Agile Methodology in PMP [Exam Notes]
- Karthick Kumar Rajappan

- Feb 23
- 2 min read

What is Agile?
Agile is a mindset and framework focused on delivering small, incremental value quickly, with continuous customer feedback and flexibility to change.
Agile favors collaboration, responding to change, and working solutions over documentation-heavy planning.
It is especially suitable for uncertain, fast-changing environments.
Agile Manifesto – 4 Core Values
Individuals & interactions over processes & tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
Agile Principles
Customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery
Welcome changing requirements—even late
Deliver working product frequently (2–4 weeks)
Business and dev teams must work together daily
Build projects around motivated individuals
Face-to-face conversation is best
Working products are the primary measure of progress
Sustainable pace of work (no burnout)
Continuous attention to technical excellence
Simplicity is essential
Self-organizing teams create the best results
Regular reflection and adaptation (retrospectives)
Agile Frameworks
Scrum: Iterative and time-boxed (Sprints: usually 2–4 weeks)
Roles:
Product Owner: Prioritizes work and defines what to build
Scrum Master: Facilitates, removes blockers (NOT a boss)
Development Team: Cross-functional, self-organizing
Artifacts:
Product Backlog: Full list of features
Sprint Backlog: Features selected for this sprint
Increment: Completed, shippable product
Events:
Sprint Planning: Define what to do this sprint
Daily Scrum: 15-min standup meeting
Sprint Review: Demo to stakeholders
Sprint Retrospective: Discuss how to improve
Kanban
Flow-based method with WIP (Work In Progress) limits
Uses a Kanban board (To Do, Doing, Done)
Visualizes bottlenecks in work processes
No time-boxing, no roles defined
Extreme Programming (XP)
Focused on software engineering
Practices: Test-Driven Development (TDD), pair programming, continuous integration
Agile Practices & Concepts
Term | Meaning | Example |
Backlog | Prioritized list of work | Hotel feature list (rooms, spa, gym) |
User Story | Requirement from user's perspective | “As a guest, I want mobile check-in” |
Story Points | Relative size/effort estimate | Feature A = 3 points, Feature B = 8 |
Velocity | Work completed in a sprint (e.g. 30 points) | Used to forecast future sprint capacity |
Burndown Chart | Tracks remaining work in sprint | Shows if team is on track |
Definition of Done | Criteria for completing work | “Tested, approved, documented” |
Timeboxing | Fixed length of event (e.g., 2-week sprint) | Keeps team focused and predictable |
Servant Leadership | Leadership through support, not control | Scrum Master removes team blockers |
Self-Organizing Teams | Teams decide how to deliver | Developer decides tech stack, not manager |
Agile in PMP Context: Agile vs Waterfall vs Hybrid
Area | Waterfall (Predictive) | Agile | Hybrid |
Scope | Fixed early | Emergent, flexible | Some fixed, some adaptive |
Planning | Big upfront | Rolling wave | Mix of both |
Changes | Controlled, hard | Welcomed | Allowed selectively |
Teams | Structured roles | Cross-functional | Mixed |
Delivery | Once, at end | Frequently (sprints) | Core by waterfall, extras by agile |
Agile Metrics
Metric | Use |
Velocity | Avg. story points completed per sprint |
Lead Time | Time from request to delivery |
Cycle Time | Time to complete a single item |
Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) | Shows WIP, cycle time, bottlenecks |
Escaped Defects | Bugs found by users after release |
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