Author: RMC Learning Solutions

Posted on by

Should I Take the PMP® Exam in 2020 or Wait Until 2021?

Woman sitting on coach with computer thinking about taking the PMP exam

As you know, PMI is changing the PMP Exam as of January 2, 2021.  We know you are trying to figure out which option is best for you in the time that remains — or if you have already made your decision — to help shake off any worries you may have on your journey to certification.

Why Take the Current PMP Exam in 2020?

If you have the qualifications to sit for the exam now, why wait?  If you are confident in your preparation, you should leverage your knowledge and take it now.  You can schedule to take the exam online or in person.  However, if you are not ready or struggling to achieve your goal before the exam changes in January, but still want to take the exam before it changes, consider a virtual class with an experienced instructor.

You know the benefits of becoming a PMP.  If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be considering it.  Getting the benefit of being PMP-certified will get you those benefits that much sooner.  Having the PMP now, could help you further demonstrate your value in your current position. It could also help you secure a new job in this uncertain economic climate.

The current PMP Exam is a well-known. Exam parameters, question style, and virtually everything else about the current exam is known and documented. We have it figured out. The current exam content outline has been in place for several years.  We understand the level of difficulty and what it takes to pass.  On the contrary, we are still getting to know the 2021 exam and its level of difficulty.   This uncertainty can increase the areas you’ll need to understand and study.

Although the passing score of the current exam is not published, it is a well-established, consistent figure and it will not change before the end of 2020.

Therefore, if you qualify to sit for the exam, are executing on your study plan and have your education hours, getting your cert in 2020 is still your best option!

Why Take the NEW PMP Exam in 2021?

The PMP Exam is not trivial.  It requires disciplined study and 35 training contact hours.  Don’t try to jam it in this year if you don’t have the time or you need to take additional classes to get your contact hours.

If you don’t have the required experience hours for your application right now, you should probably plan for the new exam.  Get the new book and start studying now!  You can learn new skills and become a better project manager to impact your work today.

If you are experienced in Agile or Hybrid, it will help with 50% of exam questions in the new 2021 exam.  Remember, study will still be required — particularly if you don’t have plan-driven project experience which remains a significant part of the PMP exam.

You may have more options to take the exam in a testing center in 2021.  We suspect pandemic conditions will improve in 2021, allowing for more testing center options to open.  Also, many testers find the online proctored exam environment is much more restrictive than in-person testing centers.

What is My Best Option Right Now?

The best plan for most of us right now is to try to get the exam in and get certified in 2020.  Either way, you need time to study.  Be sure to honestly assess your time available to study and your overall readiness.

No matter which choice you make, RMC can help.

RMC’s Exam Support and Guidance

If you choose to take the 2020 exam, and you are using our 9th Edition products or eLearning,  that’s great; however if, for some reason, you find you can’t take the exam in 2020,  we offer free or discounted upgrades to 10th Edition products for the new 2021 PMP exam.  For students in our 9th Edition instructor-led courses, who fail the exam in 2020, you qualify for our class guarantee (subject to guarantee provisions).

Want to speak with someone directly?  Our customer service staff can help advise you. Please contact RMC at 952-846-4484 or info@rmcls.com with any questions.  You can also register for one of our PMP Exam free monthly webinars.

Sources: https://www.pmi.org/certifications/types/project-management-pmp

Posted on by

Today’s Project Manager: 9 Tips For Effective Project Management in 2020

Business woman discussing a project with a colleague at a desk

Is trying to manage your ever-changing project management plan keeping you awake at night? Does defining your requirements feel like trying to wrestle an angry octopus into a string bag? Do you feel torn between allowing your customers and team to be agile while simultaneously creating defendable schedules, estimates, and scope definitions for your sponsors?

Fear not. While the struggle is real, so are the solutions. Teams have been grappling with project requirements in flux, high rates of change, and demands for detailed plans for years. We can steal their best strategies and avoid common mistakes. Let’s explore 9 project management planning tips for taming wild projects without stifling agile teams or mumbling when asked about the project management plan.

1. Take a Customer-Centric Approach

Relentlessly focusing on customer needs and wants is the way to win them over. Showing genuine care for their desires builds understanding about the true project management requirements.

Sponsors listen to customers more than project managers about progress. With the customer on your side, changes to the plans are supported when they improve the solution.

Do this by collocating with the customer whenever possible. Live their world and share their frustrations to understand their needs for the system.

2. Think MVP not Kitchen Sink

MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. Ask what is the smallest thing we can build first that demonstrates our solution would be valuable?

Work with your customers to identify their highest-value items in the product. Often the highest priority items are surprising, so ask not presume.

Create a prioritized backlog of features and a visual roadmap of what can be developed when based on team estimates. Build this functionality first to demonstrate value.

3. Prototype Concepts Cheaply

Developing software is an expensive way of verifying we understand our customer needs. So use paper prototypes to mock-up screens and websites first.

Rapid prototyping with hand-drawn paper designs is a collaborative process that customers can engage in too. This inclusion builds ownership and support.

Get your teams to verify understandings with quick prototypes before coding. Changes are quicker, cheaper, and the process of engaging the customer increases buy-in.

4. Engage the Team in Solutioning

Teams do not want to be handed task lists. Teams want to solve problems, delight customers, and deliver value.

Humans are hard-wired to get a buzz from problem-solving. This is why people do crosswords and sudoku puzzles in their spare time. We get an endorphin buzz to further our learning and evolution.

Present work as problems to be solved rather than task lists. Teams will enjoy their work more and be more productive.

5. Exercise All the Architecture

Issues can spring up in any new hardware or software component. Until we have proved things work, they contain risks of failure.

If we will need it at some point, then let’s try it out as part of the project execution to make sure there are no unforeseen problems lurking in there.

Deliberately test each component of a solution as soon as possible. Prove the connections work or surprises are found while we still have time to address them.

6. Prove it or Pivot

Not all ideas or products are a success. Collaborating with customers during development should let us know early on if we have a winner or a dud.

Sometimes the best outcome is a fast failure while we can divert remaining time and funds towards other initiatives.

Create review points to evaluate progress and benefits. Facilitate a frank conversation between sponsors and customers. Did we prove the product viable, or is it time to pivot towards something else?  This project management tip will allow you to adapt quickly.

7. Go with the Flow

Projects need initial estimates for approval, but these are inaccurate since they are based on information from when we knew the least about the project – at the start.

As the project progresses, it is important to transition from these initial estimates and project management plans to new ones based on actual rates of progress.

Use the number of features delivered and actual spend rates to produce new completion projections. Using the actual data flowing from the team builds the most accurate plans.

8. Courageous Project Management Transparency

Share information, good and bad, with stakeholders throughout the project execution. The one thing people like less than bad news is late bad news.

Sharing information throughout the project demonstrates the desired behavior. Teams that see project managers sharing their mistakes and questions are more likely to do the same.

Many project failures can be traced to communication failures. When we fail to communicate we set the scene for cascades of problems. So be transparent and share information.

9. Review and Adapt What Matters

No plan survives contact with reality. Once we get into our project, we will learn new information about the project and our team dynamics.

We need to review the evolving solution and how the team is working together. Is the product working as expected? Are we working together as best we can?

Every couple of weeks ask the team: what should we do more of? What should we do less of? Experiment with team suggestions. Keep what works, learn from failures.

Here’s to Change…

Project management plans and estimates might change, but by being transparent and using the team’s actual production rates to create new plans, they will be defendable and realistic. Often the business customers become the project manager’s most reliable allies, answering many of the questions about completion dates and quality.

Customers are the most potent salespeople. They have fewer ulterior motives and the most credible stories. Work with them earnestly, and even the most dynamic projects can become rewarding partnerships.  Consider some other thoughts from

Posted on by

Project Management Skills PMs Need to Be Successful

Woman working on project skills at computer

Project management can be challenging, but it’s also an exciting, dynamic field. To ensure your long-term success, and to differentiate yourself from other managers, you need to acquire the right skill set.

To give you an idea of what we mean, here’s a project management skills list that you can consider as you begin working on developing what it takes to enter this field or expand your career.

Project Management Skills

  1. Project Manager Technical Skills (“Hard” Skills) Form the Foundation for Success
  2. Soft Skills Can Also Help You Excel in Project Management
  3. Become Certified in Project Management to Prove You Really Have What It Takes

Project Manager Technical Skills (“Hard” Skills) Form the Foundation for Success

As a project manager, you need to know how to be a leader and inspire others to work hard at achieving a common goal. In addition to that, you need to have technical skills to be able to harness the power of the latest tools that can make your job easier, and make you a more effective leader too.

Some of the main project manager technical skills you should aim to develop include:

  • Budgeting and cost management – Being able to foresee expenses, calculate costs, and stick to a budget are necessary if you want to lead a project. The right tools will help you run a project from start to finish without going over the budget that you or your boss have set. Examples of popular cost management software include Hubstaff, Trigger, and Avaza.
  • Scheduling and time management – As a manager, you need to be able to schedule and track the steps involved in taking a project from start to finish. You also need to designate team members to tasks and establish deadlines to ensure everything is completed on time. Some of the top tools used in this area include Scoro, Asana, and Toggl.
  • Team building and management – You can’t complete a project all on your own, so other important skills are team building and team management abilities. You need to build a team that will be capable of completing the tasks you give them, and you need to lead, inspire, and motivate them. Being able to recognize people’s strengths, and knowing how to assign tasks appropriately, will help you lead projects successfully.
  • Task management – The purpose of task management is to keep every member of your team up-to-date while working together in a collaborative manner. It’s also used to minimize mistakes while improving productivity. Software can help you get it all done, and a few good examples are ClickUp, Monday.com, and Smartsheet.
  • Stakeholder management – When working as a project manager, you have to do more than just direct and supervise your team, you also have to work with other managers, clients, and stakeholders. Therefore, it’s important to know how to understand everyone’s expectations, establish and convey your objectives, and report on progress as you move through a project’s life cycle.
  • Risk management – Identifying, assessing, and mitigating risk is an integral part of successfully managing a project. The goal is to become so good at recognizing risks in advance that you’re able to avoid them and keep your project moving along smoothly. This involves performing qualitative and quantitative risk analysis.
  • Agile – Agile is a method that allows you to break a project down into manageable steps so you can boost productivity and improve collaboration amongst team members. There are several Agile frameworks that you can choose from, and some of the most popular options for project managers include Scrum, Kanban, Crystal, and XP.

Soft Skills Also Help You Excel in Project Management

When it comes to the project management skills needed to be effective at leading teams, there are several “soft skills” that will help you reach your goals.

In addition to general leadership abilities, it’s also helpful to be proficient in the following areas:

  • Communication
  • Negotiation
  • Conflict resolution
  • Critical thinking
  • Creative thinking
  • Problem solving
  • Active listening
  • Coaching
  • Collaboration

Other project management skills required to go far in this career have more to do with your personality type. For example, if you exhibit the following traits, you’re more likely to do well:

  • Social
  • Confident
  • Goal-oriented
  • Motivated
  • Open-minded
  • Adaptable

Become Certified in Project Management to Prove You Really Have What It Takes

There are several certifications offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). For example, if you’re fairly new to project management, you can become a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). Or, you can advance your career by becoming a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Why bother getting certified? As you work on preparing to pass the exams for these certifications, you’ll develop a wide range of skills that will make it easier to elevate your career.

RMC Can Help You Become a Talented Project Manager!

From courses that prepare you for project management certifications to those that let you get your PDUs to maintain certification, RMC is here to help you reach your highest potential and stay at the top of your game.

Contact us to learn more about how you can acquire the project management skills and competencies that will set you apart from the rest.

Sources:

https://www.strategyex.co.uk/blog/pmoperspectives/15-skills-project-managers-will-need-2015/

https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-management-skills

https://zety.com/blog/project-management-skills

https://www.capterra.com/task-management-software/

Posted on by

Why Take the PMP Exam?

Two women working together on a project using their computer

Why take the PMP exam? This is a common question many people ask as they weigh the pros and cons of the PMP® exam. What is the purpose, what will it do for you, and is it worth it? There’s no doubt that preparing to take the PMP® exam is a journey. And, if you let it, this journey can help you enhance your project management capabilities. 

As you prepare for this exam, you will improve your project management skills. The opportunity to expand your knowledge is one of the best reasons to get your PMP® certification.

Understanding is the Key to Passing the PMP Exam

The PMP® exam is an international exam designed to prove your knowledge and experience in applying the art and science of project management. It focuses on situations you might encounter in the real world, rather than just asking you to repeat data you have learned.

Therefore, to pass the PMP® exam, you cannot simply cram a lot of information into your brain and try to retain it just long enough to get through the four-hour testing period. Instead, you’ll take your knowledge to the next level. You’ll better understand the process of project management, and the value that process can bring to your daily work on projects.

Learn without Rote Memorization

RMC’s PMP® training classes and products bring you unique games, activities, exercises, and techniques designed specifically to increase both learning and knowledge retention. 

This approach not only gives you the knowledge you need to quickly prepare for the exam, but also the knowledge to become a better project manager—without rote memorization. 

Where’s the proof? RMC has heard from students who received a bonus, a raise, or both after they passed the exam. Other students have reported that they were offered a job when hundreds of other qualified candidates had applied, simply because they were PMP® certified!

Get PMP® Certification to Set Yourself Apart

In addition to the opportunity to improve yourself and your abilities, there can be financial incentives for passing this exam. A 2015 salary survey conducted by the Project Management Institute (PMI) found that PMP® certified project managers across all countries are paid, on average, 20% more than those without this certification.

The bottom line is this: having a PMP® certification can be the reason you get a job, keep your job, or are promoted. And, with RMC’s support,  you can get started today.