Chapter 1
The chapter assessment focuses on agile foundations, history, and the agile manifesto. Ultimately, the chapter aims to provide a common knowledge of the principles and values of agile practices. The assessment tests the knowledge of the agile manifesto, created by several software developers who wanted to manage projects better and sharply focus on developing software. The agile manifesto is meant to be a collection of guiding and lightweight principles instead of formal processes and rules. The agile manifesto prioritizes individuals and interaction, working software, customer collaboration, responding to change over processes and tools, comprehensive documentation, contract negotiation, and following a plan. The assessment tests the knowledge of empirical process control and Waterfall project management. Empirical process control refers to a core Scrum principle that focuses on transparency, adaptation, and inspection. The Waterfall project prioritizes formal control systems and preplanning, but it is not effective for some projects that need rapid changes.
Chapter 2
The assessment in chapter 2 focused on testing the knowledge of agile frameworks models, including Scrum and eXtreme programming. Scrum refers to a framework created to assist teams in developing solutions for problems that are complex in an adaptive way. The assessment tests the knowledge of the scrum team, which consists of the Scrum master, product owner, and developers. The Scrum Master ensures that the framework is followed correctly. The product owner manages the product backlog and ensures all valuable work is completed. The developers plan each Sprint work as well as complete tasks to deliver the value requested by the product owner.
In addition, Scrum works in several events, including sprint, sprint planning, daily Scrum, sprint review, and sprint retrospective. A sprint review meeting aims to show completed work to customers to gain feedback and encourage collaboration. A sprint retrospective evaluates what went well and the methods of improving a project. In contrast, eXtreme programming is a framework that has a short life cycle and test-first development as its key aspects. The core values guiding development in eXtreme programming are communication, courage, respect, simplicity, and feedback.
Chapter 3
The assessment in chapter 3 focused on the main aspects of different agile frameworks. Such methodologies include Kanban, crystal, dynamic systems development method (DSDM), feature-driven development, and lean software development. Kanban is a method that utilizes visual methods to develop and manage projects. The Kanban board helps show information radiated to stakeholders to increase visibility. Another methodology tested in the assessment is crystal, which comprises crystal clear, crystal orange, crystal diamond, and crystal sapphire.
Among them, crystal clear is a lightweight methodology used in smaller projects because it assumes that every system is inimitable, necessitating the solicitation of various policies, practices, and processes to get great results. The assessment also covers the DSDM framework, which accepts that changes can happen and that quality and timely delivery are paramount to project success. DSDM uses the must, should, could, and won’t (MoSCoW) to ensure that important elements are prioritized first. The feature-driven development was created to accommodate large teams. Lean software development focuses on eliminating waste.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 assessment is focused on testing knowledge of stakeholder engagement and agile initiation. For example, if a new customer is not clear about a project’s instructions, they can create a tweet to help developers understand such a project better. Before projects are launched, they are evaluated using return on investment, net present value, and the internal rate of return. After evaluation, projects are granted a project charter to allow their start. Agile project charters provide documentation of when who, were, what, and how a project should proceed and are more flexible than waterfall project charters. The test also focuses on how project managers should communicate with their customers. For instance, using similar communication, such as attitude, speech pattern, and gestures, helps a customer’s communication through mirroring. Another communication technique is active listening, and which entails utilizing body language, asking questions, and being expressive.
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 assessment tests the knowledge of conflict resolution, interpersonal skills, and adaptive leadership in project management. Conflicts may arise because of unclear expectations regarding tasks, poor leadership, budget constraints, personality conflicts, and lack of communication. They can be resolved by active listening, collaboration, and constructive criticism. Interpersonal skills are also tested in the assessment, and they include motivation, negotiation, coaching, conflict management, and communication, showing the importance of soft skills. For example, project managers with efficient negotiation tactics can easily resolve misunderstandings in the storming stage when conflicts arise. As a result, both parties may be given value, but the negotiator achieves their objective. Adaptive leadership allows leaders to solve problems quickly, enabling team members to respect each other.
Chapter 6
Chapter 6 assessment explored the dynamics of agile planning and estimation. Estimation in project management is done through story points which measure the effort needed to implement product backlogs. However, spikes cannot be estimated unless developers conduct timeboxing. Timeboxing allocates a specified and fixed time for every planned activity. It improves predictability, forces prioritization, and helps to plan. The assessment also focused on iteration, determining how much backlog team members can handle. It is measured in terms of velocity, which is the work developers can complete in a given time.
The assessment provided a test on themes, epics, and user stories. User stories originate from transparent communication, a well-refined backlog, and a team understanding the customer’s instructions. Furthermore, the assessment provided knowledge of backlog refinement, which is done through backlog grooming. Backlog grooming addresses all requirements of different projects, prioritizes them, and removes unwanted ones.