The PMI Agile Community of Practice

I did my PMP a few years ago and there were already hints at them becoming more "Agile friendly".

On the other hand, the "training" is so general as to be limited value and certification is really only valuable for consultants or others trying to sell their expertise.

I value my PMP and my ScrumMaster certificate about equally. Which is to say: not very much.

This is an interesting move.

I've always advocated a flexible approach to the management of software projects. I often find I'm running agile and waterfall methods alongside each other dependent on the software that needs to be produced and the client it is for. It's important for IT project managers to think flexibly and recommend a project approach based on each individual case. I appreciate this will not always apply. For example, if you have an internal, rather than external client, or if you are producing a product to be licensed there is usual more scope to choose the approach that you, and the team you work with, prefer. It's also worth noting that elements of waterfall and agile techniques can be blended together. In the past, I have run a projects using a waterfall method in terms of the overall structure of the project, with prioritisation and change management techniques from agile methodologies.

a waterfall method in terms of the overall structure of the project, with prioritisation and change management techniques from agile methodologies

I am newbie in this issue and my question perhaps is not complicated, that is , PMI and Scrum can be applied together in the same project? is it advisable to do ?

Thank you all in advance.

Mário.

Is this an Agile initiative or a Scrum Alliance initiative? The invite on the wiki is from the Scrum Alliance.

The PMI is effectively an accreditation body. The Agile Alliance made an announcement on accreditation a couple of years ago that would lead to suspect that the Agile Alliance would not be involved in this activity. The Scrum Alliance's is obviously pro-accreditation.

The nature of this article gives the impression that this is a grass roots initiative. If this is so, how do the Scrum Alliance Management feel about it. I would have expected them to lead the charge on this kind of initiative.

If it is a Scrum Alliance initiative, I do not think it appropriate to call it an Agile PMI Community unless they intend to promote all Agile methodologies and approaches.

Agreed Chris. As I understand it, this is an AGILE-centric "grass roots" effort. As I mention in the article, Jesse Farewell and Dan Mezick seem to be the main driving forces behind this, so it'd probably be best for them to weigh in on your question (which is a great one). Guys?

For the record, I am the Scrum Master on this project, and Jesse (Fewell) is the Product Owner. Together we lead a team of really great people, all of whom execute on the mission.




These GREAT people leading sub-teams on the project include (but not limited to):




Ainsley Nies

Pat Reed

Bob Tarne

Sanjiv Augustine

Brian Bozzuto





Great people all (especially Pat)!!




We use Scrum to manage the process of executing on the mission. Each team member runs a sub-team with it's own backlog.





The [pmi-agile] project has a mission:
"...to bring agile knowledge and agile skills to all PMI practitioners."




This is both a grass-roots initiative and a sponsored initiative. Our current focus is to build up the web content of our web site, (see article) such that the site has good content for PMPs and others transitioning to agile. We are actively soliciting PMPs to send in experience reports we may publish.




Thus the effort is grassroots and at the same time sponsored and chartered by the PMI. For example our content can be found on the PMI web site. At the present time membership is required to view that content, something we are not thrilled about but understand given who the PMI currently "is".




We encourage any sponsoring vendor to contact us to explore sponsorship opportunities. We are building out the first-ever PMI Agile Community of Practice (CoP) and we have a charter and plan with PMI to accomplish this.




So to your question, here is the answer: this is both a grassroots initiative and a PMI-sanctioned and sponsored community development project.




We are using Scrum, and of course anyone interested in promoting Scrum is interested in this initiative. We are in active discussions with the entire agile community including vendors, sponsors, and bodies like Agile Alliance, Scrum Alliance etc.




I am the [Manifesting Agility] stage director of Agile2009. One aspect of this stage is: "Agile in non-IT Domains". This is the very first time this topic has authorized, official space on a Stage at this conference.



Alistair Cockburn is speaking on exactly this in part of his keynote. PMI is the bastion of non-IT project management. Many forces are converging now, conspiring to bring agile and Scrum into the mainstream of worldwide business.




We are at the vanguard of this unstoppable trend. We invite all in the agile community to join us as we execute on our mission:




"...to bring agile knowledge and skills and all PMI practitioners."




It is now time. I encourage you to join us !!

I was invited to present at the yearly PMI conference in Seattle this year and was the only speaker presenting on Agile project management. I had a full room (over 100 participants) so I know the PMI community is hungry for the knowledge. It was very encouraging to see and I had a great time having an Agile conversation with the audience. Like any other organization that has the desire to understand and apply the principles behind the Agile movement, I look at this opportunity as a responsibility we have as experienced Agilists to share where we are able.