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In this issue... |
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 Hi again ,
PMP Exam is Full of ITTO Type of Questions: Is This A Myth? Many people still believe this is a myth. Well, let me clear some misconceptions in this week's newsletter.
Plus don't miss the usual PMP Exam tips and sample Q & A's.
Read on and enjoy!
Until Next Time,
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
President, OSP International LLC
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Recommended Study Materials
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 PMP Exam Prep: Rapid Learning to Pass PMI's PMP Exam - On Your First Try! by: Rita Mulcahy
Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep: Rapid Learning to Pass PMI's PMP Exam - On Your First Try (Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate) is one of the top books recommended for project managers who want to pass the PMP Exam. Written by one of the most-respected authors in the field, this is perhaps the go-to PMP-preparation guide.
Based on The PMBOK Guide, it contains a wealth of information on project management and the PMP exam, including questions, exercises and tips that focus on real-life issues - all designed to help you pass the exam the first time.
The first three chapters introduce the reader to the PMP exam. The succeeding nine chapters are dedicated to each Knowledge Area of project management. The 13th chapter tackles the Professional and Social Responsibility. In short, the book covers everything you need to know to succeed and earn your PMP certification!
This well-known and respected PMP prep book, sometimes fondly referred to as "Rita's book", is very easy to read and understand. It is well written with illustrations of project management processes that make it all the more engaging and definitely not boring.
This exceptional book will help you learn quickly and achieve your goal of passing PMP Exam on the first try!
For more information on how you can get a copy of PMP Exam: Rapid Learning to Pass PMI's PMP Exam - On your First Try, click here!
Full Disclosure: PMP Exam Prep: Rapid Learning to Pass PMI's PMP Exam - On Your First Try is an affiliate product. If you click and choose to purchase the book, we will earn a commission. |
Should you learn ITTO's by heart
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 Do you feel that in order to pass the Project
Management Professional (PMP) exam you should memorize the PMBOK Guide's
ITTOs (Inputs, Tools, Techniques and Outputs)? Do you think that the
PMP exam is full of ITTO type of questions? Many people still believe
this myth. Well, let me clear some misconceptions...
Many project managers have successfully passed the PMP exam without any
memorization. The current PMP exam is all about an in-depth
understanding of applying project management concepts and principles
from the PMBOK Guide as well as general management knowledge from other
sources to project situations.
Granted, ITTOs are a major part of the PMBOK Guide and about 75% of
material for the PMP Exam is taken from the PMBOK Guide. So it's
understandable that we assume because there are hundreds of ITTOs in the
Guide the exam must be full of knowledge-based questions about them.
And sample questions like "Which of the following is not an Input of the
Create WBS process?" are plentiful on the internet.
So should you, or should you not memorize them?
Here is my story: When I studied for my PMP exam I knew them by heart. I
could tell you exactly which ITTO is used in which process. But I took
my exam years ago. Since then the PMP exam has become more
experience-based using situational questions over knowledge-based
questions.
Therefore a change in approach is needed.
It is still important to have a general understanding about which ITTO
is used in which process, but you do not need to be able to recite them
by heart. It is much more important to understand the concept of "Why is
this ITTO used in this process?" Your knowledge about WHY an ITTO is
used in a process will definitely help you to arrive at the right
answer.
Additionally, this new approach is much more helpful for you as a
project manager in the long run. Frankly speaking, who cares whether an
ITTO is part of a particular process or not after you have passed the
PMP exam? If you need to know, you can just look it up! But knowing what
they are, why you need them and how to apply them successfully on your
projects greatly enhances your project management skills. It goes a long
way in making you an exceptional project manager.
As you are studying the ITTOs for your PMP Exam, keep the following concepts in mind:
First of all, Inputs and Outputs are always "things", like a project
management plan, a measurement, a result, an update to a plan, a
document or a deliverable. You can touch Inputs and Outputs.
Second, it is very common that an Output from one process becomes an
Input to another process. Focus your studies on understanding how these
items flow through the many processes in the PMBOK Guide in order to
produce our project deliverables. Use the many charts that the Guide
provides to see this graphically.
Third, Tools & Techniques very often have some form of "action"
attached to them, like a meeting, a methodology, a technique, a form
that you must fill in, or a matrix that you create.
And lastly, don't forget to read the complete PMBOK® Guide glossary.
Study and understand the definitions of the roughly 350 terms that you
find here. Again, you are not doing this for memorization sake, but
instead you want to learn "the language" of the PMP exam. Often we use
project management terms loosely and interchangeably in our day to day
work. But for the exam we have to know exactly what each term means.
Reading the glossary ensures that you know the correct definitions, and,
as a bonus, the glossary indicates for each term if it is an
input/output, tool or technique.
So move beyond a third-graders approach of fact memorization. Instead,
study the big picture, the data flows and how the ITTOs are the glue
between the processes.
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| Read and understand your books |
 Reading and understanding the PMBOK Guide concepts and your Exam Prep book will help you obtain your PMP Certification. |
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Sample PMP Exam Question
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You are managing a telecom project. You have got two teams reporting to you. One team is responsible for equipment installation and the other team is responsible to commission and test that equipment. Both teams are working in parallel such that as soon as the installation teams finishes equipment installation at one site they move on to another site for installations and the commissioning and testing team start their activities on the newly installed site. The reporting structure is such that each of the teams have 5 engineers headed by a team lead. Each team member interacts with each other, however only the team leads interact with you. Both the team leads also interact with each other to synchronize their operations.
How many communication channels do you have in your project?
A. 33
B. 23
C. 42
D. 78
Hint: Calculate communication channels for each team and add them together.
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PMP Exam Tip: Cost of Nonconformance
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 There are two separate components within Cost of Quality (COQ). We looked at the Cost of Conformance in our last tip and this time we'll focus on the Cost of Nonconformance. The Cost of Conformance is focused on avoiding potential failures and the Cost of Nonconformance is the cost incurred as a result of any failures because the quality expectations were not met.
This "failure" is really easy to understand: You built a product, service or result through your product and it failed to meet quality expectations. Now you have to fix it, which is going to cost you.
There are both internal and external costs related to failure. Internal costs are those identified within the scope of the project. This includes things like the time and money it will take to rework part of the project. It also includes any cost involved if you have to throw away parts of your project work, which is officially called "scrap".
External failure costs are those identified after the product or service has been delivered to the customer. This includes things like warranty fulfillment, liability costs and the potential of a loss of business.
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Solution
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The correct answer is: A
Reference: PMBOK4 - pg:253
Explanation: This was a hard question, wasn't it? Lets analyze the scenario to calculate the answer. Here we have two independent teams. Each team has 6 members, i.e., 5 engineers and one team lead. Each team member is interacting with each other, so communication channels for each team are (6)(6-1)/2=15. Both the team leads are communicating with you so there are two communication channels for this interaction. Further since both the team leads are interacting with each other there is an another communication channel between them. Hence the total communication channels in your project is 15+15+2+1=33. Choice A is the only correct answer to this question.
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Lessons Learned from Tanmoy Choudhury
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Couple of hours ago I cleared my PMP exam on first try. Here is my lesson learned
Materials Followed
- The PM Prepcast
- PMBOK by Project Management Institute
- Rita's PMP Prep Book
- Q & A for the PMBOK Guide, Project Management Institute
- Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling by Harold Kerzner (only exercise)
- Ucertify PMP Prep
Methodology
Followed PM Prepcast with PMBOK Guide to clarify basic understanding. Read Rita thoroughly for clearing additional concepts and exercise. I have revised PMBOK and Rita more than twice and also prepared note with my understanding. I took ucertify, Lehman, PM Study and Headfirst Free exams. My results came just above average. Some days back while browsing PMP site i came across Q & A for the PMBOK Guide and Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling by Harold Kerzner, ecopy which is free for members. I have gone through the Q&A for PMBOK and only exercise for Kerzer book as I did not have enough time to go through the book, but i feel that would be a great book to strength our understanding on project management concepts.
And i went ahead for the exam after rescheduling exam for more than 4times !!! I studied on and off for last 1 year.
Read more lessons learned from new PMPs here..
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