Resource Optimization: A Good Idea?

Project Schedule Management is a significant part of not only the PMP® exam but of project management in general. Preparing and tracking a schedule is a fundamental part of project management, to the extent that many practitioners regard it as project management! On this page: Understanding Resource Levelling and its Impact on the Schedule Anyone who has taken […]

Being a Facilitating Project Manager

If you have studied for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam you will, more than likely, remember “Facilitation”. Facilitation is defined as an Interpersonal and Team Skill and is required to ensure that meeting, particularly brainstorming meetings are productive. Facilitation appears as a tool / technique in integration (Develop Project Charter, Develop Project Management Plan, Manage […]

5 Essential Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam Tips

PMBOK, PMP, PgMP, CAPM, PMI-SP and PMI-RMP are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Preparing for the PMP® Exam: What Happens on the Day

Uncertainty causes stress. Given that every project is unique and all have their fair share of unknowns, the role of a project manager tends to be stressful. It is probably for that reason that the Project Management Institute (PMI) insists that aspiring Project Management Professionals (PMPs)® sit the PMP® exam in a Pro-Metric Centre, rather than in […]

Project Crashing in Project Management

Whether you have a certificate in project management or not, it is probably true to state that you cannot consider yourself a project manager until you have dealt with at least one project that has drifted away from its baseline schedule. This is a regular occurrence. Every project has an element of uncertainty and schedules […]

Managing Upwards

For Project Managers, managing the team is a major responsibility. Many, especially those who have been promoted from technical roles, find this a difficult aspect of project management. Many technical gurus tend to have introverted personalities and have difficulty guiding others. However, experience helps and following the advice offered in the Guide to the Project […]

Satisfying the Customer

A story is told about a student who sat the Leaving Certificate history exam and was faced with a question along the lines of: Describe Daniel O’Connell’s contribution to Irish history? The student began by stating that he did not know anything about Daniel O’Connell but would instead detail Padraig Pearce’s contribution. History does not […]

The Project Management Professional (PMP)®Certification

Studies indicate that only one-quarter of all projects world-wide succeed in achieving quality, cost and schedule objectives. With the ever increasing pressure to manage costs and an equally aggressive market space for quality products delivered to scheduled dates; the need for certified project managers is increasing. The Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification is the most widely […]

Getting a Return on Your PMP® Investment

If you use software packages, you will have noticed that these things get updated frequently. While it’s great to see bugs getting fixed, I often despair at the way the user interface seems to change with each upgrade. Just as you get used to the foibles of the current version, along comes an update, and […]

How to Manage Project Scope

For the uninitiated, the terms “validation” and “verification” are inter-changeable – they both mean some form of checking. But quality assurance and control (QA/QC) people and project management professionals (PMPs)® are very aware of the difference. On this page: Importance of Project Scope Management Barry Boehm (the author of the seminal book “Software Engineering Economics”) put […]