Miscelânea – Links que valem o click

 

• Quer mudar de área e não tem experiência? Crie um bom currículo http://migre.me/39v9E
• 10 livros para inspirar sua carreira em 2011 – http://migre.me/39jHi
• Profissionais bem-humorados ganham mais e são mais produtivos. http://bit.ly/e8QFq3
• Em 2011 desacelere e tire a pressa da sua vida http://bit.ly/eALW48
• 8 coisas para fazer por sua carreira antes do ano novo http://bit.ly/gFmVXL
• How Do You Define a Successful Project Management Career?  http://bit.ly/fniVG7
• Retrospectiva 2010. Oportunidades em GP. http://ow.ly/3uJrT
• Inscrições para o 19º Venture Forum FINEP vão até 23 de janeiro http://bit.ly/hZXWKF
• Project Management Predictions for 2011 and Beyond (Part 1) http://dld.bz/CXry

The 7 Things You Need to Pass The PMP Exam

By Cornelius Fichtner, PMP

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has developed a set of criteria and credentials for recognizing Project Management Professionals (PMPs) worldwide. The credentialing process is fairly rigorous, including: three to five documented years of work experience in project management, 35 hours of project management related training, and successful completion of the multiple-choice PMP Exam. The amount of material on the PMP Exam is vast and can seem overwhelming, but don’t be intimidated! Having and using the 7 items in this article will ensure you are prepared to meet the exam head-on and achieve optimal results both on exam day and in your future career.

 1. PMP Credential Handbook

Including everything from an overview of the PMI certification program to exam policies and procedures, the PMP Credential Handbook is available for free online at: http://www.pmi.org/Certification/~/media/PDF/Certifications/pdc_pmphandbook.ashx. The first 20 pages of the handbook cover many exam basics and are a must-read for every potential examinee. Becoming familiar with the application process, payment policy, and examination administration rules will go a long way to making the actual exam day less stressful.

2. Time

The material on the PMP Exam is vast and detailed. This is not an examination you can “cram” for in a couple of weekends. Plan to take the exam after spending 10-12 solid weeks of studying for an hour or two nearly every day. Naturally, this schedule will have to be flexible enough to fit in with the rest of your responsibilities and commitments.

3. A Study Plan And Schedule

As project managers, we are well aware of the importance of a plan and schedule. Create a study schedule over 10-12 weeks that fits with the rest of your responsibilities. Depending on your job and household commitments, you may need more or less time. Take a practice exam to evaluate your weaknesses and consider spending more time on those areas. Be realistic in how much material you can cover each day and set weekly goals to track your progress. Don’t forget to include time for refreshing breaks and activities that you enjoy.

4. PMBOK® Guide, 4th Edition

The PMP Exam is based on the most current version of the PMBOK® Guide. Specific principles include communication, cost management, human resources, integration, procurement, quality, risk, scope, and time management. It is essential to understand each of these topics individually and how they work together for overall project management success.

5. Self Study Course

It bears repeating: The PMP Exam covers a large amount of material in a relatively short period of time. Don’t be discouraged! While many project managers are able to successfully schedule their time to achieve optimal results, almost everyone can benefit from an online or self study course.

The latest generation of self study courses come to you as PMP Podcasts/Videocasts, that you download to your laptop or portable player. In this way your PMP Exam preparation becomes completely portable.

Self study PMP Podcasts help divide the material into manageable portions and assist you in developing a successful schedule. Focused instruction over a specific timeline will help you meet your study goals and may count toward the required 35 hours of project management instruction.

6. PMP Exam Prep Book

There are a wide variety of PMP Exam prep books available. Some people call them “study guides”. They complement and explain the dry concepts from the PMBOK Guide and having one at hand in your studies is an absolute must. Go to your local bookstore and select one that fits with your style of learning and covers a variety of high- and low-yield topics.

7. Questions. Questions. Questions.

A large number of free PMP Exam sample questions are available from hundreds of resources on the internet. These free mock exams are a good start, but because they are free they will only go so far for you. You will also want to subscribe to an online PMP Exam Simulator to have access to the highest possible quality of samples.

Your study plan must include answering as many practice questions as possible including at least seven to eight complete 200-question practice exams. This type of preparation will help gauge your study progress and prepare you for the format of the real thing. You will be nervous on exam day, but becoming intimately familiar with types and formats of questions will help reduce anxiety and prepare you for success.

To sum up, there are a few simple things you can do to ensure you are prepared for the PMP Exam. Including these 7 items in your studies will reduce anxiety and eliminate stress associated with the exam day. Study hard and good luck!

 About the author: Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a noted PMP expert. He has helped over 10,000 students prepare for the PMP Exam with The Project Management PrepCast at http://www.pm-prepcast.com and The PMP Exam Simulator at http://www.pm-exam-simulator.com

Scrum Addoption Project



(Veja versão em português)

As it happens to the several available project management methodologies, in a certain day I heard about SCRUM. After the initial presentations, it seemed to interesting and worthy attention. On this post, I’m going to present a bit about my own experience applying this methodology.

At first it seemed to be quite easy to understand (some artifacts, ceremonies and roles). All that was needed was to break the requirements (which should also be prioritized) into smaller and implementable parts. Well, easy until it was time to start using it, and mainly to make a group of developers to understand and especially to accept the benefits of the new methodology. The group was relatively new on the company, but had become accustomed to use the traditional methodologies (waterfall).

At first it was created a team (two people) to understand the methodology and propose an implementation strategy in the organization, where the pilot projects would be run by a development team of short projects.
With the study finished and plan ready, we moved to the methodology implementation. We started with a lecture presentation of the methodology and then presented a proposal to use Scrum. Exactly during this presentation it was raised first resistance. One developer have heard that with this methodology the pressure on the team would increase. At this moment was possible to realize the problem of attributing long tasks (1, 2 weeks or even months in duration) to the designers. After all, with Agile, almost every day it’s expected to have progress on the task, or even, there would be something to be delivered.

In the beginning, I cannot say that we were really using the SCRUM completely. Maybe we were using a Scrumfall or Waterscrum. We started focusing on certain key aspects such as breaking the requirements into smaller parts with short duration (1-2 days). Another adaptation were the ‘almost’ daily meetings held two or three times a week, not to push too hard in raising named ‘pressure’, as it was interpreted in the beginning. With this, the team had time to get used to the new ways of working and break the initial resistance.

The group was adapting, and each new project (which lasted on average 1-2 months), we reinforced the aspects of the methodology. Moreover, to apply other aspects of the methodology we used a free tool (sprintometer). With it, besides facilitating the visualization of the status of the items from the product and sprint backlog, the team became interested in a measure of its own velocity. At this point in the process of deploying the methodology the team had understood its benefits and started contributing actively to its use.

So, to quantify more objectively the use of the methodology, we prepared:

• a poll in which a set of questions was sent to the group.
• a review meeting (that we can name the retrospective meeting of the methodology deployment project). At this meeting, all were encouraged to discuss the benefits and problems in using the methodology.

The overall result was excellent. The team felt more motivated. The commitment also increased since all influenced more directly the work progress. And the team created an intense dynamic of attributing tasks, focusing on results.

To summarize, some Questions and Answers.
Q: How long did it last? I mean, this project of implementing the Scrum Methodology.
A: Between 12-18 months (including initial study, training and pilot projects)

Q: Difficulties during the process?
A: Understand the essence of Scrum. Resistance to change. Adapting the methodology to the organizational environment. Implementation of duration estimate techniques. Adaptation of the interfaces to other organizational processes (which remained unchanged).

Q: What came next?
A: First was the formal certification (Certified Scrum Master). Then, the evaluation of other control tools (Trac and RTC).

Q: Current status?
A: SCRUM widely applied throughout the organization. And now, it’s being introduced the use of the RTC (Rational Team Concert).

Q: Next steps?
A: Continuous improvement of internal processes of the organization to increase productivity and improve quality.

Giovani Faria

Meus posts

Other related posts:

• From Command and Control to Self-Management
• What Makes a Methodology to be Agile
• Agile Insights

Managing simultaneous projects

It’s becoming more common the situation where a project manager needs to manage more than one project simultaneously. Although not based on scientific data, this assumption is based on my own experiences and from my networking. This perception was also confirmed by our blog readers in a survey we conducted a couple day ago, where over 60% of PM readers are in charge of more than two simultaneous projects …

This situation, that only brings difficulties and points of attention when analyzed superficially, may also have some benefits for the project manager. The advantages and disadvantages of the simultaneous management of multiple projects can be summarized below:

Advantages:

+        Possibility of optimizing resource usage (resource sharing between projects) – the manager can, for example, mitigate a risk or answer to an urgent demand of one of its projects by promoting a supervised migration of resources within the projects.

+        Constant exercise of project management disciplines – it is possible that each project is in a different phase, which allows the project manager to exercise the activities from all phases of the projects life cycle and enjoy the gains from synergy.

+        Lessons Learned – a lesson learned in one of the projects might be applied immediately on the other (s), which increases the chances of success.

+        Professional recognition – skills to work under pressure and with attention to detail is appreciated and desired.

Disadvantages:

−        Increased need of attention by the manager – the project manager cannot neglect any aspect of his various projects, which demand a high capacity for selective focus and control.

−        Increased competition for resources – inevitably every other time priorities of the various projects will crash, which will require greater control of risks.

−        More stakeholders to manage – each project has its set of stakeholders, which pursue the interests of their own projects. Besides having to look after the interests of each stakeholder, the project manager may still have to deal with the situation where the same stakeholder has an interest in more than one project (a high probability of conflict.)

−        Pressure, lots of pressure – rather than being accountable for the results of only one project, pressure grows proportionally with the increase of your responsibility.

One of the biggest challenges in a situation where there are many issues vying for your attention is to keep all projects under control and not let any detail without the needed attention. Even small or less complex projects require the project manager´s attention for aspects such as communication with the team and other stakeholders, costs control, schedule and risks monitoring.

There is no right or wrong way to control what happens in your projects, but there are some techniques to facilitate your work. The most common technique is to use a spreadsheet where you list every aspect that may be of your interest. I recently attended a webinar where the speaker suggested the use of a table listing the characteristics of each project, such as key stakeholders, risks, high level scope,  etc… Basically, this is a compilation of Project Charters  of all projects, as can be seen in the table below:

	Project A	Project B	Project C	…	Project x
Stakeholders
Business Analysis
Requirements
Scope
Delivey dates
Risks
Team

Although used to provide visibility of the reason for each project, this model is not useful for monitoring the daily project activities. To control all the points of attention in my projects I prefer to use a specific spreadsheet, as the model available for download here.

The use of any control mechanism is essential to help the project manager to keep abreast of the demands and needs of each project, thus avoiding the micromanagement and lack of objectivity of analysis and action. The method to be adopted depends on personal preferences but the ultimate goal should be a greater level of control over ongoing activities, always with the aim to facilitate the management and deliver the results expected by the end of the project.

Eamon L. Sousa

Practice All Question Types to Pass the PMP Exam

By Cornelius Fichtner, PMP – Helping you prepare with PMP Exam Sample Questions

Anyone who has sat for the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam knows that studying the PMBOK Guide and having 35 Contact Hours is just not enough. When you talk to them about the PMP Exam, they will tell you it covers a lot of ground and the questions are not as straightforward as one would hope. Of the ones that have passed the exam, an overwhelming percentage of them will tell you that they used more than just one study method.

Just as a golfer must learn to “drive” and “put” before they ever step onto a 18 hole golf course, the PMP Applicant must also learn the mechanics of taking the exam and what to expect when they arrive on game day. Employing multiple study methods may give you a triangulated understanding of the material as well as illuminating what you do know and what you don’t know.

Being able to answer PMP Exam sample questions is crucial to your exam success. Simple? In concept; yes. After all, the PMP exam has only multiple choice questions. However, there are a number of question styles; each has their purpose and caveats, which makes knowing how to get the most of each question exponentially crucial.

Let’s jump into the PMP Exam question types:

FORMULA based questions are more than just ‘solving for the median’ or calculating earned value. There are around 49 PMP exam formulas that you must know backwards and forwards in order to pass the PMP Exam. Understanding them thoroughly down to the importance of each element will give you the decision making criteria to include or exclude the values in the PMP exam question.

SITUATIONAL questions test your ability to apply theoretical know how to real life project management situations. Often, these questions tend to be very long winded. The idea behind this is that in real life you will be handed both relevant and irrelevant information. Your task is to identify what’s relevant, ignore what doesn’t matter and then act upon the real issues. Be sure to read and accurately identify the actual question being asked of you, so that you can eliminate the useless information.

Often, situational questions will offer two choices which are both reasonably correct, so it’s vital that you identify if the question is asking you the BEST choice, or the NEXT choice, or the EXCEPTION, or the ONLY answer.

KNOWLEDGE based questions require you to identify the meaning of the situation based on your understanding of the facts provided. These questions also occasionally ask “What is the exception?”; e.g. ‘Group brainstorming encourages all of the following except:’

Knowledge based question may also ask you to identify an example chart or graph, such as recognizing a RACI or Pareto chart.

INTERPRETATIONAL questions test your ability to deduce a situation or condition from the description of a status or problem. For example: “If your project has an SPI and a CPI both greater than 1, how well is your project performing?” To solve this, you will need to know how SPI and CPI relate to the project’s performance.

SPECIFIC TECHNIQUE questions will provide a snap shot of a situation, like a network diagram, and ask you to provide an element that’s inherent in that diagram such as forward pass or backward pass.

PMBOK GUIDE KNOWLEDGE questions test your familiarity of specific areas, such as “Which of these processes are not part of the Initiating Process Group?” or “What are the inputs to the Create WBS process?

You need to answer dozens of samples from each question type before you will feel ready to tackle the exam. But how and where do you find good PMP mock exams?

There are many free PMP sample questions available just one short Google search away. However, you want to be very careful, because with free mock questions more times than not, the old adage “You get what you pay for” applies.

The best way to practice sample questions is by signing up to an online PMP exam simulator. You can access the questions over the internet from anywhere and on your schedule. Be sure the questions were created based on the most recent version of the PMBOK Guide. The question population should be a good mix of the types as well as cover all PMBOK Guide concepts.

So, there you have it. If you want to pass the PMP exam, you need to learn about the different types of questions that appear on the exam and practice them using a high-quality online PMP Exam simulator. Once you know how to identify the real question being asked from each of these question types, you’ll greatly increase the odds of arriving at the correct answer. I know this  sounds simplistic, but it is no small task because you’ll need to be able to recall and apply all the theoretical knowledge required, combine it with your own project management experience and relate this to the question at hand.

About the author: Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a noted PMP expert. He has helped over 10,000 students prepare for the PMP Exam with The Project Management PrepCast at http://www.pm-prepcast.com and The PMP Exam Simulator at http://www.pm-exam-simulator.com

From Command and Control to Self Management

(veja versão em português abaixo)

It’s notorious the benefits of using Agile Methodologies. In Scrum, for example, one of these benefits, that aims to emphasize the teamwork, is the incentive to have self managed teams. In this way, it’s expected that the team is able to take decisions related to the workflow.

However, in organizations where the traditional methodologies are widely used (as it has become part of its organizational DNA), one of the problems to be solved is: How to make the transition from managed/controlled teams, where all decisions are centralized on the project manager, to self managed teams able to decide the way to proceed with the project activities?

The solution to this (not easy) problem should address the analysis of different aspects that are important to guarantee the quality for the project deliveries.

For example:

• efficiency: teams in a low maturity level (or low commitment to the project results) can have their performance jeopardized due to the lack of focus and objectivity, or due to the delay in taking decisions.
• visibility: all the main project stakeholders, even is a high level, need to be aware of the status of the project. In this way, it’s needed to assign a person to be the point of contact or to create mechanisms to make the information available.
• motivation: a self managed team can, in any point in time, fell uncomfortable in the organization due to the lack of monitoring and assessment, what can lead to motivations problems that can affect the ‘will’ for the project results.
• conflicts: with no leadership formally assigned by the organization and the way that the team handle the intern conflicts (or even external influences) may lead to a loss of productivity/performance that can directly affect quality. Nevertheless, even the organization can assign a expert to manage the conflicts, it’s still required a way to identify that they exist and the extend of the problems caused.

Additionally,  when we have team members working together, it’s always possible that some kind of leadership is created among the team members. In this way, it’s needed to establish mechanisms to avoid the decision concentration, and guarantee that the decision is shared by the whole group, maximizing the benefits of self-managed teams. An alternative to avoid this kind of problem would be frequent team members changes. This approach, even can reduce the risk to have  the decisions made by the new developed leadership, can lead to poor relationship among the team members. What also can impact on the velocity measurement used by agile methodologies like SCRUM.

In short, the problem do exist and it’s the Scrum Master the chosen one to address it. This person will be in charge to educate the team to make it really self managed.

The solution to this problem requires the:

• definition of the expected objectives.
• establishment of an appropriate training plan.
• definition of metrics to measure the performance.
• definition of an internal process and tools implementation.
• establishment of follow up routines (coaching, status meetings, feedback sessions, etc.).

Summarizing, the usage of self management ways of working in project based organizations is very useful in the way that it:

• increases the organization capacity to manage multiple projects (responsibility sharing).
• increases the team empowerment (that influences in a direct way the project results).
• stimulates the active participation of all team members (active contribution to the project objectives).

Giovani Faria

Meus posts

What makes a methodology to be agile?

There are at least four characteristics that differentiate an agile methodology:

- Incremental

Frequent deliveries of small features in order to deliver what is recognized as a value to the business.

-  Cooperative

Client and design team working collaboratively, narrowing the communication gaps and prioritizing what is most important to the customer.

- Clear, straightforward

The methodology must be clear and straightforward to be  easy to learn and simple enough to be adopted without any additional effort to the project.

- Adaptive

Able to be flexible enough that changes are made without all the work that needs to be reworked.

@marcelocamera