The Project Management Institute (PMI)® created the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® credential to reward project management professionals who use Agile techniques in their projects.
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2021 Updated PMI-ACP Exam Sample Questions with Detailed Explanations
11. The agile team uses a data gathering facilitation technique to gather data in an iteration retrospective. The team creates a graph to provide a visual picture of the status of their satisfaction in any particular area. Choose the correct name for this technique.
A. Team Radar
B. Satisfaction Histogram
C. Color Code Dots
D. Triple Nickles
Answer: Choice B is the correct answer.
Explanation: Satisfaction Histogram is a data gathering technique that is used to know the satisfaction level of individuals in a particular area, process or activity. In this technique, a graph is created to provide a visual picture of the status of their satisfaction that helps the team in having deeper discussions and analysis. It is frequently used during the iteration retrospective.
References: Esther Derby, D. L. (2006). Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Paperback, 2006.
12. You are an agile practitioner and have recently been assigned to handle an ongoing Agile project. During the sprint retrospective, the project manager asked all the team members to put sticky dots on the project timeline to display the events where the emotions ran high or low. Choose the option that represents this activity.
A. Pareto Charts
B. Affinity Diagrams
C. Color Code Dots
D. Triple Nickles
Answer: Choice C is the correct answer.
Explanation: Color Code Dots is a data gathering technique which is used in conjunction with a timeline to show how events are experienced by the individuals in a longer iteration or retrospective. It focuses on collecting the data for feelings; where emotions ran high or low. A timeline is drawn on the board and sticky notes are put on it. All members have 5-10 high energy and low energy sticky dots which they have to paste on sticky notes.
References: Esther Derby, D. L. (2006). Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Paperback, 2006.
13. During a retrospective, an agile team defines the desired state required to achieve. Small groups work for the identification of the factors that could drive the changes they want. They note down the factors and then the group checks the strength of each supporting factor with respect to other factors. Then the team repeats this process for inhibiting factors. Name the technique the team is using.
A. Brainstorming
B. Fishbone Analysis
C. Working Agreements
D. Force Field Analysis
Answer: Choice D is the correct answer.
Explanation: The team is using force field analysis technique. Force Field Analysis is an amazing tool that helps in making the transformational changes by evaluating the contributing factors. In this technique, all the supporting and inhibiting factors for the change are assessed and the feasibility of the change is analyzed in the current environment.
References: Creative Problem-Solving in Agile, Robert Weidner (2015)
14. An agile team is working on a software development project. During a retrospective, the team reveals its concerns regarding quality management processes. About 1% of the produced deliverables had some minor defects so, rework is required. What should the team do to bring the future performance of the project to meet the expected quality standards?
A. Find the root cause with critical chain diagram
B. Investigate the root cause using the fishbone diagram
C. Investigate the root cause with tornado diagram
D. Don’t do anything, ignore the minor defects
Answer: Choice B is the correct answer.
Explanation: The team has observed some minor defects in the produced deliverables. To enhance the quality of deliverables and meet the quality standards, it is necessary to find out the root cause of the problem. Therefore, in the given scenario, root cause analysis will work. Fishbone diagram is a diagrammatic tool used for root cause analysis. In this technique, possible causes of the problem or defect are further divided into different branches to identify the root cause.
References: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK® Guide Sixth Edition, Page 293.
15. You are an agile coach leading a complex knowledge work project in an organization. To document and share the knowledge work created by the project, you have to select a tool. There are a number of options, and as the agile coach, you considered two options that seem equally good. What will you do next to select the final right tool?
A. Organize a planning poker event and study both the options to choose the best one
B. Use a fishbone diagram to find the best tool out of the two options
C. Organize a spike event and study both the options to choose the best one
D. Schedule a meeting with the product owner to make the final decision
Answer: Choice C is the correct answer.
Explanation: Spikes are helpful for learning purposes and are generally used in circumstances like acceptance criteria definition, estimation, and understanding the flow and applicability of ideas or actions. The agile coach should organize a spike event and study both the options to choose the best one.
References: Agile Practice Guide, PMI Inc. 2017, Page 56; Spikes in Scrum: The Exception, Not the Rule, Scrum Alliance 2016
16. John is a scrum master/coach for an agile team. During a design discussion meeting, he was acting as the facilitator. He noticed that the team has made the wrong design choice. John tried to correct them by dropping some hints in the form of questions but these got un-noticed. This incorrect design choice might cause some extra work for the team. What John should do next?
A. John should continue dropping hints until team understands what he is trying to highlight
B. John should tell the team to change the design option. John can also explain the reasoning if required
C. John should share his view about design option but leave the final decision on the team
D. Do nothing. Let the team learn from mistakes
Answer: Choice D is the correct answer.
Explanation: Here the team has already made a decision. John also tried to correct them by providing enough hints in the form of questions and these got un-noticed. Whatever mentioned by choice C is already done by John and the next thing is to do nothing and make sure the team learned from their mistakes.
Reference: Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adks inins, chapter 3.
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17. In iteration planning, the team committed for 3 stories. The story point estimate for these stories were – 5 points, 4 points, and zero points. The team was able to successfully deliver all of these stories. The story worth 5 points took 5 ideal days. The story worth 4 points took 3 ideal days. The story worth zero points took very little effort (hardly 1-2 hours). What should be the velocity based on this data?
A. 3 stories.
B. 8 story points.
C. A number between 8 and 9 story points.
D. 9 story points.
Answer: Choice D is the correct answer.
Explanation: Choice A is not correct since estimation has been done in story points so velocity should be Calculated in story points only.
Reference: Agile estimating and planning by Mike Cohn.
18. An agile team is planning for its 9th iteration. So far, the velocity has been: Lowest= 12 story points; Average=18 story points; Highest=24. Following are the user stories in backlog in descending order of priority?
Story 1-5 points
Story 2-7 points
Story 3-9 points
Story 4-5 points
Story 5-3 points
Story 6-1 points
Which of the following stories should be chosen?
A. 1,2
B. 1,2,3
C. 1,2,4,6
D. 1,2,4,5
Answer: Choice C is the correct answer.
Explanation: Generally, it is best to use average velocity for planning. Large velocity variations are possible due to a number of reasons. For e.g. in an iteration team picked 8 points worth story but could not finish it due to the last minute bud found. This didn’t any anything in velocity calculation for that iteration. However, in next iteration, will small amount of effort team have got 8 points added in velocity. There could be a good amount of variation in velocity calculated for both iterations so taking average velocity for planning is a balanced approach.
To select stories, the team will go through the backlog in priority order from the top, towards the bottom. Now assuming 18 story points velocity, the team could easily pick stories 1 and 2. The team can’t pick story 3 as that would mean committing for 21 story points. After skipping 3, the team could pick 4 so now their total commitments are 17 story points. Going further down, the team can’t pick story 5 but can pick story 6.
Reference: Agile estimating and planning by Mike Cohn.
19. You are leading a large agile project for a health insurance company. You have decided to outsource one of the major functional modules. You received three bids. Seller A has the most experience of working on agile projects. Seller B has the most experience of delivering health insurance projects. Seller C has the lowest bid. Which seller you would choose?
A. Seller A: Understanding of agile methodology is most important. Agile incremental &iterative delivery can cover for limited functional experience and will ultimately save the cost.
B. Seller B: In agile, functional expertise is most important. If the contract is fixed price, it doesn’t matter whether the vendor uses agile iterative delivery or waterfall.
C. Seller C: Lowest bid, wins the contract.
D. Any seller can win the contract depending on the weighing system. The weighing system considers all important factors.
Answer: Choice D is the correct answer.
Explanation: The PMBOK 5th Edition guide recommends creating a weighting system for sellers; that is, rating sellers along with a set of weighted criteria so that the most appealing rise to the top. The weights then create a “negotiating sequence” that determines the selection order of sellers.
Reference: The Software Project Manager’s bridge to agility by Michele Slinger & Stacia Broderick, Chapter 12.
20. What agile team should do to mitigate the risks associated with intrinsic schedule flaw?
A. Add Local safety in the estimate.
B. Add extra resources increases team productivity.
C. Re-evaluate the release plan at the end of each iteration.
D. Re-evaluate the release plan at the end of the release.
Answer: Choice C is the correct answer.
Explanation: Choice A is not correct, as first of all there should not be any local safety added in estimates. Any slack to handle schedule risk should be added at release level (like adding extra iteration). Secondly, slack is useful for general schedule risk but will not work for intrinsic schedule flaw.
Reference: The Software Project Manager’s bridge to agility by Michele Slinger & Stacia Broderick.
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