traditional projects and in hierarchical organizational structures. Explore how Agile is not only a working management method but a different mindset. Discuss what mental and cultural shifts are necessary for Agile adoption. The course will address how the contemporary thinking in management of projects, especially those that are based on PMI s PMBOK Guide and SEI s CMMI, are influenced by Agile and Lean. Case studies on Agile implementation and transitioning will also be discussed. Additional topics covered in the course include: management of programs and portfolios in an Agile environment; how Agile maturity can be measured; and how process management is performed in the Agile world. Elective Courses (choose any 12 units) Business Operations Courses Agile Facilitation and Coaching MGMT X473.4 (2 units) In sports, everyone expects high-performance teams to improve their skills and habits under the watchful guidance of a Coach. Similarly, high-performance software-intensive systems development teams should not be neglected. A good Agile Coach can help teams and organizations to unleash their creativity with professional discipline. In short, great teams need great coaches. How do we become excellent Agile Coaches then? In this course, we will use a framework for Agile Coaching to guide our study of the various necessary knowledge and skill areas. In addition to the core of Lean-Agile practitioner values, principles and habits, the Agile Coach must master process, content and domain focus areas: Professional Coaching and Facilitation are the two main process focus areas; Teaching and Mentoring contribute to the content focus area; Technical Mastery, Business Mastery and Transformational Mastery complete the domain focus areas. In order to perfect their practice, effective Agile Coaches blend skills and wisdom drawn from all these knowledge areas. Agile Planning, Estimating & Scheduling MGMT X473.5 (2 units) Agile planning is central to the discovery of an optimal, iterative solution to the main product development constraints of requirements, timelines, and resources. The Agile project planning approach succeeds for several reasons: due to its focus on features rather than tasks; re-planning occurs frequently; plans are developed at different levels (portfolio, product, release, iteration, day); and because the size of a project is treated as separate from the duration of the project s timeline. Agile teams can plan incrementally, starting with the most important features. Development teams can then determine which of those features they can complete in a specific iteration, typically ranging from two to four weeks in duration. Agile Execution and Control MGMT X473.6 (2 units) When utilizing Agile project planning, Agile Monitoring and Control helps the project stay on track. Agile Project Execution is the implementation of the project plan. Learn how to build project deliverables and utilize iterative methods to reduce the risk of project failure. This course takes a detailed look at the executing and controlling activities of an Agile project. Topics include how to track progress, how to communicate status, team dynamics, managing risk, the rhythm of iterations and daily work, and activities required to close out iterations. For more information: agile@unx.uci.edu Jackie Badwah (949) 824-3413 Vonessa Low (949) 824-7774
Curriculum PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Certification Preparation I&C SCI X494.84 (3 units) Learn the core knowledge and skills required to sit for the Project Management Institute s new PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) exam. A wide range of industries are adopting Agile tools as an adjunct to or replacement for their traditional project management processes. This new certification from PMI is a reflection of the demand for managers that need both traditional and agile project management skills. To sit for the PMI-ACP exam, you are not required to currently hold a project management role or have a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation, but rather have worked on an Agile project team performing Agile project activities. This course not only provides you with the skills covered on the exam, but also supplies you the required Agile project management knowledge for applying Agile techniques in your organization. This course satisfies the 21 Contact Hours required to sit for the PMI-ACP exam. The Scrum Framework for Agile Project Management I&C SCI X494.91 (2.5 units) Based on its continuing high adoption rates, Scrum is now the leading Agile development framework used at more companies than any other method. Scrum includes a small, relatively simple and easy-to-learn set of related practices and rules that have been proven to deliver significant improvements in the operational efficiency of software and product development projects. Learn how Scrum supports the adoption of Agile, and how to navigate the required cultural shifts from key staff including executive management, business analysts, project managers, developers, testers, and documentation writers when implementing these new techniques. Learn how to perform release planning utilizing Scrum and Agile techniques, develop and deploy user stories to estimate tasks prior to planning, and populate and conduct a sprint using case studies. Software and Product Development Courses Agile Development I&C SCI X494.83 (2.5 units) Agile techniques are rapidly becoming integral to the project management process, and are often implemented to motivate the cultural shifts required to stimulate innovation and improve operational efficiency. Learn the important differences between evaluation and tracking of Agile (Scrum- and Kanban-based) and traditional projects. Additional topics include the Agile approach to complex projects using global, multi-cultural teams; key features of the management, use and measurement of contractors on an Agile project; portfolio management; determination of ROI; build vs. buy; and selecting projects best suited for Agile. The use of Agile as a tool to motivate innovative, cultural and organizational change will also be discussed. Industry recognized software tools such as Rally will be used throughout the class to help you understand how to effectively manage projects in an Agile environment. Agile Software Design and Programming I&C SCI X494.85 (2.5 units) Learn the principles, practices, and patterns that result in optimal software design and development. Utilize the best practices from object-oriented design and Agile techniques/frameworks to create design processes and a culture that results in highly effective, clean software to improve organizational efficiencies and create a competitive advantage. Review a variety of case studies from simple to complex in multiple programming languages, illustrating the fundamentals of Agile development and Agile design. Topics include release and iteration planning; test-driven development (TDD); refactoring; Agile design (including design smells and code rot ); single-responsibility (SRP); open closed principle (OCP); Liskov substitution principle (LSP); object and state diagrams; big software design issues; design patterns; class design; complexity management and package design; and the use of OOD and C++ in an Agile environment. For class schedule: extension.uci.edu/agile
Test-Driven Development (TDD) I&C SCI X494.87 (2 units) Test Driven Development (TDD) is a foundational practice utilized by most Agile methods. Like many Agile techniques, it relies on getting developers to think differently when they develop code, and leverage that work to develop an efficient testing methodology. Learn how a user story can drive the development of utilization of acceptance and unit test. Leverage your existing object-oriented design and related Agile initiatives to develop and integrate test and development. Understand how to determine the code smell, and then apply refactoring techniques to improve code quality. Examples of refactoring including design principles, patterns, and testability will be covered. Understand the justification and practice of TDD including installation of xunit and TDD vs. BDD. Issues dealing with class, object clusters, external dependencies, and legacy code will also be covered. Agile for Software/Hardware Combination Products I&C SCI X494.88 (2.5 units) While the roots of Agile are in software, the application of these techniques applies equally to hardware products, as well as to process development organizations. This is especially true for companies that rely on innovation to remain competitive (such as Apple s iphone and ipad products). Learn how to apply Agile techniques in organizations that create physical products, or a combination of physical/software products. Understand the process, tools, and cultural shifts required to gain the documented advantages of agility that already benefit software companies. Utilize Agile techniques to incorporate user stories; simplify design; develop and motivate self-organizing teams; design for and shorten test cycles; and ensure a renewed focus on people and culture to improve flexibility, fuel innovation, and drive business results. Agile Systems Engineering, Product Testing and Validation I&C SCI X494.89 (2.5 units) Global competition has forced product manufacturers and process organizations to dramatically improve their ability to adapt to changing and future user needs, technological advancements, and operating conditions. Learn how to create adaptive product and systems development processes in a collaborative environment that allows for new or modified requirements, or related information that becomes available during the product or system development cycle. The course will focus on the development of adaptive products and processes that, once deployed in the marketplace, can be modified quickly based on new customer requirements or market demand. This course builds on systems engineering fundamentals, and provides an innovative approach for responding to today s dynamic and rapidly changing environments, and maximizes business value. Major topics covered include an overview of Agile methods and comparison to traditional practices; capturing and managing customer needs and requirements; planning and adapting to change; tracking and reporting progress; testing; validating; and building collaborative environments. Case studies will be used throughout the course to demonstrate the practical implementation of Agility in systems engineering. FREE WEBINARS We offer free webinars each quarter that are packed with information about the Agile Project Management program, including upcoming courses, special topics, tips, and career planning resources. Visit extension.uci.edu/events to reserve your space.
Advisory Committee Shawn D. Belling, M.S., PMP, CSM, Vice President, ecommerce, EDL Consulting Mohamed Elmallah, MSc, PMP, OCP, ITIL, CISA Manager of Enterprise Applications and Architecture, Children s Hospital of Los Angeles James Jones, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Informatics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine Rick Hefner, Ph.D., Program Director, California Institute for Technology and Management Education Rashed Iqbal, Ph.D, PMP, PMI-ACP, Consulting Data Scientist Ralf Brockhaus, M.S., CEO, SmileFish Horia C. Slusanschi, Ph.D. CSM, TOGAF, ITIL, CoBIT, Agile Coach, Hewlett Packard Bob Tarne, PMP, CSM, PMI-ACP, Executive Project Manager, IBM Martin Wartenberg, MBA, P.E., Business Consultant and Trainer Agile Project Management Certificate Program agile@unx.uci.edu (949) 824-3413 (949) 824-7774 08.25.14 extension.uci.edu/agile