Tuesday, December 18, 2018

PMP Success Story: A Cherished Experience

By Amodh Sinha, PMP, CSM




Introduction
I’m into IT industry for over 5 years and have executed many projects at organizational level. I’ve always felt something is missing in my accomplishment.

Hence, I thought of doing PMP® certification to get my fundamentals stronger and boost my project management skills. 

PMP 35 Contact Hours Experience
I looked for face-to-face classroom sessions, so that I can grasp as much as I can. After all my research for providers on PMP classroom sessions, I decided to join Satya's classes. I googled and found good feedback about PMP classes and finally reached for 4-week PMP classroom training. I went through the admission, 4 days of classes and earned the needed 35 contact hours. 

My PMP classroom session and experience was very good. Though I had attended the training on the earlier edition, I cleared my exam on PMBOK® 6th edition on 10th December, 2018. 


PMP coaching under Satya was a mesmerising experience. The tips and tricks during the session were very useful. He is truly a project management coach. In his class, you won’t just sit and listen. He will call you on stage to make sure you are understanding the concepts well and not left alone. That level of involvement and seriousness from coach motivates a lot. 

Own Study
My own study time was really a challenge. I’ve a small 1.5-year-old kid and whenever I opened my laptop for study he uses to come near and start playing. But as it is rightly said what’s the fun if you didn’t face any challenge in project execution. 

I set the target date of exam for 10th December 2018 and started planning for my study hours. I started giving daily 2-3 hours every day early morning. Early morning around 4 AM I made sure that I compete one knowledge area (KA) area and practice the questions. Beginning with my studies, I started with the PMBOK guide and completed it in one month. In parallel, I referred Satya’s latest book – I Want To Be A PMP, 2nd Edition. I also referred Rita Mulchy book and referred many YouTube videos to clear my doubts. 

Commitment is the essence of your PMP study and I made sure that I don’t lose that. Whenever I got time, I referred the Satya’s book to solve questions and clear doubts. Last 4 days of my exam date I gave 12- 14 hours of time focusing on the Exam Content Outline (ECO). I solved more than 1500 questions including Satya’s full-length Question Bank and Rita M’s questions.

Book Review - I Want To Be A PMP
After going through the classroom session, I decided to buy the book. This will be your second PMBOK guide for the PMP exam. The ITTOs are charted in table format and easy to remember. The tips and tricks are really helpful to fill your knowledge gaps.

The exercises given, flow diagrams, the EVM & graph videos, 35 plus chapter end questions and numerous tips and tricks in each KA are enough to fill your gaps.  

PMP Exam Experience
I scheduled my exam for 10th December 2018 in Bangalore’s Prometric centre. I reached venue by 7.30 AM and started my exam at 7.45 AM. My strategy was to finish every question within one minute so that I can save time for reviewing the marked question. 
Below are the key points about my overall exam experience:
  • The question was rarely direct.
  • 80% of the question I got were situational and many were trapping questions.
  • I used my logic to strike off initial 2 options immediately after reading the questions to narrow down on choices and tried to frame the question in which process groups (PG) and knowledge area (KA) the question belongs and zeroed in on the answer. 
  • Mathematical questions: Earned Value Management (EVM), 3-point estimation (PERT) technique, communication channels and float calculations.
  • Lot of question on change request and risk management. 
  • Did not get any best practices questions or emerging trend questions.
  • Question on control chart, stakeholder management, risk implementation, lesson learnt were mostly situational. 
I didn’t take any break and continued to complete the questions and completed in 3 hours 50 minutes. I was left with 10 minutes to spare and more than 50 questions to review. I reviewed more than 25 and the exam automatically got closed. 

My hands were frozen and I was not able to move the cursor for survey.  Somehow, I completed the survey. Finely the result displayed as CONGRATULATIONS!!

It was one of the best moment of life and I felt all my hard work has been paid off with that one word.  

Suggestions for PMP Aspirants
Dos 
  • Use your free time and weekend judiciously. Give time for your study honestly. 
  • Practice questions and if you make mistake in solving the mock exam, do not move ahead just by seeing the answer. Read again and close the gap.
  • Keep integrating your knowledge after every KA you complete.
Don’ts
  • Don’t waste time doing free questions from the internet. 
  • Don’t spend more than 2 min in solving the question, if you have doubt mark and move on. 

Conclusion
I’ve cleared my fundamentals in project management and I’m going to use this enriched experience and knowledge in upcoming project and programs.

Brief Profile: 
Amodh Sinha 
Resource Manager with 11 + years of experience in IT operations and project management.
Organization:  Quinnox Inc.





Friday, November 16, 2018

More Sample Videos: PMP Live Lessons (PMBOK 6th Edition) - Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back




This is in continuation of the following posts: 

In this post, 9 more sample videos have been made public. The access to these videos is completely free and can be seen at the YouTube channel of Management Yogi.

The videos are from:
  • Lesson - 1: Introduction (2 videos)
    • Video 2.2.12 - Process Groups
    • Video 2.2.15 - Processes and Process Categories
  • Lesson - 3: The Environment in Which Project Operates (2 videos)
    • Video 3.11 - Organizational Structure Types - Overview
    • Video 3.12 - Organizational Structure Types - 1
  • Lesson - 4: The Role of Project Manager (1 video)
    • Video 4.19 - Project Manager as an Integrator
  • Lesson - 5: Project Integration Management (3 videos)
    • Video 5.25 - Project Integration Management - What Happens?
    • Video 5.32 - Project Charter Flow -1
    • Video 5.33 - Project Charter Flow -2
  • Lesson - 11: Project Communications Management (1 video)
    • Video 11.3 - Effective and Efficient Communication
You can check these videos one by one.

Part 1 of this series: Sample Videos from PMP Live Lessons (Link)


*********

Videos: Lesson 2 - Introduction

Video 2.2.12 - Process Groups (4m:22s)
This video explains the five process groups - Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.



Video 2.2.15 - Processes and Process Categories (4m:53s)
This video explains on possible three types of project management processes. Each of the 49 processes in the PMBOK Guide will fit into one of these categories.





*********

Videos: Lesson 3 - The Environment in Which Project Operates

Video 3.11 - Organizational Structure Types - Overview (2m:54s)
Let's have a high-level overview of the types possible orgnizational structures.




Video 3.12 - Organizational Structure Types - 1 (4m:42s)
This video explains 3 organizational structures in detail - Organic (Simple), Functional (Centralized) and Multi-Divisional (Less Centralized) organizations.






*********

Videos: Lesson 4 - The Role of Project Manager

Video 4.19 - Project Manager as an Integrator (3m:12s)
While performing integration, the PM's job is two-fold: 1) Organizational strategy and 2) Project Elements. This video explains.





*********

Videos: Lesson 5 - Project Integration Management


Video 5.25 - Project Integration Management - What Happens? (4m:55s)
There are 8 processes in Integration Management KA. This video explains how they interact with each other.





Video 5.32  - Project Charter Flow -1 (2m:44s)
Project Charter is a key document to know for aspiring PMPs. This video explains how project charter flows across various project management processes. Your questions in the exam will be mostly from an interaction point of view.





Video 5.33 - Project Charter Flow -2 (3m:26s)
Project Charter is a key document to know for aspiring PMPs. This video explains how project charter flows across various project management processes. Your questions in the exam will be mostly from an interaction point of view.






*********

Videos: Lesson 11 -  Project Communications Management

Video 11.3 Effective and Efficient Communication  (1m:32s)
Communication should be both effective and efficient. These two terms are distinct and separate. Many confuse between the two. This video explains.





To know more about this course and what is "Guaranteed PMP or Your Money Back Program", 
please refer:

PMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back



Part 1 of this series: Sample Videos on PMP Live Lessons (Link)

If you require more information, please send a mail to: managementyogi@gmail.com

You can also see the sample videos in a playlist.


More on PMP Live Lessons - Guaranteed Pass:


Monday, November 12, 2018

Sample Videos: PMP Live Lessons (PMBOK 6th Edition) - Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back





This post is in continuation of the earlier post of PMP Live Lessons


As noted in the previous post, content of this course has been used successful PMPs and is being used by aspiring PMPs. 

Recently, there have been requests by aspiring PMPs to check few sample videos, which will help them in finalizing. Earlier the access to sample videos was somewhat restricted and was provided on request basis.

In this post, there are 9 sample videos, which have been made public. The access to these videos is completely free and can be seen at the YouTube channel of Management Yogi.

The videos are from:
  • Welcome (3 sample videos)
    • Video 1 - Welcome
    • Video 2 - Video Course Lessons Breakdown
    • Video 9 - Best Wishes
  • Lesson - 2: Introduction (2 sample videos)
    • Video - 2.1.2 About Project and Project Management
    • Video - 2.1.7 Effective Vs Ineffective Project Management
  • Lesson - 3: The Environment in Which Project Operates (1 video)
    • Video - 3.2 Project Influences
  • Lesson - 4: The Role of Project Manager (2 videos)
    • Video - 4.2 Project Management and Real Life
    • Video - 4.3 Project Manager and Orchestra Conductor
  • Lesson - 5: Project Integration Management (1 video)
    • Video - 5.22 Integration Management in Agile Environment
You can check these videos one by one.

*********

Videos: Welcome

Video 1 - Welcome (0:51s)
The first welcome video for PMP Live Lessons based on PMBOK 6th edition.



Video 4 - Video Course Lessons Breakdown (Welcome) (2m:16s)
Gives a breakdown of the PMP Live Lessons video course.




Video 9 - Best Wishes (0:30s)
Final welcome video of PMP Live Lessons video course.






*********

Videos: Lesson 2 - Introduction


Video 2.1.2 - About Project and Project Management (3m:42s)

A history of project and project management. Project and project management are not new. We have seen them for millennia.




Video 2.1.7 - Effective Vs Ineffective Project Management  (3m:28s)
This video details the differences between effective and ineffective project management.






*********

Videos: Lesson 3 - The Environment in Which Project Operates

Video 3.2 - Project Influences (6m:05s)
This video talks about the project influences, the project environment and a breakdown of project influences, i.e., EEFs and OPAs.





*********

Videos: Lesson 4 - The Role of Project Manager


Video 4.2 - Project Management and Real Life (4m:42s)
A bit of project management exists in everyone's life! Let's see some of them with examples. 





Video 4.3 - Project Manager and Orchestra Conductor (3m:12s)
This video talks about the project influences, the project environment and a breakdown of project influences, i.e., EEFs and OPAs.






*********

Videos: Lesson 5 -  Project Integration Management


Video 5.22 - Integration Management in Agile Environment (4m:30s)
Integration management is different in Adaptive (Agile) environment as compared to Predictive environment. Let's understand how these differ.  







To know more about this course and what is "Guaranteed PMP or Your Money Back Program", 
please refer:
PMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back

Part 2 of this series: More Sample Videos on PMP Live Lessons (Link)

If you require more information, please send a mail to: managementyogi@gmail.com

You can also see the sample videos in a playlist.


More on PMP Live Lessons - Guaranteed Pass:


Thursday, October 25, 2018

PMP Live Lessons (PMBOK 6th Edition + Agile Practice Guide) – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back







This course has been updated with new PMP Exam changes, effective January 02, 2021.

I am delighted to announce the availability of PMP® Live Lessons, a complete video course. 

"PMP Live Lessons – Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back"

This course is based on PMBOK Guide, 6th edition. This is one of its kind course in the world. No one ever has given a guaranteed pass, with FULL money back for PMP exam with live lessons. 

I believe the PMP certification is achievable for any genuine candidate. Anyone who truly aspires to be a PMP, can be a PMP. One needs right content, proper direction, solid understanding of concepts with sufficient practice and of course hard work, to crack the exam. 

This course has been internally available since beginning of this month. The contents of this course have been used already by successful PMPs. And many aspiring PMPs are using it. This post is a formal declaration for the PMP Live Lessons course going fully public.

The PMBOK guide 6th edition is already effective from March 26, 2018. It is bigger and complicated as compared to the PMBOK 5th edition, which makes the many aspiring PMPs struggle. Recently, the Agile Practice Guide (APG) has been added as a prime reference as 50% questions will be from Agile/Hybrid approaches, increasing the coverage area. This course also has been requested by many. In fact, many aspiring PMPs around the world are already using this course.

For earlier reviews, you can refer:
PMP Live Lessons Reviews by Successful PMPs

For recent success stories, you can refer:

For sample videos, you can refer:
PMP Live Lessons Sample Videos(1) - 9 Videos


Top 10 Features: PMP Live Lessons
  1. Total Video Duration: 40.5 hours (40h 33m 11s) [+9 hours of NEW videos for Process & ITTO exercises; +7 hours NEW videos for AGILE; Total Video Duration now = 57 hours]
  2. Number of Videos: 708 [+82 NEW videos for process & ITTOs; +109 for AGILE; Total number of videos now = 909]
  3. Number of Lessons: 15 (+3)
  4. Number of Questions: 3500+
  5. Number of Full Length Question Sets: 6 (total = 1000+ Questions) [+1 NEW full-length Q&A Set, Fresh set of questions; +2 NEW full-length AGILE Q&A Sets - 360 questions]
  6. Practice Questions: 150 questions (average)
  7. A number of new questions for Other Questions Types: Multi-response, Drag and Drop, HotSpot, Fill in the Blanks.
  8. Smart Cards: 405 (Smart Cards referring the PMBOK Guide; +60 NEW for Agile; Total now = 465)
  9. Flow Diagram Video Exercises: 51 (Interactions among processes, documents/plans flow; +3 NEW and Total = 54)
  10. Tips and Tricks: 100s of Tips throughout the lessons
  11. Two full-length question sets specifically on AGILE, with detailed answers. Additional lesson-end practice questions.
  12. Content: Simple content and Highly interactive videos, with lots of exercises

High Level Course Breakdown
  • Welcome (9 videos): 13m 31s [13 minutes 31 seconds]
  • Lesson 1 - About PMI-PMP Exam (16 videos): 51m 17s
  • Lesson 2 - Introduction, Part 1 and Part 2 (65 videos): 4h 31m 07s
  • Lesson 3 - The Environment in Which Project Operates (25 videos): 1hr 43m 02s
  • Lesson 4 - The Role of The Project Manager (24 videos): 1hr 33m 14s
  • Lesson 5 - Project Integration Management (84 videos): 4h 41m 39s
  • Lesson 6 - Project Scope Management (56 videos): 2h 35m 34s
  • Lesson 7 - Project Schedule Management (72 videos): 3h 47m 23s
  • Lesson 8 - Project Cost Management (37 videos): 2h 38m 28s
  • Lesson 9 - Project Quality Management (44 videos): 2h 45m 07s
  • Lesson 10 - Project Resource Management (75 videos): 3h 34m 18s
  • Lesson 11 - Project Communications Management (46 videos): 2h 19m 59s
  • Lesson 12 - Project Risk Management (66 videos): 4h 10m 16s
  • Lesson 13 - Project Procurement Management (47 videos): 2h 42m 02s
  • Lesson 14 - Project Stakeholder Management (41 videos): 2h 09m 45s
  • (NEW) Lesson 15 - Agile Project Management (98 videos): 5h 47m 05s
  • Lesson 16 - Exercises for Examination Content Outline (ECO)
  • Lesson 17 - 6 Full Length Question and Answer Sets [+1 NEW full-length Q&A Set, Fresh set of questions; +2 NEW full-length AGILE Q&A Sets - 360 questions]
  • Final Talk (1 video): 3m 1s

The details on it are also available available at:
https://www.managementyogi.com/p/pmp-live-lessons.html

What is Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back Program?
You go through the videos, along with detailed instructions (also in video format), and appear in the PMP exam – only two attempts. If you couldn’t clear, share your exam report. I’ll refund your entire money - no questions asked. 

There are no little tricks, such as – “terms and conditions apply”, “appear the exam multiple times till you pass”, “** conditions (conditions with stars in the footnote in small letters)”, as you would have seen in many places. What you see (and reading in this post) is what you get.

The premise is simple.
Give the exam. You pass and you are a PMP. You win. 
In case you couldn’t clear the exam, your full money will be back with you. You still win.
 
You will also have the 35 contact hours certificate free of cost. The PMP Live Lessons course, as noted in previous top features, provides this course completion certificate. This is another win for you.

Applicability and Validity
  • Guides: PMBOK Guide, 6th edition and Agile Practice Guide (APG)
  • Valid Date for Guarantee: 6 months from the date of purchase
  • Price:
    $799 USD / Rs 63,919 (6 months access)
    $1,099 USD / Rs 87,919 (1 year or 12 months access)
  • Payment Link: paypal.me/managementyogi
    (Login, Send your payment to paypal account of ndsatya@gmail.com, Enter the amount; Invoice will be generated after payment)
    OR, you can pay via Bank Transfer or Payment. For this, please send a mail to managementyogi@gmail.com to get account the details.
  • Number of Attempts: 2
  • Available since: October, 2018
    (Updated with latest PMP Exam changes, effective January 02, 2021)
  • Primary Format: Video
  • Status: Available
    (accessible via laptop/desktop)

Detailed Course Breakdown
The detailed course breakdown is shown below (Embedded Document). It details on hours of learning, number of videos and practice questions, along with smart cards. You can scroll in the embedded frame, to see the content. The index has been updated with content for Agile/Hybrid approaches, which will be used, effective January 02, 2021.



If you want to buy or have any other question, please send an email to managementyogi@gmail.com.


Wednesday, August 22, 2018

PMP Success Story: Mission PMP

By Shalini Pathak, PMP




Introduction
I wanted to advance my carrier in management line so my husband told me to get the PMP® credential. And that's how I started to prepare for the PMP certification.

PMP 35 Contact Hours Experience
After all my research, I joined Satya’s classes for my training. I did google search and found good feedback about his classes and finally reached to attend the training on 10th March 2018.

Before the training I had read the PMBOK® Guide once. But it was Satya’s teachings that made sense to me and cleared all my doubts. I still remember all his tips and particularly the sentence “Most people could not pass PMP because they could not gather the courage to attempt it”. It kept me motivated.

Note down all the one liners which Satya tells in the class room. Along with that follow the examples, questions, videos and specially graphs. Take notes of all.

Listen carefully what Satya says when a new knowledge area starts.

Own Study
I started studying from November 2017 but only reading books were very boring until I attended training.


After training the PMBOK new version was introduced due to which I became little restless. But as I Satya had mentioned that there are not too many changes in the new edition. Hence, I decided to put my best in the first attempt. 

I used to study while commuting in the auto to and from the office. Continuity matters in the preparation. I had installed few free mobile apps which I used to solve on the way in auto. I used to study 2 hours on weekdays and minimum 4 hours over the weekends 

Before exam which was on Tuesday, I took Monday off and Saturday to Monday till 5pm I devoted my full time to ITTOs, their concepts why it is in particular process and other important topics which I had made notes during study. I was always getting 65 to 70 percent in mock tests. I attended more than 2000 questions which were available in the internet.

Due to preparation I was not able to spend time with my son which was a biggest motivation for me to clear in first attempt. Credit goes to my husband who always motivated me and helped me to achieve me this certificate.

PMP Exam Experience
I took exam appointment in Whitefield centre on 31st July 2018. My strategy was to finish every question within one minute so that I can save time for mathematical questions.

The test paper was full of tricky questions. 
  • I had to choose the document which will be updated as output or part of input to the process. 
  • Three to four questions on control chart and scatter diagram. 
  • Around twenty to thirty questions were on risk management aspects and change requests. 
  • It appeared as paper is full of Stakeholder Management, Communications Management, Risk Management, Procurement Management and Resource Management knowledge areas.
  • Four to five questions were mathematical and they were straight forward.
  • I did not get any agile related, best practices questions or emerging trend questions.

I was not sure if I can sit for so long and hence didn’t drink much water. But I didn’t feel the need to get up and refresh myself. I had put noise cancelling headphones which kept me concentrate on my test as noise is biggest distraction for me.

I finished my paper in 3hrs 45 mins. I had marked 8 questions for review in which I changed only 1 answer. After finishing when the result process was in progress I was not sure about result as you don't get much time to think about your answer as speed matters.
I passed the exam with 3 Above Targets and 2 Targets. 

Suggestions for PMP Aspirants
  • Use your commute time. Be always in touch with your preparation, even for 15mins. It helps to keep the aim of PMP in your mind. 
  • Don't read many books. Choose only one book apart from PMBOK to clear your concepts. 
  • What is not in PMBOK guide, will not be in the PMP exam (very less likely). It’s like what is not in the WBS, is not part of the project.

Conclusion
I hope that it will help me enhance my personal and professional growth.

Brief Profile
Name: Shalini Pathak
Role: Senior Lead QE
Organization: Tavant Technologies