Letters from Hungary

Dear All, I wrote this short article nine years ago after I passed my PMP exam, and I thought it might be interesting for others to read. Regards, Laszlo

Dear PMP Aspirants!

I am happy to announce that I passed my PMP exam on 17/06/2010, that is to say this Thursday. I can not describe that feeling when I saw the “Congratulations” message on my screen. My studying process and technique was rather simple but the PMP exam itself was more challenging.

So here is my story for PMP aspirants:

Originally I scheduled my PMP exam for the 07/06/2010 but had to postpone it due to other work obligations so finally I moved my exam date to 17/06/2010 for 9:00 AM. I was lucky enough that I could take nearly 2,5 weeks break from work so I concentrated on studying for this time 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. I had a very simple but effective study approach. I used Rita’s exam prep materials such: “PMP® Exam Prep, Sixth Edition”, along with „Hot Topics PMP® Exam Flashcards – Sixth Edition” and finally „PM FASTrack® PMP® Exam Simulation Software – V 6”

First of all I red the PMBOK Guide and tried to follow and understand all PM elements. Then the real part of the preparation started when I started to read “PMP® Exam Prep, Sixth Edition” by Rita Mulcahy. I completed all the Exercises, I did not skip any of them! When I finished the relevant chapter I answered all of the sample questions. There are 35-40 sample questions after each chapter. My scores were around 85%.

After reading each chapter and answering the sample questions “on paper” I answered the „PM FASTrack® PMP® Exam Simulation Software – V 6” Knowledge Area questions. There are cc. 80-150-240 pcs of sample questions in this program for each Knowledge Area. My results were between 65-80%. What I am trying to point out that it gave me much better results when I answered 35-40 questions on paper, than when I had to answer 100-130 questions on the computer. After 40-50 questions I had the experience that I have to read each question at least 2-3 times to understand what it really is all about. My mother language is not English. During my break sessions I used „Hot Topics PMP® Exam Flashcards – Sixth Edition” to memorize certain basic principles.

What was so important for me that I took very seriously all the suggestions for the PMP exam which were in Rita’s book. I also purchased Cornelius Fichtner’s PM Prepcast and listened to this material after each chapter. I prepared a PMP Exam formulas “Brain dump sheet” with all the formulas. Actually it is part of Rita’s book but I made my own version of it.

The PMP Exam day was rather challenging. I arrived to the Prometric center around 8:00 AM. The exam supervisor staff arrived around 8:45 AM and let me in the exam room at 9:00 AM along with two another exam takers. It was a very rigorous security check. I had to put my bag and all personal belongings into a locker and I had to empty my pockets as well. They gave me 4 sheets of special color scratch paper and 2 pcs of pencils. Do not be surprised that you are not allowed to take with you into the exam room your glasses box but your glasses alone. I had to answer some security questions such as my home address, e-mail address etc. I had to sign a check in protocol as well which shows what time did I enter the exam room.

The room itself was very simple but very professional. There were 12 workstations each of them separated with a small wall from each other. Before I touched the mouse I wrote down the entire necessary formulas to my scratch paper. It really freed my mind so I did not need to worry that I would forget them. I went trough the tutorial and started to answer the exam questions. I felt okay, although the room was extremely quite. I have finished the first 45 questions when something happened that I did not expect. While I was reading a rather difficult and very wordy question my PC switched off! It turned out that there is a power outage in the test center. The entire building was dark not only the test room. No lights, no computers, no air-conditioning, nothing but safety lights only. It was a bit scary.

The Prometric Test Center staff was very professional. They came in immediately into the test room and informed us the Prometric official processes. We had to make a decision whether all of us stay in the test room or we leave the room. According to the official processes we had to wait 30 minutes. If the electricity would come back within 30 minutes then we can continue the exam. If it would not come back, than we would be provided a problem report and we have to schedule for a later date a new exam.

It is very hard to describe how I felt. Nobody could tell us how long the power outage would last. After 10-15 minutes waiting time someone came with the news that we have to expect 2-3 hours waiting time since a high voltage cable was cut. This was a moment when I felt, okay my PMP exam is over. But according to the Prometric processes I had to wait 30 minutes. Guess what has happened? 29 minutes 10 seconds the power came back. I thought what else could come.

We were told that the exam could be continued from that point where we stopped, but we have to go trough the check in procedure again. The funny part was that the Prometric test center people had to restart all the workstations which took additional 10-15 minutes. It turned out that we can not continue the test on the very same workstation but on a different one, although from that point where we were stopped. I said to myself that Okay no problem. This is like in real life some stress, some unexpected changes but I have to focus on the exam questions.

The exam questions were very similar to my „PM FASTrack® PMP® Exam Simulation Software – V 6” The only problem was that the network diagrams were rather tricky that is to say nothing what I expected. There were some calculations questions where I had to figure out that there is cca. 80% distracter information and the calculation is very simple. Up to 150 questions I felt okay, but suddenly I became very tired. By that time I was alone in the room. The only thing was the air conditioner’s noise that I could hear and I started to wonder that I take a break. By that time I had 1,5 hours time left so I said to myself NO break!. I took a deep breath and carried on. I finished the last 50 questions within 45 minutes then I reviewed the marked questions.

YES this is very important! Mark as many questions as necessary during the exam. It frees your brain and allows you to concentrate on the next question. So I reviewed the marked questions which seemed to me much easier to answer this time.

Than I hit the “Finish Exam” button and closed my eyes. I waited for 15-20 seconds and it turned out that there are additional feedback questions about Prometric. I answered all of them and hit the finish button. I was presented with my examination result with those magical words “Congratulations on passing the PMP exam” I felt great!

Best Regards,

Laszlo J.Kremmer, PMP
Budapest – Hungary

In connection with International Project Manager Day, Balázs Rákossy, undersecretary for the use of EU funds, presented Hungary’s Project Manager of the Year Award. The Project Manager of the Year Award is announced, evaluated and given jointly to the winner every year by several Hungarian project management organizations, including the PMI Budapest, Hungarian Chapter.

The Project Management Excellence Board is formed from representatives of these organizations in order to organize this award. Its purpose is to recognize Hungarian professionals and to increase the importance and visibility of project management knowledge, the profession and also its outstanding projects.

The board’s sponsor is Finance Minister Mihály Varga. In 2018, this recognition was given to Máté Kertész, JD, MBA, PMP, program manager of DXC Hungary Ltd. He was successful in leading the efficiency improvement program of the regional water utilities’ financial accounting. This project was one of the biggest among the last few years of SAP implementation programs in the public utility sector of the Hungarian market with regard to manpower, budget and complexity. To prepare the plan, Dr. Kertész had to collect inputs from five companies and project organizations consisting of 130 members, put them in order and turn them into concrete project steps.

This required extraordinary professional, business and manpower management skills. As proof of the strong competition and the high quality of participants this year, a special award was given to Zsombor Szabadkai, project manager, Tomlin Ltd. His project was to create an office building for Hungarian Telekom headquarters. The building had to show the work philosophy and work culture of the company. Project Management Thesis of the Year The PMI Budapest, Hungarian Chapter also had two leaders serving on a jury of five academics and project management practitioners evaluating candidates for Project Management Thesis of the Year. Fourteen students from different universities applied for the competition, the highest number of nominees since the award was established. András Pernyeszi, PMP, vice president of the PMI Budapest, Hungarian Chapter, was president of the jury. Chapter President László Kremmer, PMP, also served on the jury. All the received works were of a high quality, so the jury did not have an easy task. The high quality of the applicants was shown by the fact that the jury decided to give two awards for third place, and also a special award.

Award-winning topics included:

• Research on project manager competences in consultancy;
• Project risk management methodology with elements of knowledge management;
• Minimalization of the project transit time using agile approaches to management; and
• Follow up of the Vértes Power Plant Ltd. development project.

The winner of the Project Management Thesis of the Year received, among other prizes, a free entrance ticket for the Art of Projects Conference. The three best thesis writers each got a certificate of merit from the event organizing institutions, as well as a book on project management that they could choose from the PMI Store. The event presenting the winners of this competition was organized by the PMI Budapest, Hungarian Chapter in cooperation with the project management section of the Scientific Association for Infocommunications Hungary and the Hungarian Project Management Alliance.

Our guests were Balázs G. Nagy, president and Richárd Ránki-Kovács, managing director from Hungarian Service and Outsourcing Association (HOA) who shared their experiences about the trends of the Hungarian Business Services Sector and presented the key findings of HOA Business Services Study 2018.

Almost 40 colleagues participated in the first PMPub in 2019, and the reason for this high number is that many professionals – including project managers – are involved in Shared Services or Business Services Sector operation and projects.

Balázs G. Nagy thoroughly introduced the Business Services Sector (BSC) in Hungary and globally. He emphasized that BSC is an entire industry that – statistically – does not exist. A BSC company is not linked to this sector but to the line of business which the company operates in (eg. energy or telco sector). Despite this phenomenon, global business forced the companies to enhance their operation by managing the processes and data, which the companies dealing with. A BSC is kind of a center of excellence where part of the business is outsourced and maintained by professional people. BSCs can help to increase quality and enhance efficiency at companies. In addition to that, a BSC can inspire companies with new ideas, initiatives, and projects.

In Hungary major BSC activities are finance, accounting, HR, IT, and customer related services. There are 110 BSCs and 700 service center type of entities in Hungary. BSC is the second fast growing sector in Hungary. There are 60.000 people working in BSCs in the country, and there are 160.000 people affected by BSCs (suppliers, other service providers) in Hungary.

Further thoughts about BSC sector:

• BSC Sector can handle local economic crisis easier, because the business is managed on global basis (international companies) and thus BSC companies have more “space” to maintain the business locally.
• It is complicated to move a BSC from one country to another, and many times cost is not everything. You may consider cultural or for example knowledge-related factors before moving a BSC from one place to another.
• Project thinking is crucial in BSC Sector, because BSCs are operated by projects, or projects are common in BSCs’ life. Besides cultural fit and language, project thinking is one of the most important elements in operating a successful BSC.
• BSC can be operated everywhere in the world, where culture/people welcome a BSC company. Many times BSC is operated in a city, that was attractive to the management of the company (they love the place, the city, the whole atmosphere). Budapest’s biggest advantage is feasibility: Balázs has not heard about BSCs that failed in the capital.
• The biggest BSC country in Europe is the UK.
• Balázs has concern about involving second tier cities (Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen, Miskolc etc.) at higher intensity in terms of BSC operation in Hungary.
• It is hard to make the rival companies to cooperate in this sector, but in Hungary HOA tries to find and support cooperation opportunities (eg. there is a BSC round table in Debrecen which incorporates 10 local BSCs).
• The Business Services Sector is very complex. In this environment you have to be a good project manager, but on top of that you have to possess line of business knowledge as well.
• In many cases, local people perform better than foreign experts because they have wide domestic experience and knowledge.  

Richárd Ránki introduced HOA and its operation. The association was founded in 2004. HOA’s most important goal is to “represent the interests of the sector, support its members and organize regular programs with the aim of creating a strong community”.

HOA’s organization comprises the board and the management team. Board members are delegated by BSC/SSC companies and the executives make the decisions in terms of HOA’s strategy, programs and operation.

Besides sharing the knowledge, HOA lobbies the government in order to enhance the outsourcing and business services in Hungary. HOA holds meetings for BSC/SSC community members, and also there is a business breakfast for top leaders of domestic BSCs. Richárd presented the HOA Business Services Study 2018, which was prepared in collaboration with HIPA and BCE (Corvinus University of Budapest). Please find the summary of the study at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWyU9IoVW0o

In the name of PMI Budapest, Hungarian Chapter, we would like to thank Balázs and Richárd for coming and sharing their thoughts in PMPub!

We would like to remind you that the next PMPub will be in May
and the Art of Projects 2019 conference will be on 7th November

We had the pleasure of seeing Susanne Madsen speak at our “Art of Projects” Internal Project Management Conference in 2018. Susanne’s presentation made a huge impression on me. Our PMI Budapest, Hungarian Chapter and the Project Management profession is facing new challenges everyday: stress and burnout.

We needed someone to energize and motivate our audience to think differently about how we handle stress and difficult situations and how to overcome potential burnout. Susanne’s talk fit the bill. As an experienced project manager of large change programs, Susanne has first-hand experience of how stressful project management can be. Almost all project managers have experienced stress on their projects and far too many suffer from ill health as a result. Wow. That’s all I can say is Wow!

What an amazing Keynote and Master Class! Susanne Madsen’s energy and enthusiasm during her presentation and Master Class “The Power of Project Leadership” kept the audience engaged and looking for more. We had so many members say they were up late that night writing down thoughts about how they could implement Susanne’s ideas on how to handle stress and avoid burnout.

Susanne was the perfect Keynote Speaker to kick off our event! She made a huge impact on our group and made the 2018 Art of Projects Conference a huge success!