Introduction to Fascinating World of Agile

PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®  credential awarded by Project Management Institute (PMI)® is is gaining popularity very rapidly and it takes considerable effort and understanding of Agile Methodologies to pass the examination

Fascinating World of Agile is a holistic Agile training program intended to comprehensively train an individual on Scrum and agile techniques to be used during the Sprints.

This is a 2 months interactive program. Focus of the program is to equip the delegates to participate effectively in scrum projects. Upon successful completion, the delegates will be able to
  • Appreciate the true spirit of scrum
  • Have an understanding about how scrum gets implemented on the ground
  • Be a active and effective member in an agile team
  • Ready to acquire industry certifications – These certifications are widely accepted quantified proof of your knowledge

Components of Fascinating World of Agile

Fascinating World of Agile has following components
  • Pre-Course online content based on Scrum Guide where the intention is to acquaint one with the Scrum Guide. This is an audio and video recording of Amit Kulkarni where one can listen to his voice and see the slides based on the Scrum Guide.
  • 2-DAYclassroom training program on SCRUM. This is a 9AM-6PM workshop for 2 days.
  • A comprehensive study guide is given to delegates to study after the workshop. This includes details of SCRUM, Techniques and tools from other methodologies and introduction to other Agile methodologies.
  • 180 day Access to online content is given to all delegates
  • Delegates are given practice questions and question banks on Scrum and Agile. They are aligned with CSM, PSM-I and PMI-ACP® Credential exams. They are 8 question banks in number and there are totally 700 questions.
  • The question bank has detailed automated analysis of which areas the delegates are going wrong. This helps them to prepare on areas where they are weak.
  • Delegates have access to Amit in terms of solving difficulties or clarification of doubts till they pass the exams or beyond.

Feedback from Pune June Batch


Feedback from Mumbai January Batch


















Want to know about Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam?

Amit Kulkarni, Agile-Scrum Faculty for EPMC (Mumbai and Pune)
Amit Kulkarni, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMI-ACP
20+ years of experience. Agile Coach and expert on Scrum.

Amit Kulkarni conducting Planning Poker Estimation Exercise















Topics Covered in the 2 Day comprehensive workshop on Scrum / Agile (8:30AM to 6:30PM both days)

SECTION I : Foundation Concepts on Agile
1 Introduction to Agile
1.1 Agile Software Development
1.2 Flex Scope and Fixed Cost/Time
1.3 FIVE Phases of a Agile Project
2 Agile Manifesto
2.1 Agile values
2.2 Agile Principles
3 Agile Development Methodologies
3.1 Scrum
3.2 Lean Management
3.3 Extreme Programming
3.4 DSDM
3.5 Test Driven Development - TDD
3.6 Acceptance Test Driven Development
4 Agile Domains – The Essential skillsets
4.1 Agile Principles and Mindset
4.2 Value Driven Delivery
4.3 Stakeholder Engagement
4.4 Adaptive Planning
4.5 Problem Detection and Resolution
4.6 Continuous Improvements
4.7 Boosting Team Performances
5 Product Development Lifecycle
5.1 Vision
5.2 Agile Charter – The first step in identifying what customer needs
5.3 Product Roadmap
5.4 Minimum Viable Product
5.5 Product Backlog
SECTION II : Scrum
6 Introduction to Scrum
6.1 Brief History of Scrum
6.2 The Scrum Values
6.3 Empirical Process Control
6.4 Applicability of Scrum
6.5 Timebox
6.6 Release
6.7 Sprint – Iterative and Incremental
6.8 Quality in Scrum
6.9 Participatory Decision Models
7 The Scrum Roles 73
7.1 The Product Owner
7.2 The Scrum Master
7.3 The Development Team
7.4 Why is a Project Manager role redundant in Scrum?
7.5 Specialist Roles
7.6 Distributed Scrum Teams
7.7 Scrum Masters and Product Owners as Situational Leaders
7.8 Fractional Assignments
8 The Scrum Artifacts
8.1 Product Backlog
8.2 Sprint Backlog
8.3 Increment
9 The User Story
9.1 User Story Format
9.2 Splitting User Stories
9.3 Swarming
9.4 Feature
9.5 Minimally Marketable Feature
9.6 Epics
9.7 Themes
9.8 Personas
9.9 Done
10 Scrum Events
10.1 Levels of Planning
10.2 Release Planning Meetings
10.3 Sprint planning meeting
10.4 Daily Scrum meeting
10.5 Sprint Review Meeting
10.6 Sprint Retrospective
10.7 Backlog Refinement (grooming)
10.8 Scrum of Scrums
SECTION III : Tools and Techniques used in A Sprint
11 Requirements Prioritization
11.1 MoSCoW Prioritizing Scheme
11.2 Customer-Valued Prioritization
11.3 Kano Model
11.4 Monopoly Money
11.5 100 Point Method
11.6 Relative Prioritization/Ranking
11.7 Paired Comparison
12 Facilitation Techniques
12.1 Brainstorming
12.2 Nominal group technique
12.3 Idea/mind mapping
12.4 Affinity diagram
12.5 Multicriteria decision analysis
12.6 Agile Games
13 Agile Estimation
13.1 Story Points or Relative Sizing
13.2 Ideal Days / Ideal Time
13.3 Triangulating
13.4 Planning Poker
13.5 Fist of Five
13.6 Wideband Delphi
13.7 Affinity Estimation
13.8 Mute Mapping
13.9 Velocity Based Planning
14 Information Radiators
14.1 Taskboards or Kanban Boards
14.2 Burndown chart
14.3 Burn Up Chart
14.4 Risk Burndown Chart
14.5 Risk Boards
14.6 Control Charts
14.7 Business Value Delivered Chart
14.8 Street Light Information Radiator
14.9 Velocity Charts
14.10 Nico Nico Calendar
14.11 Parking Lot Diagram
15 Wireframes, Prototypes, Simulations, Demonstrations
15.1 Wireframes
15.2 Prototypes, Simulations, Demonstrations
16 Agile Modelling
17 Agile Metrics
17.1 Agile Business Metrics
17.2 Agile Process Metrics
17.3 Agile Project Testing Metrics
18 Agile Earned Value Management
SECTION IV : Lean and Extreme Programming Techniques used during a Sprint
19 Extreme Programming Practices
19.1 Refactoring
19.2 Pair Programming
19.3 Continuous Integration
19.4 System Metaphor
19.5 Spike
19.6 Technical Debt
19.7 Move People Around
19.8 Sustainable pace
19.9 Team Spaces
20 Lean Techniques
20.1 Value Stream Mapping
20.2 Kanban Method
20.3 WIP Limit for Planning and Limiting Work in an Sprint
SECTION V : Other Agile Topics
21 Organizational Theories around Motivation
21.1 McGregor’s Theory of X and Y
21.2 Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs
21.3 Motivation Theory by Herzberg
22 Interpersonal Skills
22.1 Communication
22.2 Influencing
22.3 Negotiation
22.4 Networking
22.5 Active Listening
22.6 Leadership
22.7 Team Building
22.8 Motivation
22.9 Coaching
22.10 Trust Building
22.11 Conflict Management
22.12 Self Assessment
23 Process Tailoring, Systems Thinking and Process Analysis
24 Agile Contracting Methods
24.1 DSDM Contract
24.2 Money for Nothing and Change for Free
24.3 Graduated Fixed Price
24.4 Fixed Price Work Packages
25 Failure Modes and Alternatives
25.1 Top 12 Agile Failure Modes
SECTION VI - EXERCISES
  • Entire Workshop will be a SCRUM SIMULATION so that the participants will actually experience Scrum instead of just learning the theory
  • One case study will be solved for 2 hours and all the finer aspects of SCRUM will be covered