PMI: Please Get Out of Scrum

Stacey Christiansen
Serious Scrum
Published in
6 min readDec 31, 2019

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As it stands today, the PMBOK is in direct conflict with the foundational principles of the Agile Manifesto.

The Project Management Institute is a 50-year-old organization dedicated to the practice of project, program, and portfolio management. Their mission as stated on their website is to “… work on your behalf to advance the project management profession worldwide.”

The group has also authored the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge). It’s the bible for project management. Seriously, that sucker is 756 pages long!

As the authority on project management, the PMI offers 8 different certifications. One of these credentials is the PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner).

Full Disclosure: I have the fancy credentials. Along with being a CSM, CSPO, and CSP, I am also a PMP and PMI-ACP certified.

I have nothing against the PMI as an authority and promoter of project management best practices. The group provides invaluable information to and for project/program/portfolio managers. The certification programs are very well done in terms of preparation materials, testing relevant skills, and experience requirements. The PMI is very, very good at project management.

PMI Entered the Agile Space for the Wrong Reasons

The PMI-ACP is a money play. Pure and simple. The PMI saw the ever-increasing adoption of agile frameworks, particularly Scrum, and…

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Stacey Christiansen
Serious Scrum

Former leader in software dev, ecommerce. Lifelong learner. Writer of whatever moves me.