A4Q Practitioner in Agile Quality (PAQ) 2.0

available at iSQI.org

Get Quality Focussed!

Agile software development allows organizations to respond to changing market dynamics quickly and get to market faster. Using agile approaches to deliver quality at speed can result in products that delight customers and create real business value.

The A4Q Practitioner in Agile Quality (PAQ) immerses participants in agile practices with an emphasis on quality. A Practitioner in Agile Quality can use agile as an effective pathway to accelerate the delivery of quality software.

 Who is A4Q PAQ 2.0 for?

A4Q PAQ certification is for anyone, and everyone, in the team who needs to continuously deliver better products, services, and user experiences using agile including:

Members of Agile, Scrum, or DevOps teams (Product Owners, Scrum Masters) wanting to build better quality products
Development team members (Testers, Developers, Business Analysts) wanting to understand and apply agile quality approaches
Managers seeking to drive quality and efficiency in agile delivery

PAQ 2.0 Course Overview

DAY 1

Introduction

  • Roles & Responsibilities in an Agile Team
  • Traditional Roles in Agile

Product Backlog

  • Product Backlog
  • Business Value & Priority
  • Refinement
  • DoD/DoR Acceptance Criteria
  • Test Strategy

Planning (Part 1)

  • Planning Review

 

 

DAY 2

Planning (Part 2)

  • Risk Assessment
  • Estimation & Velocity

Daily Standup

  • Feedback
  • High Performing Team
  • Task Board
  • Anti-Patterns/Patterns

The Iteration

  • Code Quality
  • Refactoring
  • Automation
  • CI/CD
  • TDD and BDD
  • Exploratory Testing

 

DAY 3

Demo

  • Acceptance Criteria vs Fit for Purpose
  • Demo Execution

Retrospective

  • People, Process, Product Evaluation
  • (Continuous) Improvement culture
  • Follow up on Result
  • Team & Collaboration
  • Execution of Retrospective

Specialties

  • E2E in Agile
  • Scaling Agile
  • DevOps

Closing Discussion

PAQ 2.0 Competency Framework

Click here for the full PAQ Competency Framework.

Agile Quality Mindset
Put into practice all the soft skills appropriate to the Agile Quality Mindset.
Faster Delivery
Optimize delivery through implementing automation practices feasible.
Build Quality In, Quality Engineering Principles
Implement the team activities to ensure the product quality objectives for each persona are met from inception (shift left) throughout the product lifecycle. Build the right product, right first time, maximizing business value using repeatable, auditable and adaptable approaches.
Scalability
Identify additional quality risks and changes required to effectively scale processes based on team size and/or distribution.

Benefits For individuals

  • Hands-on, collaborative learning
  • An accelerated path for the practitioner
  • Prove your agile quality competency
  • Develop your agile mindset (soft skills)
  • Stand out from the crowd with a certification that has assessed practical skills

Benefits For Organizations

  • Accelerate quality in the organization with Agile Quality Practitioners
  • Develop agile competency within your organizations to leverage more benefits from agile
  • Demonstrate agile competence to internal and external customers

Benefits For the Team

  • Bring the agile team together with a focus on quality
  • Develop team competence, collaboration, and confidence
  • Motivate the team with a career path for the practitioner
  • Challenge the team to validate what they can do with a practical certification!

 

 

Benefits For Training Providers

  • Boost your training portfolio with a highly practical course in agile quality
  • A course for anyone involved in testing but also the whole team
  • Practical assessment exam – a market differentiator
  • Soft skills focus plus strong agile quality content
  • Licensed materials available
  • Support your customers to develop their organization’s agile competency
 

PAQ is delivered as a 3-day training course – it is experiential and deeply immersive in the agile application of the PAQ Agile Competencies.
Participants will be evaluated against the soft skills and behaviors listed under the ‘Agile Mindset’ Competency Area. The PAQ course contains various exercises that will enable candidates to exhibit these characteristics. Qualified trainers will be able to observe these and provide any feedback to encourage candidates to improve their soft skills.
As such, the course is designed to engage with candidates with a view to help them exhibit the Agile Mindset competencies as opposed to a static observation of the skills and behaviors exhibited.

The soft skills evaluation is NOT part of the PAQ exam and as such is not assessed as a pass or fail. However, individual evaluation by the trainer will be provided to each candidate at the end of the course.
Note: Training providers may offer a 5-day course that includes 2 days of foundation-level agile training that will ensure candidates hold the necessary prerequisites for PAQ.

 

 

Assessments and Certification
A4Q PAQ candidates are assessed under controlled exam conditions in order to be
certified. The assessment may be taken either directly at the end of the A4Q PAQ
training course, or separately scheduled. The exam has a duration of 120 minutes in
total (25% extra time is available for non-native speakers of the exam language).


The assessment is comprised of two parts (taken together within the 120 minutes):


The “Theoretical Assessment” (40%)
This assesses the candidate’s understanding of the content of A4Q PAQ and includes
both multiple choice style questions and a scenario based questions that require short
written answers.


The “Practical Assessment” (60%)
The ‘hands-on’ practical assessment includes User Stories, Associated Design
Documentation plus a ‘multi-drop’ application seeded with defects.
Candidates are awarded the PAQ certificate if they score 60% total marks. Any
candidate failing will have an opportunity to schedule a re-sit (a fee will apply).


Candidates will be given instructions as to what is expected of them during the practical
assessment and the opportunity to create the work products required.


Note: any in course soft skills assessment or feedback does not count towards the A4Q
PAQ certification (no marks are given that count in the final assessment).

This is a practitioner’s course. Candidates are expected to have met one of the agile knowledge prerequisites demonstrated by holding certifications such as iSQI ® Certified Agile Essentials (CAE),  iSQI ® Certified Scrum Master Pro, ISTQB ® Foundation Level Agile Tester OR have two years of professional experience working in Agile.
Due to the practical experiential learning approach to this course, there is assumed knowledge that, if not met, will make it difficult for candidates to complete the course and assessments within the time-boxed course. Candidates are expected to be able already to apply basic practices and techniques, such as:

  • Knowledge of Test Design – EP / BVA / State Transition / Decision tables /Exploratory
  • Basic test terminology
  • Understand the difference between functional and non-functional testing including the basic concepts of Performance and Usability testing
  • Perform all the activities associated with the fundamental test process

Do you need more information? You can find them at iSQI!

You can find all Training Providers here!
You can also book a training course at iSQI!

If you are interested in becoming a trainer and a training Provider for PAQ and joining one of the global lists of accredited trainers, please get in contact with us at agile@isqi.org for the most up-to-date information about starting the accreditation process.
The material can be licensed by any company or training provider worldwide – it is compulsory to have at least two trainers who successfully passed the PAQ course and the PAQ exam.
Licensing the material does not involve any costs to be paid upfront. The use of the material will be charged per student trained. The licensing fee is dependent on the usual local market price.
Pre-requisites for PAQ trainers' Accreditation:

  • Achieve PAQ Training successfully and pass the exam
  • The future Trainer is expected to have met one of the agile knowledge prerequisites which can be demonstrated by holding certifications such as iSQI® Certified Agile Essentials (CAE), iSQI® Certified Scrum Master Pro, ISTQB® Foundation Level Agile Tester, OR have at least three years of Experience in agile projects.
  • At least two years of training experience and good knowledge of the English language
  • Knowledge of Test Design – EP / BVA / State Transition / Decision tables / Exploratory
    Basic Test Terminology
    Understand the difference between functional and non-functional testing including the basic concepts of Performance and Usability testing
    Performing all the activities associated with the fundamental test process
  • ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level certificate or equivalent knowledge

For more information watch our webinars or contact us here.

BOOK YOUR EXAM

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

Need Help?

Don't hesitate to ask us if you have questions! Email us directly  agile@isqi.org. You can checkout our FAQ  page to get more information about this exam.

FAQ - For Training Providers
FAQ - For Individuals and Organizations

 

When can training providers (TPs) schedule PAQ courses?

TPs can add PAQ to their schedules immediately if they have the necessary accreditation and license agreement. The license agreement is required to give the TP access to the PAQ materials.

Trainers need to pass the PAQ exam. Any trainers who hold an iSQI Certified Agile Tester accreditation have the prerequisite skills to train PAQ and do not need to take the exam again. Contact accreditation@isqi.org or your usual iSQI contact person for more information.

How can I become an accredited PAQ trainer?

In order to become a PAQ trainer, you must hold the PAQ certification and complete the application form. Trainers need to pass the PAQ exam. Any trainers who hold an iSQI Certified Agile Tester accreditation have the prerequisite skills to train PAQ and do not need to take the exam again.

Please note a train the trainer will not be mandated for PAQ.
Contact accreditation@isqi.org or your usual iSQI contact person to arrange a PAQ exam.

I have previously been an accredited trainer for iSQI Certified Agile Tester. Are my skills transferable?

Yes – you will not need to sit the PAQ exam.

I am a training provider wishing to offer PAQ 2.0 – what do I do to become accredited?

Contact accreditation@isqi.org or your usual iSQI contact person.

Can we create our own course materials for PAQ 2.0?

TPs can create their own PAQ materials. There will be an initial accreditation fee of 5,000 Euros and an annual fee thereafter of 1,000 Euros.

Where can I learn more about PAQ course content?

You find an overview of the course and also the assessment method here on our PAQ2.0 landing page.

There is no syllabus with learning objectives; PAQ2.0 is based on the PAQ2.0 Competency Framework.
If you have any further questions please contact us.

Can I license materials I produce to other TPs?

At the moment, that is not possible.

What is the target audience for PAQ – still mostly anyone in testing?

Agile quality is the collective and equal responsibility of the whole team. PAQ certification is not just for testers but anyone, and everyone, in the team who needs to continuously deliver better products, services and user experiences using agile. The course builds on existing testing, software quality management, and agile theory and skills. Please note the prerequisites.

Is PAQ2.0 a practical course?

Yes! The PAQ2.0 course is focused on practical application with experiential and collaborative learning through discussion and exercises. PAQ2.0 is a practitioner-level certification and builds on agile theory offering candidates competency that is immediately transferable to the workplace.

Will there be a practical part? Which requisites (notebooks etc.) will be needed for the course?

Yes, there are plenty of practical elements throughout the course. You need the same laptop as for the exam.

What languages is PAQ2.0 available in?

Currently, it is available in English – keep in touch though for news of releases in other languages!

What is the exam format for PAQ 2.0?

The exam is in the form of an assessment against the PAQ2.0 Competency Framework. It is taken online with a duration of 120 minutes (with 25% extra time for non-native speakers of the exam language which is currently English). There are 2 parts to the exam:

  • Theoretical assessment (40 points, 40% of the overall exam score):

multiple choice style questions (with some Drag and Drop, TRUE and FALSE questions included) plus a scenario question.

  • Practical assessment (60 credits, 60% of the overall exam score): In the form of a product backlog release

which includes user stories, associated design documentation plus a ‘multi-drop’ application seeded with defects. 60 credits in total are needed to pass the PAQ2.0  assessment.

Can we do the exam later than at the second part of the last day?

Yes, the date and time just need to be agreed with iSQI.

Is there a list of PAQ 2.0 trainers and training providers?

TPs will be listed on the A4Q website and at the iSQI website, there is the option to upload the PAQ training dates to our marketplace.

What are the costs for PAQ 2.0?

Contact accreditation@isqi.org or your usual iSQI contact person for the licensing and exam fees in your region.

Do we need to have any specific technical set-up for PAQ2.0?

The PAQ2.0 assessment (exam) is delivered online so access to a device is required after the course or the candidate can schedule a remote proctor at a convenient date and time. (Please note – a tablet device will not be suitable for this).

What differentiates PAQ 2.0?

PAQ 2.0 is a practice-focused accelerated learning Agile certification based on the PAQ 2.0 Competency Framework. It is designed to allow people with current Agile knowledge to take their skills to a practitioner level in an intensive learning environment. The exam is a practical assessment and shows that candidates “can do” in practice. Organizations and individuals seeking to build agile competence with a view to accelerating quality will greatly benefit from PAQ 2.0. Soft skills are an essential competence and PAQ 2.0 trainers add real value by assessing candidates against the Agile Mindset PAQ 2.0 Competency Area.

Who is PAQ suitable for?

PAQ is designed for anyone wanting to improve their Agile skills and ensure accelerated quality delivery of working software including testers, developers, BA’s, Project Managers, Team Leaders, Scrum Masters and all other members of an Agile delivery team.

PAQ is suitable for whole team development within an organization also.

Why should I do PAQ 2.0? I have another agile certification.

PAQ 2.0 is a highly practical accelerated learning Agile certification. It is designed to allow people with current agile knowledge to take their skills to a practitioner level in an intensive learning environment. PAQ 2.0 will help to develop and affirm competence in agile with a focus on quality. The practical assessment is a great differentiator for PAQ 2.0  – you have shown you know the theory but moreover, you are able to apply the theory in a real-world scenario!

How long is the PAQ 2.0 course?

The course duration is 3 days. The assessment may take place on day 3 or you may be offered a remote proctor option to take the exam on a date and at a time you choose from home or office.  Training providers may offer a 5-day course where days 1 and 2 focus on ensuring candidates have the necessary prerequisites. Contact your preferred training provider.

What are the prerequisites for PAQ 2.0?

This is a practitioner’s course. Candidates are expected to have met one of the agile knowledge pre-requisites which can be demonstrated by holding certifications such as iSQI® Certified Agile Essentials (CAE), iSQI® Certified Scrum Master Pro OR have 2 years of professional experience working in Agile. ISTQB® Foundation Level Agile Tester could be useful.

Due to the practical, experiential learning approach to this course, there is assumed knowledge which, if not met, will make it difficult for candidates to complete the course and assessments within the time-boxed course. Candidates are expected to be able to already apply basic practices and techniques, such as:

  • Agile Manifesto principles and Scrum events
  • Basic test terminology
  • Knowledge of the basic SDLC (Software or System Development Life Cycle)
Which languages are PAQ2.0 available in?

At the moment, it is available in English.

Is it possible to take the English exam and answer in another language?

It is advisable for candidates to write the exam in their native language where possible. By doing so the time extension does not apply, however, the candidate will save significant time reading, considering and writing the appropriate answers, in expressing themselves in their respective own language.

It is possible to answer in English, German, Dutch or Spanish.
Please contact us: exam@isqi.org

What is the exam format for PAQ2.0?

The exam is in the form of an assessment against the PAQ 2.0 Competency Framework. It is taken online with a duration of 120 minutes (with 25% extra time for non-native speakers of the exam language which is currently English). There are 2 parts to the exam

  • Theoretical assessment (40 points, 40% of the overall exam score):

multiple choice style questions (with some Drag and Drop, TRUE and FALSE questions included) plus a scenario question

  • Practical assessment (60 credits, 60% of the overall exam score): In the form of a product backlog release

which includes user stories, associated design documentation plus a ‘multi-drop’ application seeded with defects. 60 credits in total are needed to pass the PAQ 2.0  assessment.

Is there a mock exam for PAQ2.0?

This is part of the PAQ2.0 training course.

Will there be a PAQ2.0 alumni list?

This is currently a work in progress.

Is PAQ2.0 based on a specific methodology/approach?

PAQ2.0 is a generic agile course and all methodologies are introduced; Scrum is used in the exercises.

Do I have to take a training course to obtain PAQ2.0?

Yes, PAQ2.0 is a practical course which in itself has inherent value as well as preparing candidates for the assessment.

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