Financial ventures and creative campaigns today happen on much larger scales than they have in the past due to the evolution of communications and the global marketplace. For this reason endeavors such as these involve many more people. It is essential to have project managers that can maintain the integrity and direction of such projects in order to give them the best chance for success. Becoming a successful project manager involves having both a successful track record the proper education and credentials. These are the guidelines that companies and individuals use when picking out the types of professionals that they want to work with to ensure a lucrative future. A PMP Credential is a common type of certification that is sought after in this area of business. PMP or the Project Manager Professional certification leads the industry as an indicator that an individual has the necessary education and experience needed to successfully direct large and vital projects.

In comparison to other working project managers, studies have shown that those individuals employed with a PMP certification earn up to ten percent more than their peers in the field. Attaining this certification involves taking a simple exam that allow you to advance your career right away. This exam consists of two hundred question that are in a multiple choice format. While these specifications may sound simple, it is imperative that applicants prepare for the exam, regardless of the extent of their management experience. As is true with most standardized exams, study aides and study programs are beneficial. Those candidates that have been successful in the past report spending thirty-five hours or more in preparation. This time included many activities that allowed them to become familiar with the material and come into the exam with the confidence that helped ensure success.

Studying the PMP credential handbook clarifies all of the qualifications that this exam is designed to assess. Reviewing the PMP Sample questions also lets applicants become familiar with the structure in which content will be presented so that they can properly tailor their study methods to be as prepared as possible. For those individuals that do their best work in groups, there are Registered Education Providers that set up study sessions or can provide tested and published study materials. It is also recommended that applicants form study groups with their colleagues, whether those be individuals that they work with or new colleagues that they meet with virtually. Guides books can be found online which are consistently updated to provide students with the latest knowledge base and methods for preparation. By taking this exam you can get your career as a project manager started off on the right foot or take a step forward in the career path that you have already established!Similar Posts:

• Would You Hire Lord Sugar as a Project Sponsor?
• Presentation on how to pass the APMP exam
• The difference between Complex and Complicated Projects

The presentation below has the latest guidance on how the pass the APMP exam

How the pass the APMP ExamSimilar Posts:

• PMP Certification A Project Manager’s Next Best Step
• How Long Will It Take to Get My APMP Results?
• Would You Hire Lord Sugar as a Project Sponsor?

No longer to you have to guess what you activity duration might be, this new estimating technique has all the answers, cheap, more liable and fun too,

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• The difference between Complex and Complicated Projects

Every week we see the candidates in the Apprentice try to deliver a project set by Lord Sugar. Usually planning is poor, execution is far from perfect, team work is lacking, the benefits are dubious and someone gets fired. However is it fair to blame the project manager, surely the sponsor has ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of the project? So is LordSugar a good role model for a project sponsor? Would he be hired or fired as a project sponsor?

The Association for Project Management Body of Knowledge a project sponsor as

Project Sponsor is an active senior management role, responsible for identifying the business need, problem or opportunity. The sponsor ensures the project remains a viable proposition and that the benefits are realised, resolving any issues outside the control of the project manager.

Interesting, Lord Sugar (or at least the production team) fulfils the first part of this role “defined the business need” but his performance in “ensuring the project remains viable and that benefits are realised” is woefully inadequate. He is a “fire and forget” sponsor of the worst kind. Sets the project off then provides no support to the project.

According the Association for Project Management the sponsor needs to be

1. A business leader and decision taker who is able to work across functional boundaries within an organisation.
   
2. An advocate for the project and the change it brings about.
   
3. Prepared to commit sufficient time and support to undertake the role.
   
4. Sufficiently experienced in project management to be able to judge whether the project is being managed effectively.
   

Lord Sugar’s support to the project is too passive to meet these criteria but in fact be typical of many real project sponsors.

The Bok also say “without clear goals, direction and business leadership provided by the sponsor even the best project manager and project team can struggle to succeed. Similarly, without clear, timely decisions and support the project will falter.” So can we blame the project manager for the poor performance on the apprentice project managers? As far as your role of project sponsor I am afraid Sir Alan you’re fired.

However if Lord Sugar did follow the APM guidance for a good sponsor then most of the projects would be successful and the programme would be very boring. Maybe there are lessons for the sponsors of business projects in Lord Sugar’s approach.Similar Posts:

• The difference between Complex and Complicated Projects
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• Have more fun with your project management, submit your ideas now.

Inspired by this fantastic blog post about fun ways of doing day to day things, we are running a competition to capture the best ideas for having more fun in project management  bringing the f word back into projects.

Submit your ideas below

Fantastic prizes are up for offer including

1.  A copy of the Lazy Project Manager from Peter Taylor (@thelazypm) http://www.thelazyprojectmanager.com/
2. A free project management distance learnng course from @paralleprojecttraining http://www.parallelprojecttraining.com/
3. €10 Amazon gift certificate from Jacques Dunselman(@pmflying), connecting PM with the world of aviation on http://pm.withflyingcolors.biz
4. $15 ebay gift card from Kathlika Thomas and the IT Project Blog (@nuwave); videos, tips and tools for project managers http://www.nuwave-tech.com/it-project-blog

Submit your ideas below the best idea will be judged in the best traditions of TV dance competition by:

1. The Public Vote (50%)
2. Jury of @paralleprojecttraining, @pmflying, @nuwave and @thelaztpm

The closing date will be the 31st December 2010 and the prizes will be awarded early in the new year.

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• PMP Certification A Project Manager’s Next Best Step
• Would You Hire Lord Sugar as a Project Sponsor?

Several people have been asking how long will it take to get my APMP exam results? Currently it is taking between 4 to 6 weeks for the results to come through from the APM.

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• PMP Certification A Project Manager’s Next Best Step
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What is meant by a complex project?

The world if full difference when we talk about complex projects. Is complexity the same as complicated? By complex do we just mean a large project, one which is geographical distributed or using complex technology? Or are these mega project just more complicated.

Complexity

Within business complexity is defined as

“Complexity describes the variances in approach and their consequences on the business”

I think complexity is closely related to ambiguity of project goal and method of delivery, because complexity is caused by the challenges of planning the project in the first place and likely level of anticipated change. This complexity makes it impossible to sit down and plan the project in a clear way from start to end; we need a slightly more flexible approach to the traditional “plan the work” “work the plan”. This can be represented by an adaptation of Rodney Turners classic goal method matrix

The higher the levels of ambiguity about the project goal and uncertainty about the delivery method make it more difficult to manage in a traditional way. This seems more important than the pure size of the project. Some large complicated projects have clear goals and known methods and these can be managed in a very traditional way. This definition differs from the normal multi organisation; multi-phase definition defined by the APM, but is nevertheless more relevant to help think about the complexity of the projects we manage.

Comments?Similar Posts:

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