April 2013 Blog Posts (15)

Looking to become PMI-ACP® Certified? Then the easily accessible PMI-ACP® Prep Video Workshop, The Agile PrepCastTM is just what you need.

SILVERADO, April 26, 2013 - The Agile PrepCastTM is released today and is aimed towards helping those who have the goal of obtaining their PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® certification. The certification is offered by The Project Management Institute…

The power of a written plan to influence outcomes cannot be underestimated. This works at the personal level and the business level. The only requirement is the people involved in making the plans happen need to be committed to the planned outcome.

The following survey demonstrates the power of a plan at the personal level:

HARVARD STUDY – Evidence that writing down your goals works

Students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program were asked: ‘Have you set and…

The following PMP® exam sample question is taken from the Free PMP Exam Simulator:



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On your IT project, you are using new software to develop new applications for your customers. Some of your staff is not familiar with the new software. Therefore, you want to train the team members who are working on those applications. The training needs for a project should be documented in which of the following processes?



A.) Develop Project…

A project manager agrees to manage a technical project that was two years old and had two previous project managers.  Given repeated failures and lack of progress, the assigned engineering team had little faith that the new project manager would make a difference.  But the project had the attention of the executive steering committee and canceling it was not an option.  So the project manager went on a mission to turn things around, and discovered that disruptions and other work requests…

Yesterday, while visiting a client, I got a great idea. It was one of those problem-solver moments where you have to capture it, share it, and move on it as fast as possible. But my team was nowhere nearby.

So I took out my iPad, and opened my LiquidPlanner app, and put my idea into action. Here’s what I did:

• Created a new project and a few related tasks
• Added notes to describe the project’s purpose
• Created a checklist of to-do’s, with each one…

Developing an effective schedule for a complex project is an art. The schedule has to be an effective communication medium at many different levels:

• Communicating strategy and the overall concepts of the project to senior management (ideally on one page)
• Providing direction to managers within the project on what’s required of their section (eg, design or procurement)
• Coordinating issues between sections
• Providing details of the work to be done this…

The “Risk Matrix” – Explained

The Risk Matrix is also popularly known as the Probability and Impact Matrix. The Risk Matrix is used during Risk Assessment and is born during Qualitative Risk Analysis in the Risk Management process. It is a very effective tool that could be used successfully with Senior Management to raise awareness and increase visibility of risks so that sound decisions on certain risks can be made in context.

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The project manager says to the PMO manager, “2013 is going to be a busy year for us, with all of the new projects starting in just a few short weeks.  I hope we have enough project managers to handle the workload.”  The boss agrees, “Yeah, I just received this year’s list of projects and I think we are in for a busy year too.  We may…

I went to the New Zealand PRINCE2 User Group Wellington Chapter meeting on Tuesday night. As usual the calibre of speakers were excellent. Conrad McDonnell and …

The following PMP® exam sample question is taken from the Free PMP Exam Simulator:



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The theory that states that information regarding the way in which people, teams, and organizational units behave is known as?



A.) Networking Theory

B.) Human Resource Theory

C.) Organizational Theory

D.) Behavior Theory



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Hint: This theory is a tool used in the Develop Human…

Hello Everyone,

we need to talk for some better business!

I have a business which might be interested to you.

You can write me through this email: bsd-london@mailzone.com
Thank you, 
Ryan.

Project management is currently undergoing its own Cambrian era, the geological period some 500 million years ago in which an epic explosion in diversity and transformation took place.  Whereas just a decade ago there were only a handful of robust desktop project management applications available in the market, there are now dozens (if not hundreds) of products available on the desktop, online, and on mobile devices.

Likewise, the Web has enabled more voices to contribute to the…

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But for a limited time ONLY, we are giving you an additional 20-day access to The PM Exam Simulator…

The following PMP® exam sample question is taken from the Free PMP Exam Simulator:



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The PMBOK Guide recommends the use of the PERT formula for estimating durations and costs. However, there are situations when three points (optimistic, most likely and pessimistic) are not available. Rather, only upper and lower limits are available. For these kinds of situations, which statistical distribution can you use for your estimations?



A.) Beta…

I have just finished reading an article by Simon Harris on the use of 3M’s ubiquitous Post-It Notes in developing a schedule. Reading the article and taking a quick tour of Simon’s website reinforced a whole range of thoughts ideas and practices I have held for a long time:

1. Schedules cannot control the future, there are numerous posts on my blog and papers on the …