The Project Management Institute is softening the eligibility requirements to qualify for their new PMI ACP (Agile Certified Professional) certification test. A key change is in respect to agile experience. Previously individuals needed 1,500 hours of experience working on an agile project, accrued over the last two years. Now the requirement is 1,500 hours of experience on an agile project accrued over the last three years. The requirement for contact hours (e.g. training) has been similarly broadened to include any agile practices, not just Project Management.
These new requirements started on 26 March 2012, and they were distributed to current candidates pursuing the certification. The following table was included in the communication and the updates are highlighted in red font.
| General Project Management Experience |
|
| Agile Project Management Experience |
|
| Agile Project Management Training Training in Agile Practices |
|
According to Derek Huether, who is the PMI Agile CoP Co-Lead for the ACP Support Team, the change from “project management” to “project” experience was prompted by confusion among a significant number of those in the candidate base.
While the description clearly stated that the certification is not limited to project managers, the label “project management experience” tended to imply to practitioners that we required experience managing projects rather than working on project teams.
The other change is the loosening of the agile project experience from having to be accrued in the last two years to being accrued in the last three years. In total, these changes will allow a larger number of individuals to qualify for the PMI ACP Test.
To find out more about eligibility requirements check the following links:
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Community comments
Revenues must not be up to expectations
by Bruce Rennie,
Re: Revenues must not be up to expectations
by David Bulkin,
We need more certified Agilists!
by Augusto Rodriguez,
Positive changes
by Dave Nicolette,
Revenues must not be up to expectations
by Bruce Rennie,
Your message is awaiting moderation. Thank you for participating in the discussion.
I'm only partially kidding.
We need more certified Agilists!
by Augusto Rodriguez,
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That was a good move by the PMI. We definitely need more certified agilist that can tell the wannabe agile teams how to do things. Self organizing teams and learning is agile v1.0 - micromanaging and certifications are agile v2.0!
I hope people who do this at least get a badge saying "I ❤ PMI"
Positive changes
by Dave Nicolette,
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I think the changes will take the certification program in the right direction.
That said, I'm still ambivalent about certification, even after years of discussion in the community. The problem with setting a number of hours experience is that in so many cases, a person burns up the requisite number of hours while waiting for things to happen or coping with various organizational dysfunctions, as opposed to actively using agile methods to accomplish goals. When a person has spent 1,000 hours on an "agile" project, how much of that time was spent really building experience and knowledge? 500 hours? 100 hours? 10 hours? Zero hours (cargo cult)? It's like trying to measure something with a ruler made of smoke.
Re: Revenues must not be up to expectations
by David Bulkin,
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Building the comment about "revenues must not be up to expectations", is the testing fee of $435 US (for PMI members) fair?