The world is swiftly moving to agile. Most organizations today use some or the other modification of the agile framework to run their project lifecycles. This umbrella term for tweaked methods of agile is called Disciplined Agile. Disciplined Agile is a terminology in project management that deals with hundreds of methods, including but not limited to the popular, lean, scrum, and kanban methods, to suit your organization’s unique needs. Disciplined Agile in the USA is gaining popularity these days as more and more organizations choose to delve deeper into Agile to transform their entire enterprise into an Agile one.
So how exactly does Disciplined Agile work? What are the perks of opting for disciplined agile in the USA? Does it have any drawbacks? We will cover the answers to all these questions and more in this complete guide to Disciplined Agile in the USA.
What Is Disciplined Agile?
Disciplined Agile is a toolkit consisting of hundreds of frameworks so that you can harness the maximum potential of your project. It runs on the principle that true business agility comes with freedom and not frameworks. It does not give you a list of industry best practices. Instead, it gives you the freedom to pick and choose based on the context of your project, the options available to you, and the trade-offs that might arise with your choice of methods. Thus, by adopting the disciplined agile mindset, you can bring about agility in your organization and also meet your specific needs through evolved methodologies. It ensures that your Way Of Working (WoW) is optimized to best suit your project’s needs and enterprise goals.
Disciplined Agile in the USA gives you straightforward guidance by showing how the various business functions such as Finance, Legal, Portfolio Management, Information Technology, Asset Management, Data Management, Security, Enterprise Architecture, Vendor Management, and many others work together. Disciplined Agile addresses the entire organization, regardless of these business functions, to meet enterprise agility. In addition, the context-specific approach of disciplined agile ensures that your organization meets success through evolved, improved, and fine-tuned practices. It also makes sure that your organization’s journey toward agility is a learning one instead of adopting one single methodology that might’ve worked in previous projects.
To adopt disciplined agile into your enterprise, you need qualified professionals for it. The best thing about disciplined agile in the USA is that it has no prerequisites needed to be met to get started. Anyone with just a basic knowledge to no knowledge about agile can learn and start their disciplined agile journey. Let’s first define the DA journey before moving on to how you can get on with the certification process.
The Disciplined Agile Journey
The disciplined agile certifications follow a journey from beginner-level certification to intermediate and advanced-level certifications. The first stepping stone in the disciplined agile certification journey is officially the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) certification. For those people who have negligible knowledge of agile and disciplined agile in the USA, ProThoughts provides an exclusive Disciplined Agile foundation course to clear your basics. Further, the next step in your certification journey is the Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master or the DASSM certification. This particular course gives more information on disciplined agile concepts and prepares you for more senior organizational roles. Moreover, the DASSM-certified practitioner has a prior understanding of agile and has a certain amount of working experience in it. Additionally, a DASSM aspirant is someone who has to deal with more complex projects.
The next certifications in line are the Disciplined Agile Coach or DAC and the newest Disciplined Agile Value Stream Consultant or the DAVSC certification. These certifications are the most advanced certifications and showcase your expertise in the subject. Only a handful of people across the globe have a DAC or a DAVSC certification. Although the exams are a tough nut to crack, it is definitely worth it to add that extra flair to your resume. These certifications also require years of experience leading projects to qualify for the exam. This makes it a tight headway for professionals to ensure only the creme de la creme gets certified.
Disciplined Agile USA: How To Get Certified
There are two ways to go about getting certified in Disciplined Agile. One way is if you have some working knowledge of agile fundamentals, and another is to start from scratch. Accordingly, you will need to meet the eligibility requirements and prep for the exam. The first method is relatively tougher because it doesn’t follow the Disciplined Agile Journey through DASM, then DASSM, and then to DAC and DAVSC. It starts directly from the disciplined agile senior scrum master certification, which is a senior-level certification for somewhat seasoned practitioners.
Meet The Eligibility Criteria.
If you are following the first path, then you need to meet certain eligibility criteria to qualify for the DASSM certification in the USA. The DASSM requires two years of experience working in an agile team. The industry experience should ideally be in a leadership role such as Disciplined Agile scrum master, scrum master, product owner, or architecture owner. It is also vital to have taken the DASM course or Basics of Disciplined Agile course just to ensure that your fundamentals are clear. For the second path, no prior experience is required. For either of these paths, no formal education is necessary.
In the case of the DAC and DAVSC certifications, the candidates must have three years of agile experience and also have the Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master (DASSM) certification to ensure in-depth knowledge of the DA tool kit and the hundreds of practices and strategies it contains. If you’re still unsure if your experience meets the eligibility criteria, you can make use of our DA eligibility calculator, and we will check it for you and revert back with the results.
Enroll For a Disciplined Agile Training Course.
To appear for any of the discipline agile certification exams in the USA, you will first need to enroll in a training course for the same. This course should be provided by any of PMI’s Authorized Training Partners (ATPs). The exam cost is included in the tuition fee that you pay to your respective institute. Through your disciplined agile training, you will learn the fundamentals of disciplined agile and lean, choose an appropriate Way of Working (WoW), and also learn how to develop teams, help them collaborate, mitigate risks in the projects, and deal with any rising setbacks or impediments.
In the previous subsection, we discussed two ways in which you could get started on your disciplined agile certification journey. To better understand this, let’s look at the curriculum for both DASM and DASSM, so you can know where you stand when it comes to the syllabus.
Course Curriculum For Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) Certification
|
Sr. No. |
Course Topic |
Proportion |
|
1 |
Foundations of Agile |
30% |
|
2 |
Foundations of Lean |
20% |
|
3 |
Foundations of Disciplined Agile |
24% |
|
4 |
Choose your WoW |
26% |
|
100% |
Course Curriculum For Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master (DASSM) Certification
|
Sr. No. |
Course Topic |
Proportion |
|
1 |
Team Development for high-performance teams |
14% |
|
2 |
Emotional intelligence for high-performance teams |
10% |
|
3 |
Tactical scaling in complex situations |
6% |
|
4 |
Removing Impediments |
22% |
|
5 |
Coordinating and collaborating across teams |
10% |
|
6 |
Conflict management for high-performance teams |
12% |
|
7 |
Pragmatic Planning and Reporting |
26% |
|
100% |
Based on the above given curriculum you can decide which eligibility path you need to choose.
Prep Up And Give The PMI Disciplined Agile Test Of Your Choice.
Once you have enrolled in the course, the next step would be to gear up for your oncoming test. You can read the Choose Your WoW book to prepare for the exam, as it is given as a suggested read by PMI itself. Moreover, at ProThoughts, we offer online classes for DASM, DASSM, Disciplined Agile Coach, and DAVSC all throughout the USA. We have smaller batch sizes for maximum interaction with the instructors and provide superior materials to facilitate your learning. Our batches also utilize a unique and innovative game-based learning approach to disciplined agile so that you retain the concepts naturally. You will have 60 days after completing the course to take the exam. Once you are sure of your exam prep, the next step is to attend the online test and give your best to it! You will receive your badge and certification once you pass the exam.
Maintain Your Credential And Continue On Your DA Journey.
The fact that makes the PMI certifications the most credible and the most renowned in the world is that they require you to upskill constantly to maintain the credential. You must earn PDUs or professional developmental units in order to renew your DASM, DASSM, DAC, or DAVSC certifications. The number of PDUs required is different for each course. The Disciplined agile scrum master (DASM), the Disciplined agile senior scrum master (DASSM), and Disciplined Agile Coach (DAC) certifications are valid for one year and can be renewed upon expiry with 14 PDUs. The DAVSC certification, too, is valid for a year but can be renewed by earning 21 PDUs.
FAQs
What is the difference between Agile and Disciplined Agile?
Agile is a framework in project management that responds to changes in an incremental manner and adapts to them. In contrast, Disciplined Agile is a toolkit of several methods and frameworks so that you can curate a solution that works best for your specific context. The disciplined agile mindset is tailored in such a way as to foster organizational agility. Meanwhile, the agile manifesto focuses on value delivery through evolving product life cycles.
Who should adopt the Disciplined Agile framework?
Organizations that have already been working on some level with Agile should adopt disciplined Agile for their projects. Without the basic knowledge of agile, the adoption of disciplined agile will be a tedious affair. It is certainly beneficial to have certified practitioners and professionals onboard before moving to complete enterprise agility with disciplined agile in the USA.
What is the salary of a Disciplined Agile Scrum Master?
According to PayScale, the average base salary for a certified scrum master is $107k/year. Since the disciplined agile scrum master certification deals with more than just the basics, as in the case of the CSM certification, the pay is higher for DASM-certified practitioners.
On what factors does the Disciplined Agile Certification Cost Depend?
The disciplined agile certification cost depends on factors like your geographic location, the training institute you opt for, the study materials provided by the institute, or the resources you purchase on your own. Also, the exam costs for disciplined agile are included in the training costs offered by your training institute. You can contact our team of consultants for further guidance on the subject, and they will be happy to assist you.
Where can I get training for Disciplined Agile certifications?
You get training for all the disciplined agile certifications in the USA from an Authorized training partner (ATP) of the Project Management Institute (PMI). ProThoughts is a premier ATP of PMI and has instructors with more than 15 years of industry experience leading the sessions. All our instructors are DAC or DAVSC certified. Thus, you can rest assured that your Disciplined Agile training in the USA is in safe hands. With a unique game-based methodology, at ProThoughts, we have a core focus on learning concepts instead of memorizing them. Reach out to us for batch updates and more information.
What materials should you refer to for Disciplined Agile in the USA?
For the disciplined agile certifications, PMI recommends the book Choose Your WoW. On enrolling for the disciplined agile course, your authorized training partner will provide you with the same for reference. At ProThoughts, we also provide flashcards, mind maps, simulated mock tests, and more for thorough, disciplined agile certification preparation.
Conclusion
We hope we have covered all you needed to know about Disciplined Agile in the USA. If we missed out on any part, feel free to reach out to us and let us know. For premium materials and expert guidance to kickstart your learning journey, take the leap and enroll in the disciplined agile scrum master course today!
