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PMP Knowledge
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In addition to selecting the appropriate methodology, project managers should proactively seek out key requirements for managing projects in accordance with internal and external requirements. These requirements can range from statutory compliance requirements as well as organizational policies that relate to decision making by the project manager. This enables correct and appropriate decisions in line with these requirements.

 

Project governance guides project management activities in different phases of a project. Armed with this guidance, a project manager does not inadvertently undertake activities or makes a decision that contravenes established norms. These norms that ought to be adhered to include the need to ensure project is undertaken in accordance with strategic direction set, making informed and well thought out decisions as well as being transparent to facilitate feedback.

 

To align projects to overall strategic direction of the organization, a structure for governance is required. This structure enables identifying a sponsor and project steering committee that oversees the activities of the project manager is identified. The project manager in turn oversees the activities of the project management team who manage the project team members. The project itself is defined as a culmination of a series of phases, each ending with a predefined phase gate in which phase deliverables are delivered.

 

Such a governance structure based on a project with clearly defined phase gates has two benefits. It offers the steering committees to provide the required oversight and decide on whether a project phase has been completed as planned. It also offers the project team an opportunity to develop lessons learned at the end of each phase by validating assumptions made at the beginning of each phase.

 

Governance structures enables roles for governance and decision making to be undertaken at appropriate levels. When requirements are fixed and validated, governance structures are based primarily on immediate reporting relationships. However, when requirements evolve with time and circumstances specific roles for governance must be established. In agile based project management approach such as scrum, the different roles for governance are delineated based on product, process as well as development.

 

A product owner is responsible for providing guidance and making decisions regarding the product being produced. This product owner represents the customer and acts as the voice of the customer.

 

A scrum master is responsible for providing guidance and making decisions regarding the process being undertaken. He or she acts as a supportive or servant leader for the scrum team.

 

The scrum development team is self-organized as they make all decisions pertaining to the development of the product that is to be delivered to the client. In this regard the team ultimately decides on the tasks as well as the duration or effort required to complete the tasks.

PMP Knowledge
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 Do you qualify for the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification?

 

 

In the field of Project Management, the most popular professional upskilling certification course is the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification. However, before anyone can join for the course and sit for the exam, they will need to qualify for the course.

 

Aspiring students will need to satisfy the following conditions:-

 

  • Degree or Diploma in any field;
  • If in possession of Degree, at least 3 non-overlapping years of project management based work experience. If in possession of a Diploma, at least 5 non-overlapping years of project management based work experience;
  • 35 Contact Hours of Project Management education with an Authorized Training Partner (ATP)

 

The first question that usually arises when an aspiring student views the terms above is if their work can be considered as a ‘project’ in the eyes of PMI. In short, if you are working towards a unique deliverable (as opposed to an operation), with defined start and end dates, it is most likely a project that you are working on.

 

As for the non-overlapping requirement, let's look at an example to see how this plays out. Assume an aspiring PMP candidate worked on multiple projects that add up to 3 years, but all projects were concurrently managed and was actually completed in 18 months. This candidate would not qualify despite the fact that both the projects he has worked on adds up to 3 years, as the timeframe was overlapping. This candidate would still need to have another 18 months of experience before being able to qualify for the examination.

 

This is what PMI means when it says your experience must be non-overlapping. Keep this in mind when adding up project experience.

 

The applicant must also show that, over the course of their experience, they have worked in some fashion on each of the five process groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. They need not have touched on all these areas for every project, nor is there an hourly requirement for each specific process group. But in the aggregate, must document some hours falling within each of these process groups over the course of the overall experience.

 

One final note on the experience requirement: PMI will not consider work experience that is obtained more than 7 years before the date of your application. This cutoff sometimes wreaks havoc for people who worked on projects in the distant past, but have not done much recently.

 

Audit

PMI will usually accept that the experience aspiring students have declared on paper without further scrutiny. However, aspiring students must not simply misstate their experience. This would be a serious ethical violation and would likely bar students from ever obtaining your PMP certification designation (or any other PMI® credential for that matter). In any case, PMI also randomly audits around 5 – 10% of all PMP exam candidates to verify that all information provided is accurate.

 

These audits are fairly simple with the first step being the submission of your education certificates. Next, applicants must verify the project experience submitted, by having your project supervisor sign off a pre-prepared letter confirming your experience in the projects listed. Finally, the applicant must prove that they have collected the required 35 Contact Hours of project management education by sharing proof of attendance.

 

If you are interested in obtaining a PMI certification but do not qualify, there is still a way to distinguish yourself before PMP certification. Aspiring project managers should consider earning their Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® Certification. Find out more here

 

If you do think you qualify, the PMP certification remains a must-have for any serious project manager, opening the door to increased salary and better job opportunities. Let us help you take the next step in your career. Contact us for further information on the course!

PMP Knowledge
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A project team consists of individuals who support the project manager in performing the work of the project to achieve its objectives. Members of the project team include the project manager, the project management team, the project staff, and all stakeholders indirectly associated with providing support. This includes operational as well as functional managers, customers, end-user, vendors as well as suppliers. These people are either actively involved in the project or whose interest may be either positively or negatively impacted by the project. They are called stakeholders.

To build a team, a project manager seeks people from different backgrounds and experiences. This ensures diversity exists. However, care should be taken to create an environment of mutual trust and respect among all team members to achieve project objectives. This is done by improving knowledge, skill and trust among team members as well as empowering them to participate collaboratively in resolving issues.

This requires, especially for agile teams, the development of generalist specialists who have core competencies as well as general skills that can be leveraged to support others. In agile teams, team members need to engage in the process of self-organization as opposed to traditional projects where command and control systems are used.

Team skills assessments enable the team to holistically identify its strengths and weaknesses. The assessments may include areas such as team preferences, aspirations as well as decision making processes. To continually assess and refresh team skills, mechanisms for analyzing skills gaps need to be developed.

To ensure that the right team members are selected, pre-assignment tools such as attitudinal surveys, structured interviews as well as ability tests may be performed. The assignment of resources is established using a resource assignment document that clarifies which team member is assigned to what task during a project. To clarify and communicate responsibilities as well as accountabilities within a team, a RACI chart is set up, which guides decision making as well as coordination between team members. Such a chart enables the depiction of people who are responsible, accountable, consulted as well as informed when undertaking different activities within a project.

In addition, an environment to facilitate knowledge transfer among team members has to be established and maintained. This enables the facilitation of collaboration as well as promotion of visibility among the team.

For agile-based teams, visibility is promoted through charts or boards containing information that radiates continuously. Such boards are called information radiators. Examples of information radiators include scrum boards, sprint planning boards, charts that depict sprint velocity.

For more insight on how to effectively build a team, join the next Project Management class and learn to be a “Project Management Professional” with PMP Malaysia!

 

PMP Knowledge
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Ground rules set clear expectations regarding the code of conduct for team members. They indicate actions that are acceptable and unacceptable within the project management context. A project manager has to ensure that ground rules are set up collectively by the team members themselves. This is done to ensure that the ground rules are agreed upon by all members who will willingly abide by them during the course of the project.

Establishing a correct ecosystem for adherence to ground rules

To establish an environment that fosters adherence to ground rules a number of considerations have to be made. One consideration is the development of a team charter. This is a document that enables the team to establish its values, agreements and practices as it performs its work together. Having this document as a reference point serves to develop a sense of reference to which all members are reminded to adhere to when dealing with issues of concern. These issues may include preferred communication guidelines, nature and frequency of meetings as well as the agreed approach to decision making and conflict resolution techniques. The conflict resolution techniques should ultimately lead to effective conflict management and avoid ineffective conflict management.

Importance of clarity of ground rules

Once such ground rules or team norms have been developed and agreed upon, they need to be communicated to all relevant stakeholders. These stakeholders should be aware of such ground rules in order to ensure clarity of the boundaries of action that may be expected by team members in the course of the project. This ensures clarity of the boundaries as well as compliance towards adherence to them and consistency to which ground rules are maintained in accordance with established agile principles.

Internal and external communication of ground rules

Apart from establishing and maintaining cohesiveness among team members, project managers need to identify norms for effective communication between internal and external team members as well. Issues such as team meetings, mechanisms for generating feedback and managing dependencies, protocols for sharing calendars between internal as well as with external stakeholders need to be established and adhered to strictly.

Dealing with violators of ground rules

In addition to developing the ecosystem for ground rules, violations of ground rules have to be addressed appropriately. Where possible, for minor violations, opportunities for remediation should be provided. For serious violations, removing or replacing the offending team member may be warranted.

For more insight on how to effectively build a team, join the next Project Management class and learn to be a “Project Management Professional” with PMP Malaysia!
PMP Knowledge
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

 

 

1. Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification

The PMP® is the premier industry-recognized certification for project managers. This course provides a great appreciation and understanding of project management concepts and methodologies. This 5 day classroom session is followed up with a 6-week self-revision plan in order to ensure you pass the PMP examination on the first attempt.

 

Project Management Professionals are highly vaunted and roles requiring PMPs are usually very well paid, as per the image below.

 

Now, you can obtain the valuable PMP® Certification from the comfort of your own home, with our live instructor led online classes! All students will be provided with an opportunity to participate in a virtual PMP classroom at pre-specified dates where you will engage in both interactive lectures as well as tutorial sessions. We are a South East Asian based Approved Training Provider (A.T.P.) for Project Management Institute (PMI), USA. You will receive official PMI licensed materials and all other PMP learning materials required to prepare yourself for the PMP exam.

 

Click here to view more details of the course.

 

 

 

2. Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® Training

  

 

According to PMI’s 2015 Pulse of the Profession® report, organizations with standardized practices in project management attain better results than those that do not. Based on this, there is a rapidly growing demand for expertise in project management is a profession. Based on projections made by PMI, through 2020, 1.57 million new jobs will   created each year and qualified practitioners are in demand.

 

As more companies adopt project management into their businesses, the demand for knowledgeable practitioners increases globally. The Certified Associate in Project Management, an internationally recognized professional certification in Project Management, is now a highly sought-after industry recognition. It is the sister certification to PMP, and is meant for participants who do not qualify for the PMP certification, but still wish to obtain project management certification.

Our 3-day training course shall ensure our CAPM aspirants will gain mastery of core project management methodologies, skills and tools as outlined by PMI.

This course is conducted by an experienced and certified Project Management Professional, Consultant and Practitioner. Participants are also enrolled to a range of post-training support including online coaching and other materials. You can get up to 23 PMI – PDUs by joining this session.

Click here to find out more.

 

 

 

AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

 

 

 

 3. PMI – Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP)

 

 

Being an Agile Certified Practitioner certified by the Project Management Institute, PMI ®, is a testament to expertise within the realm of being able to manage agility. Agility is crucial in an uncertain and volatile business environment.


As an Authorized Training Provider (A.T.P), we are well poised in assisting you to prepare for the PMI-ACP exam with the latest resources from PMI. 

Our 3-day training course shall ensure our PMI-ACP aspirants will gain mastery of core agile methodologies, skills and tools as outlined under PMI’s Agile Practice Guide. The session is conducted by an experienced PMI-ACP practitioner. Participants are provided with a wealth of Agile tools and templates in order to practically apply concepts learnt during the course.

Click here to find out more.

 

 

 

4. Scrum Master Certification (SMC)

Scrum is an Agile Project Management methodology, with an emphasis on ensuring value is delivered to the client and organization. Whilst it is primarily used by software development professionals, it is now gaining in popularity across various industries.

Our 2-day online Scrum Master Certification preparatory session is conducted using both live training and e-learning methodologies. Now, you can attend classes and sit for the Scrum Master Certification exam, all at the comfort of your own home!

We currently boast a 100% pass rate for our Scrum Master Ceritfication course, with over 400 students. This course comes with 19 PDU points.

Click here to find out more.

 

 

 

5. Scrum Product Owner Certified (Self Study)

 

Agile Project Management is targeted for project teams working on very crucial projects. This course aims to enhance the know-how of adopting a lean perspective and applying agile principles when managing complex projects, in the perspective of the Product Owner. It is based on the Scrum methodology, which has its principles and approach deeply rooted in the Scrum Body of Knowledge (“SBOK”).

 

Participants will be exposed to Scrum principles, processes as well as a case study. The case study approach will enable the participants to gain practical experience on how to apply the principles and processes covered in the session.

 

Click here to find out more.

 

 

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

 

6. Certified Knowledge Manager

 

 

The Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM®) is the Flagship Certification course from the Knowledge Management Institute (KMI), delivered in up to 15 countries annually with many thousands Certified since 2001.

The CKM is ideal for anyone tasked to lead or improve a Knowledge Management initiative. Whether public or private sector, large or small – the CKM is the leading international standard for all Knowledge Management professionals and the top choice for anyone interested in gaining a solid grasp of common KM principles at an advanced level with actual "hands-on" experience performing KM.

There are no prerequisites, and no technical background is required. Click here to find out more.

 

Dr Rumesh Kumar

  1. Manage Project Issues
  2. Executing Projects to Deliver Business Value
  3. Project Management Professional (PMP) Latest Course Outline
  4. What is the difference between the old and new PMP Exam Syllabus?

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