PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®
I am glad to announce that I passed the PMI-ACP Exam with Above Target rating. It was an interesting journey and very different than any of the other certifications. I thought to share my journey so that future aspirants can benefit from it. Study Plan
Personally, I believe Mike's book is a must to pass the exam. Read Mike's book twice, the agile guide as well and highlight the most important items in addition to the exam outline.
Exam Experience I am going to talk about my personal exam experience (Without going into details or specific questions):
Good Luck to all future Aspirants ! |
The Added Value of Certifications
Over the years, I've heard so many opinions and read so many articles about what people think of certifications so I thought it is about time to share how the different certifications / designations added value to my Professional Development & Career: Project Management Professional (PMP) No matter how many years of exeprience we have, there is always more to learn so getting my PMP helped me get in-depth knowledge of all project management processes, tool and techniques in addition to opening my eyes on how to better manage some critical Knowledge Areas / Processes, specially Effective & Efficient Communication & Stakeholder Engagement. Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP) After several years working in the Project Management field and performing different levels of Risk Analysis on almost every project, you will be surprised to hear that getting this certification opened my eyes to so many aspects of the Risk Management and made me realize that there are certain things I can do in a different and better way. Green Project Manager (GPM-b) Many countries are adopting green and sustainability initiatives to protect the environment and the world as a whole. Being in the Real Estate Development Industry, I worked for many years on some sustainability initiatives on many projects. Getting the GPM-b reinforced my knowledge about sustainability and how to apply it in Project Management which enhanced my approach on how to incorporate those initiatives on our projects. Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt (LSSYB) Being in the Construction Industry, going Lean in many cases when possible could be the right and only right thing to do. The LSSYB Journey enhanced my knowledge about Lean and how to apply it to different parts of any project or even in the office. Professional Scrum Master (PSM I & II), Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS) Although I do have experience in those areas and they might not be highly applicable to construction projects but going through this journey enhanced my knowledge and experience in how Inspection, Adaption and Delivering Incrementally helps reduce waste or errors and keep your product up to date and competitive within the market. Besides other areas when I use Scrum, I actually started applying the Scrum on some parts of our Real Estate Development projects to tell how well it would work and/or add value - You will be surprised, but the results were amazing. I might share this experience in details on another post or article. The added value of knowledge combined with my background in Structural Engineering and experience helped shape my career path in a great way. Moreover, being certified boosted my career advancement because as you can see, all of the certifications that I pursued are very much related to my field of expertise and career path. Whenever I seek to evaluate any certification, I ask myself three questions:
Cetifications are not about adding letters after your name but it is about knowledge and personal / professional development so if you have the experience and knowledge then what is stopping you from getting certified. If anything, it will for sure add to your knowledge and make you stand out in this competitive market. Project Management is one of the most competitive jobs in the market. What is next for me & Why ? Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP): Having more than 10 Years of experience in Estimating, Scheduling & Planning, it would be great to reinforce this knowledge & experience with a certification from a highly reputable organization like PMI. Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP): Being involved in Agile on so many levels n projects recently and having more than 4 Years of experience, I trust that pursuing this certification will enhance and boost my knowledge in terms of how to appy agile concepts in projects. Good Luck to All New Aspirants & New Practitioners ! |
Scrum & Personal Professional Development
Categories:
Agile,
Construction,
New Practitioners,
PMI Standards,
Project Management,
Scrum,
Talent Management
Categories: Agile, Construction, New Practitioners, PMI Standards, Project Management, Scrum, Talent Management
As much as it might sound odd, but I actually find a connection between Scrum & Personal Professional Development: I always treat Personal Professional Development as a continuous Product that is divided into phases where each phase has its own achievements "Increments". That being said, it is always healthy to run your own personal "Sprint Retrospective" to Inspect your Achievements "Releasable Increment", Compare them to your original Plans "Sprint Backlog" and Adapt as necessary. If your progress is going on as planned then you carry on with your next goal "Sprint". If not, then you re-add what was not achieved to your plan "Product Backlog" and re-order your priorities in terms of professional development and plans your next goal "Sprint Planning". The only difference is with the scrum team itself as you are the whole Self-Organizing & Cross-Functional Team taking the role of Scrum Master, Product Owner & Development Team:
How much does this make sense to you ? Can you see the relationship ? Scrum On Everyone ! |
Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II)
I am proud to share with you another recent accomplishment. I passed my Professional Scrum Master II Certification with a score of 91.7%. Preparation 1- Follow the same steps (Combined) for PSM I, SPS , PSPO I 2- Read a lot of additional documents and case studies. 3- Completed some simulation exams such as Open Scrum, Product Owner Open & Open Nexus which are available for free on the scrum.org website. 4- Read additional two references / books. Those were extremely helpful in passing the exam and they are great books to have: - Scrum (A Pocket Guide) by Gunther Verheyen. - Essential Scrum by Kenneth S. Rubin Exam 1- The exam is 1.5 Hour and consists of 30 Multiple Choice Questions. 2- Passing grade is 85% which means you need to score 26 correct questions out of 30. 2- It tests your experience & knowledge beyond the any guide. It is a very tough exam so you need to have experience and know Scrum in depth. 3- Most questions are scenario based or required in depth analysis. 4- I found this exam the most difficult out of all the Scrum Certifications that I've completed so far. What's Next On my agenda are the following certifications: PMI-SP, PMI-ACP & LEED GA Good Luck to all New Aspirants ! |
Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS)
I am proud to share with you another recent accomplishment. I passed my Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS) Certification with a score of 95%. I would like to share my journey towards achieving the SPS: Preparation 1- Read the Nexus & Scrum Guides and understood everything in details. 2- Read a lot of additional documents and case studies. 3- Completed some simulation exams such as Open Scrum & Open Nexus which are available for free on the scrum.org website. Exam 1- The exam is 1 Hour and consists of 40 Multiple Choice Questions. 2- It tests your experience & knowledge beyond the Scrum Guide & Nexus Guides. 3- Lots of questions were scenario based questions. 4- I found this exam the most difficult out of all the Scrum Certifications that I've completed so far. What's Next I am planning on doing my GPM-b and PMI-RMP Certifications this year if all goes smooth. |