Steve Caseley – Project management professionals (PMP) in the PMBOK Guide, Fifth Edition – CBT Nugget

This Nugget kicks off the PMI PMP preparation series based on the PMBOK 5th Edition by providing an overview of the series. The remaining Nuggets provide an in-depth review of the PMBOK 5th Edition, with a focus on passing the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam. This Nugget begins with a review of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and their main Project Management publication, the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 5th Edition. It concludes with a brief overview of the PMBOK 10 Knowledge Areas: Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Human Resource Management, Communications Management, Risk Management, Procurement Management, Stakeholder Management, and Integration Management.

This Nugget reviews the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam from PMI. First, the Nugget reviews the required work and education qualifications to get an eligibility letter from PMI. Next, the Nugget reviews the format of the exam to ensure that you understand how long you have to complete the exam, how many questions are on the exam, and the question format. Next, the Nugget reviews how PMI distributes the questions across the Project Management Processes. The Nugget closes with some tips and hints to help you be successful on the day of the exam.

This Nugget provides an overview and definition of Project, Portfolio, Program, and Operational Management. While the PMP exam is focused on Project Management, PMI recognizes that Projects are typically delivered within a Program and that Programs are often managed as part of a Portfolio. Therefore, while not a focus of the PMP exam, there is a high likelihood that there will be some qestions on the exam from this area. This Nugget kicks off with a discussion on Portfolio Management. Next is Program Management. Then the Nugget reviews the definition of a project. It concludes with a table providing a comparative review of Projects, Programs and Portfolios approaches to Scope, Change, Planning Focus, Management Approach, Measurement of Success, and Monitoring Approaches.The Nugget concludes with a brief overview of Operational Management’s focus on the day-to-day running of the business.

This Nugget reviews the five Project Management Processes: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring, and Controlling and Closing. It begins with the Initiating Process Group and then reviews the Planning Process Group. Next, the Nugget stresses the importance of Planning before reviewing the Executing Process Group. The Nugget also reviews the PM activities associated with tracking progress, updating the plan, and reporting performance as defined by the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group. The Nugget then reviews the final Process Group-Closing. It concludes with a brief review of the relationship between the PMI Process Groups and the 10 Knowledge Areas.

This Nugget combines Project Management, Stakeholders and Governance, and also provides an overview of the relationships between these three key components of successful project delivery. The Nugget begins with a review of the responsibilities of a Project Manager, specifically that a PM is 100 percent responsible for the successful delivery of the project. The Nugget presents three areas of PM expertise: Knowledge (understanding the PMBOK), Performance (applying the PMBOK on projects) and Style (personal/soft skills for areas such as leadership, mentoring, coaching, conflict resolution, etc). Next, the Nugget reviews the role and importance of Project Stakeholders and a review of Governance. It concludes with a review of the PMI Code and Ethics and Professional Conduct.

This Nugget reviews the impact that different organizational characteristics and structures have on overall project delivery health. The Nugget kicks off with a review of several organizational environmental characteristics and the impact they have on project delivery. Next, the Nugget reviews three organizational structures: Functional, Matrix, and Project. The Nugget also reviews a Project Organization where most, if not all, project team members are dedicated to the project. We also cover project characteristics of PM authority, resource availability, management of budget, PM availability, and team availability. The Nugget concludes with a review of how organizational culture issues such as vision, mission, values, rules and regulations, reward systems, risk tolerance, leadership strategies, and operating norms impact project delivery success.

This Nugget is the first of two reviewing the Project Scope Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget is focused on Project Scope Definition, or the Project Scope Management processes that take place during Scope Planning: Plan Scope Management, Collect Requirements, Define Scope and Create WBS. We also cover the production of the Requirements Document that documents all the identified requirements and begins the development of the Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM). We look at the Project Scope Statement. The Nugget concludes with the Create WBS process.

This Nugget is the second of two reviewing the PMBOK Project Scope Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget is focused on Project Scope Management, or the management activities required for controlling the scope during executing, monitoring, and controlling: Validate Scope and Control Scope. We will look at the sample change request template used to document the business reasons for any changes. The Nugget also reviews a change request log template. Finally, we review a minor change request tracking document that can be used to track and approve small impact changes.

This Nugget is the first of two reviewing the PMBOK Project Time Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget is focused on project schedule development, or the management activities required a for create the project schedule: Plan Schedule Management, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Durations, and Develop Schedule. The Nugget kicks off with a review of the work required to create the Schedule Management Plan as defined in Plan Schedule Management. The first of these parallel processes is Define Activities, where the WBS from Scope Management is further decomposed into Activities. A second component of Define Activities discussed in the Nugget is the Rolling Wave Planning Technique. Next, the Nugget reviews the Sequence Activities process and the Estimate Activity Resources process. With resources assigned, the Nugget then reviews the Estimate Activity Durations process. To ensure that the estimates are accurate and realistic, the Nugget also reviews a number of recommended estimating techniques: analogous, parametric, and three point estimating. Finally, the Nugget reviews the Develop Schedule process.

This Nugget is the second of two reviewing the PMBOK Project Time Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget is focused on Project Schedule Development, or the management activities required for manage the project schedule and keep the project on track. This Nugget reviews a single process from the Project Time Management KA-Control Schedule. The key input to controlling the schedule is the work performance data provided by the project team. The Nugget also reviews the importance of taking the appropriate actions to keep the project on schedule, as well as the importance of validating that weekly schedule variances are in fact ongoing trends as opposed to one-time anomalies. The final schedule management technique reviewed in this Nugget is the importance of resource optimization.

This Nugget is the first of two reviewing the Project Cost Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget is focused on project budget development, or the management activities required for creating the project budget: plan cost management, estimate costs, and determine budget.

This Nugget is the second of two reviewing the PMBOK Project Cost Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget is focused on project budget management, or the activities required for tracking and controlling the project’s budget performance: control costs. This Nugget reviews control costs and its focus on tracking and controlling all the project’s costs and providing updates to the project budget. The Nugget then discusses performance reviews and making project status decisions based on the overall project schedule and project budget, as well as understanding the interaction of these indicators on the project’s status. The Nugget then provides an overview of earned value management, which provides a very powerful tool to combine these three indicators into a single indicator of overall project health. The Nugget also provides a brief overview of EVM. A later Nugget in the series completes the EVM discussion.

This Nugget reviews the Project Quality Management Knowledge Area which includes these processes: Plan Quality Management, Perform Quality Assurance, and Control Quality. The Nugget covers the 7QC tools: Cause and Effect Diagrams, Flowcharts, Checksheets, Pareto Diagrams, Histograms, Control Charts, and Scatter Diagrams, all of which can be used to delivery project quality. The Nugget concludes with a review of the importance of ensuring quality is built into the project, that the project is focused on both delivering to the quality expectations, and that continuous improvement is applied to ensure that the project adapts and changes based on lessons learned.

This Nugget reviews the Project Human Resource Management Knowledge Area that includes these processes: Plan Human Resource Management, Acquire Project Team, Develop Project Team, and Manage Project Team. The Nuggets reviews the Organizational Theories that are appropriate for developing an effective project org chart and RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) Chart. Another consideration discussed in the Nugget is the special work required to support virtual teams and make distributed teams function (where appropriate). We review the steps in the Tuckman model to move the team through the Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. The Nugget wraps up with the Manage Project Team process and its focus on keeping the team performing.

This Nugget reviews the Project Communications Management Knowledge Area that includes these processes: Plan Communications Management, Manage Communications, and Control Communications

This Nugget is the first of three Nuggets reviewing the Project Risk Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget reviews Plan Risk Management. The first step in planning risk management is to understand the project’s “appetite for risk,” or the PMI term, Risk Profile. Projects can range from Risk Adverse to Risk Seeking. The Nugget concludes with a discussion on understanding the project’s ability to accept risk based on the probability of occurrence and the impact the risk will have on the project.

This Nugget is the second of three Nuggets reviewing the Project Risk Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget reviews three process related to identifying and analyzing project risk: Identify Risks, Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis, and Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis. We cover risk identification techniques: Brainstorming, Delphi Technique, interviewing, SWOT Analysis, and Root Cause Analysis. The Nugget concludes with a discussion that risks can be positive or negative. While projects often focus on the negative risk (the ones that will cause project overruns), there should also be focus on identifying opportunities, that if properly managed, could result in project delivery improvements.

This Nugget is the final of three Nuggets reviewing the Project Risk Management Knowledge Area. This Nugget reviews the process involved in daily/weekly management of risks: Plan Risk Responses and Control Risks. The first process, Plan Risk Responses, develops the strategies for dealing with the risks remaining after the risk analysis. There are four strategies for Negative Risks: Avoid, Transfer, Mitigate, and Accept. The four strategies for Positive Risks are: Exploit, Share, Enhance, and Accept. The final process this Nugget reviews is Control Risks.

This Nugget reviews the Project Procurement Management Knowledge Area that includes these processes: Plan Procurement Management, Conduct Procurements, Control Procurements, and Close Procurements.

This Nugget reviews the Project Stakeholder Knowledge Area that includes the processes: Identify Stakeholders, Plan Stakeholder Management, Manage Stakeholder Engagement, and Control Stakeholder Engagement.

This Nugget dives into the Earned Value Management method and reviews the formulas and application of Earned Value Management. It begins with a review of the basics of Earned Value and how EVM applies the “lessons learned” from current project delivery status and uses this to develop a realistic estimation of the status at completion. Next, the Nugget reviews the key terms and formulas used in EVM. The Nugget then goes into a detailed review of EVM in action, combining a graphical representation of the three EV basics: Planned Value (PV), Actual Cost (AC), and Earned Value (EV) and the application of the EVM formulas to determine both overall project health and to forecast the project’s cost and date on completion. The Nugget concludes with a practical review of EVM-tracking a student’s progress through a university credit course.

This Nugget throughly explores creating and understanding network diagrams, and critical paths. The Nugget begins with a review of the five steps in creating a network diagram: Draw the Diagram with Dependencies, Add Effort, Forward Pass, Backward Pass, and Calculate Slack, and builds a simple network diagram following these five steps. We then review the Critical Path that identifies the tasks which drive the end date. The Nugget concludes with a review of the Crashing and Fast Tracking actions that can be applied to the Critical Path to improve the project’s end date.

This Nugget reviews a number of options for implementing a Project Management Office (PMO). The Nugget begins with a review of three main ways that a PMO can be implemented: Corporate PMO (manages and consolidates all projects into a corporate repository of project status), Project Management Resource Pool (where all PMs work for the PMO, and are assigned to specific projects), and Central Control Point (where all projects report into the PMO). The Nugget then reviews the functions which are completed by a PMO: Collect, Organize and Distribute Project Information, Gather and Develop Project Templates, Manage and Deliver PM Training, Operate a PM Resource Pool, and Function as a Project Control Point.

This Nugget reviews the behaviors that PMI expects from professional and ethical project managers: Leadership, team building, motivation, communication, influencing and leading by example. The Nugget then reviews the six-step decision making process recommended by PMI: Problem Definition, Solution Generation, Possible Solutions, Solution Planning, Solution Evaluation, and Evaluation of Outcomes and Process. The Nugget then reviews the importance of understanding and working within Organizational Politics. Finally, the Nugget reviews the seven steps that PMI recommends for negotiation: Analyze the Solution, Differentiate Needs and Whats, Focus on interests and issues, Be willing to Negotiate, Make Concessions, Strive for Win-Win, and Listen and Understand.

This is the first of five Nuggets reviewing the five project management process groups defined by PMI. The Nugget begins with a review of these five process groups and their interactions throughout the project. Project initiation is a brief and very important process as it provides the initial vision for the project, in the form of the Project Charter, and secures senior management approval to invest additional time and money on the planning and eventual delivery of the project. The other key activity completed in project initiation is the identification of the project stakeholders and the creation of the stakeholder register.

This is the second of five Nuggets reviewing the five project management process groups defined by PMI. Project Planning is the most comprehensive of the five process groups and is the only one that contains activities from each of the 10 Knowledge Areas. The Nugget reviews the activities from each Knowledge Area (KA) related to Project Planning. The first of these is from Project Scope Management, where the focus is on Defining the Scope and the resultant Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). With the WBS fully defined, the Nugget then reviews the identification of each task’s dependencies and resource requirements, and estimates. This information is then used to complete the final planning activity, Develop Schedule.

This is the third of five Nuggets reviewing the five project management process groups defined by PMI. The Nugget begins a review of the five Knowledge Areas that are completed as part of Project Executing: Project Quality Management, Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Procurement Management, and Project Stakeholder Management. The Nugget concludes with the Project Integration Management activity of Directing and Controlling Project Work that puts the activities already discussed in this Nugget into action.

This is the fourth of five Nuggets reviewing the five project management process groups defined by PMI. The Nugget begins a review of the eight Knowledge Areas completed as part of Project Monitoring and Control: Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, Project Procurement Management, and Project Stakeholder Management. The Nugget concludes with a review of the two activities in Project Integration Management: Monitor and Control Project Work and Perform Integrated Control.

This is the final of five Nuggets reviewing the five project management process groups defined by PMI. The Nugget reviews the two activities involved in Project Closing: Close Project or Phase and Close Procurements.

This Nugget concludes this PMP preparation series and reviews the 10th PMBOK Knowledge Area, Project Integration Management. This Knowledge Area integrates the material from the other nine KAs and consolidates the work from these areas into five core activities: Develop Project Charter, Develop Project Management Plan, Direct and Manage Project Work, Monitor and Control Project Work, and Close Project or Phase.