PMI-ACP Practice Questions #30
As an Agile practitioner, you observe that your team is fully occupied with delivering planned work during iterations and consistently meets iteration goals. Stakeholders appreciate the team’s productivity, but opportunities for learning, experimentation, and improvement are being missed. What should be your next action?
A. Allocate dedicated time during each iteration for team members to experiment with new ideas, approaches, and improvements.
B. Focus on completing planned work as the highest priority and encourage team members to explore innovations in their own time outside of work hours.
C. Identify a few team members who are more skilled in innovative work and make them responsible for driving innovation.
D. Schedule an innovation-focused iteration after every four iterations, allowing the entire team to experiment and improve without the pressure of delivering planned work.
Analysis
The Agile team is consistently meeting iteration goals, and stakeholders are satisfied with their productivity. However, learning, experimentation, and continuous improvement are being neglected. As an Agile practitioner, the goal is to balance delivery with innovation to foster a culture of growth and improvement while maintaining sustainable progress.
Analysis of Options
A: Allocate dedicated time during each iteration for team members to experiment with new ideas, approaches, and improvements.
This is the best approach as it ensures that learning and innovation are integrated into the team’s workflow without disrupting delivery. Allocating a percentage of iteration capacity for innovation aligns with lean and Agile principles that emphasize continuous improvement and experimentation. This approach also prevents innovation from becoming an afterthought and ensures it is a regular, sustainable practice.
B: Focus on completing planned work as the highest priority and encourage team members to explore innovations in their own time outside of work hours.
This is not aligned with Agile principles because it pushes innovation outside of work hours, making it an extra burden rather than an integral part of the process. Agile promotes a sustainable pace, and expecting team members to innovate in their personal time contradicts this principle. Innovation should be part of the team’s regular work, not an after–hours task.
C: Identify a few team members who are more skilled in innovative work and make them responsible for driving innovation.
This approach creates silos within the team, which goes against Agile’s cross-functional team principle. Innovation should be everyone’s responsibility, not just assigned to a select few. Agile teams thrive on collaboration, and all members should have opportunities to explore and experiment with new ideas.
D: Schedule an innovation-focused iteration after every four iterations, allowing the entire team to experiment and improve without the pressure of delivering planned work.
While dedicating time for innovation is a good practice, delaying innovation until a special iteration is not ideal. Agile encourages continuous learning and improvement, which means experimentation should happen regularly, not only after multiple iterations. Waiting for an innovation-only iteration risks missing opportunities for incremental improvements and early feedback.
Conclusion
The best option is Option A, as it integrates experimentation and learning into every iteration, ensuring that innovation is a sustainable and continuous part of the team’s workflow. This approach aligns with Agile principles of continuous improvement, experimentation, and adaptability while maintaining a balance between delivery and learning.
PMI – ACP Exam Content Outline Mapping
| Domain | Task |
| Leadership | Promote Knowledge Sharing |
| Product | Manage Increments |
Topics Covered:
- Integrating innovation into iteration workflow
- Balancing delivery with continuous learning and experimentation
- Encouraging sustainable innovation without overburdening the team
- Avoiding silos by making experimentation a shared team responsibility
- Embedding continuous improvement into Agile ways of working
- Ensuring knowledge sharing and iterative enhancements in every sprint
- Maintaining adaptability through regular experimentation
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