The Path to the PMP (Part 4)

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   Integration Management   Lessons Learned   Using PMI Standards  

In the journey to PMP fitness, you have taken three decisive steps. The hardest step was the first one--making the commitment. By making the decisive move you had concluded that continuing the old way wasn’t good enough anymore. You joined the “fitness club” by submitting your application to PMI and getting approval to write the exam. Step two involved the first couple of trips to the gym. You bought the PMBOK and did some light lifting by reading the easier sections such as the introduction and glossary.

By avoiding potentially losing out on the easy wins (easy marks on the exam), you gained some momentum and realized getting in shape wasn’t going to be that bad. You wanted more! The most recent phase involved working a little harder; adding some weight to the barbell and increasing the speed on the treadmill. You started a small sweat by learning about the 42 processes, the nine knowledge areas and five process groups (all on page 43 of the PMBOK). You followed that with working on the many Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs (ITTOs).

It may surprise you that we’ve covered nearly 200 pages of the 460+ pages of the PMBOK 4^th edition. Sure you might have a few sore muscles, but nothing is broken or sprained…so let’s get on with the other 250 or so pages. It’s time to start some even heavier lifting…

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