As a project manager you already know how important your job is. You may have spent years on the front lines, spearheading projects and getting the hard work done. Is it possible for your career to go any further? I can answer that question with a resounding “Yes!”

Getting your PMP Certification is the next step in forging a lucrative career in project management. Why is certification so important? Well, our field is expected to grow six percent over the next four years. With so many joining the ranks of project managers, it’s important for you to set yourself apart from the rest. Having the PMP credential behind your name will make your resume stand out, and it will prove that you have the knowledge and experience that enterprises desperately need in their organizations.

Of course, having your resume stand out isn’t the only benefit here. Certified project managers can expect to earn 25% more than their non-certified counterparts, and the median annual...

No longer are businesses exclusively going outside the company to find new Project Managers -- instead they’re opting to train internal staff to manage projects which saves money, increases morale and provides employees with a path for growth.

You most likely have many professionals in your organization that find themselves working as project managers, perhaps without ever having applied for the position. These “accidental project managers” are your secret weapon for project success if your company helps get them up to speed as quickly as possible on proper project life-cycle management. By spending time to grow and nurture your on-hand resources you are going to save time and money and reduce your speed to market. You will have happier, more productive staff that will stay with the company longer, evolving their skill-sets as they go.

The top 4 reasons business leaders are training internal staff to be PMs are:

1. They already work for you – Hiring and...

My PMP journey started on August 2015 when I signed up for my PMI membership. I became interested to become a Certified Project Manager after working on multiple projects. I knew getting certified will validate my experience and knowledge in Project management

For my preparation, I used several materials for my PMP exam but relied mostly on PMBOK. I read 2 to 3 hours on workdays and 5 to 6 hours on weekends for 2 months. I read the PMBOK twice, Rita Mulcahy once, used Headfirst to answer all questions after every chapter and if I scored less than 80%, I read the PMBOK again for clarity, I also used PM training for daily practice questions, and I listened to PMP Exam Prep by Joseph Philips every day at work.

Two months before the exam, I signed up for Dan Ryan’s PMP exam coaching class and Savage (PMP Exam Bosses Study Group) on Saturday by Phil C. Akinwale to fill in the knowledge gaps. Dan and Phil’s explanation were golden because during the exam, I felt like their...

If you are preparing for the PMP Exam version 6 you will most certainly come across the subject of Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) and Organizational Process Assets (OPAs). These two items fall within the category of ITTOs, which stands for Inputs, Outputs, Tools and Techniques. Currently there are 49 project management processes in the PM framework ranging from things like ‘Develop Project Charter’ to ‘Identify Risks’ to ‘Manage Stakeholder Engagement’ to ‘Close Project or Phase’.

Well, for every one of these 49 processes there are things that are supplied as inputs into them. For example, the Develop Project Charter process takes an input called the business case. That makes sense, right? If we are ramping up a new project and creating our charter document, we sure as heck better understand the business case for taking the project on!

Alright, so how does all this relate to EEFs and OPAs? Well, for nearly all of the 49...

One of the things that seems to confuse the heck out of my students is understanding how the project management plan is assembled and what are all of the components that are included. 

Most people know that the project plan is comprised of subsidiary plans, but they don’t really know which they are – or – how it is that these plans roll up into the overall project management plan.

So lets start with the facts, the Project Management Plan is comprised of a number of subsidiary plans and project baselines;

The most important subsidiary plans:

1. Scope Management Plan - This plan establishes how we handle all of the subsequent scope processes including defining, monitoring and controlling scope and eventually working with the customer to validate the scope (deliverables)
2. Requirements Management Plan - If you don’t have the requirements done just right on your project it is likely your project will be a dud. This plan makes sure that we work with the...

One source of major consternation for PMP aspirants are a category of the Project Management Framework called the ITTOs. “ITTOs” stand for Inputs, Outputs, Tools and Techniques. The framework currently is comprised of 49 project management processes that span five domains or process groups -- Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitor and Control, and Closing. So, for all 49 of these processes there are items that go into the process (inputs), things we do while executing the process (tools and techniques) and results that come out of the process (outputs).  For example, let’s take one of the very first processes we do called “Develop Project Charter.” For this process an input would be the business case for why we are taking on this project. One of the tools used would be meetings, and, no surprise here, but the output is the Project Charter.

That’s simple enough, but when you consider that all 49 processes have multiple ITTOs, you...

Thanks for stopping by, my name is Dan Ryan and I am PMP and PMI-ACP certified and I have been helping people pass the PMP Exam since 2011. This is a regular series of Project Management coaching videos that I am producing and sending to my followers. If you like it, please register to continue to have them sent to you weekly.

Join for FREE PMP Training:

https://www.pmexamcoach.com/store/J24PEmBK

https://www.pmexamcoach.com

https://www.thepmtutor.com

https://www.projectmanagementcoachingpodcast.com

Thanks for stopping by, my name is Dan Ryan and I am PMP and PMI-ACP certified and I have been helping people pass the PMP Exam since 2011. This is a regular series of Project Management coaching videos that I am producing and sending to my followers. If you like it, please register to continue to have them sent to you weekly.

Join for FREE:

https://www.pmexamcoach.com/store/J24PEmBK

https://www.pmexamcoach.com

https://www.thepmtutor.com

https://www.projectmanagementcoachingpodcast.

Thanks for stopping by, my name is Dan Ryan and I am PMP and PMI-ACP certified and I have been helping people pass the PMP Exam since 2011. This is a regular series of Project Management coaching videos that I am producing and sending to my followers. If you like it, please register to continue to have them sent to you weekly.

Join for FREE:

https://www.pmexamcoach.com/store/J24PEmBK

https://www.pmexamcoach.com

https://www.thepmtutor.com

https://www.projectmanagementcoachingpodcast.com

Over the years of coaching and training people for the PM Exam, I have come to understand that people are really quite intrigued by the concept of different learning styles.  There are some different classifications out there but basically we are talking things like; Linguistic, Kinesthetic, Visual, Interpersonal and so on. 

I have found that the overwhelming majority of people really, really want to consider themselves ‘visual’ learners.  If my research is accurate (and I have asked thousands of people) visual learning is the only way people learn!  As I looked into this topic I started asking myself, why is it that people feel like visual learning is so cool that they have become enamored with it? 

In the effort of fairness I may have tilted some people towards this answer by asking something like “You know a lot of my students are visual learners, what about you”? Practically, 100% of the people agree when asked that way. 

I...