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Session 3

PMI-ACP® EXAMPREP COURSE

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PROBLEM DETECTION &

RESOLUTION

CHAPTER 610% = ~12 Questions

Overview

Difficulty Memorisation Exam Importance

Low

Medium

High

Introduction

4

▪ How fast can you identify a problem, and then resolve

it?

▪ The quicker, the better.

▪ Problems = Delays, Waste, Rework

Failure Modes and Alternatives

5

▪ Making mistakes

▪ Preferring to fail conservatively

▪ Inventing rather than researching

▪ Being creature of habit

▪ Being inconsistent

Alistair Cockburn

Agile Software Development

The Cooperative Game

Success Modes

▪ We are good at looking around

▪ We are able to learn

▪ We are malleable

▪ We take pride in our work

Alistair Cockburn

Agile Software Development

The Cooperative Game

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Identifying and Detecting

Problems

7

▪ Pro-active – i.e. Cycle Times and Trends

▪ Re-active – i.e. Escaped Defects and Failure modes.

▪ Real-time – i.e Daily Stand-ups

▪ 3rd question: “What are your impediments?”

Cycle Time

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▪ User Stories/Tasks Level

▪ How long it takes to complete – from start to finish.

▪ Project Level

▪ The average Cycle Time of it’s User Stories or Tasks

▪ Relates closely to WIP – and it’s problems!

▪ Long cycle time = increased levels of WIP

Cycle Time

9

𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 =𝑊𝐼𝑃

𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑝𝑢𝑡

▪ A factory assembles 20 vehicles each day. The team on the

assembly line are usually working across 50 vehicles at any

given time. Calculate the cycle time to produce each vehicle.

▪ After applying a number of lean principles over their assembly

process to reduce waste, the factory can now produce a vehicle

in 1.6 days, and have reduced their WIP to 40 vehicles. What is

their new throughput?

Defect Management

Identify them early – to minimize rework and reduce

costs

Can be tracked by

– Cycle Time

– Month

– Release

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Average Defect Cycle Time

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

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Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 Sprint 4 Sprint 5 Sprint 6 Sprint 7 Sprint 8

Cyclte Time Threshold Actual Defect Fix Time

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Escaped Defects

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▪ Defects that made it all the way to the customer.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

January February March April May June July

Project and Quality Standards

13

▪ What tools and techniques will the team own to

ensure quality is built into the product and the project?

Variance Analysis

14

▪ Variance = Difference

▪ E.g Estimated Costs vs Actual Costs

▪ It is normal (and should be expected!)

▪ Common and Special Cause variation

▪ W. Edwards Deming

Trend Analysis

15

▪ Analysing Trends allows up to predict the future…

…and change it if the outlook is grim!

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

February March April May June July August

Defects Raised Defects Closed

Control Limits

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▪ Upper and Lower Control Limits

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32

34

36

38

40

42

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46

48

50

Interation 1 Interation 2 Interation 3 Interation 4

VelocityUCL

LCL

Resolving Problems

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▪ Now you know how to identify problems, lets turn our

focus to resolving them!

▪ The key focus for the following Agile problem

resolution techniques is to remedy the issue as

quickly as possible – to limit the amount of wasted or

non-value effort the problem has caused.

Risk-Adjusted Backlog

Delivering value is about balancing the delivery of

value-add features with the delivery of activities that

will prevent anti-value (risks!).

A Product Backlog turns into a Risk Adjusted Backlog

when risk mitigation stories are added and prioritised.

18

Risk-Adjusted Backlog

Risk Burn Down Graphs

ID Risk Name Imp. Prob. Sev.

001 Contract Resource 3 1 3

002 Knowledge Gap 2 3 6

003 Legacy System integration 2 2 4

004 Data Intergrity 2 1 2

005 New Legislation 0 0 0

006 SAN Capacity 1 2 2

007 Exchange rate change 1 1 1

Jan Feb Mar Apr

ID Risk Name Imp. Prob. Sev. Imp. Prob. Sev. Imp. Prob. Sev. Imp. Prob. Sev.

001 Contract Resource 3 1 3 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1

002 Knowledge Gap 2 3 6 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0

003 Legacy System integration 2 2 4 2 2 4 3 1 3 2 1 2

004 Data Intergrity 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

005 New Legislation 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 3 2 1 2

006 SAN Capacity 1 2 2 1 3 3 1 2 2 1 1 1

007 Exchange rate change 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0

Risk Burn Down Graphs

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Jan Feb Mar Apr

Exchange rate change

SAN Capacity

New Legislation

Data Intergrity

Legacy System integration

Knowledge Gap

Contract Resource

Problem Solving

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▪ Whole team activity, not the pure responsibility of the

Project Manager

Step 1: Gather data

Step 2: Generate insights

Step 3: Decide what

to do

Engaging the team

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▪ The team is the best resource the project manager

has for problem solving.

▪ Do not do this alone!

▪ What do you think are some

of the key benefits of

engaging the team?

Benefits of Team Engagement

1. If the solution comes from the team, you do not have to sell them the idea

2. Two (or more!) heads are better than one – utilise the collective brain

3. Solutions are practical – generated by the team, for the team.

4. People feel valued when they are asked for advice

5. Asking for help shows the PM has confidence and respect in their team

6. A good behaviour to model – a problem shared is a problem halved.

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Practice Questions…

PMI-ACP® Exam Prep pages 357

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CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

CHAPTER 79% = ~11 Questions

Overview

Difficulty Memorisation Exam Importance

Low

Medium

High

Introduction

28

▪ Looking for ways to improve – one step at a time.

▪ Team’s responsibility – adopt the culture.

Continuous Improvement

Practices

29

▪ Traditional projects – improvement is the focus right

at the end.

▪ Agile projects – improvement is the focus throughout.

Kaizen

Japanese for “change for the better”

Represents the concept of Continuous Improvement

It is a mind-set rather than a formal set of practices.

Encourages the entire team to look for ways to

improve the way they are working.

30

Process Tailoring

31

▪ Each Agile methodologies has a

different take on tailoring.

▪ Use the ‘vanilla’ version

methodology first – tailor later.

▪ Understand (ask yourself) why

your project is so different to

everyone else’s.

Process Tailoring

Scrum/XP – Discourages tailoring.

Crystal/Kanban – Encourages tailoring.

32

Systems Thinking

33

Chaos

LowComplexity

Complex

SimpleLow

Complexity

Requirem

ents

Technology

Fa

r fr

om

agre

em

ent

Clo

se

to

agre

em

ent

Close to

certainty

Far from

certainty

Process Analysis

34

▪ When selecting a methodology, watch out for the

‘anti-patterns’ – Alistair Cockburn

Intolerant

Untried

Heavy

Embellished

Used Once

One size fits all

Applying New Agile Practices

35

▪ Do you really need to?

▪ Do your own research.

▪ Sample it first.

▪ Check if the change was for the better.

Value Stream Mapping

36

Lean Manufacturing technique

Assess a process and looks to reduce all forms of

waste.

Remember waste includes: partially done work, waiting

time, defects, task switching, motion, extra processes and

features…

Value Stream Mapping Process

37

1. Identify the process

2. Create a visual map of the process – steps,

information flows

3. Review – identify any areas that are not adding value

• delays, waiting times, limitations, constraints

4. Create a new ‘ideal’ process map, this time with the

non-value tasks removed or minimised

5. Create a plan for how to achieve the ideal process

6. Revisit the above process once the new process has

been adopted - continuous improvement

Value Stream Mapping

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See example on Page 379.

Knowledge Sharing

39

▪ Happens throughout the project lifecycle;

▪ Planning

▪ Stand-ups

▪ Demos

▪ Retrospectives

Project Pre-Mortems

Happens at the start – before the project development

begins

Brainstorming exercises aimed at identifying major

failure points (risks!) that could occur.

Once identified, the team can put measures in place to

avoid these failures.

40

Retrospectives

41

▪ Primary learning technique

▪ Meeting held at the end of each iteration;

▪ Takes about 2 hours

▪ Assesses the performance over the past 2-3 weeks

▪ Suggest ideas to improve performance

Retrospectives

5 Step Process;

1. Set the stage

2. Gather Data

3. Generate Insights

4. Decide what to do

5. Close the retrospective

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Team Self-Assessment

43

0

20

40

60

80

100Thinking

Collaborating

ReleasingPlanning

Developing

XP Practice Assessment

Current Review

Previous Review

Practice Questions…

PMI-ACP® Exam Prep pages 411

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ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL

CONDUCT

Overview

Difficulty Memorisation Exam Importance

Low

Medium

High

Ethics & Professional Conduct

Based on the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional

Conduct

This is very short session – don’t blink!

The values that are important are:

– Responsibility,

– Respect,

– Fairness, and

– Honesty.

47

Ethics & Professional Conduct

Project Manager is the leader and the buck stops there.

Deal with issues in a direct manner seeking to resolve

them.

Always act ethically and legally.

Always follow the laws of the country.

Always follow the policies of your company.

Act truthfully at all times. Be a whistleblower!

48

The Code Applies to

All PMI members.

Individuals who are not members of PMI but meet one

or more of the following criteria:

1. Anyone who holds a PMI certification.

2. Anyone who has applied to for a PMI certification.

3. Anyone who volunteers for PMI.

49

Mandatory & Aspirational

StandardsThe mandatory standards establish firm requirements,

and in some cases, limit or prohibit practitioner

behaviour.

The aspirational standards describe the conduct that we

strive to uphold as practitioners.

Practitioners who do not conduct themselves in

accordance with these standards will be subject to

disciplinary procedures before PMI’s Ethics Review

Committee.

50

Responsibility

Responsibility is our duty to take ownership for

the decisions we make or fail to make, the

actions we take or fail to take, and the

consequences that result.

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Responsibility

Mandatory

–We follow policies, rules, regulations, and

laws.

–We report unethical and/or illegal behaviour.

52

Responsibility

Aspirational

–We act to positively influence Society Interest,

Public Safety, Environmental Impact.

–We take on only what we are qualified to do.

–We take ownership of our errors and apply

corrective action.

53

Respect

Respect is our duty to show a high regard for ourselves,

others, and the resources entrusted to us.

54

Respect

Mandatory

– We negotiate in good faith.

– We do not abuse our authority or power.

– We do not act in an abusive or aggressive manner.

55

Respect

Aspirational

– We understand the norms, culture, customs of our

stakeholders.

– We listen and understand.

– We treat others how we want to be treated.

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Fairness

Fairness is our duty to make decisions and act

impartially and objectively.

Our conduct must be free from competing self interest,

prejudice, and favouritism.

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Fairness

Mandatory;

– We avoid or disclose Conflicts of Interest.

– We avoid favouritism.

– We say no to bribes.

58

Fairness

Aspirational;

– We offer transparency in our decision making

– We remain impartial and objective (not subjective)

– We support equal opportunity for all to access

information

59

Honesty

Honesty is our duty to understand the truth and act in a

truthful manner both in our communications and in our

conduct.

60

Honesty

Mandatory;

– We do not condone deceitful or misleading behaviour.

– We do not act for personal gain.

61

Honesty

Aspirational;

– Truth is king.

– Our communications have nothing to hide.

– Accurate reporting is paramount.

62

Practice Exam

This mock exam covers everything we have gone over

today

You have 50 questions

Mark each one as A, B, C, or D

You have 45 minutes to answer as many as possible –

in the exam you would have 1 hour

GOOD LUCK!

63

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TEST-TAKING TECHNIQUES

The Pareto Principle

Study principles and concepts, not facts

Get the big picture, then work towards greater detail:

rocks before sand

Train your weaknesses, race your

strengths

What kind of information do you struggle with? Spend

your study time on that.

What kind of information do you retain easily? Answer

those test questions first.

Learn by teaching

If you can explain it to a non-PMI-ACP in plain English, you

understand it.

– Value stream mapping: Working out the which areas of

a process are not contributing to the end result.

– Retrospective: An opportunity to reflect on past efforts

to improve future efforts

– Sprint: Timeboxed effort of work- including planning,

daily meetings, demonstrations of effort, and an

assessment of performance.

Learn by teaching

If you don’t have a non-PMI-ACP around who’s willing to listen,

explain it to your teddy bear

Student, know thyselfHow do you study; how do you learn?

On test day, you are the rock star, the Olympic

athlete, the diva. What do you need to feel

comfortable?

– Lots of sleep? A chocolate croissant?

Test-taking specifics

Don’t cram during the minutes before the test

Don’t get stuck!

– Answer all the easy questions first

– If you find a question at all confusing, skip it, then go

back

– After you’ve answered the easy questions, rephrase

the confusing ones in your own words

– Make a tick mark next to questions that you’ve

answered, but are unsure of. If you have time at the

end, go back and look at them again

How to answer a question in 6

stepsFirst, read the question fully!

Second, reread the question!

Third, eliminate any obviously wrong answers.

Fourth, place the answers on a spectrum of most right to most

wrong and choose the most right one.

Fifth, organise the answers in order of which would be done first

to the one which would be done last, choose the one you would

do first.

Sixth, Guess! Leave no question unanswered!

Test-taking specifics

Read the entire question before looking at the answer

Are you 100% sure you actually read the question?

A bird in the the hand…

Count every " F " in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF

SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE

EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

Do you read things properly?

Did you notice on the previous slide that there were

two ‘the’ in the title?

74

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Eliminate as many wrong answers as you can

But don’t phone a friend!

Finally…Nobody has ever scored 100%; don’t worry about perfection

Learning the PMI-ACP material will help you no matter how you

perform on the test

Remember to breathe

…and make sure to turn off your cell phone!

Common Questions about the

ExamIs there a way to mark out/eliminate options that you

immediately know are not the right answer?

Is there a way to mark questions you are doubtful of?

When you are done, can you review the test?

Can you review just the questions marked as doubtful?

Do you get immediate test results?

77

Common Questions about the

ExamCan you bring any materials with you?

What is the physical setting like?

Can you take food or drink into the test area?

Can you take breaks during the exam? Lunch?

78

Common Questions about the

ExamWhat are the time constraints?

Can you take paper and pen into the test area?

79

Checklist for PMI-ACP Exam

You must take:

– Two forms of identification – one with a photo on it

– Your eligibility email: Paper-Based Testing Notification

– You MUST visit the site before the exam date

– How long will it take you to get there?

– Where is it?

– Where will you park?

80

Final Tips

Chapter 1 of the PMI-ACP® Exam Prep may make more

sense now

Plan your study until the exam

Form study/revision groups if necessary

81

Final Tips

Do as many practice questions as you can

Get a good night’s sleep

Don’t panic!

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Last minute top-ups!

If you think you don’t know something, call me and we

can arrange a cram session / Skype review

83

Your Feedback…

You will receive an electronic feedback form in the next

few days

Please provide feedback on ways we can improve the

course – it can be anything about the day or the

course overall, positive or negative

No names are required

84

GOOD LUCK!You’ll all do well

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