Project Health Check

What it is ACE PMP certification imply?

The ACE PMP software project management certification implies that the certified project manager possesses sound knowledge in fields that are critical to software project success. Based on some of the industry reports such as Chaos reports published by Standish group, other project success surveys, and other surveys conducted by ACE consultants themselves, certain factors critical to success emerge. Please read this article for more details on factors that are critical to software project success.

Based on these factors

ACE has listed the following
areas as critical to software project success

Requirements engineering

elicitation, modeling and documentation, change management

Project planning and tracking

goals, timelines, tasks, resources, progress, risks, quality, coordination, stakeholders, deadlines.

Software estimation methodologies

expert judgment, analogy, parametric, agile, bottom-up, top-down.

Project scheduling

creating project schedules and tracking projects using schedules

Risk Management

identification, assessment, prioritization, mitigation, monitoring, control, analysis, planning, response, communication.

Software testing for project managers

planning, execution, defect tracking, quality assurance, verification, validations.

Based on these factors

ACE has listed the following
areas as critical to software project success

Requirements engineering

elicitation, modeling and documentation, change management

Project planning and tracking

goals, timelines, tasks, resources, progress, risks, quality, coordination, stakeholders, deadlines.

Software estimation methodologies

expert judgment, analogy, parametric, agile, bottom-up, top-down.

Project scheduling

Creating project schedules and tracking projects using schedules

Risk management

identification, assessment, prioritization, mitigation, monitoring, control, analysis, planning, response, communication.

Software testing for project managers

planning, execution, defect tracking, quality assurance, verification, validations.

Why another project management certification?

The prevalent project management certificates don’t directly measure the ability of a software project manager to deliver software projects. Hence, there is a need for an exam that directly tests the capability to deliver software projects efficiently. The most prevalent project management certificates today are PMP and PRINCE2 apart from several agile certifications such as CSM, CSPO, PMI-ACP, SAFe, DSDM have limitations. PMP and PRINCE2 frameworks are generic project management bodies of knowledge and tests a person for knowledge in general concepts of project management. However, for a person certified as PMP to be effective in software delivery he has to acquire much more software specific knowhow in project management.

For instance, software sizing and estimation techniques software life cycle models, software requirements engineering, software engineering methodologies such as OOSE and so on are unique to the software field. A PMP has to be knowledgeable to a good extent in these fields to be effective as a software project manager. Hence, a certification beyond PMP is needed. On the other hand, agile certifications measure the knowledge in agile methodologies and don’t cover the complete gamut of project management. A project manager must be knowledgeable about requirements engineering, estimation techniques other than story points also, risk management, software engineering, stakeholder management, software testing and so on. Even though a software project manager need not necessarily be proficient in all the above aspects, he should have some sound knowledge. Please refer to this article on skills of software project managers for more details on why and to what extent a software project manager should possess these skills.

Hence, neither the PMP andPRINCE2 certifications nor Agile certifications cover the complete software project management gamut and the ACE PMP certification fills this void.

What’s unique about training and consulting programs of ACE?

Ranging from introductory project management training courses for new project managers to advanced project management training and program management training courses, ACE has built its courses based on solutions to challenges faced in day-to-day project execution. The best practices that have overcome the delivery challenges to deliver projects successfully constitute the crux of both training and consulting programs of ACE. Following are some of the distinctions of ACE programs:

In summary, the training programs of ACE work at Level 4 of Kirk Patrick’s model. How ACE achieves effectiveness at each level of Kirk Patrick’s model is explained below.

Immediate response

A training program is said to be effective at this level, if it can generate and sustain good interest levels and is effective in imparting the intended knowledge and skill. The effectiveness at this level is measured by the quantitative and qualitative feedback at the end of the program.

Retention

Behavioral change

Organizational benefits

They transform results

ACE consultants have been fully hands-on in project delivery and are up-to-date with the latest practices in the industry. We publish the faculty profile for every program whereas many of our competitors don’t even publish faculty profile for their programs
ACE programs are richly laden with real life examples and case studies
ACE programs impart lessons that can be applied at work to transform results. Training interventions of consultants of ACE in their earlier roles have transformed results for organizations. Please see the Result Showcase section for more details.

ACE best practices at level 1

ACE best practices at level 2

ACE best practices at level 3

ACE best practices at level 4

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Kirk Patrick’s model

VAKI principle – VAKI stands for Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Integrated mode of learning. Different learners have different aptitude towards different learning methods. ACE learning materials reinforce the learning from all types of learning. Rich imagery that includes graphics such as tables, charts, pictures and diagrams are used to visually reinforce the learning. Where feasible, videos are also used. The faculty presentation constitutes the auditory form of learning and sufficient hands-on exercises are used to ensure kinaesthetic mode of learning. Ensuring that the sessions are balanced from a VAKI perspective increases the effectiveness of learning.