https://goo.gl/yjMrMb

The one thing that we all really like about project management is how unpredictable days can sometimes be, right? I come to the office in the morning with a clear plan of what I’m going to do and then something happens. I love this challenge because as a project manager, I now have to re-evaluate the situation and change my plans accordingly.

But there is more to it than just responding with a knee-jerk reaction. These times demand situational awareness, and you need skill and finesse to handle changing demands effectively. Situational awareness is an important skill to build as a project manager and in this article we’ll look at what it is and how you can use it on your projects.

Contents

1. What is Situational Awareness?
2. What is Situational Leadership?
3. How To Apply Situational Awareness
4. How to Make A Situational Assessment
5. Situational Leadership: Team Development
6. Making An Ethical Situational Assessment
7. Developing Your Situational Awareness

https://goo.gl/yjMrMb

This article is based on an interview that was recorded with Oliver Lehmann, MSc., PMP. The interview was done because “Situational Project Management” was recently added to the Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam Content Outline, and Oliver has published a book on the topic (see link below).

So if you are currently in the middle of your PMP exam prep, then you can expect to see questions about situational project management on your exam. Therefore the article is not intended as a book review but as an introduction to the topic.

For more information about the book go here:

https://goo.gl/UnZ00W

https://goo.gl/71cKm2

17% off this January 2017 for new The PMI-ACP® Exam Simulator!

What are the features of the new PMI-ACP® Exam Simulator?
It has 4 simulated exams of 120 questions each. A total of 480 exam questions. Covers 7 domains of the PMI-ACP® Exam. Live feedback available for student feedback on the simulator questions.

What will students get?
• 90-day access to PMI-ACP® Exam Simulator realistic questions.
• Exam course of advanced Project Management Institute (PMI)® exam strategies.
• Sample exam score worksheet for monitoring exam practice results.
• Contact Hour worksheet to tally your contact hours.
• Forum access for discussions with other students.
• Exam Tips newsletter.

Will students get the complete sets in January?
No, it will be a progressive release. Here is the timeline for the release of the simulated exam sets:
• Exam sets 1 & 2 with 120 each questions will be released on January 2017. Price will be $59 for 90-day access and $220 if bundled with Agile PrepCast (Elite package).
• Exam set 3 will be released on February 2017. With a total of 360 questions, it will then be sold at $79 for 90-day access and $230 as Elite package.
• Exam set 4 available by April 2017. Complete package price will be $99 for a total of 480 questions to access for 90 days. Elite package price becomes $240.

Our Recommendation: Purchase either The PM Exam Simulator or the "Elite" bundle in January, even if you are planning to take the PMI-ACP Exam in April or later. This makes financial sense because your 90-day access only begins when you take the first exam/quiz in the simulator. So you can buy it in January and then simply wait until April (or later) to take your first exam. This will allow you to access all 4 Exams with a total of 480 Questions (starting in April), but you only paid the price for 2 exams! It's the cheapest you can get it.

https://goo.gl/71cKm2

In Part III of the Introduction of our “MP4PM – Mind mapping for Project Management”we will not only provide you the next general “MP4PM” features; we will also introduce you the next deliverable/result of “MP4PM” so you can already see how “MP4PM” will work and look like.

If you have missed the first two Parts of our Introduction you should first have a look here:

Introducing "MP4PM-MindmaPping for ProjectManagement" - Part I

Introducing "MP4PM-MindmaPping for ProjectManagement" - Part II

Now let’s have a look on the next general features “MP4PM” will provide you:

Not bad, right? Well, there is still a lot to come ...

OK, let’s come back to the next installment of “MP4PM”. Again we had great support of the projectmanagement.com community and so we had just released the Version 1.0 of the second deliverable (to use project management wording). This time it is a map/template what should support you as a project manager in reviewing the business case/documents which are often the basis for a project initiation, right?

And so the map/template is called “review business case”.

We have promised, that “MP4PM” will be closely aligned tot the PMBoK Guide and the business case or equivalent documents are known as an input to the “develop project charter” process in the PMBoK Guide fifth edition, right?

We have done a version 1.0 already, but of course - like the complete “MP4PM” framework - this deliverable will be continuously improved and developed further. If you want to participate in this development, please feel free to add your valuable inputs in the corresponding discussion threads at the end of this posting. Any feedback is highly appreciated!

You can access an interactive online version of the “review business case” map here (or just by clicking on the picture above):

http://www.projectmanagement.plus/mp4pmmaps/1.1.2%20MP4PM%20review%20Business%20Case.html

Please use this version for review only.

If you want to use the map and/or work with it, then please download it from here:

http://projectmanagement.plus/en/mp4pm/mp4pm-downloads

For downloading the map/files you need to be logged in on projectmanagement.plus.

“review business case” is not only available as .mmap (what is the MindManager file format, but could also be opened with Xmind for instance), it is also provided in several other formats like the usual MS Office formats for instance.

Please try out and let us know your feedback/critic and/or additions; highly appreciated!

In our next blog we will introduce you the next “MP4PM” features and may be we will talking already about the next deliverable what is actually work in progress.

Until next time ... ;)

===========================================

If you want to contribute to the map please refer to the following discussion threads; we have created one discussion thread for each branch in the map for a better overview:

In our last blog we had started with the Introduction of our “MP4PM – Mind mapping for Project Management”. In this blog entry we will not only provide you the next two “MP4PM” features; we will also introduce you the very first deliverable/result of “MP4PM” as a preview, so you can already see how “MP4PM” will look like and how it works basically. This way you can see what to expect in near future. And the best is: it is ready to use out of the box for anybody who wants to try out or just having a look. 

But first let’s have a look on the next two features we will provide you within “MP4PM”:

Sounds interesting for you?

OK, let’s come back to our first result out of “MP4PM”. With the great support of the community at projectmanagement.com we have just released the Version 1.0 of our first deliverable (to use project management wording); it is a questionnaire (as mind map of course) for the very first initiation meeting with your project sponsor in the project initiation phase (if you are in the role of the project manager) and it is called “Knowing the Sponsor”.

Since we have said, that “MP4PM” will be closely aligned tot the PMBoK Guide you may wonder now cause “Knowing the Sponsor” is not a PMBoK Guide Process and also not an ITTO, right?! Furthermore the very first process as by the PMBoK Guide is “Develop Project Charter”, correct? … of course …

Yes, but as you also may know there are mostly some additional Steps before you can start creating the Project Charter. Therefore we will have some additional artefacts that we do support with MP4PM and “Knowing the Sponsor” is the very first of them.

We have done a version 1.0 already, but of course like the complete “MP4PM” framework this deliverable will be continuously improved and developed further.

If you want to participate in this development, please feel free to add your valuable inputs in the corresponding discussion thread at the end of this posting. Any feedback is highly appreciated.

You can access an interactive online version of the “Knowing your Sponsor” map here (or just by clicking on the picture above):

http://www.projectmanagement.plus/mp4pmmaps/1.1.1%20MP4PM%20Knowing%20Your%20Project%20Sponsor

Please use this version for review only.

If you want to use the map and/or work with it, then please download it from here:

http://projectmanagement.plus/en/mp4pm/mp4pm-downloads

For downloading the map/files you need to be logged in at www.projectmanagement.plus . If you do not want to create a user account there, then just write me a private message here and I will provide you the files.

“Knowing your Sponsor” is not only available as .mmap (what is the MindManager file format, but could also be opened with Xmind for instance), it is also provided in several other formats like the usual MS Office formats for instance (all included in the download package!).

Please try out and let us know what you thinking of it.

In our next blog we will introduce you the next “MP4PM” features and may be we will talking already about the next deliverable what is actually work in progress.

Until next time ... ;)

=====================================================

If you want to contribute to the map please refer to the following discussion threads; we have created one discussion thread for each branch in the map for a better overview:

This is an update to my previous postings regarding this topic.

First of all the most important information:

When will PMBOK® Guide Sixth Edition be released?

According to PMI, we can expect the following release dates:

• Final Release is scheduled for the third quarter of 2017 (July-Sept 2017)

When will The PMP Exam change?

The PMP Exam is largely based on the content found in the PMBOK® Guide. The exam changeover from version 5 to 6 is scheduled as follows:

• PMP Exam update to PMBOK 6 will happen in Q1 of 2018

What are the major changes that will happen?

Agile and other iterative practices

As some of us already heard there will be some new content to emphasize the importance and relevance of agile and other iterative practices.

Different from previous editions, the PMBOK®Guide –Sixth Edition will contain numerous references to adaptive and iterative practices, including agile. This decision was made in response to the requests of PMIs stakeholders. This content will include:

• The practices often used in an adaptive environment in the front of each Knowledge Area section (Sections 4–13).
• An appendix to The Standard for Project Management on agile and other iterative practices.

PMI Talent Triangle™

Will the new PMI Talent Triangle™ find its reflection in the upcoming PMBoK Guide Version? Of course!

The PMBOK®Guide –Sixth Edition will contain a new chapter on the role of the project manager which discusses the PMI Talent Triangle™ and the skill sets organizations demand that make project managers more competitive and relevant—technical project management, leadership, and strategic and business management.

Key Concepts

Many key concepts addressed in the first three chapters of the PMBOK® Guide are covered, in abbreviated form, in Section I of the Standard. Section II of the Standard contains a description of the project management processes, organized by Process Group, along with their key benefits, inputs and outputs.

Processes; Process Groups and Knowledge Areas

The Process Groups remain the same in the Sixth Edition, although two Knowledge Areas have new names:

Project Time Management is now Project Schedule Management, emphasizing the importance of scheduling in project management. This aligns with PMI’s Practice Standard for Scheduling.
And Project Human Resource Management is now Project Resource Management. We discuss both team resources and physical resources in the processes of this Knowledge Area.

There are three new processes in the Sixth Edition:

• Manage Project Knowledge is part of the Executing Process Group and Project Integration Management knowledge area.
• Implement Risk Responses is part of the Executing Process Group and Project Risk Management knowledge area.
• Control Resources is part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group and Project Resource Management knowledge area.

Estimate Activity Resources is still part of the Planning Process Group, but it is associated with Project Resource Management processes instead of Project Schedule Management processes.

Since there will be one process be deleted - "Close Procurements" process has been removed. Its functionality has been consolidated into the "Close Project or Phase” Process - the total number of processes will count up from actually 47 to 49!

In addition, some processes have different names. For example, to align with research showing that project management is more about facilitating and managing than controlling, several processes are shifted from a Control function to a Monitor function. In other cases, the process name was aligned with the intent of the process. The chart below identifies the overall name changes.

The function of the Close Procurement process has now been captured within Control Procurements and Close Project or Phase. Research shows that few project managers have the authority to formally and legally close a contract. Project managers are responsible to determine that work is complete, records indexed and archived, and responsibilities transferred appropriately. Thus, they have now included work associated with Close Procurements within the aforementioned processes.

Project Management Plan Components and Project Documents

Please note the following changes to the project management plan components and project documents:

• The components of the project management plan that are inputs to a process, or that are updated as outputs from a process, are not listed individually in the inputs or outputs. Rather, the project management plan is the input and project management plan updates is the output.
• Beneath the input/output table, a list of potential project management plan components is identified. However, the components of the project management plan that will be inputs or updated depends on the needs of the project.
• Project documents are listed as an input and project documents updates is listed as an output, as appropriate. Beneath the input/output table there is a list of potential project  documents that may be inputs, or may be updated as an output. The needs of the project will determine the actual project documents that should be inputs or updated as an output.

additional Changes (as known yet):

Chapters Re-alignment:

There will be chapters re-alignment in Chapters 1 to 3. The information in Chapter 1 to 3 will be combined into 2 chapters and a new Chapter 3 will be devoted to “The Role of the Project Manager” where many aspects of the Project Manager’s role will be mapped to the PMI Talent Triangle.

Process Tailoring:
Which means analyzing the project to determine how much emphasis to put on each process (based on the scope & size of the project).

“Ongoing” (continuously executing) vs. "Non-ongoing processes”:

There will be various notations throughout the new PMBOK differentiating between processes which are “Ongoing” (continuously executing) vs. "Non-ongoing processes.” This concept will be emphasized for the first time in PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition.

"Project Scope vs Product Scope":
concept will also be emphasized for the first time in PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition.

"Earned Value tool kit":
supported by the PMBOK will now include “Earned Schedule Management".

Communication:
There will be distinction between "Communication" (as in communicating between two people) and "Communications" (artifacts, such as published emails).

"Escalate Responses":
The new strategy, “Escalate Responses” provides for a PM escalating a risk to the appropriate party so that the risk is no longer his/her responsibility. Once escalated, the PM will now have the option of either:

a) Removing the risk from the project’s risk register if desired, or

b) Keeping it in the risk register, but classifying it as “Escalated/Assigned To.”

"Lessons Learned Register as new ITTO:
The new Lessons Learned Register is now part of the set of ITTOs. Project Managers will now be encouraged to update on a frequent basis (not just at the end of the project). Updates can be done at any time throughout the project, especially at the end of project phases.

New Appendix Information:

• Summary of Key Concepts
• Summary of Tailoring Considerations
• Summary of Tools & Techniques
• Adaptive & Iterative Approaches

This is what we know about the upcoming changes yet. There may be additional changes until the final version will be released.

We will inform you accordingly.

first published @ projectmanagement.plus