As extracted from the ever-reliable Wikipedia :

Government, commercial and other organizations employ PMP certified project managers in an attempt to improve the success rate of projects in all areas of knowledge, by applying a standardized and evolving set of project management principles as contained in PMI’s PMBOK Guide.

Professionals obtain the credential to verify their proficiency in project management with an internationally accepted certificate. It has proven especially helpful for project managers trying to find jobs or self-employed project managers selling their services to customers.[citation needed]

Many contractors hire certified PMPs to make their bids and proposals more attractive to prospects. Sometimes, IFBs or RFPs require that project managers must be certified PMPs.

In December 2005, the PMP credential was tied for fourth place in CertCities.com’s 10 Hottest Certifications for 2006, and in December 2008, it was number 7 of ZDNet’s 10 best IT certifications.

I also found an article from About.com that list PMP as the highest paying certifications in the tech industry. Now if I could only put that article into reality for myself, it will be awesome considering I now hold two of the top four certifications listed in that article (the other being Certified Information Systems Security Professional or CISSP).

In any case as I did with my previous cert “conquests” (CISSP and CISM), I bypassed paying for the expensive training and opted to go the hard way, actually hitting the books and doing self-study the best way I know how. There were several factors that made it a little bit more difficult for me to focus this time around. I won’t talk about those factors in this entry as I don’t have any illusions or interest of being in a reality show . However, suffice it is to say that I was actually a little bit worried that I may not pass this one on the first try as I did in the other two.

To add to this is the fact that even though I have been using and somewhat familiar with various project management principles for quite some time, there are quite a number of concepts and terminologies in the PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) that was very new to me. Another key challenge was the way the PMBOK is intended to be learned. Much unlike the CISSP’s Common Body of Knowledge, wherein one can learn each of the 10 domains independently, the PMBOK is a methodology, whose knowledge areas are interdependent and with process groups that follow a particular road-map and relationships and have independent processes that within themselves have separate elements that inter-relate with other processes.

So aside from simply remembering terms and what-have-you, to effectively master the PMBOK, one must be able to understand how each of the knowledge areas, process groups, processes and elements (process input/output and tools and techniques) inter-relate and which one comes first. Needless to say it was a doozy.

Continued in Yeah Boy! I passed the PMP Exam… (Part 2)

-          Each process group is made up of a collection of processes used throughout the project life cycle

-          PMBOK Guide groups these processes into nine categories that it calls The Project Management Knowledge Areas

-          Knowledge Areas

• Bring together processes by commonalities, whereas Project Management Process Groups are more or less the order in which you perform the project management processes
• Nine Knowledge Areas are as follows:
  • Project Integration Management
  • Project Scope Management
  • Project Time Management
  • Project Cost Management
  • Project Quality Management
  • Project Human Resource Management
  • Project Communications Management
  • Project Risk Management
  • Project Procurement Management

Reference:

PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Includes Audio CD

Check out this PMP Review Resources from Amazon.com

-          The progression through the project management process groups exhibits the same characteristics as progression through the project phases

-          Costs are lowest during the initiating processes and few team members are involved

-          Costs and staffing levels increase in the executing process group and decrease as you approach the closing process group

Check out this PMP Review Resources from Amazon.com

The Process Flow

-          Process groups interact and overlap with each other

-          Process groups are iterative and might be revised throughout the project’s life several times as the project is refined

-          Iterative Process – According to the PMBOK Guide, the process of going back through the process groups

-          The conclusion of each process group allows the project manager and stakeholder to reexamine the business needs of the project and determine whether the project is satisfying those needs

Process Interactions

-          Underlying the concept that process groups are iterative is a cycle the PMBOK Guide describes as the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, which was originally defined by Walter Shewhart and later modified by Edward Deming à idea behind the concept is that each element in the cycle is results-oriented

-          Project Phases – describes how the work required to produce the product of the project will be completed

-          Project Management Process Groups – organize and describe how the project activities will be completed in order to meet the goals of the project

-          Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle – an underlying concept that shows the integrative nature of the process groups

Reference:

PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Includes Audio CD

Check out this PMP Review Resources from Amazon.com

-          Most projects are divided into phases, and all projects, large or small, have a similar project life cycle structure

-          Project Phases

• Generally consist of segments of work that allow for easier management, planning and control of the work

-          Project Life Cycle

• All the collective phases the project processes through in concert
• Similar for all projects regardless of their size and complexity
• Phases are typically sequential, and sometimes overlap each other
• Most projects at least the 4 following project life cycles:
  • Beginning the project
  • Planning and organizing the work of the project
  • Performing the work of the project
  • Closing out the project

Check out this PMP Review Resources from Amazon.com

Handoffs

-          Project phases evolve through the life cycle in a series of phase sequences

-          A.k.a. technical transfers

Phase Completion

-          Has a specific deliverable or multiple deliverables

-          Deliverable

• An output that must be produced, reviewed and approved to bring the phase or project to completion
• Tangible and can be measured and easily proven

-          Phase End Review

• Allows those involved with the work to determine whether the project should continue on to the next phase
• Per the PMBOK Guide: a.k.a. phase exits, phase gates, milestones, stage gates, decision gates and kill points

Multi-phased Projects

-          Projects may consist of one or more phases

-          Phases of the project are often performed sequentially, but there are situations where performing phases concurrently or overlapping the start date of a sequential phase can benefit the project

-          Per PMBOK Guide: Three types of phase-to-phase relationships:

• Sequential relationships – one phase must finish before the next phase can begin
• Overlapping relationships – one phase starts before the prior phase completes
• Iterative relationships – work for the subsequent phases are planned as the work of the previous phase is performed

-          Sometimes phases are overlapped to shorten or compress the project schedule otherwise known as Fast-tracking

-          Fast Tracking – means that a later phase is started prior to completing and approving the phase, or phases, that come before it, technique is used to shorten the overall duration of the project

Most projects have the following characteristics in common:

-          Cost are low in the beginning of the project, when the project is just being initiated

-          During initiation/project beginning only a few team members are assigned to the project

-          Cost and staffing and increases as the project progresses and tapers off as it gets to closing

-          Successful ending potential a project is lowest in the beginning; chances for success increases as the project progresses through its phases and life cycle stages

-          Risk is highest at the beginning of the project and gradually decreases the closer the project comes to completion

-          Stakeholders have the greatest chance of influencing the project and the characteristics of the product, service or result of the project in the beginning phases and have less and less influence as the project progresses

Reference:

PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Includes Audio CD

Check out this PMP Review Resources from Amazon.com

-    Brings together a set of tools and techniques – performed by people – to describe, organize and monitor the work of project activities
-    According to PMBOK Guide: involves applying knowledge skills, tools and techniques during the course of the project to accomplish the project’s objective; it is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that project management techniques are applied and followed

-    Exam Spotlight: Per the PMBOK Guide, the definition of project management is applying tools, techniques, skills and knowledge to project activities to bring about successful results and meet the project requirements
-    A process that includes initiating a new project, planning, putting the project plan into action, and measuring progress and performance
-    Involves identifying the project requirements, establishing project objectives, balancing constraints and taking the needs and expectations of key stakeholders into consideration
-    Planning – one of the most important functions you’ll perform during the course of a project

Project Managers – The people responsible for managing the project processes and applying the tools and techniques to carry out the project activities

Reference: PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Includes Audio CD