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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

Like i wrote in my previous article "What is the current edition of the PMBoK Guide and when will the new edition be released?" the public review of the exposure draft has just begun and it is still a long road until the final version will be released towards the end of 2017 respective the beginning of 2018 when the printed version  will become available.

Nevertheless it is interesting yet having a look on the upcoming changes the new version will bring us.

Of course this is high level and feels like a BETA version, but the major changes should be finalized already since public review has started, right?

Well, here we go:

Agile and other iterative practices

As some of us already heard there will be some new content to emphasisze 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 toThe Standard for Project Management on agile and other iterative practices.

PMI Talent Triangle™

Will the new PMI Talent Triangle™ find its refelction 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 we do not know about deleting processes now, the overall number of processes seems to increase to 50!

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, we have shifted several processes from a Control function to a Monitor function. In other cases, we have aligned the process name 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.

This is what we know about the upcoming changes yet. There may be additional changes; as a result from the actual exposure draft review for instance.

We will update this article accordingly.

first published @ projectmanagement.plus

Actually this offer is unfortenatly only availble in german language, therefore this posting is also in german and target all german speaking professionals here on pm.com.

An english speaking version may be availbel autumn this year; if so i will let you know:

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Für Ihren PMP-Erfolg haben wir verschiedene Lernelemente zu einem harmonischen Gesamtkonzert der PMP-Prüfungsvorbereitung arrangiert.
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Unter folgendem Link finden Sie eine ausführliche Beschreibung der einzelnen Komponenten, ein Einführungsvideo, FAQs sowie eine Übersicht zu den buchbaren Paketen:
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Im Silbertarif können Sie einzelne Module flexibel gem. Ihren individuellen Bedürnissen zusammenstellen.

Bitte zögern Sie nicht etwaige Fragen auch gerne direkt hier im Forum zu stellen. Oder schreiben Sie mir gerne eine Nachricht.

Ergreifen Sie jetzt die Gelegenheit, Ihrer Projektmanagement-Karriere einen entscheidenden Schub zu geben; bsuchen Sie uns unter:
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Markus Klein

This is great news to all the PMP Exam aspirants out there. projectmanagement.plus is proud to announce the availability of its very first and unique interactive "Checklist":

The PMP Exam Preparation Checklist

On one hand an overview of what you need to think about when you are want to become a PMP; on the other hand a great tool which guides you through your PMP Exam Preparation!
 

People who are interested in PMP certification often ask the following questions at the beginning of their PMP journey: " What is this all about? Where should i just start? What do i need for it? How should i proceed? ..." and so on. Well, i guess every new PMP aspirant has such questions and we want to provide the answers!

But not only plain text (there is really just enough text to read and remember for you, trust me!), no, we add some value and developed a tool which not only delivers all the answers to those questions. No, you also get an instrument which you may use as a guideline, let's say as the "red line" through your exam preparations. And you may edit it to your very own preferences! But before we get in detail,

let's have a look on it (we can here only show a picture; explore the interactive version at www.projectmanagement.plus) :

How to use and work with the Checklist

Just klick on the little "Info" Button on the right side and there will open a sub-text field with additional informations and often links where you could find further informations or additional helpful sites or tools.

Follow the checklist from "head" to "bottom", hit the "checkmark" on the left side if you have fullfill this point and you will see the status bar "grow".

You can use the checklist included in this article as an overview and a starting point, you may print it or make a PDF.

But wouldn't it be more exciting if you could have and manage your very own Checklist?

Well, nothing easier than that! At pm.plus (and as far as we know only at pm.plus!) you could make a virtual copy of the checklist and than you will find a version of the original checklist under your "myChecklists" area in your profile. This version belongs only to you and it is fully editable to your very personal preferences!

You may add items, you may delete items and you even may create your very own, individual version! You are allowed to provide your own version to the community and you are even allowed to create your completely own checklists regarding whatever you want!

And the best: This is just the starting point! pm.plus will provide you many additional checklists in future, not only regarding PMP certification but also regarding all the project management aspects.

And like mentioned before: You may add your own input! You can make suggestions for changes at existing checklists or for additional checklists you want to see (i.e. in the comments to this article or directly in our discussion board at www.projectmanagement.plus ). Or you just create your own checklist, offer it to the community and earn your honors! The checklists have a rating function added ...

The opportunities seems endless ...

You may have a look under "resources/Checklists" to see what checklists we have to offer. You can make a copy there to your "myChecklists" area and than find the specific checklist in your profile under "myChecklists".

Just try it out (it is all completely free, but registration at pm.plus is needed) and let us know what you think and how we may improve this very new and unique feature for you!

Hope to see you soon at

www.projectmanagement.plus