Agile Methodology for the PMP Exam

Agile on the PMP Exam

The PMP exam is approximately 50% predictive and 50% agile/hybrid. Understanding agile principles, frameworks, and when to apply them is essential.

Agile Manifesto — Four Values

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4. Responding to change over following a plan

While there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

12 Agile Principles (Know These)

1. Highest priority: satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development
3. Deliver working product frequently (weeks to months, prefer shorter)
4. Business people and developers work together daily
5. Build projects around motivated individuals — give them support and trust
6. Face-to-face conversation is the most effective communication
7. Working product is the primary measure of progress
8. Sustainable development — maintain a constant pace indefinitely
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
10. Simplicity — maximize the amount of work NOT done
11. Best architectures emerge from self-organizing teams
12. Regular reflection on how to become more effective

When to Use Agile vs. Predictive

Factor	Agile	Predictive
Requirements	Unclear, evolving	Well-defined, stable
Customer involvement	High, continuous	Defined milestones
Risk	High uncertainty	Well-understood
Delivery	Incremental value	Single final delivery
Team	Experienced, co-located preferred	Distributed is OK

Related Study Resources

• Agile & Scrum Cheat Sheet
• Topic: Scrum Framework
• Topic: Kanban Method
• Process Domain Study Guide