Project managers are evolving in the job industry by using efficient agile methods with highly efficient agile environments and agile teams. This has given quite a reason to many top organizations and companies to open more positions for project managers. Related to the agile abilities and skills, one name that strikes is PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner certification.
PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner certification refers to the combination of agile concepts with the world’s most popular approach to project management. With providing familiarity in terms of user demand, the PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner certification helps you to learn about blending structure, controlling with agile methods, techniques, and approaches. So, holding this certification can help you gain advanced agile and project management and thus, leading you towards a beneficial future.
However, this is just a start! There is much more to learn about PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner in this article. But, before moving towards the exam let’s get a quick description of PRINCE2 Agile®.
PRINCE2 Agile: Fundamentals
PRINCE2 Agile® offers a suitable framework and controls for agile concepts, methods, and techniques. It allows you to concentrate on both management and delivery. Additionally, PRINCE2 Agile harmonizes with any agile approach, consistently meeting all deadlines. Further, it also lets you scale to your precise requirements and pragmatism. Last but not the least, it helps in increasing stakeholder confidence and includes additional tools for managing and reacting to changing requirements.
PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner Exam: Exam Overview
PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner is designed for professionals working within a project environment. This also includes the key staff involved with integrating project management with product delivery. However, for this certification, an understanding of the agile concepts detailed in PRINCE2 Agile will be beneficial. It’s also designed for those responsible for overseeing projects using agile methods and individuals involved in program and project support functions.
But, it’s better to understand if this exam is suitable for you or not just check the prerequisites of this exam mentioned below.
Exam Prerequisites
For those who want to take the PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner certification must hold any of the following certifications:
- Firstly, PRINCE2® Foundation
- Secondly, PRINCE2 Agile® Foundation
- Thirdly, Project Management Qualification® (PMQ)
- Next, Certified Associate in Project Management® (CAPM)
- Lastly, IPMA Levels A, B, C and D® (Certified Projects Director)
You must know that APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ) that is APMP’ and ‘CAPM’ are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI). And, PMI is not affiliated with AXELOS. Therefore, PMI does not validate any AXELOS qualifications.
Things you must know for the PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner Exam:
- Before scheduling an exam, make sure to confirm proof of completing the prerequisite, which can be a certificate or a letter from AXELOS or a former Examination Institute confirming your current certification.
- Secondly, your examination results will be reserved until the correct prerequisite is provided to PeopleCert.
- Lastly, if you are unable to provide the required prerequisite, then you will need to successfully complete the prerequisite before the higher-level exam result is released.
Prince2 Agile Practitioner Exam Format
PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner certification exam is an ‘open book’ exam in which the PRINCE2 Agile guide is allowed for reference during the examination. However, there will be a total of 50 Prince2 Agile® Practitioner Exam Questions that you have to answer in 2 hours and 30 minutes. This exam will have scenario-based questions that relate to a case study. In order to pass the exam, you have to score 60% (30 marks) or higher. The exam can be given in English, German, Polish, and Dutch language. Moreover the Prince2 Agile Practitioner Exam Cost is £405.
Regarding the certification expiry, the PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner certification is valid for 3 years. To keep your qualification current and avoid any gaps in your Practitioner status, you have two options. Firstly, retake the PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner Exam before the expiry date. Secondly, you can sustain your certification through CPD points and a digital badge.
Course Structure
Topics and sections help you in getting a clear understanding of the exam. Similarly for the Prince2 Agile Practitioner Syllabus, we will learn and understand about the important areas that will be useful during exam preparation.
Understanding the basic concepts of common agile ways of working
- Explaining the differences between projects and BAU (Business as usual)
- Describing agile and its common approaches, how and why agile approaches have developed, and their use
- Describing the history of agile, it’s a contrast to the waterfall way of working and how the Agile Manifesto fits in
- Explaining the different levels of agile maturity and well-known agile frameworks
- Describing behaviors, concepts, and techniques that characterize agile. Defining the PRINCE2 Agile view of ‘agile’
- Describing Kanban, the Kanban method, and its six general practices, including the use of Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFDs)
Understanding the purpose and context for combining PRINCE2® and the agile way of working
- Describing the complementary strengths of PRINCE2 and the agile way of working
- Defining who can benefit from using PRINCE2 Agile and in what contexts/situations
- Defining the PRINCE2 Agile frameworks, behaviors, concepts, techniques, and focus areas
- Explaining the eight ‘guidance points’. Describing how PRINCE2 controls and governance can enable agile to be used in many environments
- Describing what a typical PRINCE2 ‘project journey’ looks like in an agile context
Applying and evaluating the focus areas to a project in an agile context
- Explaining the purpose and use of the Agilometer throughout a project
- Describing the six sliders used on the Agilometer. Explaining their significance and how to improve them
- Describing in detail requirements terminology, decomposition, and prioritization, including MoSCoW and Ordering
- Explaining how requirements prioritization is used
- Explaining the rich communication focus area, its importance, and its key techniques as well as how to manage frequent releases and the benefits of ‘failing fast’
Fixing and flexing the six aspects of a project in an agile context
- Describing how to use the ‘hexagon’ in relation to the six aspects of project performance
- Explaining the use of tolerances in terms of what to ‘fix’ and what to ‘flex’ in relation to the six aspects of project performance
- Describing in detail each of the five targets that underpin the use of the hexagon
- Explaining why the ‘fix and flex’ approach is good for the customer
Applying the PRINCE2 principles, themes, processes, and management products to a project in an agile context 48%
- Describing in detail the five PRINCE2 Agile behaviors (Transparency, Collaboration, Rich Communication, Self-Organization, Exploration)
- Explaining agile needs to incorporate in all seven PRINCE2 processes and all seven themes.
- Describing the two common Organization roles of Scrum Master and Product owner
- Explaining how to adjust roles, including the use of specialist roles, and the options for team organization in a project
- Defining the make-up of a typical delivery team
- Describing servant leadership, its use, and importance
- Explaining how to define Working Agreements
- Describing quality setting techniques including ‘definition of done’ and the use of acceptance criteria
- Explaining quality testing, quality checking, and management techniques. Describing approaches to planning and typical planning techniques
- Describing approaches to risk and how agile concepts mitigate many typical risks
- Explaining progress monitoring techniques including the use of ‘work in progress’ boards, burn charts, information radiators
- Explaining in detail agile techniques that may apply to each PRINCE2 process including Cynefin Describing how to flex the ‘Direct a Project’ stage and the benefits of collaborative working.
- Describing how to ‘manage by exception’ with emphasis on empowerment, the quantity of deliverables, rich information flows, and value of deliverables
- Explaining why PRINCE2 ‘stages’ may not be required, including the use of timeboxes and Scrum of scrums
For earning the PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner certification, it is important to use good study resources and methods. So, below we will talk about some of useful resources that will help in your journey to become PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner,
AXELOS: Study Resources
For the PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner Certification exam, Axelos offers the PRINCE2 Agile® Guidance, presenting the latest and most pertinent perspective on agile project management methodologies. This Prince2 Agile Practitioner Book encompasses various agile concepts like SCRUM, Kanban, and Lean Startup. Additionally, the PRINCE2 Agile guide highlights key features essential for the exam. Let’s explore them.
Key features
PRINCE2 Agile guide covers:
- Firstly, applying the integrated set of PRINCE2 principles, themes, and processes
- Secondly, the process of producing the PRINCE2 management products
- Thirdly, techniques for mapping the common agile roles to the PRINCE2 project management team structure
- Lastly, the process of including the fundamental agile behaviors, concepts, and techniques into PRINCE2.
You must know that the stability of PRINCE2 is in the areas of project direction and project management. Whereas agile on the other hand has a very strong focus on product delivery. However, when PRINCE2 and agile are combined together. Then, project direction, project management, and project delivery get perfection for creating the complete project management solution.
Using Practice tests for PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner
Using Prince2 Agile Practitioner Practice Test is the best way to assess yourself during the preparation for the exam. This is because assessing yourself will help you know about your strong and weak areas. Moreover, this will also help you to work on your time management skills by improving your answering skills. But, what’s important here is to get the best available practice tests. There are many sources out there where you can get the Practice tests related to the PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner exam. Related to this, practice tests provided by Testprep Training give you a detailed review of your performance, especially your strengths and your weak areas. Moreover, it also provides you with:
- Firstly, full-length mock exams with 150 unique questions. These are objective-based questions based on the exam course outline.
- Secondly, a detailed explanation for every question with lifetime access to the practice tests.
Expert’s Corner
For professionals working within a project environment as well as those with an understanding of the agile concepts detailed in PRINCE2 Agile. The PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner certification is the key to leveling up your skills and getting more advanced. We know that PRINCE2 Agile has the title of most complete agile project management solution globally for providing the flexibility and responsibility of agile with PRINCE2. So, holding PRINCE2 Agile® Practitioner Certification itself increases your level in the job market. So, prepare your mind and get started with the exam. However, for exam preparation, you can take help from accredited training providers for getting assistance and by using practice tests to assess yourself.
