PMI Global Insights

By Josh Parrott
Product Specialist, Project Management Institute

Along with panelist and subject matter experts Michael Frenette and Jonathan Lee, it was an honor to present at PMI's Virtual Experience Series: PMXPO on 24 March.  We held a great round table discussion centered on the newly published PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition, with a focus on guidance for project managers on tailoring their approach to deliver value.  As a follow up, we wanted to answer several key questions that came through the chat.

1.    What is the correct way to pass the PMP exam and which PMBOK guide should be used?

It is important to remember that the PMP® exam is not based on the PMBOK® Guide, but rather the exam content outline (ECO). Here is how it works:

• When a volunteer writes a new question for the PMP® exam, they draw on industry knowledge from real life practice and content outlined in the ECO.
• They write the question, and must then find two reference books from this approved list of references to validate the question.
• Before any validated exam item is added to the exam, there is a very rigorous and thorough review and field test cycle, which takes multiple months.

Therefore, while the PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition is now included on the approved reference list, exam questions are NOT FROM the title itself. And the best way to prepare for the PMP exam is to review the current ECO document and either: 1) take an instructor-led exam prep workshop from our global network of our Authorized Training Partners or 2) take our self-paced, online PMI® Authorized On-demand PMP® Exam Prep, while using the PMBOK® Guide as one of your references.

2.    Do you use an off-the-shelf dashboard tool, like Smartsheets, or home-grown? 

We use two tools for our dashboards. We are a Microsoft shop, so not surprisingly, they come from Microsoft. One dashboard is automatically created and maintained as a result of loading our project schedules to MS Project Server, yielding Project Center. This automatic dashboard shows all projects by category and stage. 

Our second dashboard shows the status of every project in each of the business portfolios. It displays standard identifying data for each project, along with dates, financials, a few KPIs and accounting information. This dashboard was custom developed using SharePoint. It is not as automatic as Project Center and is managed bi-weekly by the PM of each project, who maintains a fairly simple status report record that feeds the dashboard.

We have what some might consider a third dashboard of sorts, also custom developed in SharePoint. It has a clickable diagram on the Home page, aligned to Process Groups and organizational methods that allows team members to drill down into PPM tools, processes, templates, samples and so on. Not really a dashboard, but rather a live entry point into our PPM methods, maintained dynamically over time.

3.    Do you have an Agile Playbook for your teams to follow?

Yes, we have a tailored Agile Playbook for customers depending on their context. It is good to have an Agile Playbook, especially for newer teams or organizations trying to adopt the agile way of thinking and working. It will be a good reference for them. There are a lot of sample Agile Playbooks available on the internet you can download. You can also create your version of the Agile Playbook and tailor it for your team based on the context of your team and the organization.

4.    From a training standpoint, do you find that PMI-aligned PM trainers are having to do major re-vamping of their training materials?

Since PMI now provides official "PMP Exam Prep" course training materials, PM trainers do not have to do a major re-vamping of their training materials. However, PM trainers will need to get familiarized with the PMI Authorized PMP Exam materials to deliver them. The same goes for Disciplined Agile (DA) training courses. PMI provides all DA training materials. Trainers interested in delivering PMP or DA certifications training will need to master the content supplied by PMI to deliver them.

5.    Corporations use Agile to get work done by asking employees to collaborate, but what about the reward system? Is this still a traditional way to reward an individual?

An Agile team reward system should be team focused. Rewarding by team further promotes the Agile team culture. If a reward system is individual focused, it will create local optimization and competition amongst team members rather than collaboration. Also, rewards can be financial but there are other tangible rewards such as growth opportunities like attending training/conference of their choice, time-off, recognition, etc.

We had a great time presenting, and the entire presentation will be available on demand through the end of January 2023. Visit PMI Virtual Experience Series 2022 for more details.