Question 1

A pharmaceutical company is using an agile approach to streamline its drug development and testing
process. However, there are also some strict FDA requirements they must follow, so they need to tailor
those methods somewhat. What should they focus on as they do this?

1. Understanding how the agile practices work together

2. Getting buy-in from all the project stakeholders
3. Maximizing the efficiency of agile practices
4. Making sure the changes are a collaborative decision by the team

[Exam Topic 28: Process Tailoring] When tailoring a process, we need to understand
how all the practices work together to keep the process from becoming
imbalanced when a practice is changed or removed. Process tailoring might help
the team improve efficiency, but that isn’t a main focus of the effort. The team will
want to reach consensus on any changes--but that’s a general rule for agile
decision making, not specifically about process tailoring. Finally, the team doesn’t
need buy-in from the other stakeholders to tailor their own processes; this is the kind
of local decision that an agile team is empowered to make on their own.
Question 2

You are on an XP team developing an augmented reality role-playing game designed to be

played on public transport. The team has decided it will be helpful to develop some personas.
What will these personas represent?

1. Team roles
2. Game players
3. Prototype designs
4. Coarse-grained requirements

[Exam Topic 24: Personas] Personas represent people, whether real, stereotyped,
composite, or fictional. The only option here that involves people is "game players."
Although a persona might include the requirements that are important to the
people involved, those requirements are part of the persona, not what the persona
itself represents.
Question 3

You’re taking the PMI-ACP exam and come to a question about how agile teams handle risk. How
should you think through this question to find the correct answer?

1. Compare the question to what you learned in your Scrum training.

2. Draw upon your real-world experiences working on agile teams.
3. Answer based on your expertise as a Scrum Master and team coach.
4. Pick the answer that best reflects basic agile values and principles.

[Exam Topic 37: Shu-Ha-Ri] The answer that best matches the Shu level tested on the
exam is to "pick the answer that best reflects basic agile values and principles." While
your Scrum training was also Shu-level information, the PMI-ACP exam doesn’t focus
on Scrum; to do well, you need to understand other agile concepts and
approaches as well. The two remaining answers are Ha- or Ri-level responses that
could easily lead you to overthink the question and choose the wrong answer.
Question 4

Your IT department is planning the release of new driver management software to its taxi fleet. The
steering committee is debating whether to hire a usability testing service as part of the project costs
and asks for your input.

1. You say the most economical way to test the screens would be near the end of the
project when they are done and less likely to change.
2. You explain that finding issues earlier can save the project lots of money in the
long run.
3. You explain that defects found via pair programming are less costly to fix than those
found via review or inspection.
4. You point out that testing the screens near the end of the project will leave very little
time to incorporate changes.

[Exam Topic 8: Cost of Change Curve] While it is true that defects found via pair
programming are less costly to fix, that answer doesn’t address the scenario in
question. The fact that late testing doesn’t leave much time for changes is also
correct as far as it goes, but it misses the main point. The remaining two options
presents accurate and inaccurate interpretations of the cost of change curve.
Although the screens are less likely to change near the end of the project, that isn’t
a good enough reason to wait to test them, since the cost of making changes at
that point could be very high. The correct answer is that finding issues earlier can
save the project lots of money in the long run.
Question 5

Your XP team is trying to increase the efficiency of your interview process for gathering requirements.
What is one thing you should be focusing on?

1. Reducing the waiting time

2. Minimizing the planning process
3. Improving the quality of the questions
4. Reducing the number of questions

[Exam Topic 47: Value Stream Mapping] To identify the correct answer to this question
you need to understand that waiting time is a form of waste--and to increase
efficiency, one of the key things we need to do is eliminate waste. While optimizing
the planning process and the number and type of questions might also be helpful,
those aspects of the effort aren’t wasteful by definition.
Question 6

Your six-person team designs robotic prosthetics for disabled veterans. Although you all have a good
grasp of the different parts in the process, each team members specializes in one area, such as coding,
framework design, or building and testing the prototypes. You’re proud of the innovative products
you’ve created over the years, which are highly regarded in the industry and have won international
awards. However, within the company your team is notorious for loud arguments that can be heard by
anyone passing nearby. This has led to a perception by management that the group has a morale
problem, so they have decided to hire an agile coach to "help everyone get along." What will your new
coach will focus on first?

A. Teaching people how to resolve conflicts in a healthy way

B. Cross-training people to become generalizing specialists

C. Observing how people are using agile practices and processes

D. Helping to resolve disputes and overcome hard feelings

[Exam Topic 43: Training, Coaching, and Mentoring] An agile coach assigned to a new team will start by asking
questions, listening, and observing. They will want to learn all about how the team works together, including
how they use agile practices and processes. Although a team of generalizing specialists is the preferred agile
approach, each role on this team requires a high degree of technical skill. The team is building excellent
products, and everyone understands each other’s work. So, their separate roles don’t seem to be posing a
problem that needs to be addressed right away. The remaining two answer options are based on
management’s assumption that the team members aren’t getting along well. However, the loud arguments
are probably just evidence of a team of creative and passionate people who are testing and debating their
ideas, not people who can’t get along or don’t like each other.
Question 7

Your senior web designer just came down with the flu in the middle of an iteration. As team leader,
what should you do?

1. Meet with the team to find out how much of the planned work will be done.

2. Ask the two other designers to work overtime.

3. Postpone the product demo until the iteration goal is done.

4. Call his functional manager, and ask for a new designer for the rest of the iteration.

[Exam Topic 42: Timeboxing] The correct answer is to discuss with the team how much of the planned work they
will be able to complete within the timebox. We wouldn’t reschedule the product demo, because timeboxes
(such as iterations) are based on the agile triangle--we have a fixed timeframe in which to complete as much
work as we can. If we don’t complete all the work, we move it to another timebox. We wouldn’t request a
new designer since adding people to the team temporarily won’t make the developers more productive.
Instead, it will disrupt their process and create delays as they try to familiarize the new person with the work.
The option of asking others to work overtime isn’t consistent with the agile principle of sustainable
development.
Question 8

A team member has asked if they can work from home to save on commuting time and costs. Which
response best describes agile’s approach to location and communications?

1. Yes, if you are more productive that way, it will offset the disadvantages of missing out on face-
to-face communication.

2. Yes, if you agree to video conferencing for the team meetings and technical discussions, it will
be almost like having you here anyway.

3. Maybe, let’s try it and review how well it’s working in the next retrospective to see if the other
team members are okay with it.

4. No, if you aren’t here, the entire team will suffer from the lack of face-to-face
communication with you.

[Exam Topic 7: Co-Located and Distributed Teams] Agile methods are designed to leverage the benefits gained by
working together in the same room, so there would need to be more important reasons than cost and
convenience to split up the team. Individual productivity is less important than team cohesion and
effectiveness. Digital tools aren’t really a substitute for in-person contact--they are used when it isn’t possible
to co-locate the team members. So an agile team wouldn’t allow team members to work from home.
Question 9

You’re teaching a one-day training course for new product owners at your company, which uses the
Scrum methodology. In your opening remarks, what do you explain is the key responsibility of the
product owner role?

1. Problem solving and continuous improvement

2. Acting as servant leader to the team

3. Planning the iterations and releases

4. Maximizing value to the organization

[Exam Topic 34: Scrum] The product owner’s primary responsibility is maximizing the value of the product. It is
the team coach or Scrum Master who acts as a servant leader to the team. Agile team members organize their
own work. Problem solving and continuous improvement are done collectively by project stakeholders.
Question 10

Your team is working on the second release of a "Lunch Club" location-based app that finds your
friends in the area, along with local restaurants that match your preferences. The product owner, Joy,
has just added a new "Pet Friendly" restaurant feature to the backlog that he’d like you to include in
the upcoming release. What’s most likely to happen because of this?

1. The "Pet Friendly" feature will be included in the next iteration.

2. The "Accepts Bitcoin" feature won’t be included in this release.

3. Team members will work longer hours to get the new feature done for this release.

4. Joy will bring in extra contract resources so you can get the new feature done.

[Exam Topic 46: User Story Backlog] When we add a new feature to the project, it isn’t necessarily completed as
soon as possible, in the next iteration. Instead, it is prioritized and inserted at the appropriate place in the
backlog. Since agile teams work at a sustainable pace, it’s unlikely that more resources would be added to the
project just to complete one feature. When a new user story is added to the backlog, the team doesn’t work
longer; something else drops down lower in priority. Since none of the other three answer options are
correct, we can assume that the "Accepts Bitcoin" feature is the lower priority item that will drop down the
backlog and be left out of the next release.
Question 11

When does progressive elaboration take place?

1. Whenever the backlog is updated

2. Continuously throughout the project

3. During the review and retrospective meetings

4. In the iteration planning meetings

[Exam Topic 29: Progressive Elaboration] As we learn more about the project, we continuously refine and revise
our plans in all of these ways. Since the answer "continuously throughout the project" includes all the other
options, it is the best answer. None of the other three answers is clearly better than the others.
Question 12

Your PMO wants to know why your team is using task boards and sticky notes on a whiteboard to track
the progress of your work. They point out that all project leaders have a license for the corporate
project management tool that supports dependency tracking, Monte Carlo analysis, and resource
balancing. How do you respond?

1. We like to be able to see our progress at a glance.

2. We don’t want just anyone to be able to update our plan.

3. We tried the corporate PM tool, but it didn’t have the features we needed.

4. As an agile team, we prefer a more back-to-basics approach.

[Exam Topic 16: Information Radiators] While you might be able to come up with a more compelling
answer than any of these options, the best answer choice on offer is that the team wants to be able to
see their progress at a glance. Agile teams don’t use low-tech tools simply because they want to go
"back to basics"--low-tech tools provide key advantages that are an essential part of the agile mindset
and practice. The other two answer options aren’t consistent with an agile approach.
Question 13

If their servant leader is effective, what are we likely to see on an agile team?

1. They will collaborate smoothly and harmoniously with little conflict.

2. They will probably argue a lot while learning to work together.

3. They will learn to suppress their disagreements and work together.

4. They will disagree more and more as they get to know each other.

[Exam Topic 44: Tuckman Model of Team Development] When agile team members are first learning
to work together, we expect to see them move through the Storming stage, where arguments and
disagreements are likely to erupt. Notice that the reference to the team leader’s effectiveness isn’t
relevant to finding the answer, it’s just a distraction. The correct answer is the result of the natural
process of team formation, not the leader’s effectiveness. The other answers aren’t something we
would expect to see on an agile team, whether the leader is effective or not.
Question 14

Your distributed agile team is discussing the requirements for the first release with the product owner.
She would like the team to devote the first release to delivering a minimal viable product. What does
she mean by this?

1. Build only the functionality the end users will use the most.

2. Determine the most efficient and least costly technological approach.

3. Deliver the smallest package of features that will be useful to users.

4. Identify the most basic features that will allow the product to work.

[Exam Topic 22: Minimal Viable Product] The minimal viable product, which is often delivered in the
first release of an agile project, is the smallest package of functionality that will be useful to the end
users or the market. This isn’t necessarily the functionality that the end users will use the most, or the
most basic features that the product could include and still work (the latter is a subset of the minimal
viable product). The option that refers to the technological approach is made up.
Question 15

Your company designs and builds wearable fitness-tracking devices. You’ve asked the delivery team to
prepare a product roadmap for the new device they’re working on. As project sponsor, what will you be
looking for on their roadmap?

1. How the team is planning to balance risk reduction with value delivery

2. An overview of the device’s functionality and planned releases

3. Outline of the team’s technological approach and proof of concept

4. Any opportunities to deliver value earlier than planned

[Exam Topic 30: Release Planning] A product roadmap shows the functionality that will be included in
each release to give stakeholders a quick overview of the team’s plan. The other answer options aren’t
related to this planning tool.
Question 16

Kara has been assigned to your project, but she still has some responsibilities supporting her previous
project. What’s the best way to estimate her availability for your project?

1. Ask her to record how much time she spends working on your project, and use this to
estimate availability.

2. Subtract the average time she has been spending on the other project from her schedule, along
with 20 percent overhead for meetings.

3. To avoid excessive documentation, just assume that 50 percent of her time will be available to
your project.

4. Assume she will be available 50 percent of her time minus 20 percent overhead for meetings on
either project.

[Exam Topic 14: Ideal Time] Although this scenario isn’t an example of estimating task duration, the
same principles apply. We want to use the actual time Kara is working on the project, not a number
derived from overhead or averages estimates. This means that we have to track her actual time spent
on the project.
Question 17

A business user is questioning your team’s kaizen approach and asks why you don’t spend more time
to do it right the first time rather than creating a quick prototype and then trying to fix it up. You
respond by saying, "Prototypes are an effective way of confirming and uncovering requirements and
testing technical options. Then through continuous improvement ________." Which ending of this
statement wouldn’t be aligned with the kaizen philosophy?

1. We improve our processes to be more efficient

2. We enhance our product to deliver more business value

3. We iterate toward what is really required by the customer

4. We test for optimal visibility and transparency

[Exam Topic 18: Kaizen] Although you might have to read carefully to realize it, the answer option
"test for optimal visibility and transparency" doesn’t have a clear meaning in this context. The other
three options are aligned with the kaizen approach, and we are looking for the option that isn’t. So the
correct answer is the one that is ambiguous and hard to interpret. On the exam, some of the incorrect
answer options won’t make any sense or will use made-up words that sound as if they could be agile
terminology.
Question 18

Your co-located team is developing an implanted medical device for people with blood sugar
sensitivities. There have been some misunderstandings between the team and the business subject
matter experts about how sample values and display response times should be shown on the device.
As the team coach, what’s the best way to address this problem?

1. Arrange quarterly meetings with the business subject matter experts to view and discuss
sample screens of how the data will be shown on the device.

2. Meet once again with the business subject matter experts to validate the requirements to
ensure all parties fully understand what is needed.

3. At each iteration demo, discuss how the response times are displayed and clarify any
issues raised about the test results.

4. Hold a requirements workshop to validate the technical specifications for the device and ensure
everyone understands the requirements.

[Exam Topic 13: Frequent Verification and Validation] It may be misleading that two of the answers
for this question deal with validating the requirements, but that isn’t the real problem here. The best
approach in this scenario would be to discuss the tests and response times at the iteration demos,
which are regular meetings that all the relevant stakeholders should attend. This will allow the team to
get regular feedback from the SMEs about how the data should be displayed.
Question 19

As Scrum Master, you read online that a competitor is about to release a new product that offers the
same innovative functionality the team is working on. What should you do?

1. Cancel the project.

2. Ask the product owner if this news changes the viability of the project.

3. Do some research to determine whether the team’s product will still have a unique angle.

4. Tell the product owner to immediately reprioritize the backlog.

[Exam Topic 2: Agile Team Roles] In three of these answer options the Scrum Master is stepping
outside of their role on an agile team. It isn’t up to the Scrum Master to analyze the value of the
project, tell the product owner what to do, or (especially) cancel the project. The only person
mentioned here who can assess whether the project viability has changed is the product owner
(probably in consultation with the project sponsor). So, the correct answer is to ask the product owner
if the viability of the project has changed.
Question 20

This team started the project with 54 points of functionality in the backlog, and they have just finished
iteration 8. Their burndown chart per iteration since starting the project is shown here. At the start of
iteration 5, was this team ahead of, or behind schedule to date?

1. We can’t tell that from this chart.

2. Although iteration 4 met its goals, overall, they are still behind because of slow progress in the
first three iterations.

3. They are falling behind at that point, although they will make up the shortfall in the
next iteration.

4. They are a bit ahead of schedule at this point.

[Exam Topic 6: Burn Charts] The team is falling behind at that point, although they will make up the
shortfall in the next iteration. At the start of iteration 5, the team is slightly behind schedule, since the
green progress line is higher than the dotted estimated progress line. Iteration 4 didn’t make any
progress in burning down scope--the team might have been working on risk reduction, or more scope
may have been added to the project.
Question 21

An electronics company is working on a new laptop design that incorporates retinal scanning for user
authentication. The team has created a working prototype. However, the product owner calculates that
its production cost would be too high, so she suggests that they simplify the design and use cheaper
and larger components. How should the team respond?

1. That should work since we have already tested all the functionality.

2. We won’t know if that will work until we finish building the actual product.

3. We’ll do a risk-based spike to see how the component costs will be impacted by international
currency fluctuations.

4. We’ll do an architectural spike to see if we can rework the laptop to get the savings
you are looking for.

[Exam Topic 38: Spikes] This question actually doesn’t have any "wrong" answers. Any of these
responses could be right, depending on the circumstances. However, on the exam you will need to pick
the best answer based on a brief scenario that doesn’t include all the information you’d like to have. So
let’s analyze these options. The two choices that don’t mention doing a spike are problematic. In one
case the team is assuming that the simplified design will work without testing it. In the other case they
are saying there’s no way to test it without building the product. Although that might be true, the team
should at least look for ways to check the new design before saying that it can’t be tested. Of the two
spike options, the architectural spike is a better answer, since the product owner is proposing a new
product design with new components. The team should determine that the new approach will work in
the first place before they spend any time checking if it will be vulnerable to currency fluctuations.
Question 22

You’re a programmer on an XP team and would like to attend a weekend workshop to brush up on
the coding skills you’ll need for the upcoming phase of the project. You’d also like to take a day
off during the week to compensate for working on the weekend. Who should you go to for help
arranging this?

1. Your teammates need to decide if this will interfere with getting the work done.

2. Your team coach will evaluate this request and help get it approved.

3. The customer will determine whether this will interfere with the project goals.

4. The project sponsor must approve requests for spending and schedule changes.

[Exam Topic 50: XP] Your team coach is the person you should go to for help improving your skills.
Your teammates will have insights into how this will affect their work, but the question implies that you
are looking for some help and support. The project sponsor or the customer might need to officially
approve the request; however, they aren’t responsible for helping you develop your skills--and their
goals should already be aligned with the team’s goals. So if your coach determines that this training
will be a good investment for the project, that person will help you obtain the necessary approvals from
other stakeholders.
Question 23

A new agile team has already identified a list of potential risks and ranked them by severity. The
next step is to analyze the risks for avoidance and mitigation actions that might be taken. Since
the list is very long, the team is trying to narrow down which risks to focus on first. Using a
severity scale of 1 to 3 (low to high severity), which of the following categories of risks should
they evaluate first?

1. The risks ranked as high impact and low probability

2. The risks ranked as high probability and low impact

3. The risks ranked as both medium probability and medium impact

4. The risks ranked as high impact and low probability and those ranked as low impact and high
probability would be tied for top priority.

[Exam Topic 33: Risk Burndown Graphs] The calculation for risk severity is risk probability (as a
ranking) times risk impact (as a ranking). Based on a scale of 1 to 3 (low to high), a risk with high
impact (3) and low probability (1) would have a severity of 3 (3 × 1 = 3). A risk with high probability
(3) and low impact (1) would also have a severity of 3 (3 × 1 = 3). However, a risk with medium
probability (2) and medium impact (2) would have a severity of 4 (2 × 2 = 4). Therefore, of these
three types of risks, those with medium probability and medium impact have the highest risk severity
and should be prioritized for evaluation.
Question 24

The product owner is frustrated because the team’s estimates are always too low. Each time it turns
out that some necessary steps were left out, such as testing or integration, but the variance isn’t
consistent. How should the product owner address this issue?

1. Add a multiplication factor to the estimates based on the worst-case variance from the team’s
estimate to the actual duration.

2. Visit the team room every day to make sure they are using the most efficient approach to
getting the work done.

3. Discuss each estimate with the team to make sure all the work involved in building
the story is included.

4. Agile methods don’t require accurate estimates; knowledge work is inherently variable and
cannot accurately be estimated.

[Exam Topic 10: Definition of Done] The best answer here is to work with the team to make sure all
the work involved in building the story is included in their estimates. The other answers aren’t
consistent with the agile approach. If the team’s estimates aren’t accurate, they should be using that
feedback to learn how to improve their estimates next time. Micromanaging the team is unproductive
and conflicts with the agile value of empowering the team. And finally, accurate estimates are essential
for agile projects, just like any other project. Although agile estimates start out coarse-grained, they
are progressively refined over time to reach a high degree of accuracy.
Question 25

At a Steering Committee meeting the CFO asks why the project repeats multiple iterations of build,
test, and evaluate. when it would be more cost-efficient to complete each of these activities in
their entirety and then release the specialist resources. How do you respond?

1. This approach improves team cohesion, collaboration, and productivity.

2. This approach provides earlier return on the investment in this project.

3. This approach follows the recommended best practices for the agile approach.

4. This approach offers more visibility and transparency for monitoring the status of the work.

[Exam Topic 15: Incremental Delivery] Incremental delivery has many benefits, and we might imagine
scenarios in which any of these advantages might result from choosing this approach. However, the
only answer option that is a primary reason for using incremental delivery is earlier return on
investment. Although we could have described other reasons for using this approach, this benefit
addresses the CFO’s concerns about cost efficiency.
Question 26

You have been asked to assess the adoption of agile across several teams in your organization.
Which team is best implementing the agile mindset?

1. A team that isn’t consistently using agile practices and isn’t sure what those practices are trying
to accomplish

2. A team that is consistently using agile practices but is working with a fixed upfront plan

3. A team that isn’t consistently using agile practices, but the team members are
working cooperatively to achieve their goals

4. A team that is consistently using agile practices, but team members require a lot of direction to
keep development progressing

[Exam Topic 5: Being versus Doing Agile] While none of these options are ideal, one of these teams is
implementing the agile mindset more effectively than the others--the team that is working
cooperatively to achieve their goals. A team that doesn’t understand what agile practices are trying to
do, that is working with a fixed plan, or that requires a lot of direction to keep moving forward still
hasn’t incorporated agile values.
Question 27

You’re leading an advertising team that is designing flyers for a political candidate. This is a
temporary team that was formed for the duration of the campaign season, and most of the team
members are new to agile. When you announce that the group will be holding regular
retrospectives every other Friday, several team members ask how this can be a good use of their
time as election day draws closer. How do you respond?

1. Because of the tight deadline, it will help to regularly figure out what’s working and
what’s holding us back.

2. To help the next temporary campaign team, we’ve been asked to record which approaches work
well and which don’t.

3. Since this team is temporary, it’s important to gather as a group to regularly review and refine
our mission.

4. Because the work is so urgent, we have to coordinate our efforts and define "done" for each
flyer so we don’t get off track.

[Exam Topic 31: Retrospectives] The activities of refining the project mission and defining done for
each item aren’t part of holding a retrospective. (Also, these tasks wouldn’t be the sole responsibility of
the delivery team.) The other two options both address determining which practices are working well
and which aren’t. The key point for choosing the correct answer is that agile retrospectives are held to
provide the team with immediate benefits for completing their current project, not to help out a future
team.
Question 28

The website for the product your team is developing has been deployed for three months, and each
month you have been getting fewer new visitors. The product owner suggests that Five Whys
might be helpful in this situation. How do you respond?

1. Yes, that will be a good way to brainstorm how to improve our search engine optimization.

2. Maybe, that could help us generate some new solutions to try, but it won’t solve the problem.

3. Sure, that can help us find inefficiencies and streamline the user experience.

4. Good idea, that will help us figure out the underlying reasons for the problem.

[Exam Topic 12: Five Whys] The Five Whys technique is designed to help find the underlying causes of
a problem by asking "why?" five times. The other answer options are incorrect descriptions of this
approach.
Question 29

Your company is planning a move to a new building, and facilities management is interviewing you
about your team’s requirements. How do you respond?

1. We require an adjoining room for our team meetings and information radiators.

2. We need an empty space without any cubicles that is big enough to accommodate all
our desks.

3. We should be close enough together to discourage any private conversations.

4. Our desks need to be facing each other so everyone can see what everyone else is doing.

[Exam Topic 41: Team Space] The correct answer is that an agile team needs an empty space without
any cubicles that is big enough to accommodate all their desks. The goal of sitting together is to enable
osmotic communication, not to prevent private conversations--a separate space should be provided for
that. The team’s information radiators are posted openly in the main team space, not relegated to an
adjoining meeting room. The team members don’t need to see what everyone else is doing. They just
need to be able to hear each other’s work-related conversations in the background, so they can tune in
as needed.
Question 30

As team coach, you overhear three team members debating the best way to design the acceptance test
for user story 7.12. They seem to be at a stalemate. How should you respond?

1. Gather the team to discuss the issue and come up with a solution.

2. As the team coach, you should join the conversation and offer your opinion about the best
design.

3. Since this issue is an impediment to progress, you should evaluate the options and identify the
best design for them.

4. You should all meet with the customer to come up with a collaborative decision.

[Exam Topic 27: Problem Solving] On an agile team, it’s up to the team members to resolve their own
technical disputes. The best response here might actually be to do nothing and just let the three team
members keep working on the problem--but that option isn’t offered here. So the best choice would be
to gather the entire team to help them come up with a solution. The coach and the customer are
unlikely to have the knowledge required to make such decisions. (It could be helpful to talk to the
customer if the team members were arguing about the meaning of her acceptance criteria.) It probably
won’t be helpful to chime in with your opinion--even if they are struggling to come up with a solution,
it’s important for them to work through this process. They haven’t asked for your input, and there’s no
indication in the scenario that you know more about this problem than they do.
Question 31

What isn’t a key focus of the agile approach?

1. Delivering early return on investment

2. Adapting to change and uncertainty

3. Measuring progress

4. Reducing risk as soon as possible

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 4: Agile Value Proposition] The best way to approach this question is
by a process of elimination. You should be able to recognize that three of the options are essential
elements of the agile value proposition: delivering early return on investment, adapting to change, and
reducing risk. Once you have eliminated those three options, then the remaining option (measuring
progress) must be the correct answer. Although agile teams certainly measure their progress, this isn’t
one of the basic tenets of agile.
Question 32

During the Q & A after your presentation on agile adoption, an attendee asks how an agile approach
can possibly work for a project that has a hard deadline that can’t be missed. How will you respond?

1. If there’s enough budget available, there should be no problem meeting all the requirements by
the deadline.

2. Neither agile nor traditional methods can guarantee delivery by a fixed date, so pick the
approach you are most familiar with.

3. If the deadline is that critical, it would be safer to just create a prototype that is guaranteed to
be ready in plenty of time.

4. As long as there’s some flexibility in the product scope, an agile approach is ideal for
projects with fixed deadlines.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 3: Agile Triangle] The correct answer is that an agile approach is ideal
for projects with fixed deadlines, as long as there’s some flexibility in the product scope. The other
options aren’t accurate expressions of the agile approach to constraints.
Question 33

Your team is using the lean approach for a project that involves developing safety software for self-
driving cars. Which waste reduction effort would you be most interested in pursuing?

1. Minimize the effort required to develop and test a feature.

2. Shorten the time it takes to deploy a new feature after it’s identified.

3. Balance throughput with progressively iterated cycles of work in progress.

4. Optimize the team’s cycle time while mitigating technical debt.

[Exam Topic 21: Lean Product Development] This question tests your understanding of the importance
of lead time on an agile project. Although reducing the effort needed to develop and test a feature
would be helpful, lean-based approaches focus instead on reducing the lead time of the project as a
whole--from requirements definition through deployment. If you had difficulty understanding the other
two answer options, it’s because they are intentionally confusing. On the PMI-ACP exam, some answer
options won’t make any sense. When you encounter them, see if there is another answer that
addresses the question correctly and specifically. If there is, it may be safe to disregard the options you
don’t understand.
Question 34

Four coworkers are studying for the PMI-ACP exam together, and they have gotten into an argument
about lead time, cycle time, and throughput. Who is right?

1. Jorge says lead time is usually a subset of cycle time.

2. Rainer says cycle time is usually a subset of lead time.

3. Mara says it can be either way since the two terms can be used interchangeably.

4. Aiko says it doesn’t matter since cycle time and lead time aren’t that relevant anyway.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 20: Lead Time and Cycle Time] Rainer is right--cycle time is usually a
subset of lead time. The other three team members need to reread the description in this workbook!
Question 35

To fulfill the responsibilities of a servant leader, which of these interpersonal skills would be most
important to have?

1. Make decisions independently without relying on others.

2. Efficiently resolve conflicts between other people.

3. Help project stakeholders manage change and challenges.

4. Understand and influence the emotions of others.

[Exam Topic 36: Servant Leadership] This question requires you to integrate your knowledge of the
agile mindset with common sense about how people work together. By doing so, it should be clear that
understanding and influencing the emotions of others is an important skill for leading any team, not
just in an agile context. Agile leaders encourage collective decision making, rather than making
decisions without input from others. On agile teams, conflicts are ideally resolved by those directly
involved, not the team leader. And helping the other project stakeholders manage change and
challenges isn’t part of the servant leader’s defined role. If you had difficulty with this question, review
the related topics listed for this exam topic (Servant Leadership).
Question 36

Your engineering team is designing a packaging robot for the food industry that can pick and pack
items from a moving conveyer. The product owner is also an engineer, and he thinks it’s a big waste of
the team’s time to create a risk-adjusted backlog. You explain that creating this tool will:

1. Help us schedule the completion of each item on your list of threats and issues.

2. Allow us to balance continuous improvement with progressive elaboration.

3. Assign a quantifiable business value to each risk response action.

4. Timebox the coarse-grained estimate of each risk’s impact on the product.

[Exam Topic 32: Risk-Adjusted Backlog] In creating a risk-adjusted backlog, we give each risk
response action a quantifiable business value that lets us see how it compares to high-value features.
The other options are mixed-up jargon. They may sound plausible at first glance, but by reading them
carefully, you should be able to tell that they don’t make any sense. (The ability to identify mixed-up
wording will be helpful when taking the PMI-ACP exam.)
Question 37

A chemical processing company has assembled a task force to find ways to reduce emissions from a
recently opened facility, and the group has decided to use a Kanban approach. Which statement
reflects how they will work together?

1. Use a graphical tool to plan and document their processes.

2. Have spontaneous discussions about processes whenever an issue arises.

3. Carefully analyze and document the interim goals of the process.

4. Use task boards with limits on work in progress to plan their processes.

[Exam Topic 19: Kanban] Despite the background information, really all we know about this team is
that they are following a Kanban approach. So this question must be asking about Kanban practices
and principles. The only one of these options that is clearly aligned with Kanban would be using a
graphical tool to plan and document processes, which reflects the principle "visualize the workflow."
While some of the other options might sound as if they are related to Kanban practices and principles,
the details are off. For example, Kanban boards and WIP limits are used to track and control the
workflow, not to plan processes.
Question 38

A start-up software company is developing a gaming app aimed at entertaining casual players for a few
minutes at a time in between other tasks. Each time the app is refreshed, it presents a new puzzle or
game. The app includes an algorithm for suggesting new games based on the player’s cumulative
thumbs up and down ratings for different types of games. The team is trying to decide which feature to
develop in the next iteration. What criteria should they use?

1. The feature that delivers the most value toward the iteration and release goals

2. The feature that will best balance value delivery with risk reduction

3. The feature identified by the product owner after discussion with the development
team

4. The feature identified by the development team after discussion with the product owner

[Exam Topic 17: Iteration Planning] This question requires you to pick the best option from four
answers that all have some degree of validity. The product owner and the team will discuss the
features, but then it is up to the product owner to set the final priorities, not the team. So the best
answer is that the team should develop the feature identified by the product owner after discussion
with the team. The other two answers (deliver the most value and balance value with risk) are
technically correct, and the team may sometimes think there are more qualified stories to develop than
those chosen by the product owner. However, they should always follow the product owner’s priorities
in selecting stories for the next iteration. They can try to educate the product owner about risks and
dependencies, but at the end of the day it is the product owner’s responsibility to set priorities.
Question 39

David, the product owner for the team you’re leading, is working with four development teams on
different parts of a large, complex solution. He tells you he’s concerned because your team is using a
considerably smaller story point unit than the other three teams. How do you respond to him?

1. The size of each team’s story point doesn’t matter since this is just a relative concept, not an
actual metric.

2. A story point unit has to be used consistently, so we will switch to the size used by the other
teams.

3. Our story point has to be smaller since our part of the solution is the most detailed.

4. We’ve decided that this is the story point unit that works best for us.

[Exam Topic 39: Story Points and Relative Sizing] Each team owns their own definition of a story
point, and the size of that story point doesn’t affect the product owner’s ability to work with the team
or maximize the value of the product. So there’s no reason for David to be concerned. All you have to
tell him is that this is the story point your team has chosen. An agile team wouldn’t change the size of
their story point during development since it needs to be kept consistent for tracking and monitoring
the work. (That would complicate their ability to know how they’re doing and when the work will be
done.) A team’s story point doesn’t necessarily need to be smaller because the work is more detailed.
In fact, an argument could be made that this makes it especially important not to get too caught up in
the details. Finally, a story point might be a relative measure, but it is used in tangible ways to
estimate, track, and schedule the work. So it is an actual metric, not "just a relative concept."
Question 40

You notice that over the last month, your team’s work in progress has increased. This is a troubling
sign, indicating that you have more ______.

1. Work than you can get done

2. Difficult technical problems

3. Blockages in the workflow

4. Inaccurate estimates

[Exam Topic 49: Work in Progress and WIP Limits] If your team’s work in progress is going up, it’s
likely there are some blockages or bottlenecks in the workflow that are holding up the development
process. The other items are incorrect.
Question 41

Your team has run into a tricky question about a stakeholder’s requirements that is holding up their
progress. However, she is traveling and isn’t available for an in-person meeting. What should you do?

1. Call her on the phone.

2. Send her an email.

3. Wait until she’s back in the office to meet face to face.

4. Ask another stakeholder what she needs.

[Exam Topic 11: Face-to-Face Communication] On a fast-moving project, we can’t always wait for a
face-to-face meeting to address a question. We also don’t want to ask someone else to speak for the
stakeholder; that could lead to confusion and miscommunication. So, the remaining options are phone
and email. Although email would probably the more common choice, phone is a more interactive
medium that would provide richer communication about a complicated issue. So, the correct answer
would be to give her a call.
Question 42

Your team is developing a mobile alert aggregator for social media updates and trending news items.
They want to use the MoSCoW prioritization scheme, but people have different ideas of what "must
have" means. How would you explain this category to them?

1. These are the features that need to be delivered in the first release.

2. This is the functionality that allows the system to work properly but isn’t essential to include.

3. These are the requirements that will add quantifiable value to the solution.

4. These are the basic requirements that make the system a viable, functioning product.

[Exam Topic 26: Prioritization Schemes] In MoSCoW, "must haves" are the basic requirements that
make the system a viable, functioning product. This is the correct answer. The next category, "should
have," includes the requirements that enable the system to work properly; if we omit those features,
the workarounds will be costly or cumbersome. The third category, "could have," covers any useful
additions that would add value to the system but aren’t required. The remaining option, "features that
need to be delivered in the first release," appears to refer to the minimal viable product. Although
there might be a lot of overlap, this isn’t the same thing as the "must haves" category in MoSCoW.
Question 43

While observing the team’s stand-up meeting, the product owner realizes that one of the developers is
confused about a business rule. How should the product owner address this?

1. Speak up immediately and clarify the issue to avoid any further confusion.

2. Take a few minutes to talk to the developer after the stand-up.

3. Wait until the sprint review to explain how the product increment needs to be changed to be
acceptable.

4. Wait for the sprint retrospective to provide the feedback so everyone can learn from it.

[Exam Topic 9: Daily Stand-Ups] We can find the answer to this question by a process of elimination.
The two options that involve waiting until another occasion to clear up the misunderstanding are
opposed to the agile value of catching issues and giving feedback as early as possible. But the product
owner shouldn’t speak during the meeting either, since the stand-up is limited to three questions, and
only those who have tasks should talk. So the best answer would be to catch the developer after the
stand-up to clear up the issue.
Question 44

You’re the Scrum-Master for a team developing in-cab dispatch software for a trucking company. A
week before a pilot with a small group of beta test drivers, the ticket printing functionality required for
Department of Transportation regulations isn’t working. You have to decide whether to ask the drivers
to create paper tickets, as they have done in the past, or to delay the pilot until that functionality is
ready. Which agile value is involved in resolving this issue?

1. Responding to change over following a plan

2. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

3. Working software over comprehensive documentation

4. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

[Exam Topic 1: Agile Manifesto] In this scenario, you are responding to a turn of events that wasn’t
anticipated in the original plan. Although the other options might sound related, if you think about it,
none of them play a decisive role in this situation.
Question 45

You are working with a group of teachers who are using an agile approach to design a letters and
numbers course for kindergarten classes. Everyone seems to have a different opinion about how to
select the exercises for the course. As a facilitator, how can you best help them resolve this stalemate
and move forward?

1. Train them in conflict resolution skills.

2. Have each person share their feelings about why each option is important.

3. Reach agreement on the first set of exercises and then work out the others later.

4. Create a decision spectrum to document the different views for discussion.

[Exam Topic 23: Participatory Decision Making] This scenario is an example of participatory decision
making on an agile team. The best answer is to use a decision spectrum to document the different
views, since that tool is specifically designed to facilitate collective decision making. While the other
answers could be helpful, they won’t be as effective at helping the group move efficiently from
divergence to convergence.
Question 46

The Dog Walk Cooperative social media app lets members pick up local dogs to take for a walk while they are out
for a walk themselves. The company’s tag line is: "Ensuring walks have more dogs and dogs have more walks."
The development team is using a task board to track their progress, as shown here. It is the last day of the first
week of a two-week sprint. Based on their task board, how is the Dog Walk Cooperative team doing?

1. They’re falling behind because an impediment has arisen.

2. The first week has been slow, but they still expect to finish the sprint backlog.

3. They are ahead of schedule and should finish the sprint backlog early.

4. They won’t know how well they are doing until their final velocity numbers are posted.

[Exam Topic 40: Task/Kanban Boards] If we assume that this chart depicts the end of the first week of
a two-week sprint, then the team is doing okay. Although three stories haven’t been started yet, three
other stories have already been completed. Some of the tasks for the story they are currently working
on have also already been completed. Overall, this is a reasonable place to be at this point in an
iteration.
Question 47

On your project team, which is developing pacemaker reporting software, two of the developers are arguing about
how to design the user interface. This is most likely an example of ____.

1. Storming

2. Convergence

3. Self-direction

4. Usability testing

[Exam Topic 35: Self-Directing and Self-Organizing Teams] When the members of a self-directing
team have different ideas about what needs to be built, it is up to them to debate the pros and cons of
the proposed solutions and decide how to proceed. The scenario described is part of this process.
Although this team might also be in the Storming stage of development, the scenario provides no
evidence for that. If the question said that the team members had debated the issues and come to a
consensus about how to build the user interface, then that would be an example of convergence--but
that isn’t what it says. And based on the information provided, this situation isn’t related to usability
testing.
Question 48

Your team is struggling with formatting their user stories in the Role/Functionality/ Business Benefit
format. They ask you, their agile coach, what impact it will have on the project if they just skip the
parts of this format that are hard to figure out. You say, "If we do that, then ______."

1. End users won’t understand how to use the product

2. We won’t know why each piece of functionality is important

3. The product owner won’t understand what we have built

4. We won’t be able to deliver early business value

[Exam Topic 45: User Stories] One of the major advantages of the "As a <Role>, I want
<Functionality>, so that <Business benefit>" user story format is that it forces us to identify who is
asking for each piece of functionality and what benefit it is expected to bring. Too many projects are
overloaded with requirements that have no clear owner or business benefit. It’s true that unclear user
stories could also impact other areas of the project, potentially including the other options listed here.
But the biggest issue is that the team won’t know "Why are we building this feature anyway?"
Question 49

An established agile team that is building software integrations for their corporate ERP system is using
planning poker to estimate the user stories for release 12.06. What are they trying to determine?

1. How long it will take to develop and test release 12.06

2. When release 12.06 will be ready to deploy

3. How much time the first iteration will take in ideal time

4. The relative size in points of the stories they have reviewed

[Exam Topic 25: Planning Poker] The correct answer is that the team is trying to determine the
relative size in points of the stories they have reviewed for that release. You might have noticed that
the other three options all describe duration, not effort--but planning poker estimates are made in ideal
time, which assesses effort, not duration. Also, the answer "how much time the first iteration will take"
must be incorrect, since agile iterations are timeboxed; we know how long they will be.
Question 50

You’re the Scrum-Master for a team whose velocity has been averaging 50 to 60 points per two-week
sprint for the last three months. The product owner tells you he would like 140 points of functionality to
be done for the next release. How do you respond?

1. That’s 6 weeks of work; is that an acceptable timeframe for the release?

2. Sorry, there’s no way the team can get 140 points done in a single sprint.

3. We can try to get it done, but we’ll have to omit the lower priority features.

4. Our velocity is on a steady upward trend, so let’s plan the release in 4 or 5 weeks.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 48: Velocity] Three months in, the team’s velocity should be getting
fairly predictable. In this scenario, building 140 points at a rate of 50 to 60 points every two weeks
would be six weeks of work, so that is the correct answer. This far into a project, we can’t assume that
our velocity will continue to rise indefinitely. (Also, this team is using two-week iterations, not one-
week iterations, so the work will either be done in 4 weeks or 6 weeks, not 5 weeks.) The option that
mentions omitting the lower priority features is irrelevant since it doesn’t address any timeframe for
doing the work.