Category: Project Management

Posted on by

5 Reasons to Care About Project Communication

Project manager in communication with team

A great deal of a project manager’s time is spent communicating with management, the team, the customer, and other stakeholders.  It is no surprise that project managers often identify communication-related issues as the #1 problem they experience most frequently on projects. According to the Project Management Institute, 40 percent of all project failures can be directly attributed to lack of effective communication.

Poor communication examples during projects are endless, yet many people allocate time developing technical project management skills while ignoring softer skills like communication and active listening.  Making even a small changes in your project communication habits can greatly impact your project’s success.  Ask yourself: “Is there a benefit to not communicating effectively?”

5 Reasons for Effective Project Communication

  1. Engaged Stakeholders
  2. Risk Mitigation
  3. Organizational Benefits
  4. Knowledge Sharing
  5. Self-Motivation

Here are additional reasons to care about project communication:

1. Engaged Stakeholders

As a project manager, you need to use communication skills in every aspect of your job, from refereeing conflicts between team members to emailing project status updates to stakeholders. To do this, you need to enhance your communication skills.  If you don’t, your stakeholders could experience poor team relationships, receive too little relevant information about the project, and could become disengaged from it. The easiest way to maintain engagement with your stakeholders is to take the time to plan how you will communicate with them early in the project and follow through with it.

2. Risk Mitigation

One of the biggest benefits to investing in your project communication skills is the ease in which you will be able to collect information on possible risks to your project. All of the methods we suggest identifying risks involve high-quality communication. Being able to facilitate a brainstorming meeting is an art and a science. Knowing exactly how long to use silence before someone is so uncomfortable, they volunteer a suggestion is a golden moment in effective listening. Maintaining energy and enthusiasm with your project team while identifying risk categories and completing an affinity diagram to organize ideas.  It is a skill that isn’t going to come naturally to everyone, but when practiced it becomes second nature. Given the alternative of missing a potential risk that could be costly, it seems obvious that for this reason alone you should care about increasing your communications competence.

3. Organizational Benefits

Simple changes can make a big difference in improving project communications. Imagine a project where you’ve drafted a comprehensive communications management plan and followed it.  Where you’ve continuously updated your stakeholder register, and because of it, stayed on top of requirement changes. Where barriers to communication were reduced to the point where no time was lost because everyone was aware of the project’s progress.  This would get noticed. A project brought in on time, within budget, and meeting the needs of the organization will catch the executive team’s eye.

It doesn’t have to be difficult. Ultimately the investment in effective communications will result in benefits to the entire organization.   Conflicts will be reduced; employee satisfaction will increase resulting in reduced turnover and fewer requirements will be missed.

4. Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge Sharing is a key component of agile methods; this is an important concept to consider when managing project communications. Information (i.e., knowledge) is a basic component of any project, so it must be distributed and shared. Properly sharing knowledge allows for more information to be provided until team members have enough knowledge to complete their work.  A project management communication plan is a tool to determine how information is shared and delivered to everyone.

Agile projects embrace knowledge sharing using tools such as daily stand-ups, Kanban boards, and wireframes all support knowledge sharing by ensuring the project information is available.

5. Self-Motivation

Enhanced communication skills are transferable to any project in any industry. Your ability to effectively listen, to ask clarifying questions, and to craft professional formal and informal correspondence have practical applications.

Project management is about coordinating efforts, gathering information, and sharing knowledge to achieve the project goals.  To increase your communication skills, consider RMC’s updated Project Communication and Stakeholder Engagement eLearning course.

Sources:

https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/effective-communication-better-project-management-6480

Posted on by

How to Use Rita Mulcahy’s Exam Prep Book for the CAPM Exam

If you’re planning to take the CAPM Exam, now is a great time. PMI recently announced the CAPM exam will be changing in January 2023. There are many options to help you get test ready. One such proven study method is Rita’s original prep book for the CAPM exam.

Originally created by Rita Mulcahy, it is designed to guide your studies by making complex information easily digestible. As you consider your options, here are some valuable tips on how this book can help you pass the CAPM exam.

Prep for the CAPM with Rita Mulcahy’s Exam Prep Book

  1. How Rita’s CAPM Exam Prep Book is Organized
  2. Introduction and Chapter Quick Tests
  3. CAPM Exam Key Inputs, Tools, Techniques, and Outputs
  4. Exclusive Test-Taking Tips

How Rita’s CAPM Exam Prep Book Is Organized

Most of the chapters in this book have been organized the same way:

  • List of Quick Test topics and introduction to the knowledge area
  • Discussion of the key inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs by knowledge area
  • Exercises and review materials
  • Practice exam by chapter

Let’s review these key components of the chapters.

Introduction and Chapter Quick Tests

The introduction provides an overview of the knowledge area covered in the chapter.  It may also include key concepts and information you will need to understand the material. The list at the beginning of each chapter indicates the topics covered in the chapter. To test your knowledge of the chapter contents and to review what’s most important, refer to each Quick Test list when you’re finished with each chapter.

CAPM Exam Key Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs

The CAPM Exam prep book highlights the key inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs for each knowledge area, with page references to the PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition. The content primarily focuses on the most important and difficult aspects.  It addresses areas that are the most troublesome for test takers. The CAPM Exam Prep book contains exclusive prep tips and tricks can shorten your study time and improve your exam score.

Exclusive Test-Taking Tips

Each chapter is filled with exclusive tips and tricks to guide your learning.  We call these Rita’s Tricks of the Trade®. Our multi-certification experts have developed this practical advice from teaching hundreds of thousands of students. We’ve developed these insider tips that help you learn more in less time.

There are plenty of opportunities to test your knowledge and understanding.  End-of-chapter tests include questions similar to those you can expect to encounter on the exam. You also get a detailed explanation of the correct answer as an additional learning tool.  Finally, we offer a step-by-step study plan to help you feel confident in your test prep.

RMC Exam Prep Difference

Rita believed exam certification training should be real, not hypothetical. That’s why our approach to test prep is like a talented friend in the field that teaches you what you really need to know for PMI® certification exams.

Sources:  https://www.pmi.org/certifications/certified-associate-capm

Posted on by

Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in Project Management

Man creating a work breakdown structure on white board

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is an essential part of organizing a plan-based project (although they may also be used in agile). Once you understand what a WBS is and how it can help you succeed in project management, you’ll always want to have one in place for each project.

In our previous post, we covered the essential element of developing a project scope statement, which describes, in detail, the deliverables and the work needed to create a product, service, or result. Now, let’s cover the what a WBS is and the benefits you reap from creating one.

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure

  1. What Is a Work Breakdown Structure?
  2. Do You Need a Work Breakdown Structure All the Time?
  3. What are the Biggest Reasons for Using a WBS?
  4. Work Breakdown Structure Guidelines
  5. How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure?

What Is A Work Breakdown Structure?

A WBS is a graphical decomposition of project deliverables. It takes the form of a “family tree.”

It organizes and displays deliverables to achieve final project objectives, and it breaks down project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components or work packages. Like the scope statement, it is an essential part of a plan-based project’s scope measurement baseline.

Work breakdown structures provide the basis for more accurate scheduling, budgeting, communicating, and allocating of responsibility. They also help with identifying and avoiding risks, and they assist with procurements and quality. Plus, controlling a project can become easier with the help of a WBS.

Do You Need a Work Breakdown Structure All the Time?

For a plan-based project, yes! Large agile projects may also use them. A WBS is so valuable that it should be done even for the smallest project.  Creating a WBS can help you clearly define requirements and help you manage project scope. The graphic representation of project deliverables helps your team and stakeholders what is and what is not in the project. It also provides a basis for creating a network diagram, which helps everyone see what deliverables are dependent on one another, and helps you create the project schedule.

What Are the Biggest Reasons for Using a WBS?

There are many benefits to using a WBS. For example, it:

  • Ensures that deliverables are not missed, helps prevent changes, and supports identifying risks by work packages.
  • Provides the project team with an understanding of where they fit into the overall project management plan.
  • Facilitates communication, stakeholder engagement, and cooperation between the project team and other stakeholders.
  • Provides the basis for estimating staff, cost, time and physical resources.
  • Focuses teams on what needs to be done, which can improve project performance.
  • Provides the basis for continued project planning and work assignments.

Work Breakdown Structure Guidelines

Every WBS is unique, and every project manager will approach creating a WBS in their own way. But there are a few guidelines that every project manager should follow when creating a WBS:

  • A WBS should be created by the project manager using input from the team and other stakeholders.
  • Each level of a WBS is a breakdown of the previous level.
  • An entire project should be included in the highest levels of a WBS, including a branch for project management activities and deliverables.Many levels will be further broken down.
  • A WBS includes all project deliverables that are required; deliverables not included in the WBS are not part of the project.

During planning, the project management team and subject matter experts break down the scope description until the work package level is reached on the WBS. This occurs when the deliverables:

  • Can be realistically and confidently estimated (including the activities, duration, cost associated with them).
  • Can be completed quickly.

How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure

The scope statement, WBS and WBS Dictionary make up a project’s scope management baseline. So, even if you’ve never created a WBS or worked with one before, learning all about it is an asset to being more effective.

A Work Breakdown Structure can improve efficiency, it can help you plan a project much more effectively, and it can be a useful tool that can help you successfully complete any project, so it’s worth taking the time to use it on your projects.  You can also learn more about the WBS and the WBS Dictionary by listening to Rita Mulcahy’s take.

Posted on by

Guide to Resource Planning & Management for Project Managers

Woman discussing resource planning and management in a meeting

Do you want to increase efficiency and help your team do their best work, while providing the right resources at the right time? Of course, you do! Well, one of the ways to accomplish that is through resource planning and management.

With the help of proper planning and resource allocation in project management, you’ll be able to provide your team with exactly what they need, when they need it, at any point during the life of a project. This can help you keep everything on time and on budget.

Below, we cover what these processes involve, and how they can help you become an even better project manager.

Resource Planning and Management for Project Managers

  1. What is Resource Management?
  2. What Are the Types of Resources in Project Management?
  3. What Is Resource Planning in Project Management?
  4. Resource Planning Is All About Improved Efficiency

What Is Resource Management?

The management of resources includes various activities, such as planning, organizing, and scheduling. The ultimate goal is to allocate and use resources in a way that’s efficient and will significantly increase the odds of completing a project on time.

With the right strategy, your resource management will make your team more effective. You can also move through a project more smoothly by planning for both the short term, and long run between the start of a project and its completion. And you’ll will have used your resources strategically and effectively because you scheduled and allocate them in advance, as well as tracking progress along the way.

What Are the Types of Resources in Project Management?

They can be anything and everything that you’ll use to ensure a project will be a success. This includes resources like equipment, technology, and tools, as well as the individuals who are on your team.

To get started, ask yourself what your team will need to complete the tasks you’ll assign throughout a project. Examples include:

  • Technology
  • Machinery
  • Vehicles
  • Equipment
  • Facilities
  • Supplies

Resources can vary from one industry to another, and from one project to another. As you work on determining what you’ll need to complete tasks and milestones, figure out what resources you’ll want to tap into, and how your team can make the most of those assets.

What Is Resource Planning in Project Management?

Resource planning is an aspect of a resource management plan. You can do things like:

  • Figure out the current availability, as well as the future demand, of non-human as well as human resources, so you can ensure your team will always have what they need.
  • Use a technique known as resource leveling to adjust resource usage and start and end dates based on the supply of resources versus the need for them.
  • Determine where every resource needs to go, and when, to optimize the performance of each team member.   

Project resource planning stages and steps

Here are some of the steps you can take when resource planning:

  • Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)to figure out the types of professionals you need on your team. Agile projects use a Backlog, often without a WBS, and Hybrid projects may use both.
  • Estimate the type and quantity for each needed resource.
  • Estimate when each resource is needed, and the amount of time that it will be used. This helps ensure both team members and the tools they need are available to complete an activity when needed.
  • Determine how you can fulfill all requirements and how much time you’ll need to complete the project.
  • See if you can complete the project before the deadline set by your client. You may need to negotiate this or other project constraints (like scope, cost or quality) to meet a fixed date.
  • Determine how you’ll track progress so you can make adjustments as needed.

Resource Planning Is All About Improved Efficiency

When you become a pro at resource management and planning, you’ll be able to boost efficiency by deriving as much benefit as possible from every resource. You can keep your projects organized, as you’ll have a plan to foresee how various resources will be used. And you can help your team work better by providing them with support at every step. Overall, it’s a smart strategy that can help you improve the way you lead teams and manage projects.

With the help of proper planning and resource allocation in project management, you’ll be able to provide your team with exactly what they need, when they need it, at any point during your project.

Sources:

https://www.float.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-resource-planning-for-project-management/

https://memory.ai/timely-blog/resource-planning

https://www.workamajig.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-resource-planning-in-project-management

https://www.wrike.com/blog/what-is-resource-management/

https://www.ganttic.com/blog/why-is-resource-management-important

https://www.ganttic.com/blog/what-is-resource-management

Posted on by

Project Scope and Business Environment Impact

The project’s business environment can be the most important factor affecting project scope. This impact is agnostic to your project’s development approach (plan driven, agile, hybrid). Each development approach has ways to respond to these changes. It is the project manager’s responsibility along with team leaders, team members, sponsors, and other stakeholders to identify business environment changes early, prepare adequately and adjust to them.

Business Environment Influence on Scope

  1. Business Environment Influence on Scope
  2. What Causes Business Environment Change?
  3. Project Manager Business Environment Changes
  4. Ways to Engage Stakeholders
  5. Tips to Understand the Business Environment Impact

What Causes Business Environment Changes?

As a project leader, it is important to understand the organization’s strategic and operational objectives as well as the specific objectives of the project. It is equally important to understand the external business environment that can impact and introduce change to the project.

Common causes of internal and external business environment change include:

  • Competition / market
  • Regulatory / compliance
  • Technology
  • Politics

A project leader must continuously observe and respond to the business environment. Start by asking good questions. In addition, you must anticipate environmentally caused risks throughout your project.  The following are some strategies for anticipating environmentally caused changes.

Project Manager Business Environment Considerations

There are several actions you can take to sharpen your business environment acumen and prepare for project scope impacts:

Inform Yourself: Expand your organizational knowledge and awareness. Consider the strategic objectives. Who are the key decision makers? What happens if the project fails? What is happening in the industry? Find new influences (e.g. How static is the regulatory or compliance environment?, Will technology change?, Is the competitive landscape changing?). Understand and make connections.

Watch for Changes: Be observant as to what is happening in the marketplace as well as internally in your organization. Look for the ripple effects that can impact your project scope. What is learned?  What is new?

Analyze the Organization: Determine if your organization has the maturity and structures to support environmental changes that may occur during or from the project, how the project can adjust to them and how it can prepare the organization for the change.

Create Processes and Procedures: Look for opportunities to get additional help and support. For example, having a way to identify and escalate a business environment change to appropriate stakeholders is beneficial to dealing with the situation efficiently. By having a clear process it makes it easier for all project stakeholders to escalate concerns.

Monitor the Environment: By monitoring the known environmental factors and our current state we can see trends developing or identify changes to the project environment early to proactively respond during project work.

Identify Obstacles: Explore obstacles as they happen and facilitate ways to help the project more forward.

Continuous Improvement: What are you learning along the way that could help to do better or more efficient work?

Ways to Engage Stakeholders

Ask your stakeholders for assistance in identifying internal and external business environment factors that need to be considered. You’ll want to hear what they think might be influencing the business environment. Ask for their help in evaluating any risks to the project. Encourage stakeholders to help you develop ideas, create processes and evaluation measures to keep the project on track.

Engaging stakeholders is also about sharing relevant project information. For example, you will want to communicate the cost of failing to anticipate business environment changes and impacts to your project. Provide updates on the successes and managing the project within the broader organizational environment. Give your project leadership the right information. Share your reasons for doing this and demonstrate through actions how it’s relevant, appropriate, and important.

Tips to Understand the Business Environment Impact

Here are three tips you can use to evaluate, prepare, and address business environment of your project and be prepared to manage its potential impact on scope.

  1. Clarify the Current State

Clearly define the current state of your business environment. Consider the following to document your understanding:

  • Engage with stakeholders
  • Identify external business environment influencers
  • Don’t forget internal influencers and attitudes
  • Group influencers using an affinity diagram
  • Analyze for missing groups
  • Analyze the impact
  • Prioritize for focus
  1. Create a Register for Business Environment Influencers

Use a register as a repository of the influencers and the relevant data. It should include the name and description of current concerns and include other information. Here is a more detailed list:

  • Name of influencers and a description
  • Category
  • Type (internal / external)
  • Action required
  • Risks
  • Timing
  • Measures
  • Owner
  • Level of influence on project
  1. Perform Check Ups – Did You Get It Right?

As the project work is being done, schedule a periodic re-evaluation of the current state. In this evaluation, review:

  • What is new?
  • What has changed?
  • Could the efforts produce unintended positive or negative results?
  • What should be adjusted?
  • What must be avoided?

RMC’s Got the Support You Need

If you are planning to take the PMP exam, you will need to know about the business environment and the broader impacts that environment has on your projects.  Rita Mulcahy’s Exam Prep materials can help you prepare for this and other exam topics.  We offer PMP Exam Prep instructor-led courses and PMP Exam Prep eLearning. Prep on your own time with Rita’s Exam Prep book, PM FASTrack Exam simulator or our complete PMP Exam Prep System.

If you already have your PMP certification, earn 1 FREE PDU when you listen to our webinar Bursting the Scope Bubble: Business Environment and Its Influence on Your Project.

Posted on by

The Project Manager’s Organizational Change Responsibilities

Middle aged project manager at computer working on organizational change

As project manager, you have organizational change responsibilities for the projects you lead.  Your business and strategic role as a project manager requires you to have the knowledge to manage change that originates from your projects.  Knowing how to deal with organization change helps you reduce the impact to existing processes and individual employees while delivering value to your organization.

Successful Change Doesn’t Just Happen – It is Planned

Change is something you encounter in your organization and on your projects. Every project you do, because of its very nature is a temporary endeavor.  The creation of a new product or service involves change.  Organizations change when adapting to market factors including technology, compliance or disruption.  However, it is important to note that successful change is not a given.  Research has shown 70% of major change efforts fail, with only 25% achieving their stated objectives.

As you look at your role as a Project Manager, it is your responsibility to help support organizational changes that result from the projects we lead.  While it is critical to meet the project objectives, as PM you need to look at the deeper influencing factors to understand stakeholder needs, wants, concerns, fears and objections.  As project manager, you also need to understand the market and industry dynamics as well the organization’s culture and its ability to accept change.

People are comfortable with what they know and there is a certain level of resistance to change.  Change can also foster a resistance to additional change. Therefore, as you plan and execute projects, your role as a leader may need to evolve. You may take on the role of a counselor, educator, coach or booster throughout the project.  Shifting roles will help you keep key stakeholders engaged and able to move through the changes resulting from a project.  Consider this list of PM responsibilities as you seek to evolve your role:

  • Identify type of change
  • Evaluate current and future states to understand results required
  • Perform ROI and business case analysis to plan future state and transitions
  • Lead delivery of future state

Business Environment in PMP Exam Content Outline

In 2021, the new PMP Exam content outline changed to 3 domains. The new domains are process, business environment and people. Processes have been a core component of the previous exam content outlines and they are still important, representing 50% of the exam content outline. The reason for this update, according to PMI’s global practice analysis, is to further improve project success and reduce failure as well as address improvements in compliance, quality, efficiencies and business satisfaction.  The ultimate goal is to realize the project benefits and value more consistently.

Within the business environment domain, there are four (4) tasks that outline core responsibilities of project managers of which support organizational change is one. For reference, here is the PMP® Exam Content Outline. These work examples show how the organization influences the project and how your effort as PM includes preparing the organization for the result of the project. The work examples include:

  • Assessing the organizational culture
  • Evaluating the impact of organizational change to project and determine required actions and
  • Evaluating the impact of the project to the organization to determine required actions

So, what are some practical tips to help make your PM change management responsibilities easier?

Tips for PMs to Support Organizational Change

1. Evaluate the organization’s change readiness.

Evaluating your organization’s change readiness is important to measure readiness. Add this assessment during the initiating phase of your project plan alongside the development of your project charter. You can continue to reference and reevaluate it throughout the planning and monitoring of the project.

To start your change readiness analysis, review RMC’s Change Management Readiness Assessment tool.  It is an excellent resource that provides you with suggested questions to assess your organization’s current and future state readiness for change.  You can change, adjust and modify this document for each project.

2. Select the appropriate tools and techniques to analyze.

For the project to succeed, you must help stakeholders understand how their beliefs and actions must adjust in order to deliver the desired results.  And this means their experience will be different after the change. Using a variety of tools and techniques will help in planning and adjusting your projects.

  • Evaluate and identify stakeholder’s experience with the organization’s culture through observation, interviews and document analysis.
  • Understand how stakeholders’ experiences influence their beliefs and actions through focus groups, surveys and root cause analyses.
  • Evaluate and plan for change by asking questions, discussing the proof that a problem exists or the impact of the problem to recommend a solution.

You can represent your findings in your WBS. Include a project management branch that shows the outcomes and artifacts you are creating as deliverables as part of your change assessment and project planning. Then analyze them as part of your risk identification efforts.

3. Develop a planning check list.

A change management checklist helps you identify the specific actions you will take to plan for change. The form can help ask questions to identify why the change is needed, what is the desired result, who will be affected by the change and how will you measure the success of the change.

Want to Learn More?

Interested in building your change management skills? Consider an additional certification such as PMI-ACP or Prosci change management certification. You can also check out our Organizational Change Management webinar recording or our Leading Change eLearning course. Deepen your practical skills to use in your current projects, within your teams and throughout your organization.

Posted on by

PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition & PMP® Exam Changes

Book cover for the PMBOK Guide 7th Edition

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has released the PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition (Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.  How does this impact your PMP® exam  preparation?  Let’s cover what you can expect based on PMI’s recent announcement so you can plan accordingly.

Most importantly, the PMP® Exam WILL NOT CHANGE in January 2022 due to the release of PMBOK® Guide–Seventh Edition, according to PMI.  The PMP® exam will continue to be based on the current Exam Content Outline (ECO).

The PMP® exam undergoes changes as part of a of a continuous improvement process.  PMBOK Guide–Sixth Edition is still relevant to the current PMP exam. Elements from PMBOK Guide 7th Edition may be incorporated as part of PMI’s continuous improvement process in the future, but the primary basis for the exam remains the current ECO.

RMC’s current materials are modeled on the existing ECO and because of this RMC is not releasing a new edition of Rita’s Exam Prep book or RMC’s exam materials. We do continuously improve our prep materials and delivery on a regular basis.

PMBOK Guide 7th Edition Changes

  1. PMI’s PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition Updates
  2. PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition and RMC’s Exam Prep Materials
  3. How Does PMBOK Guide 7th Edition Impact the CAPM® Exam?
  4. PMP Exam and Agile Methods

PMI’s PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition Updates

PMI has provided several updates that tell us what to expect with the release of the PMBOK Guide 7th edition.

July 2021:

  • The PMP exam is based on the PMP® Certification Exam Content Outline (ECO), not the PMBOK® Guide or other reference books. The Exam Content Outline summarizes the research conducted to create the PMP® exam and includes the most critical tasks required for project managers to master their role.
  • The current Exam Content Outline (ECO), dated January 2021, was designed to stay relevant for the foreseeable future, and PMI will give advance notice to the public before a new ECO and corresponding exam are launched.
  • PMBOK Guide 7th Edition will now be a reference to inform the development of the exam items. However, before any validated exam item is added to the exam, there is a rigorous and thorough review and field test cycle.  This process takes several months.
  • Key learnings and concepts from the PMBOK Guide–Sixth Edition remain valued and are referenced in sections of the guide (presumably referring to the Seventh Edition).
  • The PMBOK Guide is one of numerous potential inputs into preparing for the exam – and is listed as a reference – but is not a test-preparation tool.
  • The PMP exam is created based on the Exam Content Outline and uses many sources for question development.
  • More details are available from the PMBOK Guide FAQs updated in July 2021.

PMBOK Guide 7th Edition and RMC’s Exam Prep Materials

With the release of the PMBOK Guide 7th Edition, PMI announced it would be used as a reference to “inform the development of exam items.” Unlike previous versions of the PMBOK Guide®, the Seventh Edition is not creating sweeping changes to the exam itself.

The earlier versions of the PMBOK Guide showed changes to best practices in the field of project management.  That is not the case with PMBOK Guide 7th, which focuses more on outcomes than practices.  Those earlier versions of the PMBOK Guide often involved changes in terminology and processes, requiring wholesale changes to the exam and exam preparation materials. This is no longer the case.

Now, PMI says it will be changing the exam gradually over time.  This makes sense.  The old way PMI made changes gave the impression that knowledge gained under the prior editions of the PMBOK Guide was no longer relevant, requiring complete changes in the way project management is done.  The incremental approach is more consistent with the way project management practices change over time.

RMC’s current materials are modeled on the existing ECO and are therefore relevant to the PMP® exam as it is structured today.

How Does PMBOK Guide 7th Edition Impact the CAPM?

The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® exam will change in January 2023 although PMI has only released limited information about it. We continue to keep in touch with PMI and other sources and will update this post as new information about the CAPM® exam becomes available. According to PMI, the CAPM® will follow the PMBOK® Guide―Sixth Edition, specifically:

  • The current CAPM® exam will continue to be based on the Sixth Edition as dictated by the Exam Content Outline for the CAPM examination.
  • The Sixth Edition is a test preparation tool that candidates may leverage to prepare for the CAPM exam. (PMBOK Guide FAQs, Updated March 2021)
  • The current CAPM® exam is based on the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition. Continue using RMC’s CAPM® materials for your test preparation.
  • Further information is outlined in the PMBOK Guide FAQs, Updated July 2021.

PMP and Agile Methods

Please be aware that our exam prep materials assume a basic familiarity with agile and predictive project management. But, RMC has many ways for students to build a foundation in agile methods as part of their exam prep.

RMC offers several Agile Fundamentals tools if you want to learn the basics of agile as part of your test preparation process.  If you are looking for a class, consider our Agile Fundamentals Instructor-Led Virtual course.  You can also purchase Rita’s PMP® Exam Prep book or system with the Agile Fundamentals book.

RMC is Here to Help You Prepare

The PMP® Exam Prep, Tenth Edition is still the premier exam preparation book in the industry.  This is borne-out by pass rates and feedback we receive from our students.  PM FASTrack® is still the best exam simulator in the industry.  It is continuously updated with new questions, including questions relating to concepts contained in PMBOK® Guide―Seventh Edition and questions in PMI’s new question formats.

RMC’s PMP® Exam Prep System combines the power of our book, exam simulator and flashcards. Our PMP® Exam Prep, Tenth Edition audiobook provides an alternative to the printed book to improve the convenience of your exam preparation experience. RMC’s PMP® exam prep virtual instructor-led classes and eLearning course still represent some of the best ways to prepare for and pass the PMP® exam.

Contact us today if you have further questions about the PMP® exam or to explore which exam prep option is best for you.

Posted on by

Project Management Compliance Process

Woman working on project management compliance process

Many years ago, I had neighbors who owned and operated a B&B. They had a barn on their property which burned to the ground. Instead of replacing the barn, they decided to build a large conference space that included a commercial kitchen and the ability to seat over 100 guests. The plan was to hold conferences and weddings. They got their building permits and off they went. The project could have benefitted from a project management compliance process.

Unfortunately, they never checked the local zoning ordinance. While they were permitted to operate a B&B at their location and serve incidental meals to their guests, they were not allowed to hold conferences or host wedding receptions. The code allowed them to build the facility but not operate it. Had they done their research, perhaps contacted the town, they could have saved themselves a lot of money.

Compliance is important, some would say of paramount importance, since if a project is not in compliance it would most likely fail or at least incur significant cost and delay.

Clearly a project needs to be in compliance. It is the environment in which the project operates.  There should be a project management compliance process for every project. This process can be simple or extensive, depending on the size and complexity of the project as well as the project environment. The process touches on many aspects of project management, including risk, requirements, stakeholder engagement, planning and many others. Let’s start with compliance requirements.

Compliance Process in Project Management

  1. Compliance Requirements
  2. The Project Management Compliance Process Checklist
  3. Engaging Stakeholders
  4. Tips to Improve Compliance

Compliance Requirements

Gathering compliance requirements is similar to gathering requirements in other aspects of the project. A project manager should engage internal and external resources.

Associations and Affiliations

External organizations can have information and provide recommendations and standards that could provide compliance guidance, best practices and standards.  If your firm is a member of one of these organizations, and even if they are not, the organization may be willing to help by providing advice or even assistance. Examples of organizations could be Underwriter’s Laboratories or even the Internal Revenue Service.

Compliance Tool Kits

Open-source software or documents and guides could be a valuable resource or tool kits for compliance.  Examples could be health and safety, risk or quality guides or a business rules engine.

Consultants

Lawyers and accountants come to mind in helping a project manager to shape and understand their compliance environment.  Business and financial consultants can also prove to be valuable resources as well.

The Project Management Compliance Process Checklist

Gathering compliance requirements is only the first step. A project manager now needs to create a process for compliance to be followed throughout the project. The project manager also needs to be mindful of the fact that many compliance requirements change over time and that this could occur during the life of the project. Any project management compliance process must:

  1. Inform the project manager of laws and regulations.
  2. Require the project manager or a member of the project team or an outside expert to periodically check for and communicate changes to the compliance environment.
  3. Determine whether the organization has the maturity and structures in place to maintain compliance.
  4. Ensure that any process created involves interested or necessary stakeholders.
  5. The process must identify obstacles to compliance.
  6. Finally, the compliance process must continuously improve.

Engaging Stakeholders

A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in the outcome of a project. This is a pretty wide net you are casting. In addition to including customers or others who might benefit from the product resulting from your project, it could also include members within the organization who could be adversely affected by your projects failure to be in compliance.

Stakeholders can be a valuable resource in identifying compliance issues.  The project manager can find out where they encounter issues or roadblocks.  They may also provide valuable insights into compliance solutions or even suggest polices or practices that could streamline compliance.

Of course, a project manager must exercise common sense when engaging stakeholders. Some projects require a degree of secrecy and under the broad definition or stakeholder, such broad disclosure could endanger that secrecy.  As examples, I’m thinking business transactions or the creation of a new product. Over engagement could result in disclosure of proprietary information.

Tips to Improve Compliance

In addition to engaging stakeholders and identifying compliance requirements, here are a few tools you can use to help you categorize your compliance requirements:

1. Affinity Diagram

This is an organization tool to help you manage compliance.  You can group compliance into categories such as security, systems or regulatory.  This should allow for more efficient management.

2. Identify Missing Groups

Work with stakeholders when reviewing affiliate diagrams to see if anything or anyone is left out.

3. Engage with Specialists

At the end of the day, call someone that knows more about this than you do. As a project manager, you’re not expected to be an expert, in law, accounting or HIPPA compliance. If these issues arise call someone who knows more about this stuff than you do.

4. Create a Compliance Register

This is a project document that allows you to track and share compliance information. The register could include a compliance requirement name and number and describes the compliance requirement. The description should include the category, type of compliance issue and what needs to be done within the project to deal with it.

There can be a cross reference to the risk register if the compliance issue presents threats or opportunities as well as plans for dealing with them. Who is going to respond to the issue as well as what needs to be done?

RMC’s Compliance Expertise

Your efforts in managing compliance can result in you identifying gaps in your knowledge and shortfalls. We suggest that you create a repository to capture what you know about compliance that can be used by others in your organization.

If you find that there are significant gaps in your abilities to manage compliance, RMC is here to help. View RMC’s webinar Focus on Compliance: Expand Your Awareness and Improve Project Success to expand your knowledge of compliance.

Compliance is part of the Business Environment Domain on the PMP Exam. If you are preparing for the PMP exam, you should expect questions about it. RMC expert in preparing you to take and pass the exam. Check our PMP exam prep class schedule.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Posted on by

Project Management Compliance

Woman at computer reviewing project management compliance

To be effective, every leader needs to have an understanding of different types of compliance.  Compliance is important because organizations and projects need to conform to internal and external rules governing a project. In the PMP Exam context, compliance is part of the business environment domain. If you work in an industry where compliance impacts your work or you just want more information on types of compliance and their benefits, read on.

Compliance in Project Management

  1. Types and Examples of Compliance
  2. Benefits of Compliance on Projects

Types and Examples of Compliance

As a project leader you are responsible for managing compliance for your projects.  One way to do this is to create compliance categories to organize and manage project compliance.  We typically look at four compliance categories:  Mandatory, Discretionary, Internal, and External. Let’s take a closer look at each category.

External

Compliance can be external.  For example, the applicable laws, rules and regulations imposed by federal, state and local governments need compliance.  Failure to do so can result in civil and/or criminal liability for the organization and even personal liability for the project manager.  Needless to say, failure to comply with such rules could also result in the complete failure of the project.

Environmental regulations are one example of an external rule that must be complied with.  If you are running a project for the construction of a bridge and the plan calls for the filling of wetlands, you will have to get the necessary permits before you can start work.  If you start, before obtaining those permits, it is likely that your project will be stopped cold and significant fines and other penalties will be imposed on your company.

Internal

There may also be internal rules that need compliance.  An example of internal rules would be company rules around procurement of outside resources.  The company might require you to follow a bidding or proposal process.

If you fail to do so, and hand a contract off to a school friend, you may not find yourself facing criminal liability, but you certainly would have a very good chance suffering consequences from within the company.

Mandatory

There are compliance requirements that must be conformed to that are absolute.  The example of the fill permit described above is one of example. There are all sorts of these requirements.  Some are obvious in the project context, some are not.

It is the non-obvious ones that you need to watch out for.

A simple example is that as a project manager, you can’t take company equipment and convert it for you own use. That is theft and is fairly obvious. A less obvious violation would be where a project manager takes resources from one project and uses them for another. This could be a violation of internal rules governing project budgeting. It also could be a violation of external regulations imposed on a firm by a granting agency. If the firm doing the project is the recipient of a grant they may be required to account to a state or federal agency for the use of grant money.

Discretionary

Discretionary compliance requirements are those that might be considered best practices. Failure to conform to these requirements will not necessarily result in liability of civil or criminal consequences.  An example of a discretionary compliance requirement would be guidelines.  A guideline might represent a best practice that saves time and money within a particular business environment and the failure to follow that guideline might result in the project being delayed, coming in above budget or could result in project failure.

There are numerous situations where project managers are criticized or even fired for failing to follow corporate guidelines for project performance. An example of this would be where a company has a guideline for preparation of a risk management plan and an identified best practice for creating that plan.  If that guideline is not followed by the project manager certain risks might not being identified. The failure to follow the guideline will not result in civil or criminal liability but there could be adverse consequences for the project and/or the project manager.

Benefits of Compliance on Projects

Compliance touches on a broad range of project management processes. As seen above, compliance can deal with preparing the risk management plan. It’s also obvious that compliance has the potential of impacting communication management, stakeholder engagement and scope.

Indeed, because compliance issues define the business and project environment, they have the potential of impacting every aspect of the project in some way.  For this reason, compliance must be managed as part of the project.

To learn more about compliance, check out RMC’s free recorded webinar entitled Focus on Compliance: Expand Your Awareness and Improve Project Success.

Sources:

https://ccbjournal.com/articles/use-project-management-approach-compliance-programs

https://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/c/compliance/

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Posted on by

Project Manager Career Path: What to Expect

Female professional consider a project manager career path

A project management career is an exciting profession that presents opportunities to continually learn and grow. To help figure out if it’s the right path for you, read on to learn more about career path options, industry choices and salary expectations.

Project Manager Career Path

  1. Is Project Management a Good Career?
  2. Are There Multiple Project Management Careers to Choose From?
  3. What Are Some of the Industries You Can Work in as a Project Manager?
  4. Are Project Managers Paid Well?
  5. How Do You Become a Project Manager?

Is Project Management a Good Career?

One of the most attractive things about project management is that it’s a fast-growing career path. And there aren’t enough people to fill all the project management roles that various businesses are hiring for all over the world. This may translate to higher earnings if you’re able to use your skills to land a position in a competitive market.

So, if you want to start a job where growth is possible, and where there will be plenty of demand for people with your skill set, this might be the ideal choice.

Is project management a dead-end job?

Absolutely not! When you’re a project manager, you can move up from an entry level position to an executive level position. This means you’ll have the chance to acquire more skills, more recognition, and a higher salary.

This isn’t a career path that limits your potential, so you can decide if you want to stay in the same position or if you need to make a change.

Are There Multiple Project Management Careers to Choose From?

When it comes to project management, we’re talking about a variety of roles in a wide range of industries. There are so many options available, so you can decide which path to take to fulfill your aspirations.

What is the project manager career path?

As you make your way from a lower-level position to a higher level one, you can take on different titles and perform various tasks that will prove your worth in the workplace.

Here’s an example of just one path you can consider taking to build your career:

Some people start out as project coordinators or assistant project managers to get the chance to work on a project while supporting the project manager and their team. This can help you get a feel for what it’s like leading a team and accomplishing milestones.

After acquiring enough experience, you may be ready to become a project manager. But you don’t need to stop there. After proving yourself, you might be able to move up to the senior project manager role. This typically involves overseeing even bigger teams of professionals or multiple smaller teams, so you can focus on more than one project at once.

What is the program manager career path?

Before becoming a program manager, you usually need to work as a project manager for several years to become a pro at running projects. This background will give you the know-how and confidence to tackle multiple related projects simultaneously.

When you take this path, you can also become a portfolio manager, which entails directing and overseeing a portfolio of programs and projects. And you can move even higher up in an organization by becoming a project management office (PMO) director, who leads—you guessed it—a company’s project management office.

What Are Some of the Industries You Can Work in as a Project Manager?

Project managers work in just about every industry. This means you can pursue a particular industry that you love, or you can switch between different industries to keep things interesting and challenge yourself in new ways. Common examples include:

  • Health Insurance
  • IT
  • Construction
  • Financial Services
  • Manufacturing

One thing to keep in mind is that each industry will require its own unique skills and education beyond what you need to know for general project management. Browse job descriptions to see what they typically expect, such as college degrees or expertise in a particular area (e.g. building permits and codes for a career in construction).

While salaries vary based on factors like your education and experience level, as well as where you’re working, one thing is true: project managers can be paid very well.

How much do project managers and program managers make?

  • A project manager might earn, on average, $80,000 to $116,000 annually.
  • A program manager might earn, on average, around $125,000 annually.
  • The median salary for a project manager in the IT industry is around $142,000 annually.
  • The median salary for a project manager in the construction industry is around $93,000 annually.

How Do You Become a Project Manager?

In addition to a college education, you can also enter the field of project management by getting a certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

To get started, you can become a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). But if you really want to be recognized by employers, getting your Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a smart move.

Whichever path you choose, if you’re ready to learn what it takes to become certified and dive into this career, our courses and exam prep programs can help pave the way. Check them out and contact us if you have any questions.

Sources:

https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/project-management-career-path/

https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/project-management-career-paths/