P A S S P M P

IN 21 DAYS Step by Step – Study Guide

P A S S P M P

IN 21 DAYS Step by Step – Study Guide

Notion Press

Old No. 38, New No. 6

McNichols Road, Chetpet

Chennai - 600 031

First Published by Notion Press 2016

Copyright © Kavita Sharma 2016

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN 978-93-5206-414-4

This book has been published in good faith that the work of the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher disclaim the responsibility.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission, in writing, from the publisher.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may change.

I can be reached at:kavita@kavitasharma.orghttp://kavitasharma.orgRelease Version: 1.3Release Date: 1st Jan 2016

Thanks

Special Thanks to CP Gurnani, who is my source of inspiration

Thanks to my old collogue Mr. Sudarshan, his prompt reviews helped a lot.

A great friend – Anup, always there when needed. – Thank you

Ajay and Ananya (My Family) Thanks for your support and confidence in me.

Thanks to all my workshop participants who encouraged me to write.

ConTenTs

Whys and What etc - About the Book ix

1. The Basics 3

2. Organizational Influences and Project Life Cycle 11

3. Project Management Processes 25

4. Integration Management 35

5. Project Scope Management 57

6. Project Time Management 77

7. Project Cost Management 103

8. Project Quality Management 121

9. Project Human Resource Management 139

10. Project Communication Management 157

11. Project Risk Management 167

12. Project Procurement Management 187

13. Project Stakeholder Management 201

14. Templates 211

15. PMP Mathematics Reference Guide 227

16. All Answers 233

17. Sample Short Mock Test 265

18. Next Steps 281

Index 283

Whys and WhaT eTC - abouT The book

WHY THIS BOOKI always wanted to give a complete book to all my participants, which can become the reference book to study for PMP examination.

The important concepts are introduced, recalled and re-tested again and again for you to retain the knowledge.

IT IS BY DESIGN…

You will see stories/prologue at the start of the chapters; this gives a perspective and set a tone for the chapter.

There are many PMP books out there, most of them are good and are comprehensive. When I started writing this book, I had a big decision to make. Do I want the book to be comprehensive, cartoonish or bland? Asked views from people around me which left me confused for a long time and I kept the book aside for a while.

However I got a consistent feedback from my workshop participants that why don’t you write, what you speak in the workshop. If you give that book, it will help us a lot.

That gave me a direction to start the book again, and I said let me write the underlying principles for me to stay directional and for anyone to understand what to expect from the book.

Here they are:

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

1. Correlate the concepts in a Project Manager’s Life.

Give example to which Project Manager can relate to, theory is available at all places but how to use the concept or a tool – that should be a takeaway.

2. Keep it simple.

Introduce the concept, make it easy to learn, if a person wants more details about the concepts there is always Google search and Wikipedia

3. Repeat important concepts.

Repetition makes people learn, you need to repeat the concepts, in order for people to learn effectively.

4. Let the reader exercise their mind.

The concepts once introduced are not repeated by repeating explanation, rather there are questions, which are asked for the reader to recall and apply them.

5. The main reference guide will always be PMBOK.

This book will not replace PMBOK but will help understand and map PMBOK concepts with real world projects.

ABOUT PMP EXAMINATION

One participant in my workshop mentioned that he wanted to become PMP certified because he wanted to know as why those PMP certified professionals are seen as Gods. (That was her words)

x PASS PMP IN 21 DAYS – STUDY GUIDE

That sums it all…

Lets understand why passing the PMP examination is such a difficult task, why people afraid of this exam and what makes it so demanding.

Before we get there lets understand how knowledge is assessed.

Bloom taxonomy is used to assess knowledge in all areas including PMP assessment. More information below:

BLOOMS TAXONOMY

Knowledge Category Examples PMP Questions

Remembering: Recall or retrieve previous learned information.

Examples: Recite a policy. Quote prices from memory to a customer. Knows the safety rules.

NO

Understanding: Comprehending the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems. State a problem in one’s own words.

Examples: Rewrites the principles of test writing. Explain in one’s own words the steps for performing a complex task. Translates an equation into a computer spreadsheet.

NO

Applying: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the work place.

Examples: Use a manual to calculate an employee’s vacation time. Apply laws of statistics to evaluate the reliability of a written test.

YES

Analyzing: Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between facts and inferences.

Examples: Troubleshoot a piece of equipment by using logical deduction. Recognize logical fallacies in reasoning. Gathers information from a department and selects the required tasks for training.

YES

Evaluating: Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.

Examples: Select the most effective solution. Hire the most qualified candidate. Explain and justify a new budget.

YES

Creating: Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.

Examples: Write a company operations or process manual. Design a machine to perform a specific task. Integrates training from several sources to solve a problem. Revises and process to improve the outcome.

NO

So PMP examination questions tests you on applying, analyzing and evaluate knowledge levels.

So don’t waste your time in reading and practicing the IITOs. It will solely be not helpful for you to pass the PMP exam.

Rather you need to understand:

�� WHY a process exist,

�� Map the processes with the work which you have been doing and

�� Start analyzing and practicing the Tools and Techniques

WHYS AND WHAT ETC - ABOUT THE BOOK xi

DO I NEED TO REMEMBER ALL 47 PROCESSES AND ITTOS?

This is a question I always hear in each workshop; every person aspiring to be PMP is dealing with it. Even some have come out with very innovative ways to remember the knowledge areas, processes and ITTOs.

However before we blindly decide to spend hours of time (and money – time is money right ) of this activity – lets take a step back.

What does PMP exam expect from you?

It expects you would be doing your role on day to day basis and have executed few projects as a Leader/manager.

You are at a knowledge level of applying the knowledge rather than recalling level (please bear in mind that recall (remember) is a low skill set then apply. Think of a kid at 2nd grade who can recall the words and use them in some context, and a kid going to 7th grade who can apply math on day today life situations.

Now back to the question – Do I need to mug up the ITTOs?

THE ANSWER is Yes and No.

Because you need to be at higher level of knowledge (refer blooms taxonomy).

However the key is:

�� Understand the Process Goal

�� Understand why any process exists

�� Remember the major output(s) from each process – It will help you understand why the process exists in the first place

�� Be conversant with all Tools and Techniques (T&T)

�� If you would have noticed by now – Tools and techniques can be applied to more than one process

�� Hence no point remembering which process is associated with what T&T

�� Understating the T&T in detail would help e.g. – EVM, CPM, Estimation

BEFORE WE BEGIN - BASELINE TEST

1. A Project Manager found following EVM analysis for a recently closed project: SPI -. 7, CPI - 1. Select the most appropriate option:

A. The project finished behind the schedule but on budget.

B. The project finished ahead of the schedule but on budget.

C. The project finished on schedule and on budget.

D. The project was probably cancelled or short closed, in between and at the time of closure; the project was behind schedule and on budget.

2. A project manager discovers a defect in a deliverable which is due to be submitted to the customer today. The project manager knows the customer does not have the technical understanding to notice the defect. The deliverable meets the contract requirements, but it does not meet the project manager’s quality standard. What should the project manager do in this situation?

A. Issue the deliverable and get formal acceptance from the customer

B. Note the problem in the lessons learned so future projects do not encounter the same problem

C. Discuss the issue with the customer

D. Inform the customer that the deliverable will be late

xii PASS PMP IN 21 DAYS – STUDY GUIDE

3. As for any project, the project manager’s responsibilities, consist of the four basic functions of _____________

A. Thinking, planning, controlling, and monitoring

B. Planning, doing, briefing, and reviewing

C. Planning, controlling, tracking, and acting

D. Planning, organizing, monitoring and controlling

4. As your project involves new technology, you need to hire specialized consultants or may need to subcontract some part of the work. Which of the following tool and technique are you using?

A. Pre-Assignment

B. Negotiation

C. Acquisition

D. Virtual teams

5. Due to project phase end, 5 out of 8 of team members have been transferred to a different project. There are 3 sponsors in the project. Calculate total communication channels for your project.

A. 21

B. 15

C. 132

D. 20

6. For active and effective communication the listening ability plays an important role. Following could be the ways of improving the listening ability EXCEPT:

A. Listening and giving Feedback

B. Working on another activity while listening

C. Allow the speaker to complete his message.

D. Focusing on concepts and ideas

7. Formal acceptance by the client or the sponsor of the project indicates that they have accepted the products of the project. Formal acceptance document should be signed off during which phase of the project?

A. Administrative closure

B. As the last task in the project plan

C. After the project is closed out

D. When requested by the program manager

8. Ground rules are established to set clear expectations regarding acceptable behavior by the project team members. Whose responsibility is it to enforce ground rules?

A. The project manager

B. All project team members share the responsibility for enforcing the rules once they are established

C. The HR team

D. The project manager and senior team members

WHYS AND WHAT ETC - ABOUT THE BOOK xiii

9. In a one-on-one communication process, the sender is the one who transmits the signals, while the receiver ________ the signals.

A. Decode

B. Encode

C. Intercept

D. Rejects

10. In a project management process of developing Project Charter, the Project Statement of Work (SOW) is received as an input. Which of the following is not true about Project Statement of Work:

A. If the project is internal, sponsor provides SOW.

B. Project SOW documents the detailed scope of the project and thus helps in developing project charter.

C. Project SOW is the description of products/services to be delivered.

D. SOW is received from customers as a part of bid document for the external projects.

11. Part of the project closure process is to gain formal acceptance. From whom do you need to gain the formal acceptance?

A. The quality director

B. The head of the project management office

C. Vice President Finance

D. The customer

12. Product acceptance criteria should be documented in which of the following documents?

A. Project statement of work

B. WBS dictionary

C. Quality checklist

D. Source selection criteria

13. Project management, as an integrated function, has a need to either make or buy components of the system. The decision in this regard, is based on all of the following except:

A. Customer preference

B. Available contract types

C. Budget constraints

D. Time Constraints

14. Punishment power is also known as:

A. Coercive power

B. Bad Power

C. Formal Power

D. Good Power

15. The Close Project or Phase Process is concerned with the following EXCEPT:

A. Disseminating information to formalize the acceptance of the result or product

xiv PASS PMP IN 21 DAYS – STUDY GUIDE

B. Formally getting the completed deliverables accepted and obtain sign-off that the deliverables are satisfactory and meet stakeholders’ expectations

C. Archiving project artifacts

D. Review the project documents to make certain that they are up-to-date

16. The following are examples of Deliverables EXCEPT:

A. The planning team submitted the Project Management plan

B. The software development team develops the application software

C. The Task A started a day late

D. Project Charter is created

17. The key to promote optimum team performance in project teams whose members are not collocated is to:

A. Exercise power and authority

B. Establish a reward and recognition system

C. Obtain support of functional managers

D. Build trust by effective communication

18. The project has been going relatively well, although the project scope has changed more than was expected. The project is now completing one of its phases. Of all decisions the sponsor must consider during an end-of-phase review meeting, the most crucial is:

A. Authorize the scope change for the next phase

B. Authorize the budget increases for the next phase based on scope changes

C. Decreasing scope to maintain the budge

D. Cancelling the project

19. The purpose of the review of deliverables and project performance at the conclusion of a project phase is to:

A. Determine how many resources are required to complete the project according to the project baseline

B. Adjust the schedule and cost baselines based on past performance

C. Obtain customer acceptance of project deliverables

D. Determine whether the project should continue to the next phase

20. The sender in the communication model is responsible for:

A. Exhibiting message in a favorable way

B. Ensuring the receiver agrees with the message

C. Making sure that the receiver understands message

D. Decoding message

WHYS AND WHAT ETC - ABOUT THE BOOK xv

21.Theweatherforecastwasrainfortheday.Carryinganumbrellawouldbeclassifiedasrisk__________strategy

A. Avoid

B. Mitigate

C. Transfer

D. Accept

22.The_______________provideaprocess for findingout causes for problemwhichareout of theprocess.

A. Interrelationship digraphs

B. Process decision program charts

C. Ishikawa diagrams.

D. Tree diagrams

23.WhichofthefollowingisNOTavalidConflictManagementTechnique?

A. Force

B. Withdraw

C. Focus Groups

D. Avoid

24. Which of the following is TRUE about Crashing?

A. It adds to cost and/or risk

B. It leads to rework.

C. It is done when project is on schedule.

D. None of the above

25. Which of the following statement is NOT true about CPI and SPI?

A. CPI and SPI can be less than 1.

B. CPI and SPI can be more than 0.

C. CPI and SPI can be more than to 1.

D. CPI and SPI can be less than 0.

THE BASICS

IMPORTANT TOPICS

�� Characteristics of Project

�� Organization Structure

�� Overview of Process Groups

�� Overview of Knowledge Areas

1. The basiCs

PROLOGUE

Have you been interviewed or interviewed someone?

I’m sure the answer is yes.

Are there situations where the interviewer kept on asking the same question even after you gave an answer? Few prompting questions, which you can recall, are:

�� Yes and what else?

�� And?

�� Do you have anything to add?

And some other times when the interviewer asked you a question, the moment you blurt out a response, the interviewers switches and says lets move on to another question.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED THERE?

Normally in any conversation there are “LISTEN FORs”, the moment you give a keyword that the interviewer was seeking he would be satisfied and ask you another question. The LISTEN FORs are also referred as KEYWORDS in this book.

Typically a concept can be understood and summarized using a keyword.

Be Ready – identify the keywords in a concept and in a question. This in turn will help you understand and respond in a precise and quick manner.

We will work on keywords together throughout the book!

WHAT IS A PROJECT?

What are the keywords in project definition?

Lets see.

Ok, if you said “Temporary endeavor” and “Unique” then you are absolutely on target and identified the right keywords. If not – we need to practice more.

We will do so as we go along…

Lets understand what is a project.

A project would be temporary i.e. it would have a start date and end date and it should create a unique offering. The offering could be a product, a service or a result.

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.

WHAT IS OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT?

Operations management is an area of management concerned with ongoing production of goods and/or services.

An operation is repetitive in nature and is ongoing to keep the lights on.

4 PASS PMP IN 21 DAYS – STUDY GUIDE

1.1 LETS PLAY – PROJECT VS. OPERATIONS

Find out which scenario is a project?

Scenario Project/Operation

1. Construction of a new building at new location

2. Baking a grand cake at home for 50st Birthday celebrations

3. Crossing the road everyday while coming back to home

4. Selection of THE Dress for your wedding

5. Watching TV after work everyday

6. Preparing for quarterly tests

7. Writing a new article for publication

8. Disaster recovery drills every quarter

9. Getting dental checkup every year

10. Setting up game station with the TV for the first time

WHAT IS A PROGRAM?

A program is defined as a group of related projects, subprograms, and program activities managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.

A program is collection of related projects. Why do we club related projects? So that we can get cumulative benefits by managing them under one head.

A program manager does not have authority to kill or initiate a new project; rather he can align resources from one project to another based on project needs and in order to optimize overall program efficiency.

WHAT IS A PORTFOLIO?

A portfolio refers to projects, programs, sub portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives. The projects or programs of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.

THE BASICS 5

A portfolio is much more aligned to an organization’s vision and strategy, and is directly responsible to carry out the projects, programs and/or operations.

A portfolio manager can kill or initiate a project as he/she manages the overall strategy goals.

Figure 1: Relationship among portfolio, program and projects

A project can directly be part of portfolio or a portfolio can have smaller portfolios and programs, which might not be related and are spun off, keeping organization strategy in mind.

A program would have smaller programs and/or projects, which are related in nature. These are managed together to get more efficiency gains by managing them together.

ROLE OF PROJECT MANAGER

What is required from a project manager?

He/she needs to know the how to plan, execute and control the project. By applying his/her knowledge and by ensuring that his/her team is motivated, customers are satisfied and senior management is happy. So in net net, he/she needs to put in leadership, motivation, and negotiation in practice.

Important interpersonal skills, which the project manager should have, are:

�� Leadership

�� Team building

�� Motivation

�� Communication

�� Influencing

�� Decision making

�� Political and cultural awareness

�� Negotiation

�� Trust building

�� Conflict management

�� Coaching

P A S S P M P

IN 21 DAYS Step by Step – Study Guide