Comments (7)

By elroyking, May 27, 2010 8:17 am

Definition of a Project

A project is a one time endeavor that produces a unique product or service. I has clearly defined deliverable, schedule, and cost.

Projects are not standard operating activities for the following reasons:

A project is unique, it is not repetitive–each project is different from the last, where operations are repetitive processes that happen again and again.

A project will have a specific business need or case that is the driving force behind it. If there is not business need or business case, then there probably is no project, or the project will fail for lack of focus.

A project has a defined schedule, it has a definite start date, and a planned end date.

A project will have an approved budget. There are specific financial limitation within which a project must operate. Projects always have limited resources that must be managed. Projects that operate outside of the budget are in danger of being re-evaluated and/or canceled

Projects involve risk, both business risk and operational risk.

Understanding The Definition of a Project is Important

Knowing the difference between a project and standard operations are important, because the PMP Exam will have some questions that broach the subject. It might be easy to be derailed by a question asking about what a project manager should do with a specific situation, and the answer would be that the task is repetitive and is not a project, has no definite beginning or end and, therefore it should be turned over to operations.

A project needs a Project Charter and a Project Manager.

Projects should follow the project management process.

If you have any questions about project management or the PMP exam, leave them as a comment, and I will try to answer them.

Elroy King

Don’t crash and burn on the PMP exam. Get prepared with the PMP Exam Simulation Software. 6000 unique PMP questions for less than most PMP exam prep texts.

Get help with the PMP Exam Formulas. You need to learn them for the exam. Get the help you need learning those formulas.

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By elroyking, May 25, 2010 8:06 am

Famed Project Manager and Author Rita Mulcahy died May 15, 2010 of Breast Cancer. She will be sorely missed. After 5 years of fighting the disease, all the while writing best-selling PMP Exam preparation material, the disease finally claimed her life. Of the many PMP Prep courses available, PMP Exam Prep, Sixth Edition: Rita’s Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam is definitely the most popular. Rita teaches the principles of good project management in a no-nonsense passion that few people can rival. Her texts and software have helped thousands of people get that coveted PMP certification. She includes the application of those principles with lots of situational examples and points out so many tips and tricks to understanding the PMBOK guide and assimilating its information for that difficult test. Discover Rita Mulcahy’s passion and help her legacy live on by picking up her latest, and last PMP Exam Prep Course. I live by her manual, it is by far the most comprehensive of all of the PMP prep texts that I have ever read.

Elroy King

If you have any questions about project management or about the PMP exam, leave them for me in a comment and I will try to answer them.

Don’t crash and burn on the PMP exam. Get prepared with the PMP Exam Simulation Software. 6000 unique PMP questions for less than most PMP exam prep texts.

Get help with the PMP Exam Formulas. You need to learn them for the exam. Get the help you need learning those formulas.

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By elroyking, May 22, 2010 8:29 am

Passing the PMP Exam will take some real work. About.com has characterized the exam as one of the most intense certification exams out there. The trick to passing the exam is, of course, your own preparation. You will need to prepare for the exam in three different ways.

Prepare With Knowledge

First, prepare yourself with knowledge-know what is on the exam, know the Project Management Process, know what should come before and after each process, know the Formulas, and know the PMBOK Guide v4.

Prepare With Application of Knowledge

Second, prepare yourself to know how to apply the principles taught in the PMBOK guide. The PMP Exam has many situational questions that require applying the principles in the PMBOK guide, for an example of how those sample questions might look see this PMP sample question. This is where a commercial PMP Exam Prep Book would come into play. There are a number to choose from. At least look at PMP Exam Prep, Sixth Edition: Rita’s Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam, The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try before you make up your mind about which one to get.

Prepare with Flash Cards

Third, employ a memorization help. A lot of the material will have to be memorized. I found that flash cards can help me memorize better than reading text or even listening to lectures. Flash cards can go with you anywhere, and can be used during traditionally dead times, like waiting in line or just before bed. I would suggest PM FLASHCARDS or Hot Topics Flashcards For Passing the PMP and CAPM Exam s.

What ever resources you decide to go with get PMP trained, then pass the PMP exam and get PMP certified. The training and the certification will put your projects back on track.

Elroy King

If you have any project management or PMP exam questions, leave them for me in a comment and I will try to answer them for you.

Don’t crash and burn on your PMP exam, get prepared to pass the PMP exam with the PMP Exam Simulator. With 6000 sample questions, it is by far the best value on the market.

Looking for some good PMP Exam Preparation Training, check out this.

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Comments (20)

By elroyking, May 20, 2010 11:04 am

Get Ready For The PMP Exam

The Project Management Institute (PMI) embarked on an ambitious project to collect the best Project Management practices from across disciplines and industries and compile them into a central place. The result of that effort is today’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). The book, in all, is kind of dry and all about processes, inputs, outputs, and tools and techniques. It is an essential read before taking the PMP Exam. There are a number of questions on the exam that deal with the order of the processes, tools and techniques for processes. Knowing the Project Management Process can help a lot. If you are a PMI member, you can get an electronic copy of the PMBOK guide v4 from the PMI. http://www.pmi.org/Resources/Pages/members/Library-of-PMI-Global-Standards.aspx, but if you are like me, you are going to want a hard copy to read, highlight and mark up. Get A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: (Pmbok Guide) (Paperback) from Amazon at the best price around.

The PMBOK guide, by itself, will not be enough to pass the PMP exam. The exam covers a lot of application of the principles. You will want a good PMP Exam Prep Book. There is a range of products to choose from, PMP Exam Prep, Sixth Edition: Rita’s Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam, The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, Head First PMP: A Brain-Friendly Guide to Passing the Project Management Professional Exam, or PMP Certification For Dummies by Peter Nathan and Gerald Everett Jones . They each have their strengths and weaknesses. Rita’s course seems to be the most popular. The Head First text has more visual helps and is organized differently than the others, I would recommend going to this link and walking through the sample pages. This may offer you a more intuitive approach to learning the material. However, the “For Dummies” text really starts with no expectations of prior knowledge, and it has a 300 question sample PMP exam on CD.

What ever resources you go with, just get trained, get PMP certified, and get your projects back on track.

Elroy King

If you have any questions about Project Management or the PMP Exam, leave the questions as a comment and I will do my best to answer them for you.

If you are interested in some PMP Exam Preparation Training, check out this.

Don’t crash and burn on your PMP exam, get prepared to pass the PMP exam with the PMP Exam Simulator. With 6000 sample questions, it is by far the best value on the market.

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Comments (1)

By elroyking, May 17, 2010 10:43 am

The PMBOK guide is a great resource for managing projects and presenting the processes that can be employed to make planning, executing, and monitoring and controlling your project more of a science than an art, but I think that at times it can be too generic and too broad. I have a few guidelines that I try to implement as part of every project that help me to focus the processes in the PMBOK guide. I put them into a little checklist.

1. Start with the business need! True technical projects don’t really exist, they are all business projects. They may have technical components and require technical expertise, but if they don’t solve a business problem, they won’t get past the initial phases.

2. As the project manager, you will be able to influence the project the most early on. Be there during the project inception, you may be able to add your two cents when it comes to how to implement pieces and you probably know better than anyone else which resources you have access to. In the end, the project will have a better chance of being successful with you understanding the needs and requirements that are talked about during inception.

3. Do your due diligence when it comes to planning. Poor planning leads to moving targets and unclear objectives.

4. Write down decisions made and why they were made. This includes minutes from meetings and chat/email discussions. If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.

5. Address the issues as they come up, don’t procrastinate. The problems won’t solve themselves, they typically just get worse. Deal with them promptly.

6. Listen to project team members. If team members feel they can come to you, and tell you about the issues and problems without you getting mad, they may tell you about risks sooner rather than later, and save you a lot of headaches.

7. Be the first one to follow the rules and implement the suggestions. Nothing tears up moral more quickly than a leader that does something different than he says. Be the example, and you will win the respect of your team.

8. Include the entire team, or representatives of each discipline in decision making and discussion. QA can often add a lot and help to make features testable from the beginning, Engineering and Marketing can work together on how to implement features in ways that can be marketed. When you leave out a discipline, you create walls that sometimes become difficult to breach.

9. Make sure the sponsor’s vision is shared by the team and can work as a driving source to keep the project focused. Use an integrated change system that incorporates all disciplines on the project and is approved by the sponsors. Projects that veer off course can loose sponsor buy off at the last minute.

This check list always keeps me on track. I hope it can help you navigate the processes of the PMBOK guide and keep your projects on track.

Elroy King

Ever wonder about those pesky PMI-isms? For a great discussion and some definitions of some critical PMI-isms , look at PMI-isms, Indispensible Terms .

Check out the great PMP Exam Simulator with over 6000 quality PMP exam questions, for under $50. You can’t beat this kind of Quality PMP Exam Resource.

If you have any questions about project management or the PMP exam, leave them for me in a comment and I will try to answer them.

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Comments (4)

By elroyking, May 16, 2010 8:27 am

If you are looking for a PMP Prep Course for working adults in the Northern Utah area consider the following class put on the Northern Utah PMI chapter. It provides the 35 contact hours required to take the PMP exam, and it is taught on successive Saturdays so that it does not interrupt a standard work week. If you have been putting off your PMI training because you didn’t want to take a week away from work, here is your chance for in-class training that can work around your schedule.

PMI-Northern Utah PMP Prep Course (June 2010)

We have received numerous requests for a PMP Certification Prep Course.
In response to these requests, we’re offering and would like to
invite you to our upcoming PMP Certification Prep Course.

This class will be four successive Saturdays:
June 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th.
Each will run from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM.

A complementary continental breakfast and lunch will be
provided each Saturday. Breakfast will be held prior to each session,
from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM and lunch will be provided at noon.

The class will provide 35 hours of classroom instruction,
which is a requirement to take the PMP exam.

I’d encourage any attendees to start the exam registration process now,
as digging through your professional history can take a bit of time.

We look forward to seeing you on June 5th!

When
Saturday, June 05, 2010 8:30 AM
Saturday, June 12, 2010 8:30 AM
Saturday, June 19, 2010 8:30 AM
Saturday, June 26, 2010 8:30 AM

Where

DeVry University

9350 S 150 E, Suite #420, Sandy, UT 84070

Fee

PMP Course Registration

Chapter Member Fee $975

Non-Chapter Member Fee $1,150

View Event Summary, and Registration

View Event Agenda, and Registration

If you don’t live in the Northern Utah area you may be able to find a training in your area with the local PMI chapter.

A good alternative to an in-class training is an online training.

The online selection offers you some advantages over the in-class options. With the online courses, the learning is self-paced. I have been in a number of classes where the material was presented too fast for me. I felt like I was drinking from a fire hydrant, and in the end, what I came out of the class with was an overall feeling of frustration. The online course lets you go back and visit the classes time and time again. The cost is better in most cases as well. Point advantage has a great online course, check it out at PMI Aproved, Online Training

If you have any questions about PMP Exam training, or some PMP subject you would like me to cover, leave me a comment, and I will see if I can answer your questions.

Elroy King

If you are looking for a great PMP study help, you can find it with the PMP study coach. It gives you the perfect 10 week study map, so you will know what to study and when. Really put a crush on that PMP exam, study with PMP study coach.

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Comments (57)

By elroyking, May 14, 2010 8:27 am

Download a Free 50 PMP Question Demo Now

My son is turning 16 and is preparing to take his drivers test. As a part of his training to be ready to handle a car on the road, he has put in many hours on the school’s driving simulator. His instructor explained to me that this was the closest thing to really being in the driver’s seat that they had, and that the hours in the simulator would really pay off. It is a lot better to make the big mistakes right here, rather than out there on the streets! I couldn’t agree more. And as for preparing for the PMP exam, I think that the advice remains just as valid. Take the PMP exam with a software simulator that reproduces the environment and the questions as close to the real thing as possible. Using a simulator will prepare you for the PMP exam in ways that paper questions or practice questions on the computer just can’t do.

That is where the PMP Exam Simulator comes in. The PMP Exam Simulator is absolutely amazing. It has 6,000 unique PMP exam questions! Most PMP study material have 200 – 400 sample questions, and want you to think that they are giving you the world. The PMP Exam Simulator features 10 base exams that cover every topic on the exam, and 4000 additional questions that can be taken randomly. There is an option to get the right answer immediately (or you can get them all at the end of the 200 question test) and you get the answer rational to every question! The PMP Exam Simulator was designed and developed by a team of Project Management professionals, and was modeled after the PMI’s exam (ie Initiating (22 questions) 11% of exam
Project Planning (46 questions) 23% of exam, Execution (54 questions) 27% of exam, Monitoring and Controlling (42 questions) 21% of exam, Closing (18 questions) 9% of exam, Professional Responsibility (18 questions) 9% of exam). They thought of everything. The best part is that the whole thing is priced right now at $49.95. The best selling simulator out there is seven times that amount. I’m not joking, see for yourself, PM Fastrack Exam Simulation Software for the PMP Exam: Version 6.

The PMP Exam Simulator has free updates after you purchase it, and it is software based, not internet based, so you can take it with you anywhere your laptop goes. Students using the PMP Exam Simulator boast a 99% pass rate on their first time taking the test. And best of all, it has a FREE 50 question demo. Download the demo and see for yourself, you won’t get better practice exams. Do yourself a favor, make the big mistakes here on the simulator, then ACE that PMP exam.

If you have any questions about the PMP exam or project management in general, leave me the question in a comment, maybe I can answer it for you.

Elroy King

Are you worried about the PMP Exam Formulas? There are 49 formulas you should be familiar with. Get the formula help that you need. Check out my PMP exam formula post.

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Comments (4)

By elroyking, May 12, 2010 8:17 am

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has published a new book called, Earned Value Management: A Global and Cross-industry Perspective on Current Evm Practice

The book was written by Dr. Lingguang Song, it treats current Earned Value Management (EVM) practice from the cross-industry and global perspective. Earned Value has been used by federal agencies and the private industry as a method for project control. New and current EVM practices are explored as they are affected by increasing globalization and collaboration across industries. Economically tough times bring increased emphasis on EVM, project efficiencies and performance. This book includes the results of survey data taken from more than 600 industry users of EVM found in 61 countries, 36 states (USA), and 17 different industries. It includes practices in government agencies and in private industry. This is where you will find how EVM is being used abroad, its contributions to companies and agencies, and improvements it has made to EVM implementers.

Get your copy now,

If you have a question about Earned Value, or how to study for it on the PMP exam, leave the question for me in a comment, and I will try to answer it.

Elroy King

Do you know what it takes to pass the pmp exam? Find out here.

Or if you are looking for a great PMP study help, you can find it with the PMP study coach. It gives you the perfect 10 week study map, so you will know what to study and when. Really put a crush on that PMP exam, study with PMP study coach.

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Comments (66)

By elroyking, May 10, 2010 10:57 am

Rita Mulcahy, in her PMP exam text, PMP Exam Prep, Sixth Edition: Rita’s Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam, states an estimate that 50% of PMP test takers that fail the exam, fail it because they don’t have the experience managing projects the PMI way. PMI-isms are those things that the PMI emphasizes, some of which are PMI specific terminology. Below are some Project Management terms that are essential to understanding the PMI methodology foundation. I hope these definitions are helpful in helping you prepare for the PMP exam.

Process — A series of steps or actions and procedures that lead to a specific result. However, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: (Pmbok Guide) (Paperback) version 4 is full of processes. The processes in the PMBOK guide are all associated with inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. For the PMP test it is advantageous to think of the processes as a package that contains, not just the actions to be performed, but the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs from those actions.

Project — A temporary endeavor that produces a unique product, service, or result. The PMP test will have a number of questions related to this definition. Keep in mind that a project must a) have a definite start and end, b) be unique–not have been attempted by the organization before, c) contains interrelated activities, d) and will produce a unique result.

Program — A group of related projects managed in a coordinated manner that creates benefits that could not be realized if the projects were undertaken individually. These benefits might be economies of scale where orders for materials can be larger for the combined projects than for single projects giving all of the related projects a discount on materials, or leveraging a single source of HR or IT services that are more efficient than trying to contract those services out per each project. The program can also contain some elements of ongoing operations, and not just projects. Again the over-arching principle is the way that the projects and operations are related and the benefit that can come out of managing the related issues together.

Progressive Elaboration — Simply stated, you may not know all of the details about a product or service that the project will produce. You may have to create a preliminary design then return to the stake holders and gather more requirements as the characteristics of the product or service are defined progressively.

Enterprise Environmental Factors — The environment that the project is executed in, including the company culture and the existing company systems make up the factors that the project will be undertaken in. These factors can be a benefit or a hindrance to the project itself, but on the PMP exam you will have to realize that every company has its environmental factors and that the project will have to deal with these or use them to its benefit.

Organizational Process Assets — These include processes, procedures, and historical information. These came out of projects performed in the past by the performing organization. These processes and procedure have usually withstood the test of time and have produced benefits for the performing organization. Using the framework already developed will save project managers time and prevent the frustration of confused participants. On the PMP exam always assume that you have these kinds of historical information, including lessons learned from previous projects. These processes, procedures, lessons learned and historical information are assets of the organization and should be used to help you with current and future projects.

Look for more definitions in future posts and for a great PMP exam tip check out this ezine article.

If you want to pass the PMP exam, you are going to have to learn to understand the Project Management terms the way the PMI knows them. Rita Mulcahy, if you don’t want to be among those test takers that fail the PMP exam because they have not had project management training that uses PMI terminology, then you need to see the terms the way the PMI sees them. About the only way to get that knowledge is through some PMI approved training.

Now you have a number of options:

You can attend a 4-7 day training course held by MosaicProjects or GlobalKnowledge. The rates vary, but will cost between $1500 and $2000. The actual number of contact hours awarded from the class depends on the number of classroom hours you attend, but they vary between 21 and 25.

There are some online classes Point Advantage, Online Training or Simplilearn online training. Either one will cost between $699 and $999.

However, the very best value will be the The PM-Prepcast.

The PM-Prepcast gives you:
38 hours of PMI approved PMP training in a podcast.
35 contact hours recognized by the PMI.
Exclusive tips and tricks for taking the PMP exam.
Sample test questions and more. For a one time fee of about $99.

Check out the Project Management Prepcast and start preparing for the PMP exam in the PMI way today!.

If you have any question about the PMP exam or PMI-isms, leave the question for me in a comment, and I will try to answer it.

Elroy King

Need some free sample PMP exam questions and answers?

Download a Free 50 PMP Question Exam Simulator Demo Now

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Comments (3)

By elroyking, May 7, 2010 8:30 am

The project charter is the document that officially starts the project. Projects that don’t have a charter can have a number of problems and issues because they lack the tangible factors that allow the project manager and the project team focus on what is important about the project. A project cannot be started without a project charter.

A project charter should contain the following:

A project title and description.
A project manager should be named and authorized.
The businesses need should be stated.
The business case or justification should be stated.
Initially assigned resources stated.
Intended stakeholders identified.
Stake holder requirements defined.
A description of the end results or deliverables.
The constraints and assumptions taken into consideration.
The sponsoring entities identified.
Signature or approval of sponsoring entities.

There are a number of benefits to creating a project charter. For one, it formally recognizes the existence of the project, in most instances this means that the project doesn’t exist or isn’t real without a project charter. The charter gives the project manager his authority to spend money and commit resources. The charter outlines the high-level requirements for the project and links the project to the overall work of the organization.

Some things to keep in mind, the project charter is issued by the project sponsor and NOT the project manager. It is among the first things done in the project and it should be sufficiently broad so that it doesn’t change through the life of the project. If the charter needs to be changed, there needs to be a serious look at whether the project should even continue, because it would mean that the basic assumptions and foundation for the project has somehow changed.

Also remember that the project charter is NOT the project management plan. It does not contain the detail of how the work is to be performed, but it does include enough of the business needs, product requirements, and expected return on investment (ROI) to let the sponsor and stake holders know whether this is the project they want to undertake or not.

On the PMP exam you can expect several questions about the project charter. Knowing what a project charter is and what it contains will help you through those questions.

Another good discussion to have at this time is the definition of a project. The PMI tries to catch test takers with the common mistakes of project managers. One of the big mistakes is to not be able to differentiate between a project and on going operations. Some project managers may find that, authority wise, they are closer to a project coordinator. Which one are you?

If you have any questions about the PMP exam or project management in general, leave me the questions in a comment, and I might be able to answer them.

Elroy King

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