The categories used by PMI’s certification renewal system to record PDUs have been updated. The new terminology is:

Ways of Working (Previously Technical Project Management) Whether it’s predictive, agile, design thinking, or new practices still to be developed, it’s clear that there is more than one way that work gets done today. That’s why we encourage professionals to master as many ways of working as they can – so they can apply the right technique at the right time, delivering winning results.

Power Skills (Previously Leadership) These interpersonal skills include collaborative leadership, communication, an innovative mindset, for-purpose orientation, and empathy. Ensuring teams have these skills allows them to maintain influence with a variety of stakeholders – a critical component for making change.

Business Acumen (Previously Strategic and Business Management) Professionals with business acumen understand the macro and micro influences in their organization and industry and have the function- or domain-specific knowledge – to make good decisions. Professionals at all levels need to be able to cultivate effective decision-making and understand how their projects align with the big picture of broader organizational strategy and global trends.

The Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR) handbook has also been updated. For more information, links and downloads, see: https://mosaicprojects.com.au/PMKI-TPI-023.php

The last major deliverable from Project Governance & Controls Symposium held in Canberra last month is complete! A core objective of PGCS is to make useful information available to the project management profession – our library is open to you and anyone you know who has an interest in project governance, management and controls. To support this aim, all of the available presentations (a few are not available for sharing) from the 2019 PGCS have now been uploaded to the PGCS on-line library.The quickest way to find a paper from this year’s symposium is at:
https://www.pgcs.org.au/library/2019/.

While on the page, you can explore presentations and resources from the last 7 years a well. If you want more information on a specific subject, all available papers grouped into categories are available at:
https://www.pgcs.org.au/library/library/

As good project managers, our 2020 Symposium is already being developed, if you have ideas to contribute or simply want to be kept up to date register your interest at: https://consec.eventsair.com/pgcs-2020/registration-of-interest/Site/Register

This change means there is adequate time to complete Mosaic’s Mentored Email course starting at any time through to February 2020. To access this highly successful course:
– For more on our Mentored Email delivery see: Mosaic’s Mentored Email Training 
– The PMP course fee is AU $680.00 plus GST for Australian residents only (approximately US$500).
– To request Module 1 ‘on approval’ contact us including your basic address and asking for PMP Module 1.

Our dedicated PMP website was closed in July 2019 based on advice from PMI issues in 2018 that the examination would change on 15th December 2019. We are not in a position to re-open this facility but all of our office systems are still supporting a range of candidates working to complete their course.  Contact us to discuss your PMP training needs.

In addition, our PM Final Exam simulator continues to be a valuable aid in preparing for your exam (it’s included in the course fee). While stock last you can buy a 90 day licence for $50. See more at: https://mosaicprojects.com.au/PMKI-TPI-020.php#PM-Final

PMI have announced the biggest change in the PMP exam since the change to a 200 question format last century! 

The just released PMP® Exam Content Outline has radically reformed the examination to reflect the diverse skills and approaches needed by project managers to deliver outcomes and value to their organizations.  The new exam will cover both predictive (~50%) and agile/hybrid (~50%) approaches to project management (the current exam is 90%+ predictive); this change will bring the Agile Practice Guide, bundled with the PMBOK® Guide 6^th Edition into the exam.

Of equal significance, the domains and tasks that frame the examination have been completely reorganized to align with real-life practices. The number of domains will be reduced from five to three. Specific project management approaches will not be aligned to individual domains, but will be incorporated throughout the exam.  The new domains are:

People (42%): emphasizing the skills and activities associated with effectively leading a project team.

Process (50%): reinforcing the technical aspects of managing a project.

Business Environment (8%): highlighting the connection between projects and organization strategy.

Predictive, agile and hybrid approaches, will be included across the three exam domains. The best way to understand what is included in the exam is to review the updated Exam Content Outline, download from: https://www.pmi.org/certifications/types/project-management-pmp/exam-prep/changes

Given the extent of these changes, anyone studying current course material will need to have passed their PMP exam by December, or face a completely new course of study.  Based on previous changes to the PMP exam there is no leeway, exams taken on or before the 15 December will be the current exam, those taken on or after the 16 December will be the new exam (including any deferrals and re-sits).

This shift in the PMP exam is focused on supporting information technology and business organizations, reflects the needs of most current PMI members, and should be applauded. However, from our perspective, the shift is moving the core of the exam into areas we have no specific skills in.

My career has focused on supporting major engineering, construction and defense projects which require disciplined project controls. And while we can rewrite our materials, our core differentiation has always been the fact we are not just a training organization, rather we have real-world experience that we can bring into our courses.

Consequently, we have decided to pull out of the PMP training market at the end of this year to focus on courses where we still have core real-world knowledge and experience including:

• PMI-SP: we are one of the few organizations world-wide teaching this course and the only one with an international reputation in project controls and scheduling – see more.
• EVM: our new EVM short course is designed for people who need to understand the concepts of Earned Value based n the ISO 21508 standard – see more.

In the meantime – if you are interested in obtaining the PMP credential you have a 5-month window to sit the current exam we all know and understand – see more.

Leading up to the exam we are in ‘known territory’ – PMI use a normal distribution to determine the cut off for pass-fail. The number of candidates does not change the score, it is the ‘average’ score and the distribution of scores in any given period that sets the cut off. This adjustment is necessary because the questions in the exam change regularly and PMI are seeking to balance the degree of difficulty over time. We know how this works and what a ‘pass’ looks like in our training course. The last part of 2019 will be busy given the scope of the change in the PMP exam but that’s all.  Come December the 15th no one will really know what the requirements are for several months……

PMI have announced the next update to the PMP examination will be on the 15th December 2019, based on the updated PMP RDS due for release in Q3 of 2019.

Contrary to popular belief, the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam is not based on the PMBOK® Guide, 6th edition. The content of the PMP test, is detailed in the PMP Examination Content Outline, which is a direct output from the PMP role delineation study (RDS), a job analysis of the project manager role.

PMI conduct a new RDS study every 5-7 years, independent of the PMBOK® Guide development schedule, to identify any changes to the profession and ultimately determine what content should be included in the test.

When the PMBOK® Guide is updated, PMI do align the terms used in the test with those used in the global standard to minimize confusion and we as trainers have to follow suite as well as updating references, etc in our training materials. However, during this type of update, PMI do not change the structure of the exam or the scoring model.

The update associated with a new RDS is quite different! After the new RDS is published there are likely to be changes to the design of the PMP exam reflected in the PMP Examination Content Outline and the Handbook for the PMP exam as these items relate directly to the RDS research.  These changes may affect the scoring model, the examination structure, the scope of knowledge tested, and what’s required to be successful in the exam.

The PMP Examination Content Outline and A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) have commonalities, and this is likely to continue, but it is important to note that those involved in the RDS study are not bound by the PMBOK® Guide. They are charged with defining the roles of individuals leading and directing projects, and using their experience and pertinent resources to help in this task.

The current edition of the PMBOK® Guide is, and will remain as one of the key references for the new PMP exam but this is only part of the overall requirements for PMP – the core document will be the updated RDS.

CAPM is the only exam PMI have that is intended to measure candidates’ understanding of the PMBOK® Guide and this examination will not be changing until the 7th edition of the PMBOK in 2 to 3 years time (see more on CAPM).

What is completely unknown at this time is what the new PMP RDS will encompass, and by definition what will be included in the new PMP examination come December 2019.  My expectation is too see far greater emphasis on communication, leadership, stakeholder engagement and ‘agility’ (‘soft skills’). Less emphasis on prescriptive tools and structured techniques but this is a guess.  Fortunately, PMI do give their training community early access to the updates so we can adapt our courses.

What does this mean for you?  My recommendation is anyone planning to become PMP certified and who is in a position to do the examination this year get stuck in and pass before December.  The current exam structure has been in place since 2015 and is well understood. Come December it may be a whole new ballpark… or not…. we just have to wait and see!

What does this mean for us? Apart from a few long weeks updating training materials this is ‘situation normal’, we have to refresh our training materials every 4 years or so to deal with the PMBOK update cycle and every 6 years or so to deal with changes in the PMP RDS.  After 20 years teaching PMP, we know what to expect.

See more on the current PMP examination and our Mentored Email training course. 

One of the key tenets underpinning standards development is the need to continually refresh and update a published standard to maintain its relevance to the market it serves.  The PMBOK® Guide is no different.  The first formal edition of the PMBOK® Guide was published in 1996 and then every four or five years an updated version has been published the sixth edition will be published in 2017.

1996 Presentation Edition

The original concept of the PMBOK® Guide was to provide the knowledge framework need to underpin the PMP examination. This started as a special report published in 1983, with the first PMP candidates sitting for their exam in 1984[1]. The formal guide was first published in 1987. A major revision between 1991 and 1996 led by Bill Duncan resulted in the publication of the book we now know and understand as the PMBOK® Guide.

Each new edition the PMBOK was followed a few months later with an update on the PMP exam so questions being set were based on the current version of the PMBOK® Guide. In addition to these changes caused by updates to the underpinning body of knowledge, the PMP exam itself has evolved over the years. The current exam format of 200 multiple choice questions delivered via a computer-based system originated in the late 1990s.

In 2009 PMI commissioned a global role delineation study (RDS) the PMP credential. This study reached a consensus on the performance domains and the broad category of duties and responsibilities that define the role project manager, as well as the tasks required for competent performance and the knowledge and skills needed to perform those tasks.  This role delineation study became the basis for the structure of the PMP exam in 2011 and whilst it is very similar to the PMBOK® Guide there are some significant differences.  The RDS was most recently updated in late 2015.  Each update to the RDS also triggers a subsequent change in the PMP exam. The change we are now starting to work towards is driven by the impending publication of the PMBOK® Guide 6^th Edition – public release date 6th September 2017.

From one perspective updates and changes to the PMP exam have occurred on a routine basis every three years or so for most of the last decade.  Some of the changes were relatively minor, some quite significant.  Based on our preview copy of the PMBOK® Guide 6^th Edition the changes in the PMP exam scheduled for Q1, 2018 will be quite significant.

PMBOK® Guide 6^th Edition Enhancements

Content Enhancements[2]:

• Agile practices incorporated into the PMBOK® Guide:
  • Expanded coverage of agile and other adaptive and iterative practices. This will align proven, foundational project management concepts with the evolving state of the profession today. Significant additional detail on agile will be included in an appendix.
  • PMI also plans to publish a companion practice guide focused on agile in the third quarter of 2017.
  • Addition of three introductory sections for each Knowledge Area,
• Key Concepts, consolidating information fundamental to a specific knowledge area.
  • Trends and Emerging Practices not yet widely used.
  • Tailoring Considerations, describing aspects of the project or environment to consider when planning the project.
  • More emphasis on strategic and business knowledge including discussion of project management business documents.
• More information on the PMI Talent Triangle and the essential skills for success in today’s market

Process Changes

The Process Groups remain the same in the Sixth Edition, although two Knowledge Areas have new names:

• Project Time Management is now Project Schedule Management, emphasizing the importance of scheduling in project management. This aligns with PMI’s Practice Standard for Scheduling.
• Project Human Resource Management is now Project Resource Management. We discuss both team resources and physical resources in this Knowledge Area.

There are three new processes in the Sixth Edition:

• Manage Project Knowledge is part of the Executing Process Group and Project Integration Management knowledge area.
• Implement Risk Responses is part of the Executing Process Group and Project Risk Management knowledge area.
• Control Resources is part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group and Project Resource Management knowledge area.

Estimate Activity Resources is still part of the Planning Process Group, but it is associated with the Project Resource Management processes instead of the Project Schedule Management processes.

Some processes have been renamed to align the process with its intent. This table identifies the name changes.

Exam Changes

PMP and CAPM

PMP and CAPM exams will change in the first quarter of 2018. We will start updating our CAPM and PMP courses in early September so that candidates planning to take these exams early part of 2018 will have the correct materials to work through as part of their mentored email courses. For more on PMP and CAPM training see: http://www.mosaicproject.com.au/

PMI-SP

The PMI-SP exam is not scheduled for specific change, however, the reference materials used in our PMI-SP courses are based on the PMBOK® Guide and an industry textbook both of which are scheduled to have new editions published in September. We have therefore embarked on the upgrading of this course is our first priority not because the exam is changing, but because all of the references will be out of date when the new versions of the guide and text are published in a few weeks’ time. For more on PMI-SP training see: http://www.planning-controls.com.au/

PMI-ACP

The PMI ACP exam will also undergo a major revision early in 2018. We are currently assessing the viability of developing a mentored email course for this year exam.

Summary

From the information currently available to PMI R.E.P.S the new version of the PMBOK® Guide has a lot to offer the industry. From a trainer’s perspective there is a lot of work to do over the next six months but at the end of that time, we will have significantly improved training material based on a much stronger foundation. Interesting times ahead!

_______________________

[1] for a more detailed discussion on the early days of the PMBOK® Guide see: /2014/10/31/the-pmp-examination-is-30-years-old/

[2] For more on the PMBOK® Guide 6^th Edition enhancements see: /2016/06/28/pmbok-guide-6-edition-takes-a-major-step-forward/

Beginning 22 July 2017, candidates will have the option to schedule either an OP or a center-based (CBT) exam through Pearson Vue. The first exams through Pearson VUE will be held four weeks later on 22 August 2017.

Watch this space for additional information on this exciting development.

For more on Mosaic’s unique Mentored Email courses click here!

As a starting point, there seems to be a generally accepted view that the competencies needed to be a successful project manager underpin all of the other concepts. There are some distinctly different techniques used in Agile, only some of which flow into traditional project management, but in other respects ‘agile’ and ‘good project management’ are very closely aligned.  Managing complexity requires a significant additional set of competencies that build onto the traditional requirements.  Then, whilst many complex projects do not meet the definition of a ‘megaproject’, every megaproject is by definition a complex project with an additional layer of management capabilities needed to deal with its impact on society.  This basic framework is outlined below:

Stakeholders

All forms of project management recognise the importance of the project stakeholders. Projects are done by people for people and the ultimate success or failure of a project is defined by people – all ‘stakeholders’.  My work on the PMBOK® Guide 6^th Edition core team was very much focused on enhancing the sections on stakeholder engagement and communication (which is the primary tool for engaging stakeholders). And as the scale of projects increase, the number of stakeholders and the intensity of public focus increases dramatically.

A heuristic suggested by Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg is as a general rule of thumb: ‘megaprojects’ are measured in billions of dollars, ‘major projects’ in hundreds of millions, and ‘projects’ in tens of millions or less. To quote the late Spike Milligan, ‘Money can’t buy you friends but you do get a better class of enemy’ – and while many stakeholders may not be ‘enemies’, the ability of stakeholders to organise around a megaproject tends to be far greater than around a small internal project. Consequently, the focus on stakeholders should increase significantly in excess of the increment in cost as you flow from small to megaprojects.

However, regardless of size, the need to identify, engage, manage, and deliver value to stakeholders, through the realisation of beneficial change, is consistent through all of the concepts discussed below. This and the temporariness of each ‘project organisation (ie, team)’ are the two consistent factors that underpin the concept of project management; and ‘temporariness’ is the key factor that separates projects and programs from other forms of management and ‘business as usual’.

Traditional Project Management.

The recognised guide for traditional project management is the PMBOK® Guide augmented to a degree by ISO 21500. The publicly released information on the 6^th Edition highlights the need for flexibility in applying its processes, including the requirement to actively consider ‘tailoring processes’ to meet project requirements, and the value agile thinking can bring to the overall management of projects (see below).

The frame of traditional project management starts once the project is defined and finishes once the project has delivered is objectives. While this scope is somewhat limited and there may be a need to expand the scope of project management to include project definition at the ‘front end’, and benefits realisation and value creation after the outputs have been delivered (this will be the subject of another post), the knowledge, skills and competencies required to manage this type of project management are well understood.

Each project has four basic dimensions, size (usually measured in $), technical difficulty, uncertainty and complexity (these are discussed in detail in: Project Size and Categorisation). In the right circumstances, Agile can be an effective approach to resolving uncertainty. However, at an undefined point, the increase in complexity reaches a point where the concept of ‘complex project management’ becomes significant and really large projects are the realm of ‘megaproject management’. But the underpinning capabilities required to manage all of these extensions remains the conventional project management skills.

Agile Project Management

Agile has many facets. The concepts contained in the Agile Manifesto basically reflect a shift away for a ridged focus on process towards a focus on people (stakeholders) and adapting to change to achieve a successful outcome.  These concepts are now firmly embedded in the PMBOK® Guide 6^th Edition and apply to every project. Where agile projects separate from traditional projects is recognising that in a range of soft projects, including software development, taking an iterative and adaptive approach to understanding the scope can often achieve a better outcome. Understanding what is actually helpful to the client develops based on learned experience from earlier iterations and these needs are incorporated into the next iteration of the development allowing a better outcome to be delivered to the client. This is not significantly different to much older concepts such as ‘rolling wave planning’ and progressive elaboration – there really is little point in making detailed plans for work you don’t know much about. The difference is Agile actively expects the scope to be adapted to the emerging requirements of the client, the other approaches seek to add detail to the plans at an appropriate point in time whilst the overall scope remains fundamentally unchanged.

Agile does not even need a project to be useful. Many of the Agile techniques work in any situation where there is a backlog of work to get through and can be effectively used outside of the concept of a ‘project’, this particularly applies to routine maintenance work of almost any kind.  A discussion on the value of Agile, and its limitations, are contained in our paper Thoughts on Agile.

However, for the purposes of this post, the key aspects Agile brings to the discussion, that are essential for effectively managing most types of project, are contained in the Manifesto – a preference for:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
• Responding to change over following a plan.

The Manifesto recognises there is value in the items on the right, but values the items on the left more.

Complex Project Management

Complexity is a facet of every project and program. Complex project management skills become important at the point where complexity becomes a significant inhibitor affecting the delivery of a successful outcome from the project (or program). This point may occur well before ‘complexity’ becomes the defining feature of the project.

Complexity is a very different concept to a complicated project, technically complicated work can be predicted and managed; launching a new communication satellite is ‘rocket science’, but there are highly skilled rocket scientists available that undertake this type of work on a routine basis. As with any traditional project, the costs, resources and time required can be predicted reasonably accurately.

The dominant feature of complexity is the non-predictability of outcomes. Non-linearity, ‘the tipping point’, and emergence describe different ways outcomes from a slightly different starting point can vary significantly compared to previous experience or expectations (for more on the concepts of complexity see: Complexity Theory).  Complexity arises from various forms of complex system, these may be organic (eg, a river’s eco-system), man-made (eg, an overly complicated system-of-systems such as too many interconnected software applications automatically interacting with each other), or interpersonal (eg, the web of relationships within and between a project team and its surrounding stakeholder community).  In all of these situations, the ‘system’ behaves relatively predictably, dealing with the effects of stresses and stimuli up to a point (and normal management approaches work satisfactorily); but after that point adding or changing the situation by a small increment creates completely unexpected consequences.

Interestingly, from the perspective of managing a project, these three areas of complexity are closely interlinked, the complex behaviour of the environment and/or man-made systems-of-systems feeds back into the perceptions of stakeholders and the activity of stakeholders can impact on both the environment, and the way complex systems function. Similarly, dealing with emerging anomalies in the environment or in a complex system needs the active cooperation of at least some of the project’s stakeholders. Consequently, the focus of complex project management is dealing with the consequences of the inherently unpredictable and complex behaviours and attitudes of stakeholders, both within the team and within the surrounding stakeholder community.

Some projects and programs, particularly large ones, are obviously complex from the outset and can be set up to make effective use of the ideas embedded in complex project management. Others may be perceived as non-complex ‘business-as-usual’ and tip into complexity as a result of some unforeseen factor such as a ‘normal accident[1]’ occurring or simply because the perception of ‘straightforward’ was ill-founded. Underestimating complexity is a significant risk.

Where the project is perceived to be complex from the outset, a management team with the competencies required to deal with the nuances of managing a ‘complex project’ can be appointed from day one (and if appropriately skilled people are not available, support and training can be provided to overcome the deficiencies) – this maximises the probability of a successful outcome.  When a project unexpectedly falls into a state of complexity the situation is far more difficult to manage primarily because the people managing the work are unlikely to be skilled in complex project management, will try to use normal management techniques and most organisations lack the resources needed to help rectify the situation – skilled complex project managers are in short supply globally.

One initiative designed to overcome this shortage of ‘complex project managers’ and build an understanding of ‘complex project management’ is the International Centre for Complex Project Management (ICCPM).  ICCPM’s approach to complex project management is to see this capability as an extension of traditional project management (as inferred in the diagram above). The ICCPM view is that while traditional approaches are insufficient to effectively manage a complex project on their own, you cannot manage a complex project without a strong foundation based on these traditional skills and processes. The relationship is described by the ICCPM as:

What changes is in part the way the traditional capabilities such as scheduling and budgeting are used, overlaid with the expectation these artifacts will need to adjust and change as the situation around the project changes, augmented with a range of ‘special attributes’ particular to the process of managing a complex project. These ‘special attributes’ are valuable in the management of any project but become essential in the management of complex projects.  These capabilities and competencies are defined in the ICCPM’s Complex Project Manager Competency Standard available from: https://iccpm.com/.

Complex projects can vary in size from relatively small undertakings involving factors such as updating a complex systems-of-systems, or a high level of political sensitivity, through to the megaprojects discussed below. A complex project may not be a megaproject or even a major project, but every megaproject and many major projects will also be a complex project requiring complex project management capabilities for a successful outcome.

Megaproject Management

Megaprojects are defined as temporary endeavours (i.e. projects or programs) characterised by:

• A large investment commitment;
• Vast complexity (especially in organizational terms); and
• A long-lasting impact on the economy (of a country or region), the environment, and society.

They are initiatives that are physical, very expensive, and public. By definition, megaprojects are complex endeavours requiring a high degree of capability in the management of complex projects.  In addition megaprojects typically involve a number of other facets:

• Megaprojects are by definition a program of work (see: Defining Program Types).
• Many are implemented under government legislation, requiring skills and knowledge of government processes and the ability to operate within the ambit of ‘government’. This is a very different space in terms of accountability and transparency compared to private enterprise.
• Most interact with a range of government agencies at all levels of government from local to national. These stakeholders often have a very different set of agendas and success criteria compared to the organisation running the megaproject.
• The size of a typical megaproject involves large amounts of money and therefore increases the risk of corruption and other malfeasance – governance and controls need to be robust[2] to maintain high ethical standards.
• The ‘political attractiveness’ of doing a megaproject (eg, hosting the Olympics) distorts decision making; care in the megaproject development process is required to reduce the effect of optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation (see: The reference case for management reserves).
• Megaprojects are financially fragile[3] and fragility is typically irreversible. Once broken the fragile entity cannot be readily restored to its original function. Financial (or investment) fragility is defined as the vulnerability of a financial investment to becoming non-viable, i.e., losing its ability to create net economic value. For example, the cost risks for big dams are significant; the actual costs more than doubles the original estimate for 2 out of 10 dams; triples for 1 out of every 10 big dams. But managers do not seem to learn; forecasts today are likely to be as wrong as they were between 1934 and 2007.

Recognising the scope and complexity of managing a megaproject and training people appropriately can mitigate the risks, the UK experience around Terminal 5 and Cross Rail (both £4 billion projects) suggest that achieving a good outcome is viable provided the organisation commissioning the megaproject is prepared to invest in its management. It’s probably no coincidence the management of megaprojects and their associated risk has been the focus of the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford for many years.

Summary

The competencies needed to manage projects grows in line with the increase in complexity and the increase in size. There are definitely additional elements of competency needed at each step in the framework outlined above.  What is far less clear is how to demarcate between normal, complex and megaprojects! Every project has a degree of complexity and a degree of size.  The values suggested above to separate normal, major and mega projects are arbitrary and there is even less clarity as to the transition between normal and complex projects.

I suspect the domain map demarcating the different disciplines will end up looking something like this but there’s a lot of research needed to define the boundaries and assign values to the axis (especially in terms of measuring the degree of complexity).  Hopefully, this blog will serve to start the discussion.

______________________

[1] Normal accidents are system accidents that are inevitable in extremely complex systems. The three
conditions that make a system likely to be susceptible to Normal Accidents are:
–  The system is complex
–  The system is tightly coupled
–  The system has catastrophic potential
The characteristic of the system leads to multiple failures which interact with each other, despite efforts to avoid them.

[2] For more on governance and ethics see: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/PM-Knowledge_Index.html#OrgGov1

[3] From: Big Is Fragile: An Attempt at Theorizing Scale, in Bent Flyvbjerg, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

PGCS 2017 is offering workshops by Dr. Lynda Bourne and Dr. Keith Joiner in Canberra on Monday 1^st May. Both offer a unique international viewpoint on very different aspects of project management.

My (Lynda’s) workshop ‘Leading Successful Teams’ focuses on collaborative teams which are key to success in any business activity. The most effective teams consist of individuals who can work independently on their own tasks, but also recognise the need to work collaboratively with other team members toward the activity’s goal and the organization’s success.

The leader of the team contributes significantly to team success through inspiring all team members to work together to achieve this goal, but must also intervene to reduce conflict and to motivate team members to continue to work collaboratively.

This session will focus on the needs of first-time team managers and will consist some theory, and a little practice, on the following topics:

–  Motivation

–  Delegation

–  Giving feedback

–  Resolving conflict.

This full day workshop is based on my Master’s course I’ve been running at EAN University in South America for the last 5 years and offers exceptional value at $450 (catering and GST included)

Keith’s workshop ‘methods for test design and analysis prescribed in U.S. Industry & Defence’ will introduce and illustrate the new methods in test design and analysis are, and how they are used to:

– screen for significant design factors;

– model design factors;

– screen for operational factors;

– model operational factors; and

– where equipment is taken off-the-shelf, improve the efficiency of validating performance.

Participants will use an instructional toy system and study several example uses to reinforce how the methods work.

This half day workshop is great value at $330 (Afternoon tea and GST included)

Both workshops offer exceptional value and are open to everyone – you do not need to attend the PGCS symposium to enjoy these process…… For more information and bookings see:  http://www.pgcs.org.au/program/workshops/

The good news is after years of complaint, PMI has listened and will be rolling out a vastly improved Exam Results Report over the next few months.  The passing score and your actual score remain confidential to PMI for exam security reasons, but with this limitation, the new report will provide candidates with a much better understanding of their performance in relation to the examination pass level.

The headline report shows your overall performance with the performance by domain also categorised into one of the four groupings.  On its own, this is a vast improvement on the old report!!

Click here to see a sample of the Exam Report

However, of even more value, backing up this summary will be a detailed report highlighting your performance against the various domains and topics, accessible from within your CCR portal on the PMI website. Below is a preview of this part of the report (provided by PMI):

You still won’t know the exact number of questions in each domain or how they are divided into each of the Tasks within the ‘domain’, but the report will tell you where improvement in your knowledge will be valuable and help you plan your continuing development as a project professional. This additional information will also help training design and deliver better courses based on feedback from our clients all round a win-win-win development.

For once PMI is to be highly commended for listening to their members and delivering a great initiative.

Scheduled roll-out

Anyone taking the PMI-PBA®, PfMP® or PgMP® certification exam on or after 28 April will receive the new report and explanation pages. The new report will then be rolled out to the remaining certifications over the next few months, ending with the PMP® on 28 August. Key dates for the launch of the reports for courses we teach:

PMI-SP – 25^th May
(for more see:  http://www.planning-controls.com.au/ )

CAPM – 22^nd August
(for more see: http://www.mosaicproject.com.au/index.php?cID=175 )

PMP – 28^th August
(for more see: http://www.mosaicproject.com.au/index.php?cID=173 )