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PMI announced the new PMP® exam pilot option – a chance for exam aspirants to taste the new flavor of the exam before it is served to the public mid 2020.

Earlier this year PMI made changes to exam syllabus, and then moved the implementation date from December 2019 to July 2020.

Main 2 changes, in a nutshell are –

• About 50% syllabus covers Agile/Adaptive/Hybrid approach and 50% covers Predictive approach.
• The exam is covered under 3 domains: People, Processes, and Business Environment, instead of earlier 5 domains fashioned along the Process groups.

Project Management Institute (PMI) has opened up it’s doors to the NEW exam BEFORE it becomes available to the general public from 1 July 2020.

Now, the question is – do you want to take the new PMP® exam pilot option?

By the end of this article you will have enough information to answer this question yourself.

I have a fun pop quiz for you at the end of this article, plus, a surprisingly easy way to get to your PMP goal.

Get a cuppa hot coffee and let’s get started.

And oh, please help a friend or colleague preparing for PMP® test: tweet below, or click a social share button for your favorite social network platform –

[easy-tweet tweet=”New PMP® Exam Pilot Option Analysis Guide: Determine If This Is For You!” user=”pmexamsmartnote” hashtags=”pmppilotexam, newpmpexam, PMPb4NewExam” url=”https://www.pmexamsmartnotes.com/new-pmp-exam-pilot-option-2020-analysis-guide/”]

Here’s what we will cover in this in-depth PMP® exam pilot option offered by PMI –

• The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly
• Read This!
• The Syllabus?
• Is this for me? – Let’s Analyze
• In Essence
• What if this isn’t for me?
• The Challenge
• In a hurry? Watch Video version

Do you want the good news first and bad news?

[continue reading…]

“To get PMP certified you need to manage risks throughout”, said Marie Nguyen as I was talking to her after her exam.

Marie works as a project manager for a Consulting company specialized in Project Management. She is based out of France and has more than 12 years experience managing projects for several IT Companies.

You will find this PMP Lessons Learned article to be quite unique. This is a gritty story of a mom juggling responsibilities of looking after her little kids, demanding job, and ingenuity shown to get past hurdles to reach her PMP® goal.

This could be one of the closest ‘Phew’ moment I have come across about potentially losing the exam because of some unexpected event. The other closest incident was when one of my students took my recommendation to visit the exam center on the day before exam and discovered that the center has been moved to another part of the town!

While this is a lesson in risk management in the context of PMP® exam, this is also a proof of the fact that if you prepare for the exam the right way, you can get past even the last minute blockers and ace the exam.

If you find this article useful, consider sharing socially and help your friends preparing for the exam.

Let us hear from Marie Nguyen!

What triggered your desire to take up PMP® exam?

Getting PMP certified was a dream I have been nurturing since 2012!

Unfortunately, at that time in France the PMP® certification was not very well known for the IT companies.

And my management couldn’t see the benefits of me being PMP® certified and how my investment of time and money would benefit them.

I was young and maybe not enough motivated to fight for it. It was easy to find excuses not to proceed further – new project assignments, new baby, another baby, other life priorities.. ?

I couldn’t find the suitable time to kick-off the PMP® certification. So I decided to put this project aside!

After a while … 12 years in project management and being as a PMO and Project Manager, I felt ready and mature enough to take up this challenge!

So earlier this year I registered for a 5-day course which prepares you for the exam for PMP® certification.

It was an intensive week with a lot of project management concepts. I met people from different backgrounds and different working area and all with the same objective: to get PMP® certified!

At that moment I knew that I will find enough time to get prepared for this certification no matter what. No more excuses!

Also read: How Brandon Pettersen devised reverse strategy to create a successful PMP campaign

[continue reading…]

“PMP® exam hard? Not if you can plan well”, says Neha Jain, who works in Supply Chain management domain for past 8+ years. She is also Lean certified and is currently working on her Green belt project.

In this article you will learn how she stuck to basics and in spite of a busy schedule managed to pass the PMP® exam on first try. PMP® was her very first professional certification, and now she plans to follow these strategies for other certification exams she’s gunning for.

What made you to take up PMP®? Did you consider any other certification exams?

PMP® is not only a certification, it’s my dream of 5 years. During these years, I have realized that nothing comes easy in life. I wanted to do this certification for few reasons –

• to boost my career as PMP® is a well renowned certification
• to prepare myself for the complete cycle of managing successful projects, both small and large
• to identify gaps in my current understanding in managing projects and fill in those gaps with the right knowledge

This is my first professional certification and has taught me that self development is a continuous process. I will continue to pursue more courses to up-skill myself.

How do you see PMP® helping you going forward?

To be honest – the moment you earn this certification, people start looking at you with respect. They want to learn from you. This is why I am writing down my prep experience here.

At work I am able to apply PMP® concepts in my current projects and I can already see improvement in my approach as well as productivity.

Also read: This Air Force Sergeant worked out a smart backwards plan for his PMP exam.

What were your study resources, and study plan?

I wanted to stick to basics – one book and one methodology. This of course needed some good research – talking to colleagues, studying preparation strategies of successful PMP® professionals, understanding my own preferred method of learning, and so on. [continue reading…]

“I prepared PMP exam schedule backwards, by first setting an exam date and working out a study plan”, says Brandon Pettersen.

Brandon is Air Force Technical Sergeant from Boston, MA. He is a certified Project Management Professional with Direct Military Communications Security experience from safeguarding Executive Transmissions and supporting Systems Infrastructure. Brendon guides special access programs and their implementation.

In this article Brandon shares how he approached PMP exam preparation, all the way till the exam experience.

What made you to take up PMP?

I am interested in being a Project Manager upon leaving the Air Force and have done it within my career for years, so it was finally time to be certified and educated in it.

I wanted to have a real understanding of the process and methodologies used. Preparing for the course showed me how much I needed to learn, as well as how much more there is out there.

Studying for this certification taught me a brand-new way to study, prepare, and retain knowledge.

This is also one of the hardest type of tests I have ever taken, so it gave me new insight into what information to focus on, how to mentally prepare for a 4-hour test, and how to really read and understand scenario-based questions.

Which study resources did you use?

I started by attending a boot camp with Vets2PM, followed by a self-made study guide in Microsoft One Note, as well as reading Andy Crowe’s PMP Study Prep (ad) book.

Also read: My recommended PMP exam study resources

How did you approach the exam and what was your study plan?

[continue reading…]

While there are several causes of project failure, in this post we shall see how to choose an effective Project Management Methodology for your project and avoid project failure.

Project management is more than just completing a project. The planning, tasks, and risks that come along with a project play the largest role in a project’s successful implementation.

Great project managers learn how to predict a project’s success by looking at the project’s foundation. Being able to spot and improve upon weaknesses before the project begins is a key ingredient to success.

Choosing a project management methodology that supports the project’s strategy is essential. Since no two projects are the same, a project manager may implement a different project methodology depending on the team, type of project, and work style.

Below, we’ll break down some of the most popular project management methodologies and how to choose the best methodology for your project.

7 Project Management Methodologies a PM must know!

1. Waterfall

The waterfall model is a breakdown of project activities into linear sequential phases, where each phase depends on the deliverables of the previous one and corresponds to a specialization of tasks. The approach is typical for certain areas of engineering design (source).

Waterfall has been a popular project management style for years, and while some people now consider it outdated because of its speed, it still finds its place for many businesses.

This style is great for projects that don’t have a speedy deadline, because the project moves along in waves. Each step of the project isn’t started until the step before it is fully completed. This method is very structured and easy to track.

It’s also the most popular method used in construction.

2. Agile

Agile software development comprises various approaches to software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customer/end user (source).

If your project requires speed, consider an agile project management structure. As a project manager, you’ll emphasize speed by breaking tasks up among numerous teams.

These teams will begin working on their specific task immediately, handling various pieces of the project at the same time.

Digital advances such as project management software and communication tools make this methodology more popular today.

Also read: Discover 17 PMP myths to increase the odds of success.

3. Scrum

Scrum project management provides a light-weight process framework that embraces iterative and incremental practices, helping organizations deliver working software more frequently. [continue reading…]