PMP Exam and Project Management Discussion with Maureen Mackenzie, PHD, PHR, CAPM, RTC

In this episode Dan Ryan, "The PM Tutor", "PM Exam Coach" interviews Maureen Mackenzie. Maureen’s twenty year + corporate and not-for-profit leadership career, partners extremely well with her nineteen years of academic experience as a Full Professor of Business, Management, and Leadership and as Academic Dean. Maureen is an Executive, Performance and Personal Coach.

Maureen served as the President of the Northeast Business & Economics Association (NBEA.us). She has served as a member of its Board of Directors for sixteen years +. She was recently elevated to a level of honor as an Executive Director of the Board.

Recently Maureen assumed the role as chairperson of the Intergenerational Advisory Council for the Young Global Leadership Foundation (YGLF.org).

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Maureen Mackenzie

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Introduction

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has announced they are changing the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam effective January 2, 2021. Many people currently studying for the PMP exam or planning to do soon -- are concerned the changes to the PMP exam will dramatically alter the nature of the exam and significantly change the way people have to study to prepare to take the PMP exam. Many PMP exam candidates are working to take the PMP before the changes are instituted.

Basis for Exam Changes

Every three to five years, the project management Institute does assessments of the day-to-day responsibilities of project managers called the RDS or the “Role Delineation Study”.  During the last major assessment in 2015, PMI described it as a job task analysis. While the assessment processes were similar, PMI found the PMP exam in current form, did not discern accurately enough, if people who passed the PMP exam were qualified to become project managers....

The Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam is a required examination for people interested in a career in project management. The exam covers the entire process of a project from inception to close. After a person passes the exam, more doors in project management will open for them. However, most people looking to take the exam are busy working and taking care of the home. It can be difficult to find time to study. Here are some tips on how to find time to study for the PMP Exam.

About the PMP Exam

The PMP Exam is a test about the processes involved in managing a project for a corporation. It covers 10 different knowledge areas:

• Project Integration Management
• Project Scope Management
• Project Schedule Management
• Project Cost Management
• Project Quality Management
• Project Resource Management
• Project Communications Management
• Project Risk Management
• Project Procurement Management
• Project Stakeholder Management

There are two types of people who qualify for the...

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.

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