Tag Archives: PMP

From PMP or CAPM certification to PRINCE2 Practitioner

prince2-for-pmp-capm-holderscomparing-prince2-with-pmpFor those who have a PMP or CAPM certification there is a fast track to become PRINCE2 Practitioner. You can directly go for the PRINCE2 practitioner certification without PRINCE2 Foundation certification.

Simon Buehring from KnowledgeTrain wrote two nice articles to support this track:

Lost in standards

Dia1In the last “projectie, edition 04-2014”, the bi-monthly magazine of ipma-nl, I published a Dutch article about the many methods and frameworks that are available in the field of portfolio, programme and project management. To download: Verdwaald in het standaardenbos IPMA Projectie magazine 04-2014 I created a sort of quick reference card with available standards and frameworks (It’s limited, there are many more). To download: standards-qrc-170129-v1-9

In the middle of the quick reference card you find a generic model with portfolio, programme and project management as horizontal boxes. Behind these boxes you will find vertical boxes with PMO, IT, benefits management, value management and risk management to support project, programme and portfolio management. And as the background I used two triangles representing the people and maturity of project, programme and portfolio management. From this model I made connections with several well-known organizations that develop and own standards. E.g. Axelos as the owner of PRINCE2, MSP, MoP, MoV, MoR, P3M3 and ITIL or PMI as the owner of PMBoK, The standard for Portfolio Management, The standard for Programme Management, OPM3, etc. You will also find AMPG, APM, IPMA and several suppliers of Agile/Scrum as well as some ISO models. dia1 In the Dutch article, I focus on the usage of these standards. It’s not that simple that you only have to select a project management method. Je must be aware that it will not be possible to implement all your ideas and ambitions. You have to select the right initiatives. This will ask for a portfolio management method. To realize your strategic objectives, you need more than only projects. You will run programmes too, asking for a programme management method. Besides temporary project and programme offices you probably need a permanent portfolio office as well as a centre of excellence to communicate, support and train staff to use these standards and best practices.

At a certain moment you want to know were you are from a maturity view, in comparison with others, and based on your own ambition you would like to know the gap you have to bridge. It will be beneficial for an organization if all these models or frameworks are connected to each other. As a rule of thumb, I would advice an organization to choose for either Axelos or PMI as the starting point and combine your choice with the competence baseline from IPMA. If you choose e.g. for PRINCE2, it makes sense to choose for MSP and MoP for your programme and portfolio management. For maturity scans you look at P3M3 because that’s in line with these standards. Your temporary and permanent PMO will be supported by P3O, etc. For supplementary techniques you could make use of the PMBoK from PMI.

Or, when you started with the PMI family, it makes sense to combine this with the project or programme board approaches from PRINCE2 and MSP and the usage of business cases as described in PRINCE2 9789401800068_CoverLR-541x850I am one of the authors of the book Global standards and publications, edition 2014/2015, Van Haren Publishing. You can download a free copy of this book. http://www.vanharen.net/file/PDF/9789401800068.pdf Please let me know if you are aware of new standards that are worthwhile to mention in this QRC.

for a comparison between PRINCE2 and PMBoK see the overview from KnowledgeTrain: Comparison PRINCE2/PMBoK

Update:

  • 17/01/29: Added PM2 Project Management Methodology from The European Commission
  • 17/01/29: Added Scrum @ Scale from Srcuminc.com
  • 16/01/23: Added Nexus (Scaled Professional Scrum) from Scrum.org
  • 15/10/04: IPMA ICB3 replaced with ICB4
  • 15/07/07: Added new Axelos framework PRINCE2 Agile
  • 15/05/27: Added Change mgt vertical + CMBoK (Change Management body of Knowledge) + CHAMPS2
  • 15/04/24: Added ISO 21500 project, 21503 programme, 21504 portfolio, 21505 Governance, 21506 Vocabulary
  • 15/02/24: Added CCPM (Goldratt), CMMi, Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS)
  • 14/10/21: Added Exin Agile Scrum from EXIN
  • 14/09/29: Added Agile Programme Management (Agile PgM) from APMG
  • 14/09/29: Added PRiSM™ (Projects integrating Sustainable Methods) from GPM
  • 14/09/29: Added Portfolio, Program & Project Sustainability Model (PSM3) from GPM

Review: PRINCE2 Tetris game by Nader Khorrami Rad

To prepare yourself for your PRINCE2 Foundation exam I found some interesting tetris games. There are three versions:

These are very easy to handle games. You see e.g. an activity (block) and you have to move it (via the up and down arrow) to the right process (row). After each question the speed increases. If you put it in the wrong line you see a red bar (and you get the correct answer too). The game will end when you can’t move the answers to the correct line. So it’s a different way to educate you by playing these games.

Only pity is the fact that it will not play on an iPad but for the rest it’s really nice and will definitely help you to prepare for the PRINCE2 Foundation exam. There are also games to help you with the PMP exam (based on the PMBoK, see picture, PRINCE looks similar)

iPhone Apps for Project Management

Just by coincidence I saw an iPhone App about project management. Curious if there was more I did a small investigation. And I must say there was more than I thought. I found a couple of applications to get access to project management files of existing project management tools but most of the applications will help you to prepare for an exam like PMP or PRINCE2. Some applications are related to project management quotations and proverbs and some are complete books. I will give you my list.

PRINCE2 Foundation Exam Prep
This App contains 141 detailed questions and answers to prepare you for the PRINCE2 foundation Exam. Each answer is paired with a Key Takeaway to bridge the gap between conceptual knowledge and practical application.

Project Management Processes
For each PMBoK process, you will get quick access to the list of inputs, tools & techniques, outputs as well as some general information about were this process is described and used in the PMBoK.

Project Management Calculations and Formulas
Contains 100 tough questions using mathematical concepts and formulas based on the PMBoK 4th edition.
EVA, CPM, PV, FV, PERT, SD, VAR, EMV, ROI, NPV, IRR, BCR, PTA and much more

CetExam: Microsoft 70-281 Planning, Deploying, and Managing an Enterprise Project Management Solution
Q&A and interactive exams

Project Management Quotations
“Quotations” pertain to memorable sayings by famous individuals in the history of mankind, which are usually referred to as means of emphasizing an assertion when discussing a specific subject

Project Manager says …
This App provides a collection of project management proverbs that will be chosen randomly Some proverbs are just entertaining and some are really worth thinking about and sometimes they are even very educating.

97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
Contains 97 short and extremely practical tips. You will learn how others have dealt with everything from managing teams to handling project stakeholders to runaway meetings and more.

Agile Project Management with Scrum
Best practices book from Microsoft by Ken Schwaber