Archive for February, 2010

Subject: Jobs and Project Management Qualifications – by: pnaybour

Project Management Jobs Special Podcast
Next week we have a special edition podcast with Lindsay Scott, Director of Arras people on how to present yourself to employers in this new jobs market. Should be interesting!

What questions should I ask her?

Special prize for the hardest question?

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This is a discussion topic started on the Parallel Project Training Community of Practice forum. You can click here to read the main topic and join in the discussion.

Project Management Jobs Special Podcast

Next week we have a special edition podcast with Lindsay Scott, Director of Arras people on how to present yourself to employers in this new jobs market. Should be interesting!

Project Management Training: Can’t afford 5-days out of the office?

During the past decade project management has undergone a transformation with through greater codification and formal certification. This certification and been based on the Association for Project Management (APM), Prince2TM and Project Management Institute (PMI) under taken by seemingly ever increasing number of organisations and individuals. With over half a million members of the PMI, 250,000 Prince2 Practitioners and 17,500 members of the APM, the world has seen a rapid growth in project management certification, much of it in the last ten years.

Traditionally this certification has been delivered as five days in a hotel with an exam on a Friday. Is this really the best way of developing project managers, or was it organised this way for the convenience of the training organisation and the HR department?

The weaknesses of the current 5-day project management training paradigm.

Project Managers are inherently activists, they learn by doing, so to remove them from a project for five days to develop new skills, always creates an artificial environment. Learning cannot be applied to the work place in bite size pieces. Putting the exam at the end of the course creates the pressure to focus on passing the test and not learning new skills. Some enlightened organisations recognised this limitation and committed to slightly longer modular programmes of two times 3 days or even 3 times 2 days. This at least gave time for individuals to apply what they were learning as they went. However in the tougher economic times organisations are beginning to challenge the paradigm of a week out of the office to pass a qualification. The challenge now is how to cover the wide range of project management topics in less time without reducing the quality of the learning.

Innovation has the solution

As with many such challenges technical innovation has the solution. Learning does not have to be done in the classroom. We can learn in many ways, through on the job exercise, reading books listening to the radio, playing on the computer. All the learner needs is access to the right material to help and guide the learning process. This needs to be available in a wide range of media to suit the learning style and approach of the individual. This is what is offered by the Parallel Learning System.

Parallel Learning System

The Parallel Learning System provides a wide range of learning activities including to a study guide printed as a book, e-learning, podcasts and workshops. Each can be used individually or as a combined approach to learning. Each element is widely available, the book and e-learning are easily purchased from Amazon and the podcasts can be downloaded free of charge from the web or iTunes. This whole approach means that the workshops can focus on skills development and preparing for the exam.

Click here for more information on innovative approaches to project management training.

Podcast: APMP Module 3.6 Project Office

This Podcast covers the APM BOK topics 1.6 Project Office, including the roles of the project office, different types of project office, benefits of a project office, and role of project support in project management. It is part of the Parallel Project learning system and is ideally used in conjunction with the APMP study guide.

Subject: APMP Open Exam; Good Luck – by: pnaybour

Good luck to all those doing the APMP open public exam using our study guides, podcasts and e-learning. How did you get on, post your feedback below. Any difficult questions and we will cover them in this forum and the next podcasts.

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This is a discussion topic started on the Parallel Project Training Community of Practice forum. You can click here to read the main topic and join in the discussion.

Subject: Sample Questions – by: pnaybour

I sounds to me like you will be fine, if you have worked through the book and tried the samle questions from the APM at http://www.apm.org.uk/download.asp?fileID=1300 then you should be fine. If you are unsure about any areas then you could try our e-learning our APMP study guide both of which has lots of IC like quick quizes. However it is realy targeted as those doing the APMP, a good way of finding out if you are ready for the next step.

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This is a discussion topic started on the Parallel Project Training Community of Practice forum. You can click here to read the main topic and join in the discussion.

Subject: How the pass the APMP Webinar? Anyone interested? – by: pnaybour

We have just completed a pilot webinar with Cisco, please get in touch if you woul be interested in attending an open webinar APMP programme?

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This is a discussion topic started on the Parallel Project Training Community of Practice forum. You can click here to read the main topic and join in the discussion.

Subject: APM Project Management (APMP) Top 10 Tips – by: pnaybour

1) Make sure you download the syllabus from the APM website https://apm.org.uk/download.asp?fileID=489

2) Get hold of a copy of the AMP Body of Knowledge. Members can download it free, so find a friend who is a member of the APM and borrow there copy.

3) Review the syllabus and check those areas that are new or you don’t understand. Then prepare a revision plan.

4) Make sure you could answer exam questions based on each of the learning objectives in the syllabus.

5) Prepare some sample answers and post them on this forum and we will give you feedback.

6) Understand the format of the exam answers expected for the different types of exam question, list, state, describe and explain.

7) Make sure you answer the required ten questions, no more no less.
Try our free How to Pass the APMP e-learning module.

9) Listen to our free APM Project Management podcasts on iTunes or download them from the web. You can load these onto you MP3 player.

10) Get a copy of our APMP study guide

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This is a discussion topic started on the Parallel Project Training Community of Practice forum. You can click here to read the main topic and join in the discussion.

Subject: Requirements for Chartered Project Professional – by: john bolton

Ten things a project manager must be good at

1. Being able to understand and empathise with the stakeholders in the project to make sure that their needs and wants are catered for.
2. Producing a coherent plan that makes proper allowance for the tasks that need to be done underpinned with properly considered estimates.
3. Understanding and deal with all potential risks to the project and be able to make proper provision for risks.
4. Motivating the team so that they fully understand the nature of the work involved in producing the products and they are properly supported in the delivery of them.
5. Building strong relationships within their own, and the client’s organisations to make sure that they have access to excellent decision making.
6. Managing contractors in such a way that they are properly involved in the delivery of the project in a collaborative way.
7. Understanding the nature of the project environment so that the external influences are properly understood and their impact on the project managed.
8. Managing changes properly so that the original baseline is controlled and scope creep and other unwanted changes do not detract from the plan.
9. Preparing proper documentation such as business plans and project management plan and make sure they are controlled using an effective configuration management process.
10. Communications skills being able to properly get their message across to sponsors, backers, team members and the external stakeholders.

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This is a discussion topic started on the Parallel Project Training Community of Practice forum. You can click here to read the main topic and join in the discussion.

Subject: Sample APMP Question and Answers – by: pnaybour

Explain the strengths and weaknesses of managing a project in a matrix type of organisation structure
The key strengths of a matrix are
1) Flexibility to rapidly deploy multi skilled team to meet an urgent need of a project. This is because the project can draw a range of different skills from the function departments. Examples of this include the London 2012 bid team which was pulled from a number of different organisations into a matrix project team.
2) Matrix’s are very good at developing general project management skills. This is because managers get exposure to a wide range of technical skills instead of spending a lifetime in one function. Examples of this include technical managers who get exposure to finical and commercial skills through a matrix organisation
3) Function managers can develop and enforce common standards, systems and processes for technical work. This can prevent project re-onventing the wheel and developing their own standards. Examples of this include common CAD standards
Disadvantages of a Matrix are:
4) Individuals report to two or more managers. This can lead to confusion over project priorities and conflict over the best resources and each project manager wants the best people on their team. For example and engineer may have to balance the demands for his / her time across several projects, whithout guidance from managers on priority.
5) Conflict of the roles and responsibilities between technical and project managers in the matrix. The organisation need to absolutely clear on the different roles of the PM and line manager. For example the project manager determines what, when and the budget. While the line manager is responsible for technical standards, acceptance and assurance.

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This is a discussion topic started on the Parallel Project Training Community of Practice forum. You can click here to read the main topic and join in the discussion.