Thursday, June 16, 2011

Resouces resources ...

Yup, I have delayed posting this entry about the resources that I will be using to prepare for the PMP exam. Thats primarily because
1. I have researched a lot of resources in the last 24 hours and have evaluated them.
2. I have tried to map the available resources against my preparation schedule.
3. I have spent a lot of time today in defining SMART goals for my preparations in terms of timelines.

So what do we have at the end of it all?

PMBOK - Unarguably the Holy Bible of project management if you EVER want to qualify as a PMP. The PMBOK is a necessary (but not suffiecient) resource for preparations. Currently in its 4th edition, it is available for download from http://www.pmi.org/ There are a lot of downloadable versions available if you look at the right places. I personally prefer to buy my version. Call me a copyright freak or a man with conscience!

Rita Mulcahy - One of the best known names in PMP circles, Rita's book "PMP Exam Prep: Rapid Learning to Pass PMI's PMP Exam-On Your First Try!" is one of the best resources available to focus on the exam itself.

Kim Heldman, Terry Wagner, Linda Zaval - The "PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Certification Kit" is a voluminous resource and is one of the best resources available in the market. Where Rita's book lacks a flow approach, Kim Heldman's book is clear, concise and very readable.

Ron Weber - "Quality Software Project Management" has been my constant companion ever since I was studying project management as a subject. Now that I have come to this point where I am preparing for the certification, Weber's book will be a constant companion yet again but will be used only for referential purposes if I get stuck somewhere and the other three books dont give me enough explaination. If it aint in Weber's book, its nowhere....

With the above mentioned three resources, I am enbarking on the journey to get the PMP Certification. Hopefully, I will complete my preparations by November and will be ready for the exam in December 2011. Now that the resource selection is done, I am so looking forward to the next two weeks in India with my family. While I am there, I will try and read Rita's books whenever I have time (yeah right) and once I am back, I plan to spend a good 2 hours a day on the three resources till I get the first reading over with. Sounds ambitions, I know. But then again, Project Management has always been close to my heart. It was my MBA specialization and my first job ever!

Ciao!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

What to Read ... oh ... what to read ...

If you google the string "PMP Prep Reources" the first thing that hits you is the very first, light grey font, reduced size line of text

About 15,000,000 results (0.22 seconds) 

15 million results!!! Amazon is no help either. I tried looking for "PMP" in amazon UK and guess what,it showed me that there are a total of 7520 resources available for the topic!

So the question remains, what should a person new to the PMI/PMP certification look for when he/she decides to prepare for the exam? Keep looking, I will post the final results in the evening :)

Project Management Professional : A new endeavour

It is June 15th 2011. Almost 4 days have gone by since I took the CISA certification exam (http://www.isaca.org/) and I was already itching to get on with something else. It was almost as if I had got addicted to reading and learning! Though the results are another 7 weeks away, I have decided to get on with my plans to prepare for another critical examination in professional circles, Project Management Institute's PMP (Project Management Professional) Qualification Examination. While I was looking around for some legitimate guide to exam preparation resources, I found a dire need for someone to share his/her experience for preparing for the exam. I wanted to know what resources they had, what strategies and plans people employed and what results their efforts brought them when they eventually took the test. Unfortunately, I could not come across a SINGLE resource ! Most of the sites were promoting their own "sure shot solution" to passing the PMP exam! I beg to differ. I do not want to just pass the exam and write those three magical letters suffixing my name. I was knowledge and I want to discover if PMP and the PMBOK actually helps me develop into a better manager.
So with that context in mind, I decided to start this blog to account for my day to day (hopefully) preparations for the exam which I plan to take in November 2011.

Ciao!