A surprisingly perfect introduction into Agile
09/08/15 20:29
Agile is far from new and the times are thankfully over, where it was hyped as the silver bullet for any kind of project and as the ultimate way to project management bliss. Still, while all this up and down of the popularity of Agile happened in small IT businesses a long time ago, it was only in the last years where in the world of large, multinational organizations Agile really was recognized as a valid alternative.
Given the multitude of processes, departments, IT systems and other dependencies, the implementation of an Agile path in a corporate methodology is quite complex and must be thought through in great depth. Also, it is almost impossible to apply a pure methodology like Scrum. To fit in, it needs a mix from different methodologies and lots of customizing. As a result, these Agile add-ons come in all shapes and sizes. Still, the core principles, as once edged in stone in the Agile Manifesto, can be found at the core of all of them.
While the execution of projects with these Agile add-ons works great, there is a dilemma: How can project managers be trained, so that they are adequately prepared to use these unique Agile customizations successfully?
For the employees of the company, it’s quite easy – a custom made in house training is the optimal solution and ensures, that everybody fully understands the new path and speaks the same language.
But where it gets tricky is for consultants as well as freelance and unemployed project managers. It is absolutely vital that they understand the basics of Agile and the existing methods and concepts, for being able to quickly apply a corporate methodology, once they enter a new company.
The choice is often to join a Scum Master training. Be it, because Scrum is the best-known Agile methodology or be it because you find rarely any “Agile for beginners” trainings. Unfortunately, what sounds like such a logical choice is by far optimal. The problem is, that Scrum is only one very specific method from a multitude of quite different Agile methods. In addition, it is one, which has very strict rules and isn’t flexible at all. Finally, the Scum Master Training trains quite obviously attendants to be Scrum Masters. It turns out, the Scrum Master role is very different from the project manager role, so that this would not be the role a project manager would be taking in an Agile project.
Since a few years there is a solution, which might be quite surprising: The PMI-ACP exam prep training! At first, it sounds quite absurd that a beginner should do a training, which is designed to prepare experienced practitioners for the PMI-ACP exam. Even more, as beginners do not even qualify to do the exam.
To understand why it makes sense we have to look into the content of the exam. To pass the PMI-ACP exam, the student has to learn the foundations of Agile (the Agile manifesto), has to understand the basics of all major Agile methodologies like Scrum, XP, and DSDM Atern and how the core principles and processes of Agile work. This knowledge is exactly what is needed to understand how to apply any Agile methodology, no matter how it is composed.
Still, not all PMI-ACP trainings should be considered by beginners. Especially “boot camp” style trainings, with the aim to pump a lot of data in a short time in the head students to ensure they pass the exam, do not fit the requirements of beginners. But any regular PMI-ACP training will do just fine and give the participants exactly what they are looking for – understanding the basics of Agile.
Given that neither training companies nor students have fully recognized this great opportunity until now, the market of PMI-ACP trainings is rather small. I hope this will change soon, as a good understanding of the foundations of Agile by the majority of project managers will help that Agile will be used in a really successful way instead of hyped or hated.
Given the multitude of processes, departments, IT systems and other dependencies, the implementation of an Agile path in a corporate methodology is quite complex and must be thought through in great depth. Also, it is almost impossible to apply a pure methodology like Scrum. To fit in, it needs a mix from different methodologies and lots of customizing. As a result, these Agile add-ons come in all shapes and sizes. Still, the core principles, as once edged in stone in the Agile Manifesto, can be found at the core of all of them.
While the execution of projects with these Agile add-ons works great, there is a dilemma: How can project managers be trained, so that they are adequately prepared to use these unique Agile customizations successfully?
For the employees of the company, it’s quite easy – a custom made in house training is the optimal solution and ensures, that everybody fully understands the new path and speaks the same language.
But where it gets tricky is for consultants as well as freelance and unemployed project managers. It is absolutely vital that they understand the basics of Agile and the existing methods and concepts, for being able to quickly apply a corporate methodology, once they enter a new company.
The choice is often to join a Scum Master training. Be it, because Scrum is the best-known Agile methodology or be it because you find rarely any “Agile for beginners” trainings. Unfortunately, what sounds like such a logical choice is by far optimal. The problem is, that Scrum is only one very specific method from a multitude of quite different Agile methods. In addition, it is one, which has very strict rules and isn’t flexible at all. Finally, the Scum Master Training trains quite obviously attendants to be Scrum Masters. It turns out, the Scrum Master role is very different from the project manager role, so that this would not be the role a project manager would be taking in an Agile project.
Since a few years there is a solution, which might be quite surprising: The PMI-ACP exam prep training! At first, it sounds quite absurd that a beginner should do a training, which is designed to prepare experienced practitioners for the PMI-ACP exam. Even more, as beginners do not even qualify to do the exam.
To understand why it makes sense we have to look into the content of the exam. To pass the PMI-ACP exam, the student has to learn the foundations of Agile (the Agile manifesto), has to understand the basics of all major Agile methodologies like Scrum, XP, and DSDM Atern and how the core principles and processes of Agile work. This knowledge is exactly what is needed to understand how to apply any Agile methodology, no matter how it is composed.
Still, not all PMI-ACP trainings should be considered by beginners. Especially “boot camp” style trainings, with the aim to pump a lot of data in a short time in the head students to ensure they pass the exam, do not fit the requirements of beginners. But any regular PMI-ACP training will do just fine and give the participants exactly what they are looking for – understanding the basics of Agile.
Given that neither training companies nor students have fully recognized this great opportunity until now, the market of PMI-ACP trainings is rather small. I hope this will change soon, as a good understanding of the foundations of Agile by the majority of project managers will help that Agile will be used in a really successful way instead of hyped or hated.
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