Understanding PMI Exam Score Reports

While preparing for Project Management Institute (PMI) related exams, it’s highly important to know how the scoring happens and what basis the scoring happens. It’s equally crucial to know when and why you will be considered to have passed or failed the exam. 

PMI provides a number of certification exams. Some of them are:

• Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam,
• Risk Management Professional (RMP) Exam,
• Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) Exam,
• Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) Exam,
• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Exam.

In this article, we will know the importance of ECO, how the exam rates your performance and dissect the PMI Exam Reports. Going forward, I’ll be using scores from varieties of PMI exams, including PMPs because I’ve seen hundreds of them personally. This is also important to know for you as an exam taker. 

In all my PMI exam related books and/or courses, including Agile, I’ve consistently emphasized on the Exam Content Outline (ECO), on which every PMI exam is based upon. For example, the PMP Exam as popularly believed is actually not based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, but on the ECO! The RMP Exam is also not based on the Standard for Risk Management in Portfolios, Programs and Projects, but again on the ECO for the RMP Exam. Similarly, it’s applicable to all other exams such as PfMP or others.

Importance of the ECO

The ECO is important because you will be evaluated on the domains of the ECO. For example, in the PMP Exam, there are 3 domains:

• Domain I - People
• Domain II – Process
• Domain III – Business Environment

You will be evaluated on these domains, the associated tasks and enablers. 

For the RMP exam, there are 5 domains:

• Domain I – Risk Strategy and Planning
• Domain II – Risk Identification
• Domain III – Risk Analysis 
• Domain IV – Risk Response
• Domain V – Monitor and Close and Risks

Again, each of the above domains will have tasks and enablers. You will be evaluated on each domain. 

Now you might be thinking, how do you know you have passed or will pass the exam?

For that, you have to understand the performance rating categories. 

Performance Rating Categories

There are four performance rating categories:

• Above Target (AT): Your performance exceeds the minimum requirements for this exam.
• Target (T): Your performance meets the minimum requirements for this exam.
• Below Target (BT): Your performance is slightly below target and fails to meet the minimum requirements for this exam. Additional preparation is recommended before re-examination.
• Needs Improvement (NI): Your performance is far below target and fails to meet the minimum requirements for this exam. Additional preparation is strongly recommended before re-examination. 

The targets are expressed in ranges. It helps you to see how you scored in the exam with respect to the performance domains. It’s overall performance across all the exam domains. 

A sample exam report has been shown below, where the candidate has passed the exam.  

As you’d noticed in the above figure, it’s clearly written on top: PASS. It means the candidate has passed the exam. 

But then there are multiple zones (ranges) mentioned for the performance categories with multiple color coding. What are they?

Let’s take a real exam report to understand.

Some Real PMI Exam Reports

The below snippet is from a real PMP exam. Here the candidate PMP has successfully cleared the exam and is a certified PMP. You can read the PMP Success Story.

 

As shown above:

• The exam report is divided into two zones: Failing Zone and Passing Zone.
• The final score pointer (the black vertical line with the marker 'YOU' on top) is showing the final result. 
• If the pointer is falling in the failing zone, then you have failed. If the pointer is falling in the passing zone, you have passed the exam. 
• Sometimes the pointer is exactly in the middle! But again, it will still be in the passing or failing zone. 

For the above one, the pointer is in the AT zone (Above Target) and obviously the candidate has scored AT in all PMP exam domains. 

I just informed you that the pointer can be exactly in the middle. Did you read that line? If you have, again note that scoring will still happen! 

The below score report is from a real PMI exam. The candidate was very unlucky here. Just one or two questions correctly answered and the candidate would have been a certified RMP. Sigh! I felt very sad to see this report. 

In the above figure, you can see the pointer is exactly in the middle, but it’s touching the far-end border of the Below Target (BT) zone! If it would have been the near-end border of Target zone, then the candidate would have passed the exam. Good news is that in the 2nd attempt, the candidate did clear the RMP exam and is a certified RMP today.

There are others like the two shown below. Again, these are from real PMI exams. As seen, candidates mostly fail because they follow the wrong providers or coaches. Your provider and coach matter. Both will be instrumental for your successes in the exams.

Another one is shown below from a PMI exam.

Again, notice the statement in the above figure with a pointer in BT zone: The performance is slightly below target. With additional preparation, you have a high chance to clear the exam. 

Now, while for the first one, the pointer is in the Needs Improvement (NI), for the second one the pointer is in the Below Target (BT) zone. 

Also, did you notice the color coding?

If not, re-look at them again. This is typical Red-Orange(Yellow)-Green color coding. 

• If it’s in the NI zone, the color coding will be red.
• If it’s in the BT zone, then the color coding will be orange/yellowish.
• If it’s in the T zone, then the color coding is blue. 
• If it’s in the AT zone, then the color coding will become deep blue. 

At this stage, another question comes-up:

How does this overall performance rating category relate to individual domain related rating categories? 

Let’s take an example to understand. 

This the expected segregation of questions as per the ECO.

Domain Based Segregation

In this case, I’ll take the Risk Management Professional (RMP) Exam. In this case we have five domains and any of the above four performance categories can come for these five domains. 

Let’s say a candidate has scored the following: 

• Risk Strategy and Planning: T 
• Risk Identification: AT
• Risk Analysis: BT
• Risk Response: AT
• Monitor and Close Risks: AT

In this case as the candidate has scored AT and T in most of the domains, except one. Obviously the candidate has passed the exam. And of course, the score pointer will be under the passing range. 

The individual domain related scoring for the above case is shown below. 

As shown above, each domain has a performance rating category and they are color coded. This comes with a pie chart, whereas the overall performance rating category will be in the bar chart.

Various Possibilities 

Now, one of the most important parts is to know if you have passed or failed the exam. In other words, what are the possible combinations in which one can definitely say to pass or fail the PMI exams. 

With absolute certainty, one can say the following:

• If you are scoring Above Target (AT) and/or Target (T) in all exam domains, then you’re definitely going to the exam. Mark the word ‘definitely’. 
• If you are scoring Below Target (BT) and/or Needs Improvement (NI) in all exam domains, then you will definitely fail the exam! Again, mark the word ‘definitely’. 
• If you can score AT in the vast majority of the domains (4 out of 5) and not fall under NI for any domain, then you will pass the exam.

Conclusion

Other than the above ones, nothing can be conclusively said, except the following.

• Never ever fall into the Needs Improvement zone. It will pull your overall score down and highly likely that you will fail the exam. 
• Considering 5 domains, if you have 2 or more NI ratings, then you’d definitely fail the exam!

In other words, don’t leave any domain unprepared (not underprepared). Go through each domain, learn as much as you can, practice as many questions as you can before you appear for the exam. 

I hope you understood the importance of ECO, related domains and how you should target to prepare for PMI related exams.

I wish you all the very best for your PMP, RMP, ACP, PfMP and/or other PMI related exams.

References:

• PfMP Live Lessons - Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back
• PMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back
• RMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back
• ACP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back

ACP Success Story: If You Have Prepared Well for Your PMP Exam, The ACP Exam Will Be A Cakewalk

 By Sandip Kumar Nath, ACP, PMP

Introduction
During my PMP certification preparation, I have already done a good amount of study in Agile concepts. So, I was already in a mindset to get an Agile certification. I’ve been a certified PMP since June, 2021.

Before taking any decision, I had reached out to my mentor, Satya Sir and shared my thoughts.  His first advice to me was to take a break, enjoy the moment of my PMP success, and then go for PMI-ACP. He also informed me that other Agile certificates will explain only about a specific Agile methodology whereas ACP will help me to understand Agile concept as a whole. 

So, I have set my mind to go for PMI-ACP certification to understand Agile deeper and better.

ACP 21 Contact Hours
Every action item should have an owner and estimated time (ETA) associated with it. After completing my 21-hour training, the first thing I did was to fill the ACP exam form and submit.

A week later my application was approved and on the same day I paid the exam fee and scheduled a target date. I targeted for exactly 12 weeks.  

Now my actual preparation has started.

Resources Used
You can use any material you feel comfortable and available to you. But refer to the Agile Practice guide read at least once. This book is very basic and doesn't elaborate much on agile specific methods but gives good clarity on the differences between Traditional Project Management and Agile Project Management.

My primary resources were these: 

• Book: I Want to be a PMP, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash 
• Book: Essential Scrum by Kenneth Rubin and Latest Scrum Guide

As I am a PMP, it helped me a lot in my preparation for the ACP exam. I have again gone back and studied the book, I Want to be a PMP by Satya Sir, but this time I have read only the topics which were relevant for Agile concepts.

As mentioned earlier, I passed PMP on 19th June 2021. And I felt 70% of the questions asked in the PMP exam were based on agile concepts. My personal experience in PMI-ACP was, if you have prepared really well for your PMP exam, your ACP exam will be a cakewalk. I was mentally prepared that I will not get any direct questions and the same happened in the real exam.

You can read my PMP Success Story here:
PMP Success Story: Focus, Consistent Practice and Self-Belief Will Make You A PMP

Own Study
I had a simple plan and as per this plan, I wanted to put around 400 to 450 hours of study. It includes the Books, Blogs, Articles, available Questions and Answers. There were enough. So, I had planned for 4-5 hours per day for the next 12 weeks.

In addition, I followed this free course from scrum alliance.
Name of the course: Introduction to Scrum (https://scrumalliance.learnupon.com/store/804338-introduction-to-scrum) and PM Prepcast Simulator

My preparation was smooth and I faced no difficulty in preparing or submitting the application form.  

ACP Exam Experience
My exam was scheduled center based on 10th March 2023 but Pearson canceled it. So, I again booked the slot in Pearson Shivaji Nagar Branch, Bangalore on 19th April 2023, 8am.

I had taken my PMP exam from home but this time I have decided to take my ACP exam from Pearson. Though I did not face difficulties by taking the exam from home last time, I still encourage you all to go to the center and give the exam.

Both taking the ACP exam from home and center have their pros and cons. For example, while taking the exam from home: 

• You have your own known and comfortable environment; at the same time, you must make sure that you have a reliable internet connection.
• Ensure to find a quiet place so that you can concentrate on the exam.

If you are taking the ACP exam from center:

• Please do not carry anything except a valid ID (Aadhar ID is not accepted).

I reached around 7:20am to the center and after all formality I hope I have started my exam around 8 am.

 
ACP Exam Taking Strategy

I followed the below ones while taking the exam.

• My first and foremost strategy was to make myself as calm as possible. 
• I was mentally prepared that this exam will NOT be easy with a positive note that I WILL PASS.
• I always read the question first so that I will NOT miss key words like NOT, LEAST, MOST, EXCEPT, ALL, ALWAYS, NEVER etc. This is crucial, otherwise I will choose the wrong answer. 
• Then I read the scenario or the problem statement to understand which context the question was asked. 
• Final step to read all given answers choices and choose the correct option(s). 
• Time management was a big factor.  My plan was to take 60 min per 40 questions.

Type of Questions Faced in the ACP Exam
Below is my experience with the types of questions faced. 

• I had NO direct questions, NO key words. All questions were scenario-based.
• Around 80% of questions were one or two liners. Very few questions had three to four sentences or more. 
• I faced NO mathematical questions. Hence, I did not use calculator.
• For your exam, you need to be very clear about roles/responsibilities of Stakeholders (Internal and External).
• Many ACP exam questions were from Agile events, Stakeholders, Agile Team. These will be related to ACP Exam Domains.

During the exam, there will be some interruptions due to candidate movements and mouse click sounds! But I used the headset given me which helped a lot. This you can’t use at home if you opt to take an exam from home.   

In addition, as per exam rule you have to report 30 minutes before your scheduled time. So, it is always better if you reach a little early.

Suggestions for ACP Aspirants
Dos

• Fix the exam date ASAP. Until you do not have the exam date, you will NOT be able to plan and execute your preparation.
• Focus is the key. Focus on your study plan, focus on the topic you are studying now, focus while answering questions. 
• Try to understand each topic you read and make your own notes while reading. 
• During the exam usually, you can eliminate two answers easily but if you have difficulty in choosing between two, re-read the QUESTION first.
• If the above step is not working for you, re-read the problem statement which has a lot of distractions and unnecessary information, considering the real question.

Don’ts 

• During the exam, never think about the previous question(s) you already answered or the performance of your previous section. 
• Avoid brain dump if possible. Please do not take unnecessary tension before the exam and brain dump will NOT help you in the exam.

Conclusion
It's a pleasure and privilege to write my experience and share with you readers. I believe, it will help you in your endeavor to be a PMI-ACP.

Wish you all the best for your ACP exam.

Brief Profile: Sandip Kumar Nath, PMP, ACP
Senior Manager – Delivery, Datamatics.
 

ACP Live Lessons - Guaranteed Pass:

• ACP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back

ACP 21 Contact Hours Course:

• ACP 21 Contact Hours Online Course - Full Money Back Guarantee

Book for PMI-ACP Exam:

• Book for ACP Exam Prep: I Want To Be A PMI-ACP, Secon Edition

PMI-ACP Success Stories:

• PMI-ACP Live Lessons Success Story: ACP Live Lessons is the Best Way to Earn Your PMI-ACP Credential
• PMI-ACP Success Story: Agile is Essential for Delivering Customer Value and ROI – Early and Continuously
• PMI-ACP Success Story: Learn Agile Concepts in Greater Depth To Earn This Credential
• PMI-ACP Success Story: Innovation Games Make The Difference!
• PMI-ACP Success Story: Agile is Transforming The IT Industry and ACP Credential Equips You to Lead this Transformation
• PMI-ACP Success Story: Being Agile and Thinking In Agile Way Help To Crack The Exam

Earned Value Management (EVM) in Agile Development

In this article, we are going to explore Earned Value Management (EVM), a widely used traditional management technique, but we are going to look at it within the context of an Agile domain.

Let’s consider an example scenario. A product manager, who works for a large aircraft manufacturing organization in the United States, follows a hybrid model of development and, with his team, releases a new version of aircraft handling software every couple of weeks. At the start of each iteration, he may be unsure about the applicability of earned value analysis, measurement, and management within Agile. His main questions may be:

• How can we apply EVM while following an Agile approach? Is it natural?
• With frequent scope changes, how does one determine what to measure against?
• Scope change is also frequent on the iteration level! How can we incorporate EVM metrics in such cases?

To understand EVM, one needs to understand the concept of baseline, first and foremost. In EVM terminology, baseline is further defined as the performance measurement baseline (PMB). Let’s first define PMB, because, as I’ve seen, the lack of clarity regarding EVM is typically due to lack of PMB understanding. 

Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB)

The PMB is a virtual (not physical) baseline integrating scope, schedule, and cost baselines. In other words, PMB is the time-phased budget of authorized work for a project or program.

EVM is fundamentally based on this baseline–irrespective of chosen life cycle, be it predictive (Traditional), adaptive (Agile), or any other. It doesn’t matter how many iterations (or sprints, if in Scrum) you have or how frequently the scope changes. For EVM, it matters where and how you are setting your baseline. We will see shortly where the baseline is an Agile context. As EVM integrates scope, schedule, and cost, it’s quite a powerful technique. This is shown in the below figure.

 

Another issue occurs when management practitioners incorrectly interpret earned value as being business value. Earned value is not business value, rather it’s the value that you have earned in terms of money after completing the work. Hence, it’s actually a measure of work performance or performance against the set baseline or PMB.

With these fundamentals in mind, let’s now consider the foundational metrics in EVM. 

Foundational Metrics in EVM

The foundational metrics in traditional EVM are noted in the below table. I call them the foundational (or basic) metrics, because, based on these metrics, current and future performance metrics are derived.

As you go through the metrics in EVM, one key thing is to remember is this: everything is in terms of money. The budget, of course, will be in terms of money, and the work planned and work performed or executed, will also be in terms of money in this case.

We will look at the usage of these foundational metrics for Agile development shortly. Note that with these foundational metrics in place, we derive performance metrics of EVM.  

Current Performance Metrics in EVM

The current performance metrics used to calculate EVM are noted in the below table for a Traditional environment. I call these metrics current performance metrics, because the measurement happens on the status date, data date, or record date. The good news is, that these foundational metrics remain the same for Agile projects and/or programs.  Keep reading, as we are going to reuse these performance metrics in the next section.

It’s pertinent to note the behavior of SV and CV. If they are positive or negative, then the project or program is ahead of or behind schedule and cost, respectively. Similarly, if SPI and CPI are above or below 1.0, then the project or program is ahead of or behind schedule and cost, respectively. 

Using EVM in Agile Approaches

When using EVM in an Agile approach or environment, we circle back to the concept of baseline. In Agile projects, the baseline at the release level, not at an iteration level must be considered.

You may be wondering why. In Agile approaches, work is considered “done” at the end of each iteration (or sprint). While it’s true that story points are used to relatively estimate work items being taken-up, work is not considered to be fully “done” until the end of the iteration. If an item is not done, then it’s usually pushed into the next iteration. Hence, measurement during an iteration adds no value. This is because the work can’t be complete/done (or incomplete/not-done) mid- iteration.

If a story is complete, only then is it considered “done.” If a story is partially complete, (say only transition testing is remaining, then it’s not considered to be “done” at all). As you can see, it’s futile to have a baseline at an iteration level.

Are you wondering now how to calculate the performance measurement baseline (PMB) at a release level?

Simply add up the number of story points that you have planned for the release. While the PMB is at the level of the release, we do the measurement at the end of every iteration. In other words, our status date or data date is set for the end of the iteration. This is because, at the end of the iteration, we know the amount of work completed or “done.” And, this work counts towards velocity. Velocity, as explained in this article, also can inform the number of iterations in a release. You can decide to have measurement at the end of any iteration – iteration 1, iteration 2, and/or iteration-N.

A (product) backlog-based representation with earned value related calculations is depicted in the figure below.

As shown, the EV, PV, and AC values are calculated on the status/data date, which occurs at the completion of the iteration. The PMB is set for the release, and this also informs the budget at completion (BAC) for the release.

Next, we will consider the metrics associated with EVM in an Agile environment. 

EVM Metrics in Agile Approaches

The foundational EVM metrics used in Agile are noted in the below table with explanations. As you can see, the traditional metrics of EV, PV, AC, and BAC are also taken-up in Agile development; however, the explanation and understanding with respect to Agile contexts are different.

The values for PV, EV, and AC are calculated at the end of every iteration (you can set the status date as of the end of the concerned or considered iteration), whereas the BAC is determined at the release level. This is in sync with the backlog-based representation that we saw earlier.

The budget at completion (BAC) at the release level will be calculated as follows:

Budget at Completion (BAC)

= Total budget for the release

= Number of Items in the Release * Cost per backlog items (or cost per PBI)

For every item in the backlog (PBIs), cost is usually considered, which is one of the key product prioritization factors.

Now that we have the BAC, we can easily calculate the EV and PV, respectively with the below formulas:

First taking PV, the formula will be:

Planned Value (PV)

= Percentage of planned complete * BAC

= % of planned complete * BAC.

Earlier I said, PV, EV, and AC, etc. are calculated as of the status/data date or the iteration completion date. Considering an scenario where you have five iterations in a release and you are measuring at the end of the 2nd iteration, we’d see the following: case:

Percentage (%) of planned complete

= Iteration number / Number of iterations

= 2/5

= 40%

The formula for earned value (EV) will come out as shown below.

Earned Value (EV)

= Percentage of actual complete * BAC

= % of actual complete * BAC.

Why are we considering percentage of percentage of actual complete for EV? It’s because earned value is the value that you have earned by completing the work or having “done” the work.

To determine the percentage of actual completed work, you have to consider the stories that have been completed at the end of an iteration. Let’s say you have completed 40 story points worth of work out of 200 in a release, and you’re at the end of 2nd iteration. The percentage is calculated as follows:

Percentage (%) of actual complete

= Story points completed (or done) / Total story points

= 40/200

= 20%

I’ve summarized the calculations in the below table. 

So far, we have shown small examples with respect to BAC, PV, EV, and AC. Based on these metrics, we can easily calculate the current performance metrics of SV, CV, SPI, and CPI using the formulas mentioned in Table – 2.

For this purpose, let’s take an example from the course, ACP Live Lessons, Guaranteed Pass, to compute the associated metrics. A dedicated set of videos are available in the Live Lessons course.

An Example – EVM In Agile

A project is being released in an Agile mode. Below are the details for the project:

• Product Backlog = 500 story points
• In the first release = 200 story points
• Velocity = 25 points per iteration
• Cost per point = $1600
• At the end of 1st iteration, actual cost incurred was $30,000.
• At the end of 1st iteration, story points completed were 20 story points.

With this, we can determine the following.

• Budget at Completion (BAC)
• Number of Iterations
• Planned value per iteration (PV) and Earned Value (EV) for the first iteration
• Schedule Variance (SV) and Cost Variance (CV)
• Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and Cost Performance Index (CPI)

If you have understood so far, you can try it on your own and determine the values being asked in the above questions.

To confirm your understanding and reaffirm your answer, the solution is noted below.

Budget at Completion (BAC)

= Cost per point * Number of story points

= $1600 * 200

= $320,000

Total number of Iterations

= Story points in a release / Velocity

= 200 / 25

= 8

Percentage (%) of planned complete at the end of first iteration

= Iteration number / Total number of iterations 

= 1 / 8

= 12.5%

Percentage (%) of actual complete at the end of first iteration

= Total number of story points completed / Total number story points planned

= 20 / 200

= 10%

Now that we have the needed values, let’s calculate the other associated metrics of PV, EV, and AC.

Planned Value (PV) for the iteration

= % of planned complete * BAC

= 12.5% * $320,000

= $40,000

Earned Value (EV) for the iteration

= % of actual complete * BAC  

= 10% * $320,000

= $32,000

The actual cost (AC), as mentioned in the question

= $30,000.

With these calculations, we can now determine the current performance metrics of the project at the end of the first iteration.

Schedule Variance (SV)

= EV – PV

= $32,000 – $40,000

= – $8,000

Cost Variance (CV)

= EV – AC

= $32,000 – $30,000

= + $2,000

Look at Table – 2. One could say the release is behind schedule and under budget by looking at the performance metrics of SV and CV, respectively. This is because SV is negative (bad), whereas CV is positive (good).

Next, let’s determine the values for SPI and CPI.

Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

= EV / PV

= $32,000 / $40,000

= 0.8 

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

= EV / AC

= $32,000 / $30,000

= 1.07

Again, referring to Table – 2, you could say the release is behind schedule and under budget by looking at the performance metrics of SPI and CPI, respectively. This is because SPI is below one (bad), whereas CPI is above one (good). 

Representation in S-Curve

Like a traditional EVM, in Agile context, you can also depict the various EVM metrics in an S-curve. These curves are frequently used in many projects to depict the progress and status reporting. However, your perspective has to change/adapt for the Agile context.

An S-curve showing BAC, EV, PV, AC, SV, and CV is shown in the below figure. 

The BAC is at the release level. The PMB line is along the EV curve. Our status date or data date is at the completion of Iteration – 3, and, on this date, we are measuring the foundational metrics of PV, EV and AC, as well as the current performance metrics of SV, SV, and hence, associated SPI and CPI. When you combine this representation with estimated story points in the product backlog, you can have the release burn-up chart. 

Video – EVM in Agile

As we close, I want to summarize the foundations of EVM in Agile in the below video, taken from the course, ACP Live Lessons [duration: 13m:06s]. This video notes certain key points you should keep in mind when calculating earned value in an Agile domain. It also further explains the above S-curve. For the best experience, you may want to go full-screen in HD mode and plug-in your earphones.

With this, I believe, I leave you with the fundamentals of earned value management executed in Agile environments.

If you have comments, suggestions, or new ideas, please do share them below.

--

This article was first published by MPUG.com on 22nd September, 2020. This is a refined version.

References

[1] Course: ACP Live Lessons, Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] Book: I Want To Be A PMI-ACP: The Plain and Simple Way, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] Course: ACP 21 Contact Hours, with Money Back Guarantee, by Satya Narayan Dash

Agile Asanas: Scrum Sprint Inputs and Outputs 2021 (Sprint I/O)(1)

The Scrum Guide has changed and it has come with a number of new concepts such as Product Goal, Lean Thinking, Commitment based Artifacts, among others. With the new Scrum Guide, you can also see changes to the various events of Scrum. 

[ This post is part of the Agile Asanas series. 

To read all posts in Agile Asanas series, use this link. ]

For the earlier edition of Sprint IOs, you can refer the below link: 

PMI-ACP Prep: Agile Scrum - Sprint I/O (Inputs and Outputs)

It's one of the most visited posts, however the content is outdated with many new additions in the latest Scrum Framework. Now, let's move to the latest Scrum Framework, 2021!

***

At the heart of Scrum is Sprint, which as per the Scrum Guide 2020 also sets the heartbeat of Scrum.  The rhythm for this heartbeat is set by cadence, which is built by five events in Scrum. Cadence is developed when you have regular Scrum Planning meetings, Sprint retrospectives, Daily Scrums, Sprint reviews and you keep on delivering usable versions of the (product) increment. 

You can learn more on Cadence with the following linked article:

The Rhythmic Dance of Agile with Cadence

Key here is delivering a working product of highest value to the customer – one of the cornerstones of Agile manifesto, i.e., Working Software or Product. As cadence is important, so are the ceremonies (or events) of Scrum, as they build the cadence.

Hence, it is important to know the events of Sprint and what are the inputs and outputs (I/O) of those events. In this article, I’ve not taken various tools such as task board, online spreadsheet, electronic tools such as MS Project Agile. I’ve also not taken various estimation techniques such as planning poker, T-shirt size estimation. They tend to vary a lot from team to team. 

Overview

In total, there are 5 events in Scrum, as noted in the below table.

Figuratively, you can think of Sprint, the container event having these 4 container events. As a Sprint is concluded, an Increment is usually available.  

In some cases, it’s mentioned to be 4 events, which are contained with the Sprint event. These events, along with purposes, duration (timebox), timeline and participants will be the focus on this article. 

It’s also pertinent to note the 3 artifacts in Scrum, along with the associated commitments, which are represented in the below table.

There are also 3 formal roles in Scrum and all part of a single team–the Scrum Team. 

There are 4 events (or ceremonies) in Scrum. Note that these are all contained events.

1. Sprint Planning
2. Daily Scrum
3. Sprint Review
4. Sprint Retrospective

Now, for each event the inputs and outputs are as follows. 

Event – 1: Sprint Planning

When? Happens after the Sprint review of the previous sprint, but before the first Daily Scrum of the current Sprint.

Who? The participants are: Product Owner, Developers and the Scrum Master

Others, e.g., subject matter experts or domain specialists can be invited into this meeting.

How Long? Timeboxed to a maximum of 8 hours for one-month Sprint. Length will be less for shorter Sprints, e.g., 4 hours for 2 weeks Sprint.

What For? Sprint planning, as the name tells, plans for the work and forecasts the functionality to be developed during the Sprint.

Inputs: 

• Refined Product Backlog: Product backlog, before presented in the Scrum planning, has to be refined (also referred as backlog refinement) by the Product Owner. Refining means having fine grained items ordered on top of the Product Backlog with ID, description, estimation, and value.  
• Product Goal: A long-term, single objective for the Scrum Team, which informs the future state of the product. The product goal is developed by the product owner and is communicated to the team. The Product Goal is part of the Product Backlog.
• Projected/Estimated Team Capacity: It is a simple calculation considering the length of the team, number of developers (and sometimes availability of the team members)
• Projected Velocity: It is the past performance of the team. It is kind of yesterday’s weather. It may or may not be available, e.g., for the 1st Sprint, it won’t be available.
• Definition of Ready: I'm taking this term from Scrum Guide. Ready means the story that can be done by the Scrum Team in one Sprint are pulled from the Product Backlog to Sprint Backlog.
• Key Stakeholders: Subject matter experts or domain specialists can be invited into this meeting among others (as needed).

Outputs:

• Updated Product Backlog: As the items are pulled into the Sprint backlog, there will be discussion on the product backlog items. Some of the product backlog items are likely to be updated.
• Sprint Goal: The single objective of the current Sprint. Should be in terms of business value to be delivered. The Sprint Goal is part of the Sprint Backlog.
• Sprint Backlog: It has the forecasted product backlog items that will be delivered in the Sprint. It also has the plan for delivering the work items, in decomposed form, so as to have the product increment.
• Sprint Review Date: This is the demo date. Sprint gives the usable version of the product. On the demo date, the product increment is demonstrated. 
• Estimated Velocity: After the development team takes up the product items that can be done in this Sprint, the estimated velocity is known.
• Development Activities: The product backlog items are broken down (or decomposed) into development tasks or activities by team members. They can take help from technical specialists or SMEs who are invited to the meeting. 
• Definition of Done (DoD): A checklist of items with quality criteria. When the product backlog item selected into the Sprint Backlog meets the DoD, it is considered to be complete. The Scrum Guide 2020 puts it quite well and says:
  "When a backlog item meets the DoD, an Increment is born."

For Part 2 of Sprint IOs, use the below link.

Agile Asanas: Scrum Sprint Inputs and Outputs 2021 (Sprint I/O) – Part 2

References:

[1] Online Course: PMI-ACP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] Online Course: PMI-ACP 21 Online Contact Hours, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] Book: I Want To Be An ACP, the Plain and Simple Way to be a PMI-ACP, 2nd Edition, by Satya Narayan Dash

[4] A Deeper Look: Top Changes in the New 2020 Scrum Guide for Agile Practitioners, published by MPUG, US

[5] The 2020 Scrum Guide, by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland

ACP Live Lessons Review – One Stop Solution to Ace the PMI-ACP Exam

By John P S Oliver, PMI-ACP, PMP, RMP, PMI-PBA

During my preparation for the Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP®) exam from Project Management Institute (PMI) ®, I’ve prepared strongly to clear the exam. It’s not an easy exam like 2-days Scrum Master course or a Product Owner course, which almost everyone gets!

A question that frequently comes is this:

Is the ACP exam needed for a professional and does it truly help? 

With Agile being widely practiced not only in IT software projects but also in non-IT projects today, the PMI-ACP certification certainly adds value to one’s knowledge and career. This complements the reason why PMI-ACP is one of the fastest growing certifications in the world today. With the booming start-ups, certified agile practitioners are in high demand and having the PMI-ACP certification is certainly a differentiator in the market.

I’ve gone through this course of ACP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass course in-depth. I’ve also checked the lesson-end as well as full-length questions. Below is my detailed review.

Why this Course?

Let’s start with the Unique Selling Point (USP) of this course. This course provides you with all the concepts and knowledge gathered from all the reference books (10+) prescribed by PMI for the ACP examination. For example, you have books for Scrum in detail, two books for Kanban, and multiple other books related to Agile. Hence, this course virtually makes it a one stop study guide for passing your PMI-ACP examination. 

The bonus is that it comes with a full Money Back guarantee which speaks a lot about the confidence of the author in his material.

Top Advantages

Some of the top advantages of this course are as follows:

• This is a complete course since it starts from explaining the PMI-ACP certification, its background, prerequisites, application procedure, exam fees, and exam pattern all the way to maintaining your PMI-ACP certification once you have achieved it. 
• The course is structured in such a way that it follows the Agile Practice Guide, which is a key guide for the examination.
• This course also provides you with the mandatory training hours required for qualifying to apply for the PMI-ACP exam.
• This course is so comprehensive that it will not only enable the student to pass the PMI-ACP exam if they prepare well but will also provide them with the knowledge required to practice agile values, principles and approach in real time projects.

Course – ACP Live Lessons: Key Features

Following are the key aspects of the course – which I found to be unique and distinct.

• This course is well organized with relevant chapters and topics following the Agile Practice Guide.
• Each lesson starts with the respective list of domains, sub domains, tasks, tools and techniques (T&Ts) and knowledge and skills (K&S) from the exam content outline (ECO) applicable to the lesson. This helps us in relating the ECO to specific topics / situations which is very useful from exam point of view
• The durations of the videos are short - the longest being 11 or 12 minutes. This helps the students in a couple of ways:
• With most students being working professionals and pursue the course in between their work from home, they can easily bookmark and return to the videos in case of a break.
• They can easily go back to topics that they want to refer or revise.
• The author uses real life and practical examples to explain the concepts in plain English which makes it easy for the students to understand.
• The author keeps updating the course in response to changes in the underlying reference material so that the students are up to date with the changes to curriculum.

Most Helpful Topics

Below are some of the topics that helped me the most:

• Explanation of various agile framework and methodologies
• SCRUM, XP, KANBAN, LEAN
• Their similarities and differences
• Scrum events
• Scrum Artefacts
• Conflict Management
• Tools and Techniques for Requirements Elicitation
• Prioritization Factors
• Features and Benefits
• Various Agile Exercises
• User Stories

This course covers all concepts related to Agile including advanced Agile Management. This helps you to get a holistic knowledge of Agile and not just from an exam point of view alone. This will come in handy when you practically apply agile in your real time projects.

Question Sets

While the lesson-end questions provided me with an opportunity to test my knowledge and understanding of the lesson, the full-length questions prepared me for the exam. 

The one that helped me the most in my understanding of agile principles was "Lesson – 10: Various Agile Exercises". This is truly a differentiator and helps you master agile practices.

Specific and Important Videos 

This is a complete video set and all videos should be viewed in combination to get an overall understanding of the course. There are some videos that I believe are more useful in understanding the concepts better.

• Videos: 3.1.35, 36 – Characteristics of Information Radiators
• Video: 3.1.44 – Collaboration vs. Coordination
• Video: 3.2.10 – Scrum Events – Figure
• Video: 4.1.7 – Features, Benefits, Agile Business Value
• Video: 4.1.14,15 – Prioritization Factors
• Video: 4.1.25, 26 – Backlog Refinement
• Video: 4.1.51 – Agile Contracting Techniques
• Video: 5.1.8 – Stakeholder levels and classification models 
• Video: 5.1.16 – 27 Eliciting Stakeholder Requirements to Collaboration Games
• Video: 6.1.12 – Agile Team – Roles and Responsibilities
• Video: 6.1.14 to 6.1.20 – Building Agile Teams to Team Motivation
• Video: 7.1.19, 20 – User Stories and Type of Stories
• Video: 7.1.61 – Agile Earned Value Management (Agile EVM)
• Video: 8.1.10 – Technical Debt
• Video: 8.1.12 to 23 – Risk Management in Agile
• Video: 9.1.23, 24 – Value Stream Mapping
• Video: 9.1.31 to 45 – Retrospectives

It’s pertinent to note that throughout the course, the author uses various examples and snapshots to explain the concepts and metrics:

• For example, a real-time user for Personas helps you to not only understand the concept but also provides you with a template to use in real life projects. 
• Some other useful snapshots are the Kanban Board, Task Board, Burn down chart, Fishbone diagram.

The PMI-ACP formula gold card is very useful as I had received a couple of formula-based questions especially on Agile EVM and EMV.

One of the highlights of this course is the yogic vision and yogic revision tips throughout the lessons which induces you to revise important concepts and points from the exam point of view. The tips for before/during/after the exam will guide you to prepare for the exam in an assured way.

Lessons in the Course – ACP Live Lessons

This course has multiple Lessons (from “Welcome” to “Lesson - 12”). Following are some of the important notes for each lesson. 

Lesson – 1: Welcome

The course starts with the “Welcome” lesson which provides you with an overview of this ACP Live Lessons course including details about the Author, his qualification and experience, how to approach this course, and the money back guarantee criteria. In fact, I don’t think moneyback guarantee is needed because I am sure anybody who goes through this course and takes the exam with due preparation will only have success as the outcome.

With this course you will also get the 21 contact hours certificate required for taking the exam (in my opinion, a Big Bonus). This welcome session helps us in getting started with the course.

Lesson – 2: Introduction

This lesson provides the background and overview of PMI certifications and the uniqueness of PMI-ACP certification. It covers the pre-requisites, exam content outline, exam structure, performance domains, tools and techniques, knowledge and skills of PMI-ACP certification. This lesson also provides information on the cost, blueprint and process of the PMI-ACP exam along with guidelines for filling up the application form and maintaining your PMI-ACP certification once you have earned it. 

In short, this lesson helps us in understanding the PMI-ACP certification and sets us on our journey to achieving the PMI-ACP certification.

Lesson – 3: Agile Principles and Mindset (Duration: Over 5 hours)

This lesson covers agile frameworks and approaches. This session covers all Domains, Sub Domain, Tasks, Tools & Techniques and Knowledge & Skills. I had questions on Scrum, XP, Kanban and Lean approaches. 

The lesson helped me through the exercises to remember, yogic vision and yogic revision tips. Especially the Artefacts and Events related to the approaches were presented in a coherent and easy to recall manner. I received a few questions on Scrum roles, events and Artefacts, Information radiators. 

Lesson – 4: Value Driven Delivery (Duration: Neary 4 hours)

This is the lesson that generates the MOST number of questions in the exam. 

I received quite a number of questions in my exam as well. This lesson covers Features and Benefits, User Stories, Accounting Principles, Prioritization factors and Techniques, Backlog Refinement, Risk Adjusted Backlog, Scrum and Kanban, EMV, DoD, Agile Contracts, Compliance, among others.

Lesson – 5: Stakeholder Engagement (Duration: Over 3 hours) 

I received a couple of questions from this lesson. 

This lesson informs in detail on Agile Business Case, Elements of Project Charter, Tools and Techniques for elicitation – Personas, Collaboration games, Communication Options and effectiveness, Synchronous and Asynchronous communication, Levels of listening, Conflict Resolution Strategies, among others.

Lesson – 6: Team Performance (Duration: Nearly 3.5 hours)

Some important topics in this lesson are Modes in Training, Coaching and Mentoring, Levels of coaching, Osmotic Communication, Characteristics of Agile teams, Velocity, Various performance tracking tools etc. 

Burn down charts is another important topic. I received a couple of questions on velocity and burn down charts. 

Lesson – 7: Adaptive Planning (Duration: Over 4 hours)

Important topics from this lesson are Agile Discovery, DEEP Characteristics, User Stories, Story Map, Various estimation techniques, and Agile EVM.

In my ACP exam, I received questions on User Stories, Estimation Techniques and Agile EVM.

Lesson – 8: Problem Detection and Resolution (Duration: Nearly 3 hours)

In my exam, there were questions from this domain as well. It covers Risk Management, Cycle Time and Lead Time, Throughput, Variance and Trend Analysis, Problem Solving Techniques, among others in depth.

Lesson – 9: Continuous Improvement (Duration: Nearly 3.5 hours)

Retrospectives is one of the most important topics from an exam point of view, please be thorough in your understanding of retrospectives – their objective, timing, participants, duration, input, output etc. 

I had a couple of questions on retrospectives, all situational. I also had questions from other areas. This lesson discusses Kaizen, Hybrid Model, Seven Wastes and Value Stream Mapping, Pre-Mortem, Fishbone analysis, Agile Coach – Success and Failure modes.

Lesson – 10: Various Agile Exercises (Duration: 1.5 hours)

This is a bonus for the video lessons and a key differentiator. These exercises provide a great way to measure your level of understanding of the agile concepts and revisit and revise them.

Lesson – 11: 6 Full Length Question and Answer Sets

The questions are of high quality and exhaustive. While the PMI-ACP book has only 3 full sets, the ACP Video Lessons has 6 full length questions and answers and your scores on this will serve as an indicator of your readiness to take up the exam.

Lesson – 12: Final Talk (06m 15s)

This session provides you with tips to prepare for PMI-ACP before, during and after the exam. The PMI-ACP formula gold cards provide you with a ready reckoner of the various formulas used in Agile and will be helpful in your exam.

Brief Profile: 

Name: John P S Oliver, PMI-ACP, PMP, RMP, PMI-PBA

Current Role: Supply Chain Manager

Brief experience details: 23+ years of in ITES operations and project management across BFSI, Healthcare, Telecom and Retail verticals.

More on ACP Live Lessons - Guaranteed Pass:

• ACP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back

ACP 21 Contact Hours Course:

• ACP 21 Contact Hours Online Course - Full Money Back Guarantee

Book for PMI-ACP Exam:

• Book for ACP Exam Prep: I Want To Be A PMI-ACP, Secon Edition