As part of our PMI PMP(Project Management Institute Project Management Professional) success series guide, from Armadillo Consultants, we want to reveal the hidden secret’s of how to pass PMP exam, the most result yielding way. Much before we step there, one got to understand the Project Manager as a Project Management Professional.
PMP(Project Management Professional) Aspirants who seek successful PMP should start preparing well in advance and start building a well rounded professional profile. Starting early would give sufficient time to research and evaluate different “in detailed project management topics” to explore and prepare for taking up the PMP exam. It is very significant for PMP aspirants to spend considerable time evaluating many topics at hand and pick the right topics to build an overall professional profile, where they will be ultimately be happy and successful.
There are probably two ways many aspirant PMP’s or Project Management Professionals look at it while addressing the actual PMP exam.
One. You are a very practical project manager and answer the PMP questions. A project manager is not just simple task allocating and monitoring professional just sitting there, he/she is more of an integrator for all the aspects of the project management. In fact as Project Manager, one touches all the key knowledge areas such as Integration Management, Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Risk Management, HR Management, Procurement Management, Communications Management, Stakeholder Management while ensuring all the process groups like Initiating, Planning, Monitoring & Controlling, Executing and Closure are taken in to account.
Two. You act and behave as an Ideal project manager and answer the PMP questions like the PMI(Project Management Institute) expects. In many situations, when you tend to act as an Ideal project manager, your practical ways of doing project management in reality are challenged. Infact as experienced, it is intended that the budding Project Management Professionals to think as Ideal project manager. Also, it is expected to be Ideal project manager & importantly a person with professional code of ethics plus social responsibility.
In line to the professional code of ethics plus social responsibility, a project manager has to be mindful of at least these 27 keys.
For Initiating Process Group, a Project Manager should:
1. Validate that the project is formally authorized before beginning any project work
2. Exercise the right to refuse, to start the project until it is formally authorized by signed project charter
3. Validate that Contract is being signed before beginning the work, if being performed for an external customer
4. Validate that project is contributing to strategic goals of the organization
5. Identify and determine all affected stakeholders by the project, could be both internal and external
For Planning Process Group, a Project Manager should:
6. Ensure the most possible accurate estimates are developed with the information at hand in planning phase
7. Develop Communication plan to inform appropriate stakeholders with timely & accurate information along with periodic status reports
8. Ensure detailed subsidiary project management plans are developed & evolved in all areas with necessary information & attributes is included
9. Have a human resource management plan with strategy to motivate project team and maximize the resource efficiency
10. Clearly demonstrate your planning by having a clearly laid out approach for upcoming changes, how they will be handled & addressed to be adapted or closed
11. Obtain necessary management approvals on all the project management plans & make it accessible for the stakeholders
For Executing Process Group, a Project Manager should:
12. Communicate Project Status with Transparency, Accuracy & Timeliness to Stakeholders as desired by them
13. Adhere to the Organizational & Legal procurement practices, with project manager making every effort to sort out any ambiguities
14. Award the Contract to the legitimate bidder based on the defined evaluation criteria including the performance assessment
15. Include appropriate clauses, terms and conditions in the contract to protect both seller and buyer with known and unknown risks
16. Drive project leadership with project staff by:
16A. Encouraging cultural exchange, cultivate harmony
16B. Acting free of any bias/prejudice, be fair to everyone
16C. Foster positive environment to encourage team come up to you and talk of any misappropriate happenings
16D. Provide necessary knowledge, skills and tools for team to work efficiently & effectively
16E. Recognize and reward the team for their good work
16F. Provide corrective & constructive feedback in case of non-delivery
16G. Act and/or Escalate disciplinary issues immediately to right authority
For Monitoring & Controlling Process Group, a Project Manager should:
17. Communicate stakeholders the changes in pipeline for approval upfront before CCB(Change Control Board) and follow-up with them for further actions as appropriate
18. Inform Stakeholders about the approved changes, implemented corrective & preventive actions, defect repairs
19. Deviations or variances from the actual baselines and the transparent reasons
20. Project deliverables are always verified and/or validated for the Quality
21. Proactively engage with stakeholders or brainstorm to identify the potential risks
22. Validate the base assumptions and continuously check for the constraints applicable across all phases of project
For Closing Process Group, a Project Manager should:
23. Project is formally closed after check on the deliverables, release payments, release resources
24. Stakeholders are made to understand further business opportunities and/or risks which may arise due to project completion
25. Honest and transparent feedback on the Seller upon Contract Closure and/or Termination
26. Captured lessons learnt are shared to the stakeholders and stored as Organizational Process Assets
27. Evaluation of the Project Performance at the closing and formal acknowledgement by stakeholders
In addition to the above, a bonus key which I often emphasize to our PMP Workshop and Training Batches in Bangalore. It is imperative for PMP aspirants to have a clear thought process of which inputs to use, by applying what tools & techniques, and to generate what outputs in any particular process as part of the PMI Process Group and in which PMI Knowledge Area.
Many PMP aspirants often think they would be able to memorize all such process items and recall them during the day of exam, rather I recommend my participants a thorough understanding which enable’s one to apply the knowledge to get the answers in the PMP exam.
As a PMP aspirant or not, it is quite interesting for Project Management Professionals to keep the listed 27 keys to open up their doors on the Project Management Success. I understand there may be many more such keys, however, I would love to hear your opinion on any such key which helped you move the mountains during the PMP exam.