Congratulations to all the aspiring Managers who want to combine experience with education to enable higher performance at job. Remembering Inputs/outputs and Tools &Techniques is often the challenging but extremely important part during PMP preparation, especially since there are more than 10 questions in the exam directly based on ITTOs.
The trick that i followed for remembering the Inputs/outputs and Tools &Techniques was carrying the hard copies of the PMBOK pages where these are diagramatically given at the beginning of each chapter.
Print those 13 pages and read it every morning and evening for 30mins for 1 week without attempting to understand.
In Week2, try to memorise ITTOs of 4 knowledge areas by allocating 30mins to each knowledge area every alternate day.
Repeat the process in week 3 for the remaining KAs.
After week4, you would have memorised all the ITTOs individually.
The weeks are given on the basis of assumption that you have 4hours to read per week. If you can increase the time for study, it will be quicker.
After spending about 13hours on an average (1hr per KA), now start by creating a mind map of linking which input of which process is an output of other process. Please draw it yourself and not rely on the diagrams given in the PMBOK.
Also please read Rita Mulcahy book twice before the exam and practice the exams.
It would not harm to give pratice tests in test mode of 4 hours. Please let me know if you need some practice tests, i have some (Only after you have learnt the ITTOs and read the book well)
Hope this helps, please feel free to write to my gmail account for quicker response: [email protected] Saving Changes...
STEVE BOEDECKERUnemployed Project Manager| FutureVision ProductionsVernon, Nj, United States
FYI, a friend took the CAPM and the PMP and passed both, around 80%, and he said ITTOs are involved in almost 60% of the questions. WHAT you have to understand is WHERE ARE YOU in the KA and then Process when answering the question. That leads to an ITTO at some point, EVEN IF the answer itself isn't asking for an ITTO. What Input and Technique helps you CREATE the Budget? See what I mean?
Memorizing may not be an option, but I have been isolating the small items to remember easily, Like there are only 2 KAs in Initiating Group and 2 in the Closing Group. And those 4 have specific ITTOS. From there I relate what those OUTPUTS are and where they go as Inputs. I don't worry about EEFs and OPAs except when they contain KEY items not used in other Processes even while still using an EEF and OPA?
I do not have the expertise nor decades in the area of Project Management as most of you, but hopefully my comment helps somewhat! Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Steve
Your friend is probably did not convey the information well.
1. Questions may ask you about process groups or specific processes NOT knowledge areas ... since it would be too obvious to know cost estimating is in estimating and quality audit is in quality
2. The exam does not ask you to list the ITTO - they would (as you said) what would be an input to cost estimating - obviously in this case it is about what do you need to know before you estimate. So this is about logic and understanding.
For example - do you need historical data to estimate cost or time? Yes
Do you need status report to estimate? No - since status report is in executing and you are in planning
Do you need the project lessons learned to estimate? No because you do those in closing and you are in planning ---- however, do you need historical lessons learned (or lessons learned from previous projects)? Yes - of course that would be helpful.
I hope this help
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1 reply by STEVE BOEDECKER
May 09, 2016 10:40 AM
STEVE BOEDECKER
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I'm sorry. I am slightly confused. I answered, as I am studying and have answered around 1500 questions so far, including some here; and regarding your answer 2, yes, logic and understanding is key to a STRATEGY of answering the questions, what thought process and reading comprehension techniques we as individuals can use to gain an advantage to reaching a correct answer (especially if you don't know the answer;
but specific questions do ask for an answer that is either exactly a ITTO name or PROCESS.
So I apologize if I am not expressing myself as clear as I should.
Saving Changes...
STEVE BOEDECKERUnemployed Project Manager| FutureVision ProductionsVernon, Nj, United States
I'm sorry. I am slightly confused. I answered, as I am studying and have answered around 1500 questions so far, including some here; and regarding your answer 2, yes, logic and understanding is key to a STRATEGY of answering the questions, what thought process and reading comprehension techniques we as individuals can use to gain an advantage to reaching a correct answer (especially if you don't know the answer;
but specific questions do ask for an answer that is either exactly a ITTO name or PROCESS.
So I apologize if I am not expressing myself as clear as I should. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Steve
I understand what you are saying. Names of processes are important but the ITTO do not have to be exact. For example they could ask you about the use of the Pareto Chart or Pareto law - you do not have to know the exact definition but the concept and how to use it.
With this approach - there could be a couple of questions that need something exact and you might not know the answer. This lead to the following: is a couple of questions worth a 100 hours of your time to memorize ITTO or use the time to better understand the relations?
Let me close by this - I have trained thousands in various areas of project management and helped hundreds (if not thousands) achieve the PMP without teaching ITTO. At the end - it is your choice. I am trying to save you study time.
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1 reply by STEVE BOEDECKER
May 09, 2016 11:13 AM
STEVE BOEDECKER
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Im replying even though you do not need to answer.
My inexperience and your expertise at teaching probably invalidates my response below.
But I disagree. Knowing KEY ITTOs I believe are needed. StakeHolder Register is KEY Input and Output. YOU may be so experienced you know thru logic, but some of the questions use misleading in naming, and so knowing which PROCESS produces specifically the STAKE REG or SCHED Forecast, or a specific question I just answered that asked what Plan is NOT (notice word not) INPUT to Manage Stakeholder Engagement.All is crucial, and not just 10 questions out of the 300
Saving Changes...
STEVE BOEDECKERUnemployed Project Manager| FutureVision ProductionsVernon, Nj, United States
Im replying even though you do not need to answer.
My inexperience and your expertise at teaching probably invalidates my response below.
But I disagree. Knowing KEY ITTOs I believe are needed. StakeHolder Register is KEY Input and Output. YOU may be so experienced you know thru logic, but some of the questions use misleading in naming, and so knowing which PROCESS produces specifically the STAKE REG or SCHED Forecast, or a specific question I just answered that asked what Plan is NOT (notice word not) INPUT to Manage Stakeholder Engagement.All is crucial, and not just 10 questions out of the 300 Saving Changes...
STEVE BOEDECKERUnemployed Project Manager| FutureVision ProductionsVernon, Nj, United States
And as a footnote, I agree with you because there are over 600+ ITTOs and yes, its really advantageous to know relationships rather than the actual names. Its also what works for some may not work for others! Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Steve
We are agreeing even though you might not have noticed this. I have never said you do not need to know important and key ITTO or ITTO in general. The discussion has been about remembering the huge number of ITTOs.
YOU need to know that a WBS is an input to schedule and a scope statement is an input to WBS and OPA and EEF are almost input to everything. You also need to know RACI, Control Chart, Pareto, Stakeholder Register and Issues log as tools that are used on projects. This is critical.
What I am advocating is analyzing and understanding relations rather than memorizing.
For example - what you should do first (or finish first) schedule or cost estimate. You can try to memorize this but what help our students learn is to understand which comes first without have to memorize.
Take care and wish you success on the exam. If you have areas you like help with do not hesitate - you can inbox me. Saving Changes...
STEVE BOEDECKERUnemployed Project Manager| FutureVision ProductionsVernon, Nj, United States
Thank you! I will take you up on that. Saving Changes...
The key lies in understanding each process and the fact that output of one process become the input of another.
For example – Project Charter is the output of the process Develop Project Charter, which is input to Develop Project Management Plan process. Without understanding the process flow, memorizing will barely help.
In actual exam there are no direct question related to ITTO.
Focus must be on Table 3-1 (Project Management Process Group and Knowledge Area Mapping) at Page#61 of PMBOK 5Ed. Saving Changes...
When you are preparing for exam you know the purpose of ITTOs. But you cannot memorize where each ITTO comes into process. For solving the question related to ITTOs, just one week before the exam you write down all ITTOs in paper sheet. It would take hardly 1-2 hours. Repeat this exercise, everyday until you take the exam. After 2-3 days, it would take only 30 - 45 mins to write down all ITTO, the reason most of them you would not write because they would be fixed in your mind.
It is hard to memorize ITTOs but when you write them on paper, its picture gets fixed in your mind and there would be no problem in recalling them during the exam time.
When I took the exam, there were 20-25 questions related to ITTOs. I followed the same tips and by the grace of the GOD, I cleared PMP in first attempt. Saving Changes...
