Project Management Best Practices

I get this question a lot and find myself answering it over and over again, on message boards, blogs and in person. In doing so I’ve come to realize that a large number of PMP aspirants do not understand what the PMP credential is nor do they have have a sufficient knowledge of what is covered on the exam component of the certification process.

First of all, unlike I.T. vendor “certs” and other commercial “certifications”, where the only requirement to earn the “cert” is the ability to pass an exam, the PMP credential is a professional credential. The credential is competence based and, as such, is best described as a credential as opposed to simply a certification. The credential infers a candidate’s ability to actually perform professional tasks (e.g., Project Management) at a given level. Unlike vendor “cert” exams, the exam component of the PMP credential is more than simply knowledge based. It encompasses both knowledge of the subject and the necessary skills to apply that knowledge.

In addition to passing a rigorous exam, the PMP credential requires a certain minimum amount of documented (and verified) experience in the profession, a certain level of education (both formal, academic education as well as professional training), adherence to a professional code of conduct, and a commitment to on-going continuing education and contribution to the project management community.

Having said that, what does the examination portion of the PMP certification process cover? Is studying the PMBOK sufficient to succeed on the exam?

The short answer is that, if you are pursing the CAPM credential, then the PMBOK can be enough. This is because the CAPM exam is only based on the material on the PMBOK. Nevertheless, I would strongly recommend supplementing any CAPM exam study with at least one study guide and with a good exam question test bank.

As far as the the exam portion of the PMP certification process is concerned, the exam covers a lot more than just the material in the PMBOK Guide.

If you are pursing the PMP credential, then you need to prepare for questions from other areas (i.e., non-PMBOK Guide) as well.
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As promised, I’m following up on my post from Sept. 14, 2009: Lack of training among project managers.

There continues to be  widespread lack of formal project management training among PMP candidates. In my original post, I wrote:

From my visits to message boards and blogs, I’m seeing a common misunderstanding among many PMP candidates; a misunderstanding is related to the trend of PMP candidates using their exam preparation classes to satisfy their 35 contact hour requirement. Many candidates seem to believe that taking a 35 hour prep class is actually a requirement to sit for the exam.

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Several PMP candidates on one of the PMP preparation message boards asked for an explanation of a PMP exam practice question that they had encountered. The members on the message board found it to be a very difficult question.

Difficult question? Not if you can see the BIG CLUE that PMI has provided.

QUESTION:

You are the project manager for an academic textbook publisher managing the development and deployment of the publisher’s new printing and binding equipment. Your quality control team leader has advised you that the latest control chart data reflects that the last 7 books produced were outside the lower control limit. What action should you take as the project manager?

A. Stop the printing of the books.
B. Work with the production team to bring the future
printing within the control limits.
C. Look for the non-random causes for the variations.
D. Plan to fix the 7 books.

This question offers an excellent example of how PMI designs PMP exam questions and how to be more successful answering them. PMI has provided a BIG CLUE to the correct answer, if you can see it.

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From my participation on various PMP discussion boards, particularly those used by folks who wish to earn the PMP credential, I’ve noticed an interesting (and somewhat disturbing) trend.

A significant number of PMP aspirants have no previous project management training prior to starting the PMP qualification and application process.  As a result, many of them use their 35-hour PMP “prep” class to satisfy PMI’s requirement that all applicants have completed a minimum of 35 hours of project management training prior to applying for their exam qualification letter.
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