The Path to the PMP (Part 3)

Following 20 years at a large Canadian telecommunications firm, Bruce established the project management consulting firm Solutions Management Inc (SMI). Since 1999, he has provided contract project/program management services, been a source for project management support personnel and created/delivered courses to over 7,000 participants in Canada, the United States and England.

  Career Development   Estimating   Using PMI Standards   Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)  

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, I explored the importance of simply committing to the process of becoming PMP certified and how important it is to read all sections of the PMBOK. Those easy marks that come from knowing such elements as definitions are critical to provide balance against the so-called “impossible” questions where a wild guess is the only option.

For this article, the assumption is that you have made a commitment and received your approval from PMI to book an exam date before the end of July (so that you can focus only on the PMBOK 4^th edition). You have also read to Page 70 of the PMBOK as well as Appendix G regarding interpersonal skills and the 25-plus pages of definitions.

Before exploring the first knowledge area, it makes sense to back up to Page 43. It’s here where you will see the table that outlines the five process groups and nine knowledge areas. Each knowledge area contains between three and six processes. These processes outline the steps to fully address the elements that need to be managed within that knowledge area. You will quickly discover it’s not a simple 1:1 relationship where one process in each process group aligns with the box for a knowledge area. Some knowledge areas have a process in each of the five process group. Some only align in two process groups.

Admittedly, it’s somewhat …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.