IICTPIICTP

Public review draft · Version 0.2

The Standard for
Technical Practitioners

Competence is terrain, and this is the map: one vendor-neutral standard for what technical practitioners should know and be able to do in software, AI, security, delivery and technology leadership. Ten principles and 56 task statements across five domains, with a reading path for each kind of practitioner. Program- and portfolio-level content is planned for later versions.

Download the draft (PDF)
Version 0.2 · 138 pages · Free to read and share under CC BY-ND 4.0. It is a draft: expect changes, and tell us what is wrong.Also free: a guide for each domain, practice questions, a glossary, a casebook and the code of ethics, in the IICTP Library.
Public review draft
5Domains
56Task statements
10Principles
2027First edition (planned)

About the Guide

A shared language for technical competence.

The Guide sets out what a technical practitioner does and must know, in numbered task statements, so that candidates, teams and employers mean the same thing by “competent”.

01

Purpose

Sets out what competent practice looks like in each domain, in plain, testable statements, independent of any vendor or tool.

02

Audience

Developers, AI engineers and security practitioners; tech leads and delivery or programme managers who need a yardstick; and educators and employers who need a common reference.

03

Basis for the ATP® and CTP®

The ATP® and CTP® examinations are built from the Guide: every question traces to one task statement. Studying the Guide is studying for the exam.

Who it is for

A path for every kind of practitioner.

The Standard is organised by five domains, not job titles, because real roles cross several. Each reading path picks out the task statements that matter most, and says plainly what the Standard does not cover yet.

01

Software developers and engineers

The foundations in every domain first, then design and leadership as your role grows.

Not covered: skills tied to one language, framework or vendor.

02

AI and machine learning engineers

All of the AI domain, plus the engineering that makes AI features dependable.

Not yet: model-serving internals such as quantisation and inference servers.

03

Cyber security practitioners

Secrets, application vulnerabilities, supply chain, zero trust, threat modelling, and incident response.

Not yet: security governance and programmes, forensics, detection engineering.

04

Project, delivery and programme managers

The delivery domain end to end, plus leading teams and working with stakeholders.

Not yet: programme-level practice such as many squads, budgets, vendors and board reporting.

05

Technology company owners and executives

The principles, measuring delivery, technical debt, AI governance and recovery objectives.

Not yet: owner-level topics such as capital allocation, due diligence and board oversight. Planned.

Inside the Guide

Three parts, one map.

Before Part A, an introduction gives a reading path for each kind of practitioner and a plain map of what the Standard does not cover yet. Part A sets out the principles and task statements; Part B explains them, one chapter per domain.

The map, in your hands
  1. A
    Principles and task statementsTen principles and 56 task statements, each tagged for the ATP®, the CTP® or both.
  2. B1
    Architecture & systems designStructure, distributed data, failure isolation and scaling.
  3. B2
    Engineering governance & agile deliveryIntegration, flow, delivery metrics, releases and technical debt.
  4. B3
    Applied AI & emerging techLLMs, retrieval, evaluation, AI security and the machine learning life cycle.
  5. B4
    Infrastructure & securityPipelines, secrets, supply chain, observability, orchestration and incidents.
  6. B5
    People leadership in engineeringCommunication, review, ethics, mentoring, team design and stakeholders.
  7. C
    AppendicesBlueprint traceability, crosswalks to SWEBOK, DORA, Scrum, Kanban and the PMBOK® Guide, glossary and licence.

How it is examined

One map, two examinations.

Every task statement says which examination may test it. The same task can appear in both, tested at a different depth.

Examination

ATP®

Explain the concept, recognise it in a scenario, and apply it correctly when the situation is ordinary. 25 task statements.

Examination

CTP®

Choose between options, justify the choice against trade-offs, and lead others through it when the situation is ambiguous. 38 task statements.

Examination

Both

Seven task statements are examined in both: the ATP® tests explaining and applying, the CTP® tests choosing and justifying.

How it reads

Every task, written the same way.

  • 1An ID and a task. One thing the practitioner does, in one sentence, numbered so every exam question can trace to it.
  • 2Knowledge and principles. What must be known to do the task, and which of the ten principles it tests.
  • 3The examination. Tagged ATP®, CTP® or both, with a guide section explaining what each expects.

Road to release

Four stages to the first edition.

Public review opened in October 2026. This is version 0.2.

  1. 01

    Framework · done

    Five domains, ten principles and the task statement format agreed.

  2. 02

    Drafting · done

    Version 0.2 written: 56 task statements, a guide chapter for every domain, and a reading path for each kind of practitioner.

  3. 03

    Public review · open now

    Read the draft and comment on any statement. Program- and portfolio-level content will be added in later versions.

  4. 04

    Publication · planned 2027

    Release the first edition, with the exams aligned to it.

Take part

Help shape the first edition.

The Guide is written with practitioners. Two ways to contribute before the first edition.

Public review

Review the open draft

Download version 0.2 and comment on any principle or task statement. Quote its ID (for example D1-T08 or P4), say what is wrong or missing, and suggest a fix.

Send a comment
Working groups

Write a domain

Experienced practitioners can join a domain group and help draft and test the statements.

Apply to join

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Something else? Write to the standards team.

Contact the team
When will the Guide be published?

Version 0.2 is available now as a public review draft. The first edition is planned for 2027, after public review closes.

Will the Guide be free to read?

The public review draft is free to read and share, unchanged and with credit, under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-ND 4.0). Terms for the first edition will be announced before it is published. See membership.

How does it relate to the exams?

The ATP® and CTP® examinations are built from the Guide: every question traces to one task statement, and each published exam blueprint lists the statements it covers. See the ATP® exam.

Is it tied to any vendor or tool?

No. Statements describe outcomes, not products, so they stay valid as tools change. Tools named in the guide chapters are examples only.

How often will it be revised?

At least once a year, and whenever public review leads to changes. A board to oversee the standard is being formed. About the board.

Find your place on the map.

Read the draft now, or leave your email and we will write when the first edition is published.

We will write once, when the first edition is published. This opens your email app to send the request.