This article has a few quick tips for those who have thought of applying for the Project Management Institute’s Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certification - but aren’t sure if they have the right Agile experience. I recently earned my PMI-ACP and the learning involved has been valuable.
The requirements for getting this certification include eight months of agile project experience in the last three years. (There are additional requirements for education and experience.)
When considering my application, I wondered if I could use projects where I hadn’t used the words “Scrum” or “Agile” in them.
The short answer is yes.
I knew I had been using an agile approach for many years in my work. Largely I develop courses and deliver them. If you’ve ever given a course that spans a few months or more, you know there are many iterations of making updates to the material to keep it relevant as you deliver.
So - my projects were iterative and incremental, which fits with Agile. (Tip: think how you repeat portions of your work as you go along and build on that work.)
I’d recommend looking at the PMI-ACP Examination Content Outline when filling out your application. As you go through the Domains and Tasks, you will hopefully see a lot of familiar things you’ve done.
Read the Agile Manifesto – if you follow the principles, you’ve got the basis of Agile.
By the way, I did write the exam and passed - it was even an enjoyable experience! Of course, my idea of fun is taking tests…
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If you have thoughts on this article, I’d be happy to hear them at brenda@brendaniel.com.
We are offering an online Agile 101 course. Let me know if you’d like more information.
Until next time, Brenda
