Program Management Professional (PgMP)®
Categories:
Agile,
Benefits Realization,
Career Development,
Communications Management,
Cost Management,
Earned Value Management,
Education,
Ethics,
Human Resources Management,
Leadership,
Lessons Learned,
New Practitioners,
Organizational Transformation,
PMI Standards,
Professional Development,
Program Management,
Project Management,
Protfolio Management,
Risk Management,
Schedule Management,
Scope Management,
Stakeholder Management,
Time Management
Categories: Agile, Benefits Realization, Career Development, Communications Management, Cost Management, Earned Value Management, Education, Ethics, Human Resources Management, Leadership, Lessons Learned, New Practitioners, Organizational Transformation, PMI Standards, Professional Development, Program Management, Project Management, Protfolio Management, Risk Management, Schedule Management, Scope Management, Stakeholder Management, Time Management
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I am glad to announce that I passed the Program Management Professional (PgMP®) Exam on November 29, 2021 with Above Target in all domains and very proud to be join this elite group of professionals. This credential was on my radar since 2019 but with the pandemic, some priorities changed and I had to postpone it. However, now achieving it marks an important milestone in my professional development journey as I did complete all 8 Main PMI Credentials and 9 Micro-Credentials. As usual, I am happy to share my lessons learned with the community members hoping that future candidates will find value in them. STUDY PLAN PMI Resources: PMI Standard for Program Management - 4th Edition. If you are a PMP and/or PfMP, the Standard will be more than enough provided that you read it several times in details. You will be surprised, but every time you go through the standard, you will discover something new in between the lines. Exam Content Outline: I can't emphasize the importance of the ECO. You need to deep dive and understand every single task, why and how you do it. Course: There is no course required as a pre-requisite for the application. However, it does not hurt to take a course if you feel the need to do so but I personally did self-study. Application: The application was very lengthy and rigorous unlike any other PMI Certifications Applications (Except for PfMP). It took me a while to complete my application (A total of 15 Hours of work). After submitting my application, I got initial approval in 5 days time, I paid the dues ($800) and the application went for Panel Review which took around 3 more weeks before receiving final approval (This was in 2020). Study Time: It took me a bit more than a month to study. One month might seem light but I used to study 4 hours a day and 6 hours on weekends in addition to that I took a few days off work to study extensively so it was more of a Bootcamp Personal Plan. At a normal pace, I would say 2 - 3 months (2 - 4 Hours / Day) should be reasonable. Simulation Exams: I purchased a couple of simulation exams available online on Udemy and others for training purposes. They were good in terms of boosting your level of confidence but again, the key is to deeply understand every aspect of the standard. Colleagues Advice: I connected with a few PgMP's who gave me solid advice and boosted my confidence a lot for which I am very thankful. They are a good example of people who share knowledge without boarders. EXAM EXPERIENCE I am going to talk about my personal exam experience (Without going into details or specific questions). In general, I found the exam to be somehow easier than other PMI exams. I might have found it easier given how much experience and credentials I have or maybe not. Either way, below was my experience: Level of Difficulty: The exam was not very difficult. In general, 75% of the questions were short in nature but I have to say that some were tricky so again, you need to have an absolutely excellent grasp of every word in the standard. Exam Questions (General): Most of the questions were situational (Short Questions). You need to understand which artifact gets updated in every phases or change, what happens when and by whom, and above all you need to have a deep understanding of all tools, techniques and program activities. It is worth mentioning that you will encounter around 10% questions from outside the standard related to PMP. Exam Depth: The exam tests your understanding of every single aspect of the standard and the program management in general. Exam Language: The language of the questions and answers was moderate. You might end up reading some questions twice but for the majority of the questions, it took me 30 seconds on average to read the question and answers and if you have a good grasp of the material, once is enough. Exam Time: The timing was than enough. I finished the exam well ahead of time including the review of the questions I marked. Elimination Strategy: Surprisingly, and unlike other PMI exams, I was able to easily eliminate 3 answers for many of the questions. Exam Experience with Pearson Vue: Unlike my experience during the PfMP exam which was not very pleasant, this time, it went much smoother and I had no issues at all except for some difficulty in exam booking but this is totally understandable given the current pandemic situation. Good Luck to all future Aspirants !
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PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)® Certification Updates
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The intent of this blog is to provide a summarized comparison between the current exam content outline Current ECO August 2021 and the updated Pilot ECO November 2021 in order to facilitate the way forward for future candidates. The domains in the new ECO will change as well as the percentages of test questions per domain. The below tables illustrates the difference between both:
In today’s world, risk management practitioners operate in a variety of environments and utilize different project approaches. The new exam will incorporate approaches across the value delivery spectrum from Predictive, agile, to hybrid approaches. Questions will be found throughout the five domain areas and are not isolated to any particular domain or task.
In the current exam version, each domain is broken down into tasks and at the end of each domain there is a list of knowledge items and skills that candidates need to be familiar with. Moreover, at the end, there is a list of Core Knowledge and Skills that apply to all domains – Refer to the current ECO August 2021 (Pages 4 – 14) for more details. In the new upcoming version of the exam, each domain is broken down into tasks that are different than those included in the current version and each task is broken down into enablers which are basically examples of work associated with each task. The section for Core Knowledge and Skills required will be removed – Refer to Pilot ECO November 2021 (Pages 5 – 10) for more details.
The application process, eligibility and how to record your experience and education remains unchanged. To be eligible for the PMI-RMP certification, you must meet certain educational and professional experience requirements. All project risk management experience must have been accrued within the last five consecutive years prior to your application submission. APPLICATION PRCOESSING TIMES AND FEES The application processing time (Online, 5 Days Processing) and fees remain unchanged. However, processing time may vary if application was selected for audit.
REFERENCE MATERIAL The list of reference for the new version of the exam are updated and can be found on page 17 of the Pilot Eco November 2021 so if you are taking the pilot exam, make sure your study plan is based on those references. For easy reference, the below table lists the references recommended for each version of the exam.
Stay tuned for more to come !
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Organizational Transformation Series
Categories:
Agile,
Benefits Realization,
Business Analysis/Requirements Management,
Career Development,
Communications Management,
Leadership,
Management,
New Practitioners,
Organizational Project Management,
Organizational Transformation,
PMI Standards,
Professional Development,
Program Management,
Project Management,
Project Management
Categories: Agile, Benefits Realization, Business Analysis/Requirements Management, Career Development, Communications Management, Leadership, Management, New Practitioners, Organizational Project Management, Organizational Transformation, PMI Standards, Professional Development, Program Management, Project Management, Project Management
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Organizational Transformation Series of Courses and Micro-Credentials was recently launched by the Project Management Institute and Brightline Initiative . The series is divided into three courses:
Before jumping into the specifics about each course, below are some general information related to the courses / micro-credentials:
Organizational Transformation Foundation (OTF) Organizational Transformation Foundation (OTF) Micro-Credential is suitable for professionals who wish to expand their knowledge on the basics of organizational transformation from the fundamentals of navigating change in transformation projects to the five building blocks of successful transformations with a focus on the human-centered approach to enabling change. Organizational Transformation Implementation (OTI) Organizational Transformation Implementation (OTI) Micro-Credential is about the "Doing" part of the Organizational Transformation which concentrates on:
It goes through the domains of:
Organizational Transformation Orchestration (OTO) Organizational Transformation Orchestration (OTI) Micro-Credential is about the "Leading" part of the Organizational Transformation which concentrates on:
It goes through the domains of:
Being one of the first few professionals who completed the whole series, I can attest that the series added lots of value and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Organizational Transformation. It is very well structured, and supported by case studies and online resources.
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Citizen Developer Practitioner (PMI-CDP)
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Stay tuned for more courses and professional development opportunites !
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Citizen Development from the Eye of a Non-IT Project Manager
| Recently, I’ve taken two courses that introduced me to a very interesting and valuable new concept called “Citizen Development”. My passion about this topic started when I took the foundation course after which I participated in the pilot for the CD Practitioner’s course. Being a new concept to many, I decided to write an introduction blog about Citizen Development before I dive into the details of each course I’ve taken. In this blog, all figures are quoted from PMI Resources. Citizen Development is a very interesting initiative and concept. In the beginning, I thought that it only applies for professionals with a background in IT but after deep diving into the subject and taking couple of courses, my view completely changed in that Citizen Development can be beneficial for all individuals and organizations. The Citizen Development Movement
The below slides provides a brief overview of what Citizen Development is, why it is important and what are the benefits of CD:
Citizen Development Canvas and Maturity Model
Citizen Development Courses
CD Practitioners: Those who do the work by creating apps and using them in their day-to-day work. They range from students to project professionals to SME's. They could be but not limited to, the following:
CD Strategists: Strategists manage and lead the creation of the operating environment that allows Citizen Development to thrive, instilling the cultural practices and mandates that foster adoption and scaling of Citizen Development and drive organizational transformation by harnessing the power of Citizen Development application platforms. The are members of the senior management team and can include, but not limited to, the following:
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