Tips for passing PMP exam

Here are some of the tips that helps you pass the PMP exam in the first attempt



1. Understand the flow of 5 process groups (Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring&Control, Closing) - Refer PMBOK for this material



2. Knowledge on key concepts in 9 knowledge areas (Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Procurement, Human Resource, Risk, and Communication) - Refer PMBOK, Rita Mulcahy, any other material.



3. Practice questions from Rita Mulcahy and other free/paid online material would be a great help for the preparation. You take a mock test for 4 hours and test your knowledge when you are close to the exam date, so that if any areas that you are not strong, you will have an opportunity to prepare for some time



4. Always Always do a group study, this will reduce more than 50% of your prep time



5. You have about 50% of the questions are situational based, so it will be hard to find a definite answer, what is the best way to answer them?

You can follow two important methods:

5.1. Elimination of choices: how can you eliminate two bad choices out of four? If you have gone through the material good enough then it would be VERY easy to elimite two wrong ones

5.2. Read the question: Out of the two choices, you can pick the correct choice by reading the question carefully

Following these two steps, almost always you can able to pick the correct answer.

6. Pay a special attention to Time, Cost, Integration, Risk management areas. The questions in these areas are almost direct and easy to answer.

7. Know these important concepts without any glare!

7.1 WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

7.2 Stakeholders and their respective roles

7.3 Network diagramming methods, Critical Path, Lead/Lag

7.4 Types of Costs, Cost vs Budget, Cost calculations

7.5 COQ/COPQ

7.6 How processes are integrated? which process output becomes an input to next process? etc.

7.7 Type of organizations, Functional - Balanced - Projectized

7.8 Communication channels n(n-1)/2, Types of communication (Direct, Indirect, Written, Oral, Formal, and Informal) - you should know where to use what type of communication

7.9 Procurement types (Time & Material, Fixed Cost, Cost Plus Fixed Fee, Cost Plus Percentage etc.)

7.10 Team development, Acquiring a team

8. Spread your study time in three months, 1 hour each day (this shouldn't be difficult committment). It's probably a less than 20% of your TV time every day :-(

9. Best way remember PMI concepts, pick a sample project and do all the process steps. Do it as a group, you will have FUN and Learn

10. Follow the above 9 steps, you will get PMP certification

Happy Learning...

Sameer Penakalapati

Top 10 qualities of a Project Manager

You might have seen many online posts or seminars talking about how a project manager should be and his/her capabilities as a successful project manager. I have different perspective on it, and will also explain why.

Here is my list in the order of preference

1. Excellent Negotiator

Who is Project Manager? Manage the assigned resources at defined/un-defined constraints. How a PM can manage these, my point and many others felt that it all boils down to how well you negotiate with your team, stakeholders, vendords/external agencies to get to the bottom of the project need or task. I have seen many great project managers are successful negotiators, everything else is next.

2. Advisor

In a real world scenario, you have many constraints and challenges to meet stakeholder requirements so some PMs are successful and others are not? Do you know why? In general, if a requirement or a request from a stakeholder is far from acheivable, most PMs jump in and negotiate to change or remove the requirement from the list but not understanding the impact to the business. The good PMs discuss the need for the requirement by understanding the business need and asess the impact and works with Stakeholders to identify an alternte solution.

In the same way, act as an advisor to the team members on various issues

3. Excellent Communicator
If you want to be effective communicator, you need to understand the audience you are communicating and their roles in the organization. If you are communicating with senior management, then communication is short and dollarize the objective. At the same time, if you are communicating with the project teams, then you need to be more clear and precise on the assigned action items

4. Highest Ethical Standards

One should be able to possess highest ethical standards to be a great leader. Respect all the individuals, treat every one equal, loyal to the organization, respect data privacy & personal information, equal opportunity to the team, work for the team and to the organization

5. Team Player

This is the basic requirement of a Project Manager, and without it would not be PM. How in the earth can you manage the team if you are not a Team Player? How can you buy-in from the team even to get to the project on-track all the time? PM should recognize the fact that every member in the team is equally important to their respective roles, and play by the rules as set for the project or PMO(Project Management Office)

6. Business Savvy

Successful Project Managers know always the business need of doing their project, and how it impacts to the organizational goals. Knowing the business always helps the PM in steering the project to align with the set goals for the project. I encourage organizations to be more suceptible to idea of involving their PMs in key project decisions, it always uncover any risks and plan for managing it well in advance.

7. Problem Solver
It is a basic trait of a Project Manager. Virtually every project in this world may have some constraints to manage, a problem solver can always find a way to manage those constraints. A constraint can be a limited time, limited money, limited resources, limited knowledge, team conflicts and many others to manage, a problem solver know how to isolate the problem and steer the project towards the set goal.

8. Focus on target
As mentioned the constraints above, you still need to manage the project to deliver on-time and on-budget, this is not an easy task, you may have a lot of stress and pressure at times to get around a problem to keep the project stay on-track. A best project manager always stay focussed under all these circustances.

To explain it more eloquantly, here is a small story: Three students were practicing a rifle shooting in a forest, the important trait is a focus on a traget. So the guru (teacher) want to test their skills, he called on the students and showed them an apple tree and pointed them to the apple on the tip of the tree, asked the students to keep the rifle ready.

1.Guru asked the first student shooter, what are you seeing at the target?
First student replied: Apple, Tree, and Sky
2. Guru asked the second student shooter, what are you seeing at the traget?
Second student replied: Apple, and Tree
3. Guru asked the third student shooter, what are you seeing at the traget?
Third student replied: Apple only

Now you know, who are focussed on the traget, third student. The PM should always focus on the project outcome keeping everything out of the sight.

9. Competence

The project manager should be competent in all the three following domains: Project Management, Business, and any specific skill set required for a project. Being competent in all the above three domains, a PM can manage the project with any complexity.

10. Empathy
Empathy is nothing but understanding, what does it mean?

> Understanding the business
> Understanding the stakeholders
> Understanding the need for the project
> Understanding team issues
> Understanding risks
> Understanding project committment..like many other

one should be open minded in embracing the project key needs.

Happy Learning...

Sameer Penakalapati

Note: These are the opinons of the author, the applicability is at your own discretion.