PMI-ACP cheat sheet

The Agile Manifesto states four value preferences: individuals and interactions over processes and tools; working software over comprehensive documentation; customer collaboration over contract negotiation; responding to change over following a plan.

Its 12 principles include delivering working software frequently, welcoming changing requirements, daily business-developer collaboration, sustainable pace, technical excellence, simplicity, and self-organizing teams.

Empirical process control rests on three pillars: transparency (visible facts), inspection (frequent checks), and adaptation (adjust based on findings).

Shu-ha-ri describes skill stages: shu = follow rules, ha = break rules, ri = transcend rules; teams move from procedural to adaptive behavior.

The agile triangle fixes cost and time, holds quality high, and lets scope vary; the traditional triple constraint fixes scope and varies time and cost.

Servant leadership behaviors are removing impediments, coaching, facilitating, shielding the team, and enabling self-management.

Definition of Done is a shared quality bar for every increment; acceptance criteria are story-specific conditions for one item.

Agile favors iterative and incremental delivery to reduce uncertainty through short feedback loops rather than big up-front design.

WSJF = Cost of Delay ÷ Job Size (or duration); higher WSJF items are prioritized first.

Cost of Delay is the economic loss per unit of time from not delivering an item; it combines revenue, cost, and risk effects.

MoSCoW classifies requirements as Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have for this delivery.

Kano categories: must-be (basic), performance (linear), and delighter (attractive); over time delighters become expectations.

Earned value: EV = percent complete × BAC; CPI = EV ÷ AC; SPI = EV ÷ PV; CPI or SPI above 1.0 is favorable.

An MVP is the smallest increment that enables validated learning about customer value; it is not merely the smallest feature set.

A minimum marketable feature (MMF) is the smallest unit that delivers meaningful value to customers and can be released.

Value stream mapping separates value-added steps from waiting, handoffs, rework, and other non-value-added waste.

ROI = (benefit − cost) ÷ cost; payback period = initial investment ÷ periodic net cash inflow.

Communication channels = n(n − 1) ÷ 2, where n is the number of people; channels grow quadratically as the team grows.

Power/interest grid: high power-high interest = manage closely; high power-low interest = keep satisfied; low power-high interest = keep informed; low-low = monitor.

Stakeholder engagement levels are unaware, resistant, neutral, supportive, and leading; engagement plans target movement toward supportive or leading.

Osmotic communication occurs when team members overhear nearby conversations and absorb information with little formal effort.

A sprint review demonstrates the working increment to stakeholders, gathers feedback, and updates the product backlog.

A stakeholder map records influence, interest, expectations, and preferred communication channel for each stakeholder group.

Personas are fictional representatives of user types built from research; they keep design focused on real user needs.

RACI assigns Responsible (does work), Accountable (owns outcome), Consulted (two-way input), and Informed (one-way update).

Tuckman stages: forming (orientation), storming (conflict), norming (agreement), performing (high output), adjourning (disbanding).

Velocity = completed story points per iteration averaged over several iterations; it is team-specific and not comparable across teams.

Story points are relative, unitless estimates of effort, complexity, and risk; ideal days are time-based estimates of focused work.

A team charter records purpose, scope, roles, decision rules, working agreements, and communication norms.

Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating; collaborating seeks win-win.

Collective code ownership means any team member may change any part of the code, supported by shared standards and tests.

Cross-functional teams contain the skills needed to deliver an increment without external handoffs.

Scrum recommends a development team of 3–9 members; smaller teams may lack skills and larger teams need more coordination.

Emotional intelligence components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.

Rolling wave planning elaborates near-term work in detail while keeping long-term work at a coarse level.

The cone of uncertainty narrows as a project progresses; early estimates have the widest range and later estimates converge.

Planning poker: each estimator privately selects a card, extreme values are discussed, and rounds repeat until consensus.

Little's Law: average WIP = throughput × average cycle time; reducing WIP reduces cycle time for a given throughput.

Backlog refinement is ongoing work to clarify, estimate, split, and reorder backlog items before planning.

Release planning maps prioritized stories to iterations using historical velocity and available capacity.

INVEST criteria for user stories: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable.

Iteration length is commonly 1–4 weeks; shorter iterations increase feedback frequency but add planning overhead.

Lead time runs from request or commitment to delivery; cycle time runs from start of work to completion.

A cumulative flow diagram plots work items by state over time; widening bands reveal bottlenecks and growing WIP.

5 Whys repeatedly asks 'why' to move from a symptom to a root cause; it is best used with direct observation.

A fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram groups potential causes into categories such as people, process, tools, materials, and environment.

Control chart signals include points outside control limits and runs of seven or more points on one side of the mean.

Risk burndown charts track total risk exposure over time; a flat or rising line signals insufficient risk reduction.

Defect cost generally rises the later a defect is found; short feedback loops and automated tests reduce this cost.

Variance analysis compares planned versus actual scope, schedule, and cost to detect drift early.

A retrospective inspects team process and identifies improvements; the prime directive assumes everyone did the best job possible given the situation.

PDCA: Plan (set hypothesis), Do (run small experiment), Check (review results), Act (standardize or adjust).

Kaizen is continuous small improvement by the people doing the work rather than occasional large change programs.

Value stream mapping exposes waste such as waiting, handoffs, rework, overproduction, and unnecessary motion.

5S: sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain; it creates a stable workplace baseline.

Common retrospective formats include Start/Stop/Continue, 4Ls (liked, learned, lacked, longed for), and sailboat.

An improvement backlog lists agreed actions with an owner, due date, and measurable success criterion.

The Definition of Done should be revisited as team capability grows; a stronger DoD raises quality and reduces escaped defects.

Metrics for improvement include lead time, cycle time, throughput, WIP, escaped defects, and deployment frequency.