PMI PMI-ACP - PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)

To ensure a smooth transition to SAFe, the agile team lead should have an open discussion with the team about what will change and the reasons behind these changes. Establishing a clear understanding of the transition process and addressing any concerns proactively helps alleviate fears and encourages buy-in. It's also important to discuss the timeline for the transition and how the team will adapt. By providing clarity and a process for addressing concerns, the team will feel more comfortable and confident in adopting the new methodology.

In Agile, one of the key principles is to provide continuous feedback and integration throughout the development process, ensuring that components are tested, integrated, and iterated upon regularly. By separating the work into three teams that work independently and only integrate at the end, the strategy risks delaying feedback and potentially causing integration problems. This approach could lead to significant issues when the components are eventually integrated, as they may not work together as expected due to lack of ongoing collaboration and integration. Therefore, working in parallel with proper continuous feedback and integration is crucial in Agile to minimize risks and ensure smooth delivery.

A clear, sharedvision statementis essential foralignment, motivation, and guidance. According to thePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 2.3.1: Product Vision Statement), a strong vision statement enables team members and stakeholders to stay focused on what matters most, even as requirements evolve.

Mike Griffiths in thePMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 2: Agile Principles and Mindset)stresses the importance of ashared understandingand active participation when forming the vision.

Option Ais correct: it reinforces the value of shared vision and encourages stakeholder engagement.

Option Bis helpful but doesn't ensureshared understanding across the team.

Option Crisks misinterpretation and omits team collaboration.

Option Ddismisses a core agile practice—vision clarity is crucial, even in a change-friendly environment.

As the project team scales and expands to build a business-critical platform, having a work collaboration platform is the most effective way to ensure that the team can work toward a common goal and communicate efficiently. Such a platform centralizes communication, document sharing, task tracking, and collaboration, which is essential for maintaining alignment, especially as the complexity of the project increases. Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or similar platforms allow for seamless communication and collaboration, even across distributed teams, making it easier to manage and track progress, share knowledge, and keep everyone on the same page.

The correct answer is A — Establish and keep an active risk register that includes mitigation strategies and a cost-benefit analysis.

Risk management is essential to identifying and mitigating threats such as natural disasters. While Agile teams do not typically use traditional risk registers extensively, at the enterprise level (especially in regulated or high-risk environments), maintaining a risk register aligned with Agile values is appropriate. It should include mitigation options and their associated cost-benefit to guide decision-making.

PMI Agile Practice Guide states:

“Agile risk management practices include establishing lightweight mechanisms such as risk-adjusted backlog prioritization, risk registers (in high-risk or large programs), and risk mitigation strategies.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 7.3 – Managing Risk in Agile Projects)

PMBOK® Guide (6th Edition) supports this:

“The risk register is a critical project artifact that includes identified risks, their analysis, mitigation or response plans, and cost-benefit considerations for managing risks.”

Incorrect options:

B lacks the inclusion of mitigation strategies and full cost analysis.

C refers to surface-level risk visibility, not comprehensive risk planning.

D assumes avoidance is the only mitigation strategy, which is not always feasible or optimal.

Answer: A

—

The correct answer is C – Schedule a story grooming session with the product owner before sprint planning. Story grooming (backlog refinement) ensures that stories are ready, appropriately detailed, and understood before planning.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Backlog refinement sessions are a key practice where the team, facilitated by the Scrum Master, ensures that backlog items are well-defined and sized appropriately for future planning. These sessions reduce ambiguity and promote shared understanding.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.3 – Backlog Refinement)

Mike Griffiths adds:

“Backlog refinement allows stories to be clarified, split, and estimated ahead of planning. Agile practitioners ensure backlog items meet the Definition of Ready (DoR) before sprint planning.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 5 – Adaptive Planning)

Incorrect options:

A delays collaboration and is too passive.

B lacks product owner involvement.

D is a sizing technique, not a requirement clarification method.

Answer: C

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

The correct answer is A – Prioritize the stakeholder feedback, considering the impact on strategic objectives and current workload, and discuss these priorities with the team in the next sprint planning meeting to collaboratively decide on the next steps.

Agile promotes adaptive planning and continuous stakeholder engagement. While feedback is highly valuable, especially from a sprint review, changes to the product backlog must be carefully prioritized and collaboratively discussed with the team. The product owner’s responsibility is to maintain and refine the backlog, ensuring alignment with stakeholder needs while also preserving team focus and avoiding unnecessary disruption during an ongoing sprint.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Product backlog refinement is an ongoing process in which the product owner and the team collaborate on the details of backlog items. This includes analyzing, estimating, and prioritizing items to reflect the latest feedback and business needs.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.2 – Product Backlog Refinement)

“Agile teams embrace change, especially when it delivers value. However, they also maintain sustainable pace and focus by avoiding mid-sprint scope changes unless absolutely necessary. Backlog items are reviewed and reprioritized before the next sprint begins.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 3.4 – Value-Driven Delivery)

From Mike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book:

“While agile encourages responding to change, disrupting sprint commitments can erode team trust and productivity. Sprint planning is the correct forum to reprioritize work based on new stakeholder insights.”

(Mike Griffiths, Chapter 5 – Adaptive Planning)

Why the other options are incorrect:

B introduces mid-sprint disruption and disregards agile best practices for maintaining sprint integrity and team focus.

C eliminates team collaboration and risks breakdowns in communication, violating agile’s emphasis on transparency and teamwork.

D disregards valuable feedback and delays addressing important stakeholder needs, which could compromise customer satisfaction and strategic alignment.

Answer: A

──────

In Agile, change is considered a natural part of the process, as requirements evolve based on feedback and new insights. The Scrum Master should help the team understand that changes are an opportunity to improve the product and deliver more value to the stakeholders. While it's important to manage changes effectively, it's also crucial to communicate that continuous improvement and adaptation are integral parts of Agile practices. The Scrum Master should foster a positive environment where change is seen as a way to better meet the customer's needs rather than a hindrance to performance.

The correct answer is C – Invest in technology-collaboration tools to enable effective communication and ensure a common understanding of the scope, issues, and solutions.

Agile encourages high-bandwidth communication, preferably face-to-face. However, when working with distributed teams, modern collaboration tools serve as essential enablers of shared understanding and timely feedback, reducing the risk of miscommunication and rework.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“While agile prefers face-to-face communication, geographically dispersed teams must rely on tools to mimic these interactions as closely as possible. These include video conferencing, online whiteboards, and real-time collaboration platforms to create a shared understanding.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 2.3 – Communication and Collaboration)

Mike Griffiths supports this as well:

“Remote teams need strong communication enablers. Collaboration tools help mitigate the challenges of distributed work by enabling transparency, synchronous discussions, and shared visibility of the work.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book, Chapter 4 – Team Performance)

Why the other options are less appropriate:

A assumes majority rule over inclusive engagement.

B is often impractical and does not reflect Agile’s adaptability.

D is vague and lacks actionable commitment.

Answer: C

══════════════════════════════════════════════════

In Agile, it's important to maintain focus on the current sprint's goals and scope. Since the sprint deadline is approaching, adding additional features may compromise the team's ability to deliver the planned work on time. The best approach is to explain to the client that the new features can be considered for the next sprint, ensuring that the team can finish the current work and deliver value on time. This also allows the team to properly plan for the new features in the next iteration without overloading the current sprint.