Picture is worth a 1000 words

Hi viewers, this blog will try to cater to provide a holistic picture to the whole PMBOK. The aim here is to tell you the picture that you need to complete while dealing with each piece of the puzzle one at a time. This was one of the big challenges that I faced during my preparation. I was going through each chapter, topic and sub sections but until the very end didn't had the big picture.

Now, i am someone who questions each stage and until i understand each stage in its totality, don't want to move forward. Which meant, that i kept coming back and kept reading from the very beginning everytime i saw something like "Ref 5.1.2.11" in the PMBOK (and trust me you'd find it a lot of time). So i decided to look for some tool that gives me a complete picture, i was severely confused about "Stages of Project" Vs "Knowledge Areas"Vs "Processes" so i decided to look for something like a picture. A picture that, when referred, will give me a complete idea about where i stand and how do i connect the successors and predecessors. There were two pictures that particularly helped me.

1. How is Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Control and Closing interrelated.
2. Big picture - "Stages of Project" Vs "Knowledge Areas"Vs "Processes"

For me a picture has always been a better way of learning things, so here they are, the two pictures that i kept looking at for a long time.. and helped me have better understanding and learning..

Two mandatory things: - 
1. Draw your own diagrams, tables and keep writing it unless you remember every word in the grid
2. Have printouts of these two pictures and place them wherever you can see them at your will..

Trust me, you need to remember every word in the grid below wrt its location, sequence and mapping.

A quick Tip: -
"Don't compare your current project and way things are in there, but rather, what's logical and what you'd go if you are driving that project. Most if it matches to what we already know!! "

PMP Preparation - How or Where to Start

This is second in the series of introducing to "How i passed the exam". From very early in preparation I was aware that since PMP is not a direct question/answer paper and involves lot of thinking and application, it will need lot of reading. Now the world will present a million options to you when you go out shopping. You need to quickly understand a few things (alteast that's how I moved ahead)

1. PMBOK is a must - A lot of people might tell you stories about this book being not so useful and that its "The best sleeping pill". Call it whatever, you have to endure this book and not just once, but alteast twice. I read it 2 times and some specific topics were visited more than twice. The thing that surprised me the most is the fact that everytime I read a topic, it became more and more clearer to me. Therefore, read PMBOK!! and read it multiple times. This is the starting point. No matter how difficult it is, this has to be done. I studied on my own but i would highly recommend if its possible, form a study group.

2. Rita's PMP preparation book - This is by far the best supporting book on the shelf. It may or may not tell you the things that you dont know but it will definitely prepare you towards the exam. The thing that i liked about Rita's PMP preparation book is it carries lot of "Fill in the blanks" type exercises. Now, whenever i am preparing for an exam i like when the practice questions as fill in the blanks or match the columns. The reason for that, is it helps by putting some pressure on your memory to retain information and not leave it to multiple choices. Rita's book not only provides you fill in the blanks type exercises on important topics but are also strategically placed to help you retain some of the most important concepts. It also promptly reminds you to not move forward until you have completed the exercises.  DO NOT MOVE FORWARD until you have done those exercises. This might take a while since in most "Practical" cases we have the list but its more of a laundry list and not a structured one.

PMP wants you to not only have the list ready, but have it in the order that's most efficient and effective. Therefore, you will need some home work to do before you'd start becoming efficient to complete the exercises and have most correct answers. It took me 3 chapters and lot of reading!!

3. You need contact PDUs, there are many ways to get them and a lot of material available online. I was looking for something which is comprehensive and yet not expensive. Found a course by Mr. Resit Gulec on Udemy. I highly recommend you go on some of these online portals like Udemy, Coursera, etc and get enrolled in one of these courses. They are available on hand-helds (mobiles, ipads, etc) as well as your laptops. These platforms (Udemy, Coursera etc) are where majority of participants are interacting too. Gives very useful information and doesn't hurts your pocket. Plus you get the necessary knowledge, training and PDUs required to attempt PMP.

4. 5 Project Management Process groups have 10 Project Management Knowledge Areas which in turn have 47 Project Management Processes. You need to know all these, with following: -
    a) Order in which they appear
    b) Their inter-relationships and dependencies
    c) Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs for each processes
    d) Output -> input mapping - Meaning, output of one process is input to another, you need to know, learn and remember which goes     where
5. Exams and practice tests - I would suggest you divide it in three phases. Most important thing - do not attempt the same set twice (human mind will fool you by remembering the option more than the answer - therefore it might be a trap!!). Towards the end of this blog, i will provide some URLs that might come in handy.

    i) Exercises after each chapter - Take up typically 30-50 questions to check your learning on the chapter. Do not time     these tests look for validation of your knowledge.
    ii) Divide your preparation tests into different categories
        a) Rapid fire
        b) Fill in the blanks/True and False/ Match the column, etc
        c) No time limit
        d) 5/10/15/25/50/100 questions with time limits much lesser than anticipated (its approx 80 secs per question in paper)
        e) Finally do as many 200 questions set as possible. I attempted 8 full sets.
    iii) Get Mobile phone app - there are several apps for PMP preparation, scan through and narrow down the one that suits your needs, this will ensure that wherever you are - in a park, out for run, waiting for a bus or commuting, you would be connected and practice.
    iv) When you are going through the exercises, try not to remember the answers instead look for gaps in your knowledge.

URLs for Practice Tests: -
http://edward-designer.com/web/list-of-free-pmp-exam-questions/
http://www.pmstudy.com/enroll.asp#PMP
http://206-free-pmp-exam-questions.blogspot.com/p/questions-1-20.html
http://www.gocertify.com/quizzes/project-management/pmp1/Question-2.html
http://www.izenbridge.com/pmp/free-exam/

Apart from these there are several books available in all public library which are questions bank for preparation. I used the one which had 1000 questions divided into a full 5 tests. 

Finally, writing tests is important but its more important to analyze each test. Place them in Process/Knowledge Area/Process group category and then look for weak areas.

PMP is not about passing the exam, remember passing PMP is not the end of it, its the beginning of the journey!!

PMP Check!!

PMP check!!

It gives me great pleasure and satisfaction to share with you all that i have successfully cleared PMP exam in my first attempt. Being an average mind and a lazy person, it took an effort and this is my journey of winning and what it takes to win it in first go!! Learnt few good things in this process - Set a goal, be dedicated, Work towards it at "your" pace, push your limits and yes, focus, focus and focus.

PMP as most you must be aware is the most prestigious certification in the project management world. The certification is to be earned from PMI - Project Management Institute and is globally accepted as benchmark for project management knowledge. The course involves studying the fundamentals of Project Management, learning and unlearning new/old concepts, internalizing what's best and knowing the true meaning of Project Management. I decided to embark on this journey in April of 2015. It all began one day, like it always does with everyone, I was bothered about where my career is going and what should I do next to reach the next level. 

We started the conversation (We = me and Nidhi - my wife) by "Where do I want to see myself in 5 yrs". With much deliberations and debates it came out to be - "Working in a giant conglomerate at a Program/Project/Portfolio/PMO level". That kind of set precedence and we took off to see some of the profiles of the leaders working for the position/role or having the mentioned responsibilities.

Apart from the experience what clearly stood out was the capability necessarily depicted with some of the known and respected industry wide certifications. While in Europe its Prince 2 and ITIL, in USA its more of PMP. So we decided to embark on this journey in the month of April.

The journey began by acquiring the reading material - PMBOK 5th Edition (a MUST) and Rita's PMP prep book. Both were given to me in new state by a good friend Darshak Sheth. Then came in the other things like online help, classroom coaching and test preps. I could find a good, detailed course by Mr. Resit Gulec on Udemy. Finally, we needed to make some amendments to our daily schedules, and find a place to study. We created a regular schedule which gave me a clear window of 2-3 hours and the place was chosen as Parsippany Troy Hills library. That time and place became my regular outing for 2 full months.

PMP unlike other regular exams combines your knowledge, experience and application of that knowledge into real world scenarios. I will be detailing out each of these in the next few sections.

Summary
To pass the exam you'd need these (and more!!)

1) PMBOK latest (Edition)
2) Rita's PMP preparation book (Latest edition)
3) Regular and FIXED schedule (Fixed is important!!)
4) Dedicated preparation
5) Practice, practice and more practice.
6) Most important - Strong support from Family and Friends.

And my Mantra "Intelligence x Time x Effort = Constant", and the scenario that works for me is

Intelligence = Average
Time = Above Average
Efffort = Maximum Possible

Gives me Success!!!!

Next section i will share my knowledge materials, URLs, PDFs whatever i had acquired over this journey. Watch out for this place for more details!!

Thanks
Deepak Sharma PMP ITILv3

PMP_my_first_attempt

PMP!!


Somethings that everyone (even google) can tell you isn't going to be a part of this blog. Here, i plan to list every finding, every blog, every detail which i looked upon and used as a part of my journey. I am still in this journey and as i compose this piece, i am looking to attempt certification in less than 20 days from now.

I am nervous as hell but i am preparing. Its a game of nerves, if you have relevant years of exp and if you are ready to put in 2 hours every day, you can try and attempt it in 45 days. The regularity seems more important than the remembering part of the approach. This how i planned it out, i will share more details in some other posts.

1. Started by reading PMBOK (older version) - Boring as hell, too much theory etc etc, but as i went past first few chapters, i started liking it. Before i knew, i was done with it. The best i could think is that i started relating everything in the book to whether we do it or we dont and if we do it, how we do it, and if we dont, how can we do it!!.

2. Found out good and cheap online PDU/Classroom coaching which also provided me with necessary PDUs. Udemy, Coursera, eDX, Simplilearn etc are some of the platforms that provide us with these. They are not only elaborate, but are very helpful with some real world examples.

3. Completed my entire curriculum on PMBOK, Online classroom and started writing tests. Took two approaches, first one was taking up tests at the end of each chapter, this helped me in completing and closing the learning from the chapters and second is taking up full set of tests (200 Questions).

I am yet to attempt full blown tests!!

More once i get there.