Book Excerpt from "I Want To Be An ACP" - Fundamentals of Value-Driven Delivery

This article is an excerpt from the Book - I Want To Be An ACP. 

It is from Chapter – 3: Value-Driven Delivery. 

For the partial index of the book, refer: Book Index - I Want To Be An ACP.

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Fundamentals of Value-Driven Delivery

“Value-driven delivery” is perhaps the most important domain in PMI-ACP certification. This is what Agile development is primarily focused on – delivering value to the customer, either external or internal. No wonder, maximum number of questions comes from this domain. In fact, the first principle in the Agile Manifesto says this:

“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”

The focus in Agile is delivery of valuable software or simply delivering business value. As a matter of fact, in agile, we are not only focused on value, but on delivery of highest value first (and early) to the customer. 

But, how do you define what gives value? How do you find out which one of the items in the backlog will give the highest value? Or in other words, how do you prioritize among the items giving the most value? In this chapter – Value-Driven Delivery, we will see the answers to these questions.  

This domain’s key tenet is this:

“Provide value based delivery in an incremental way based on priorities. Take feedback and incorporate them for future increments.” 

As per PMI’s Exam Content Outline, “Value-Driven Delivery” domain has 4 sub-domains with related tasks.

. . . 

. . . 

3.2 Business Value 

When we talk of value in any organization, we are primarily talking of business value. But why value is important in Agile? Let’s see. Organizations can be broadly divided into 3 types [9]:

• Profit organization: Organization that yields a return for its owners.
• Nonprofit organization: Organization that uses surplus to help pursue its goal.
• Government organization: Organization under government ownership.

While every organization may not be business or profit driven, every organization conducts business related activities. They conduct these activities to attain business value. In other words, if there is no value from the activities planned to be taken, organizations – for profit or not for profit or government owned - won’t be doing them. 

As defined by PMI [9], “Business value is the entire value of the business. It is the total sum of all tangible and intangible elements.” Business value can be short, medium or long term depending on the organization. And business values are mostly expressed in financial terms for an organization. 

3.3 Features to Benefits to Value 

But, where does value come from? Value comes from benefits, which are delivered by projects inside a program or a portfolio. Value comes up when the benefits are realized in the hands of the customer(s).

PMI [9] defines benefit as: “A benefit is an outcome of actions, behaviors, products or services that provides utility, value or a positive change to the intended recipients, which can be the sponsoring organization as well as the intended stakeholders.” 

Simply put, benefit provides value to the intended stakeholders. Benefits are typically measurable improvements in financial terms, but they can also be intangible or in non-financial terms. Examples of benefits are:

• A 25% increase in revenue or gross margin (financial)
• A 30% increase in sales (financial)
• Improved employee morale (non-financial)
• Faster response time (non-financial)

The projects undertaken by the organization give outputs, not benefits. The outputs from projects undertaken by the organization, are converted to outcomes, which are then translated to benefits. 

Let us take an example. Your project is building a smart phone; hence the output is the “smart phone”, i.e., what product will be delivered by the project? Outcomes tells about the features, i.e., what users can do better with the product created? In this case, with the help of the smart phone, the outcomes are - communication is better and quicker, can access social media round the clock and so on. Then what are the benefits? Benefits are mostly noted in measurable improvements – so in this case by phone we have “response time is reduced to zero” or “communication cost reduce by 50% over landlines” and so on.

So, to sum-up, here is what we get.

• Outputs: Products that the user will use.
• Outcomes: Things that the users do differently or better.
• Benefits: The measurable (most of the time) improvements.Benefits can be tangible or intangible, qualifiable or quantifiable, financial or non-financial.
• Value: Value is created when benefits are realized in the hands of customer(s). 

But here we are talking of value in Agile mode. How does it happen here? Well, agile development is mainly focused on deliverable valuable software, which happens primarily via working software. In fact, one of the 4 core values per Agile Manifesto is: “Working software or product over comprehensive documentation”. 

And this value is directly complemented by many principles out of 12 principles such as:

• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
• Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
• Working software is the primary measure of progress.

As noted before only working software gives value to the customer. In Agile mode, this  happens early, frequently and in an incremental way. That differentiates it from predictive mode of development. 

Alright! So, we need value and value comes from benefit. But how do outputs get converted to outcomes? Outcomes are noted in features of a product. In every product, we talk in terms of features – which are actually requirements, functional or non-functional. Features are part of the Product Backlog (PB) and they are called as Product Backlog Items (PBIs). PB is a live log of requirements as we saw in previous chapter for many Agile methodologies such as Scrum, XP. In Agile, we do not have exhaustive requirement documents or design documents – rather one document called Product Backlog. 

These features or requirements are written in the form of user stories. 

Let's talk of about User Story briefly here. Because, it is User Story, which actually talks of business value.

Introduction to Use Story

A User Story describes the functionality that will be valuable to either a user or purchaser of a system or software. User Stories are written on cards. The cards are typically 4-inch by 6-inch, in size. In real time, they will be in the form of sticky notes or physical paper cards.

The user stories are written in this format: 

“As a <role>, I want <need>, so that <business value>”.

. . . 

. . . 

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This section is further explained in the book with: 

• More on User Story, which actually talks of benefit/value.
• How does feature translate to benefit and finally to value?
• How will you calculate the financial value of these features?

It is further followed by Accounting Principles, Prioritization, Relative Priorization, Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) and Priorization of NFRs, Incremental Delivery, Backlog Refinement (grooming), Considering Risks in Value-driven Delivery, Visualization of Value Delivery, Delivering Value with Quality, Agile Contracting, Agile Compliance, Agile PMO. These can be seen from the index of the book.

Other Excerpts from Book:

• Book Exceprt from "I Want To Be An ACP" - Four Values of The Agile Manifesto

Book Available for ACP Exam Prep:

• New Book for ACP Exam Prep: "I Want To Be An ACP"

Book Excerpt from "I Want To Be An ACP" - Four Values of The Agile Manifesto

This article is an excerpt from the Book - I Want To Be An ACP. 

It is from Chapter – 2: Agile Principles and Mindset. 

For the partial index of the book, refer: Book Index - I Want To Be An ACP.

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Fours Values of  The Agile Manifesto

The Agile Manifesto has first noted the four values. The official site is: http://agilemanifesto.org/ 

So, what are the values? They are noted in the Agile Manifesto, as shown below.

2.3.2 The Four Values

Look at the wordings closely in the Agile Manifesto. They are not setting rules on values, but through experience in developing software have come to value. Also, look at the last line. They are saying while there is value on the items on right such as process, tools, documentation, contracts, plans, they value the items on the left (in bold letters) more. 

Now, let's take these values one by one. 

Value # 1: Individuals and Interactions OVER Processes and Tools

Software development is inherently based on people, who finally build the product. Processes are needed to get people started, but it is finally people who will build the software. Processes help people to build, not the other way around. 

Projects are undertaken by people, not by tools; architectures are defined by people, not by tool; it is people who decide on what “done” means for an increment and they finalize on which features to take, and how to break the feature down into tasks. These are not done by tools.  

Second aspect of this value pair is “interaction”, is also important. Products or solutions come to life by interaction among the individuals. The interaction and quality of the interaction matters. A team with high interaction among themselves matter more than a heavy set of process and tools without interaction.

But do note that processes and tools have their places and they are needed. But the emphasis is on individuals and interaction among individuals.

Value # 2: Working Software OVER Comprehensive Documentation 

As the saying goes: “Nothing speaks louder than code”, which I would extend to say “Nothing speaks louder than working code.” 

You can have all possible documentation – requirement documentation, design documentation, a lot of Java Docs (for Java/J2EE platforms), a lot of test related documentation. But if your code or software is not working – does all of exhaustive documentation, however great they may be, matter? Obviously not. 

It is working software, which the customer wants to have as it mainly delivers value to him or her. It is working software, which will be finally used by the user on a daily basis. It is ONLY working software which provides the final result and tells whether the team has been “building” something of value. Also, focusing on documentation distracts a developer or team member from the core goal – building valuable software. 

However, documentation has also its place. But the idea here is this: we need “just enough” or “barely sufficient” documentation. 

Value # 3: Customer Collaboration OVER Contract Negotiation 

Software development is highly complex and often unpredictable. The requirement churn in development process is also high. Contract, on the other hand, is a legal document and asks for any change request to be formally approved, managed and controlled.  

The focus in this value pair is on collaboration, not haggling over a contract. Collaboration brings the factor of community, highly interactive communication and relationship. Good collaboration also saves a difficult contract situation. 

Again, it doesn't tell that contract does not have value. They are needed. Rather, as this value tells – you need to be flexible and accommodating instead of being rigid on contract.

Value # 4: Responding to Change OVER Following a Plan  

As the saying goes in management: “Planning is indispensable, but plans are useless.” In real world projects (as also in daily life), it rarely happens that you exactly follow the planned course of action. You have to make changes to your plan – because changes are inevitable. 

Agile manifesto was initially created for software development, though nowadays used in many other product development efforts. Whatever the project may be – changes will happen as initial plan can’t factor in or foresee all the components, unlike a fully plan driven or waterfall projects. Also, in software development, high requirement churn is a reality. Hence, this value tells us to be responsive towards changes. 

But planning is needed and it can’t be avoided. Because planning sets the direction, gives a possible end date and lets you and your team members know what is expected to be executed at what point of time. However, responding to changes (or being adaptive) rather than having a fixed plan, is what matters.

Now let’s do some exercise. 

Note: Before checking on the answers, try to solve it on your own first. 

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This section on Agile Manifesto is further explained in the book with: 

• The Twelve Principles
• Exercise on how to remember all the 12 principles

It is further followed by fundamentals in Agile Project Management, Phases in the APM framework, Foundational concepts in Agile such as  Adaptive Leadership, Servant Leadership, Information Radiators, System Thinking, Various Agile and Lean frameworks/methodologies. These can be seen from the index of the book.

Other Excerpts from Book:

• Book Excerpt Book Excerpt from "I Want To Be An ACP" - Fundamentals of Value-Driven Delivery

Book Available for ACP Exam Prep:

• New Book for ACP Exam Prep: "I Want To Be An ACP"

PMP Success Story: What Does It Take To Be A PMP?

By Chaitanya Rao Araveti, PMP

Introduction
Curiosity can open doors to much relishing opportunities. It was a year back where I got this chance to go through the topics in PMP® that eventually made me take the much-coveted certification.

I thought I couldn’t do it with the kind of schedule we live in and the very thought of spending time on learning something for an exam was a no-no. However, as the saying goes, if you have the will and the grit, nothing is impossible.

Why PMP? 
It makes you stand apart from the crowd! The benefit of doing this certification is both tangible and intangible. You immediately fall in the zone of sure pay rise and the long-term value of being recognized worldwide in this global workspace.

PMP Coaching Experience
I did my thorough research, called a dozen of institutions. Went through the profiles of instructors from different training centers!  Out of all, Satya’s profile snapshot was the one that caught my attention. It was a perfect balance of both knowledge and industry experience. Other’s might have had knowledge but lacked credible industry experience.

The 35 hours of Satya’s class was like a treasure trove of knowledge. It was intense in experience and rich in knowledge. Sometimes, things did go above my absorption bandwidth, but he does take questions irrespective of the time and makes sure the concept is clearly understood by everyone.

The training was concise and precise and to the point. The approach is mainly exam oriented and in line with the PMBOK® guide, so sometimes you had to go against your known understanding of project management. For me, I understood the concepts very well and the training became a base for me to start my preparation for the exam. 

You should watch out for his “Tips” as they come in very handy while studying. Make a note of it. With this training, I had a structured view of PMP and could connect the dots between processes with less effort. 

My advice to fellow applicants is to pay attention to Satya’s class. Each word and sentence what he says carry value. I understood this when I was doing a self-study, where I recollected a lot what Satya taught us in the 4-day training program.

Own Study
Every hour spent is accounted and valuable. So, I started keeping time for the study.

For the return on investment, you should know the effort that you have spent, so I kept a tab on the time I spent in hours. I started with Head First PMP’s book, and skimmed through Rita’s book, especially questions at the end of chapters and read the PMBOK Guide thoroughly. 

Why PMBOK is a Must Read?
Some of the questions were a direct reference to PMBOK, including the verbiage used. Most of the question refer the PMBOK and you can easily relate to the question if you have read the PMBOK. 

Do not miss the ‘Glossary’ in PMBOK guide. It is like a refresher of the terms and definitions that you have learned in PMBOK. (MUST). Read through each chapter in the PMBOK guide, in detail and take notes with the information and understanding.

As a reference and guide, “ManagementYogi” blog came in very handy as the most difficult topics are explained in a structured and convenient way for us to understand. 

Time Spent
Overall, I spent around 140 hours reading the PMBOK Guide and reference books. My duration was around 3 months.

What can you do extra?

1. Took printout and pasted all the processes, formulas and process relations on the wall of my room. It’s like a visual sub-conscious study. 
2. To be in the zone all the time of your study is quite daunting unless you have something to consider – Apps is the answer. (IOS). Few apps are PMP Smart Prep – Practice Test, PMP Exam Prep2017 Edition and PMPro – Free PMPExam Prep

There are lot more, beware of the quality though. Formulas were never a problem for me, so I didn’t take any extra measures to learn.

Exams/Mock Questions Used 
Practice is quite a game changer. But make sure you don’t overdo it. There is a very thin line of thinking, where you start making mistakes as you start to overthink even for a simple question. This happened to me.

You should know, when to stop taking questions and relax, too ;-)

I started my practice questions with  

1. Satya’s 3 sets of 200 questions and 4th set of 75 questions, from the book – I Want To Be A PMP. (Very close to the exam type)
2. Oliver Lehmann’s 75 questions and 175 questions.

And I did many more, however, the above two were the best I enjoyed and were close to the PMP style of questionnaire.

PMP Exam Experience
All that matters are 4 hours at the end. Once I consistently started getting 78 to 85% in my practice mock exams, I scheduled my exam.

Register yourself in PMI.org and start the registration process. Be a PMI member!

I strongly suggest to download and read the ‘Project Management Professional Handbook’ which clearly describes about certification program, how to apply, how to record your experience and education in the application and much more. Most of them are self-explanatory!  

I scheduled my exam on 21st August, 2017, 8 AM. Be ready for a long 4 hours test – a test of your stamina as well as your concentration. 

Satya’s question papers are a real chance to mock the PMP exam! The closest you can get to the real one. I did four consecutive 200 set questions in 4 days just before exam at the same time in the morning at 8:00 AM. This gave me an understanding of how I should orient myself in allocating my brain bandwidth consistently for the entire 4 hours.

In the initial hour my concentration was high, but it dropped substantially afterwards. To counter I practised taking a time out for 3 minutes and taking deep breaths that kept my system in control. 

Out of 200 questions, around 185 questions were situational and it demanded a thorough understanding of the concepts. It took an average of 25 to 40 seconds to read the question itself and the rest to comprehend and find the best answer.

PMI had introduced two new features in the exam:

• Strike out option – which could visually help you in narrowing down on the answers.
• Highlight option - you can highlight sentences so that you can only concentrate on the part of the question that makes sense rather than reading the question again.

These two options come in handy when you are reviewing the questions as you would be running short of time in the end, so make use of them diligently.
Reading of the glossary came in handy for me as few questions came from the most unexpected quarters of PMBOK, like a few for instance:

• About the types of activities – Discrete, Apportioned, LOE
• Activity ID and Activity Code differences.
• FMEA (Analysis techniques) 
• Standard vs policy

Mathematical Questions

• Surprisingly the mathematical questions were direct and simple. EVM questions were straight forward.
• Had couple of questions from EMV which were again direct, asking to calculate the total EMV.
• Questions from the Time Management were little time consuming as I had to create the network diagram from the scratch as they just provided the dependent activity and the duration and asked me to derive the free and total float of activities.

Situational and Tricky Questions
I felt most of the questions were heavy worded where the intention was to divert your focus from the actual question.

The simple trick is to understand what they want rather than why they want! 

I have noticed that the last two sentences carry the actual question of “what” and you just need to concentrate on that part. The rest of the paragraph is just a story and a buildup. However, having said that you should read the entire question once clearly.

It is also a test of your English comprehension and grammar.  A simple difference of “is” or a “was” can change the process or the process group completely while answering.

Suggestions for PMP Aspirants

Dos

• PAY and register first or you shall never write the exam.
• The PMBOK guide is a must read. Read at least twice and skim through once just before the exam.
• Practise good quality questions and keep evaluating where you are weak.
• Always keep yourself in constant touch with the subject. A gap of a week or two can disrupt your focus. There are situations where you might have to tend to other work, in that situations mobile apps come in handy. Keep doing practise questions so that you won’t lose the focus.
• Make notes. Refer Satya’s tips - they are very handy.
• Read the Management Yogi blog for more insights and better inputs. (e.g., PMP Protein) 
• Practise mathematical questions a lot so your response time improves.
• Join PMP groups in Linkedin – there are a lot of discussions that happen and participate in them.
• If you are stuck some place, call Satya.

Don’ts

• Do not refer many books, you lose sight of the actual concept.
• Don’t believe the internet.
• Validate your references well. Seek Satya’s advice.
• Do not panic in the exam, stop and take deep breaths and come back to your zone.
• Don’t overthink, draw line when to and when not to.
• Don’t take long gaps(days) in between the study time. Stay focused and determined.
• If you are sick or ill, do not study at that time as you shall recover slow. This happened to me, as I feel sick two weeks prior and still kept studying and it took a toll on me both mentally and physically. Take complete rest for a day or two until you are recovered. I even did a mock exam and failed miserably as my concentration levels were hit bad. It can hit your confidence. So, health comes first then you can think of wealth!

Conclusion
Unlike other certifications I have seen, PMP make sure you are always in constant touch with subject by means of earning PDU’s. This is a smart way of keeping yourselves updated as well, so that we all can remain competitive in this ever-changing dynamic of technology and process.

I would love to contribute back to the project world with the insights and knowledge gained from this course. If you give back, you get more in return is what I have learned.

It’s just not professionally, but I am able to apply the concepts in my day to day life starting right from the kitchen to planning trips! 

It has been a wonderful journey for the past 3 months where I have learned a lot about myself, my capabilities and my hidden skills. I wish all of you enjoy the same and get yourself a PMP credential. Cheers!

Profile
Name: Chaitanya Rao Araveti
Company: Shell Oil and Gas
Role: Project Application Lead
Other Companies I worked with: Robert Bosch, CenturyLinks, Ciber.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaitanya-araveti-b49439a

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