How to prepare for the PMP exam for an experienced project manager
In the opinion of the absolute majority of project managers, programs and project portfolios, experience is much more important than any certificate. After all, the experience is gained by years of project management in real conditions, and you can prepare for the exam and get a certificate in less than a month (we wrote about this in the previous article). However, sometimes even experienced project managers are faced with a situation where obtaining a certificate is, if not mandatory, then very desirable. And, as you know, the most popular certificate in the field of project management is PMP (Project Management Professional) from PMI (Project Management Institute).
According to the official description of the exam, obtaining a PMP certificate requires both theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Unfortunately, even the most experienced project managers will not be able to pass the exam with a positive result without studying the materials for this particular exam. In this article we tried to describe in which areas of knowledge one can trust more experience and knowledge obtained from other sources, and which ones should be thoroughly studied, since practical experience can even hinder!
This area of ​​expertise is well known to most Project Managers in organizations where the maturity of project management is sufficiently high. It examines such important for formal project management components as the project charter, project management plan, work control, completion of the project or the project phases, etc.
If you work in a consulting company, or an IT integrator company, then you probably know all this. The treatment of PM BoK will be very similar to your knowledge - you just need to run through the eyes of these sections. However, if you are engaged in internal projects in a non-bureaucratic organization, then there will be a lot of new things for you here, it will be better not only to study this part of PM BoK in detail, but also to practice questions on it.
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It is unlikely that any project will be able to do without being managed by its borders. However, knowledge of definitions should be added to practical experience, for example, WBS (WBS) - Hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure. Practical experience for answering questions in this section can be as useful as possible.
It is also understandable to all practitioners who at least once managed projects and, most likely, made the project calendar in MS Project. However, with this area of ​​knowledge you need to be careful. After all, few practitioners use the critical path method, limited to the Gantt chart - namely, knowledge of the critical path method is required in a significant number of questions on the exam. You absolutely must surely be able to solve “puzzles” on the critical path method, before you go to the exam! Similarly, with the formula for determining the average duration of PERT. She is rarely used in practice, but the questions on her will surely meet on the exam!
Without a good theoretical background, you can hardly expect the right answers in this area of ​​knowledge!
It would seem that the budget - what could be simpler? Any Project Manager knows how to manage it. However, not everybody (yes, that there is hardly any one in Russia) uses the Earned Value method in its work.
In PM BoK and in the PMP exam, on the contrary, much attention is paid to the Mastered Volume method! It is important to remember the formulas and be able to solve problems on them. Most likely, the exam will even get a few questions on this method!
This section is not uniquely “closed” by rich experience in project management.
Quite a few project managers believe that project quality management is limited to testing (or various types of testing). PM BoK describes the process in a slightly different way. The exam will include questions about Quality Cost, Fish Skeleton and SIPOC charts, control charts and other quality tools. If all this does not sound very familiar, you will have to read PM BoK and deal with each of the instruments!
But to answer questions from this field of knowledge practical experience can be very useful. Of course, you still have to read the standard, because some questions require knowledge of definitions. However, you are unlikely to make great discoveries.
Although if the techniques of conflict management are not familiar, then one should study and remember their definitions well. Most likely, the question of this will fall on the exam.
As you know, 90% of the time the project manager takes communication. But the percentage of questions about this exam is much less. It is unlikely that an experienced project manager will encounter something here that is not familiar to him in practice.
Identification, analysis and risk management are an integral part of almost any project. Most likely, every project manager knows about the “Probability - Impact” matrix. However, in PM BoK you can read about other tools used in risk management that are not so often used in project management.
For example, sensitivity analysis. Or the probability distribution. Or the expected monetary value of risk (Expected Monetary Value - EMV). For practitioners it sounds already not so familiar, is not it?
Yes, this means that you have to carefully read the standard, memorize definitions, train tasks on EMV. Without this, the exam will not work. One practice does not conquer this area of ​​knowledge.
For project managers who were involved in procurement in large companies, or even led sourcing projects - this section will be fairly simple. However, for managers of internal projects who have not had the experience of deep immersion in the methods of choosing a supplier or contractor, this area of ​​knowledge will require careful study.
At the exam there will be questions about the differences between fixed-price contracts and Time and Material (T & M) contracts. Or from contracts such as "Fixed price plus variable remuneration." Those project managers who are not ready to immediately describe these differences will have to study PM BoK, as well as training on issues about it.
Another part of the questions on this section related to the criteria for choosing a supplier or contractor can be solved with the help of the experience of the Project Manager, who at least once participated in the tender based on the criterial model.
The field of knowledge, which appeared in the last edition of PM BoK, certainly requires practical knowledge to answer some questions. Even without reading the standard, an experienced Project Manager should understand that a personal meeting on the degree of influence on an interested party is much stronger than an e-mail letter.
The Impact / Interest Matrix for categorizing stakeholders is used by many Project Leaders. Those who are not familiar with it should pay a little more attention to this section.
To answer questions on professional responsibility, you will have to forget about your work experience in the territory of the former USSR. The correct answers often go against the values ​​that we have absorbed from school. For example, compilers of questions for the PMP exam from the Project Management Institute (PMI) do not consider that “knocking is not good”, and therefore the correct answer to the question of the necessary actions when violations are detected is “tell where it should be”.
In general, the PMI code of ethics consists of only 8 pages and is available to anyone on the PMI website . It is simply necessary to run through it, despite any practical experience.
At the exam, most of the questions are “situational”, the other part is theoretical. Practical experience is useful for situational issues, but sometimes it may not coincide with the recommendations from PM BoK. For theoretical questions need to remember the processes, their inputs and outputs. Most likely, they will have to memorize.
On one experience PMP cannot be obtained, unfortunately. You have to read PM BoK, remember processes and definitions.
You can get a hand on the questions, as well as test your readiness for the exam, using our site INPMI . Moreover, until the end of summer for readers Habrahabr again aktivien promo code for a 33% discount: HABRAHABR2014.
Good luck on the exam!
According to the official description of the exam, obtaining a PMP certificate requires both theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Unfortunately, even the most experienced project managers will not be able to pass the exam with a positive result without studying the materials for this particular exam. In this article we tried to describe in which areas of knowledge one can trust more experience and knowledge obtained from other sources, and which ones should be thoroughly studied, since practical experience can even hinder!
Project Integration Management
This area of ​​expertise is well known to most Project Managers in organizations where the maturity of project management is sufficiently high. It examines such important for formal project management components as the project charter, project management plan, work control, completion of the project or the project phases, etc.
If you work in a consulting company, or an IT integrator company, then you probably know all this. The treatment of PM BoK will be very similar to your knowledge - you just need to run through the eyes of these sections. However, if you are engaged in internal projects in a non-bureaucratic organization, then there will be a lot of new things for you here, it will be better not only to study this part of PM BoK in detail, but also to practice questions on it.
')
Project Content Management
It is unlikely that any project will be able to do without being managed by its borders. However, knowledge of definitions should be added to practical experience, for example, WBS (WBS) - Hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure. Practical experience for answering questions in this section can be as useful as possible.
Project Schedule Management
It is also understandable to all practitioners who at least once managed projects and, most likely, made the project calendar in MS Project. However, with this area of ​​knowledge you need to be careful. After all, few practitioners use the critical path method, limited to the Gantt chart - namely, knowledge of the critical path method is required in a significant number of questions on the exam. You absolutely must surely be able to solve “puzzles” on the critical path method, before you go to the exam! Similarly, with the formula for determining the average duration of PERT. She is rarely used in practice, but the questions on her will surely meet on the exam!
Without a good theoretical background, you can hardly expect the right answers in this area of ​​knowledge!
Project Cost Management
It would seem that the budget - what could be simpler? Any Project Manager knows how to manage it. However, not everybody (yes, that there is hardly any one in Russia) uses the Earned Value method in its work.
In PM BoK and in the PMP exam, on the contrary, much attention is paid to the Mastered Volume method! It is important to remember the formulas and be able to solve problems on them. Most likely, the exam will even get a few questions on this method!
This section is not uniquely “closed” by rich experience in project management.
Project Quality Management
Quite a few project managers believe that project quality management is limited to testing (or various types of testing). PM BoK describes the process in a slightly different way. The exam will include questions about Quality Cost, Fish Skeleton and SIPOC charts, control charts and other quality tools. If all this does not sound very familiar, you will have to read PM BoK and deal with each of the instruments!
Human resource management on the project
But to answer questions from this field of knowledge practical experience can be very useful. Of course, you still have to read the standard, because some questions require knowledge of definitions. However, you are unlikely to make great discoveries.
Although if the techniques of conflict management are not familiar, then one should study and remember their definitions well. Most likely, the question of this will fall on the exam.
Communications management
As you know, 90% of the time the project manager takes communication. But the percentage of questions about this exam is much less. It is unlikely that an experienced project manager will encounter something here that is not familiar to him in practice.
Project Risk Management
Identification, analysis and risk management are an integral part of almost any project. Most likely, every project manager knows about the “Probability - Impact” matrix. However, in PM BoK you can read about other tools used in risk management that are not so often used in project management.
For example, sensitivity analysis. Or the probability distribution. Or the expected monetary value of risk (Expected Monetary Value - EMV). For practitioners it sounds already not so familiar, is not it?
Yes, this means that you have to carefully read the standard, memorize definitions, train tasks on EMV. Without this, the exam will not work. One practice does not conquer this area of ​​knowledge.
Project Procurement Management
For project managers who were involved in procurement in large companies, or even led sourcing projects - this section will be fairly simple. However, for managers of internal projects who have not had the experience of deep immersion in the methods of choosing a supplier or contractor, this area of ​​knowledge will require careful study.
At the exam there will be questions about the differences between fixed-price contracts and Time and Material (T & M) contracts. Or from contracts such as "Fixed price plus variable remuneration." Those project managers who are not ready to immediately describe these differences will have to study PM BoK, as well as training on issues about it.
Another part of the questions on this section related to the criteria for choosing a supplier or contractor can be solved with the help of the experience of the Project Manager, who at least once participated in the tender based on the criterial model.
Project Stakeholder Management
The field of knowledge, which appeared in the last edition of PM BoK, certainly requires practical knowledge to answer some questions. Even without reading the standard, an experienced Project Manager should understand that a personal meeting on the degree of influence on an interested party is much stronger than an e-mail letter.
The Impact / Interest Matrix for categorizing stakeholders is used by many Project Leaders. Those who are not familiar with it should pay a little more attention to this section.
Professional responsibility
To answer questions on professional responsibility, you will have to forget about your work experience in the territory of the former USSR. The correct answers often go against the values ​​that we have absorbed from school. For example, compilers of questions for the PMP exam from the Project Management Institute (PMI) do not consider that “knocking is not good”, and therefore the correct answer to the question of the necessary actions when violations are detected is “tell where it should be”.
In general, the PMI code of ethics consists of only 8 pages and is available to anyone on the PMI website . It is simply necessary to run through it, despite any practical experience.
General recommendations
At the exam, most of the questions are “situational”, the other part is theoretical. Practical experience is useful for situational issues, but sometimes it may not coincide with the recommendations from PM BoK. For theoretical questions need to remember the processes, their inputs and outputs. Most likely, they will have to memorize.
On one experience PMP cannot be obtained, unfortunately. You have to read PM BoK, remember processes and definitions.
You can get a hand on the questions, as well as test your readiness for the exam, using our site INPMI . Moreover, until the end of summer for readers Habrahabr again aktivien promo code for a 33% discount: HABRAHABR2014.
Good luck on the exam!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/227539/
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