Plans of getting PMP certified ?Answers to common questions and steps involved.

With more and more job descriptions requiring a formal project management certification, the number of PMP aspirants has clearly gone up in the recent years.

Interestingly most people wanting to get PMP certified, have the same set of questions on the topic. Here are the answers !

Is PMP certification for me ?

Well, it depends and all three answers (Yes, Maybe, No) are possible. See which category you fit into.

Yes If you are already pursuing a career as a project manager or in the project management office. Taking the PMP certification can be a good choice for two reasons. One, it gives you a structured approach to project management , which can be of great help in day to day work life. Two, a formal certification in your field is always a good addition to your resume.

Maybe If you have been working for 3-5 years in a function that is involved closely in projects (but not exactly leading or handling projects) & you want switch over to a project manager role: you can consider getting PMP certified. Your consideration should include the fact that project managers are not just hired based on PMP certification, but also based on the industry experience and kind of projects involved.

Remember, PMI requires that you should have lead projects for 3-5 years or for around 4500 hours (through the Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and controlling, Closing). If you have been around for 3-5 years, many of the assignments can fit into the framework of a project, and you should be able to prove this experience to PMI. However, in case of a random audit, you may need to have this 'project’ experience vetted by your supervisor in your company's letterhead.

No If you are a fresher with no or less than 3 years of experience & are hoping to get a project manager role based on PMP certification. Getting the PMP certification involves having answers to some “situations”, and you are better prepared for these questions with experience. PMP certification without relevant experience doesn't sell on the market place.

What are the steps involved ?

• Read through the PMP certification handbook.
• If you meet the eligibility criteria to apply for certification: schedule an appointment with a local REP (Registered education provider) accredited by PMI 
• Have a discussion with the counselor at REP to check if your professional experience would suit PMIs requirement of 4500 hours of project management practice. If yes, check with your superior if he will be willing to provide a letter stating your 'project’ experience. (In an unlikely event that PMI’s computer chooses your application for audit)
• Take the mandatory 40 hour classroom on project management from any PMI authorised REP. Ask Quora or Google, for the best trainer in your locality. Make sure you get a certificate for the 40-hour session, just in case PMI wants to audit your application
• The training should take you through the PMBoK (Project Management Body of Knowledge). Take a 6-8 weeks to get a grip every idea in the book.
• Take practice tests (a lot of them)
• After you are fairly confident, go ahead and apply at PMI website. Wait for the approval of application. Pay the fee, book the exam slot, crack it. And let the world know you are PMI certified.

How much does it cost ?

The exam fee is $405 and the training class should be around $150 (in my part of the world from the PMI local chapter). So, around $600 of money , and 8 weeks of your effort.

How easy is it ? Does everyone appearing for the exam get certified ?
If you are a project manager with a decent experience , and have spent a decent time going through the concepts in PMBOK, it is a walk in the park. But caution : I have friends, who appeared twice and failed both times.

Once certified, how long is it valid ?
Valid for three years. You need to renew every three years, by showing PMI that you have been in project management field over the last 3 years and you have been involved in giving back to project management fraternity. Like all professional certification bodies, PMI also has the familiar business model of renewing the certification every three years - you pay $150 for renewal.


If you have read through this, I am assuming you are a bit more serious (than I thought at the start of this article) about applying for PMP certification. All the very best !!

Welcoming your new hire ! [No, Not the HR on boarding process]

If you are the one being hired : you do a lot of homework to make the right first impression. If you are the one hiring, do you still prepare, to make the right first impression with your new team member ?

As part of a new candidate’s induction, The HR teams in most organizations take them through the standard audio visual of the company overview, have them sign the joining documents (where the new hires will be signing acceptance on dozens of HR policies), handover laptop forms/ ID cards/stationery kit etc. That of course, is a good start. But the HR induction is far from sufficient, for the new hire to feel comfortable in the new environment.

As the team manager, here's the portion that can be done by you - to complete the induction into your team.

Meet and Greet

On the first day, imagine going into your new office : only to find out that your manager is unaware that you are joining today; Worse yet, the manager is completely busy and he does not have the time to meet you. You end up sitting the full day with just the company of your phone. It doesn’t help the first impression or it doesn’t help your ego either, does it ?

Good managers make sure that they meet and welcome the new colleague in person. “Thank you for joining us, and looking forward to working with you”, on the first day goes a long way in building the much needed rapport with your new colleague.

Even if travelling on business or if they are located off-site, they make it a point to call the new joiner on their first day, and they make sure someone is deputed to take care of the new joiners first few days.

Introduce [The people, The place and The processes]

Much of anyone’s career success depends on networking within the company. “Getting Things Done” depends on your network. Good managers are quick to kick-start the networking opportunities for their new joiners, as it sets up the platform for the new joiner's (and the manager’s) success.

It is worth the time investment, to take the new candidate through the org chart of the company, and to take him, desk to desk, to introduce team-mates, the manager’s boss, the who’s who of the organization and all relevant stakeholders that he will be working with. If there are superiors/team mates on other parts of the the globe, set up video conferencing rather than a voice call to introduce the new joinee (Attaching a face to the voice, helps quicken the networking process).

The “Introduce” section is not just about introduction to people : but also to the process and facility.

If your employee handbook does not have the clear procedures on administrative tasks, take a few minutes to guide the new joinee on: the process for getting laptops/ID cards, booking official flight tickets, expense reimbursement process, applying leaves, where to download payslips, where to get your car parking access cards etc; If your employee handbook is clear enough, you can save your few minutes by skipping this section of the induction program.

It is a good idea to step out of office, for a quick tour of the facility/office : to help the new hire with getting around the office - find the water coolers, the snack vending machines, the lunch hall and the loos. The facility tour/walk , as a spin-off, also provides a more casual environment for the manager and the new hire to break some more ice and build some rapport.

Business / Function overview

“On-Job-training”, has been one of the most abused terminology. It is not uncommon for new joinees to be put on a tasks, without being briefed about the end to end overview of the business/function they are in.

A good induction program should begin with the end-to-end overview of the business/ function and should clearly indicate the role of the new joiner in the process. The business overview and function overview would have been part of the hiring discussion, but not in full detail. Taking through the business overview and function overview, provides an opportunity for the manager to clarify his expectation from the new joiner. 

What to expect in 30-60-90 days ?

The first few months in a new job is always an uneasy period, as it is common for the new hire to be uncertain about how he is progressing, and if he is meeting the expectation of the manager. Settling this nerve and making him comfortable in this uneasy period is the priority for a manager.

A Gantt/timeline showing the clear expectation and the deliverables expected from the new hire : can be a good starting point to make him comfortable. For example, the expectation for the first two weeks, can be : Get introduced to the product and people. The deliverables can begin with smaller tasks within his function, and can gradually ramp up to ownership / full fledged responsibility. 

Having a very clear orientation plan on day 1 , showing the deliverables at the end of 30-60-120 days : also conveys an underlying information to the new candidate : that you were prepared for him, and you are taking his progress in the company seriously. Regular feedback at the end of 30-60-120 day period on the progress they have made will help the new hire, correct course, as applicable.

For someone who has decided to invest his career with your company and your leadership, it is only fair that you invest time, in preparation to get him oriented and inducted into your team.

Would love to hear how your organizations handle the new hire’s first day !

(This and more articles on Inform-Inspire.blogspot.com)

Disclaimer : Images sourced from World wide web, and are used as samples for Educational purpose only.

Gemba / Shopfloor Boards - Are they useful tools ?

Recently came across a post by a Company's President, with the picture of a shopfloor Gemba board. To him, these boards were a "collection of wasteful activity", he wanted LinkedIn community's take on his comment.

Here's my take.

If the right KPIs are being reported and monitored:

1. These boards serve as the agenda for the daily morning meetings ,can help monitor daily progress & address specific issues that are show stoppers for achieving the KPI targets

2. These boards serve as an excellent dashboard, indicating both the status and trend of the metrics (that the leaders are accountable for)

3. Individuals are made accountable for the metrics and hence these boards help inculcate ownership.

The boards will not work if it is a print out like the one on the photograph. The metrics should be hand drawn - with the daily "plan" pre filled at the start of the month : just before the meeting, the metric owners will either use a red or a green bar to indicate the 'actual' number. The reds will be discussed, reasons identified and corrective tasks will be noted in the task tracker.

Consistency - active participation of the leadership on a daily basis is the key.

My limited experience, tells me that these boards are excellent tools, when used properly.

Hiring a project manager ? Here is a list of questions that you may want to ask !

If you are part of an interview (either as a hiring manager  or as a candidate) for the position of a project manager: here are the list of commonly discussed points. The following list of questions should give a fair idea of the candidates’ project management experience.

There are no “single” answers for these questions, so the answers are left open for the reader to ponder. It would be a great to discuss the possible answers in the comments section, and get other project manager’s perspective on your answers.

Q1. As a project manager : which one would you compromise - the scope, schedule or the quality ?

Q2. In handling a project involving global (virtual) teams, what do you think is most challenging for the project manager ?

Q3. As project manager, what are all the people problems you have faced ?

Q4. What has been the success rate of your projects so far ?

Q5. What are all the KPIs your project is measured against ?

Q6. Have you had an upset customer / client ? How did you deal with them ?

Q7. What are the common project management tools, that a project manager uses on his day to day work life ?

Q8. What do you do to manage the stakeholders ? How do you secure the information flow ?

Q9. Has Cash-flow curves been used in your project ? Do you deal with Financials in your project ?

Q10. As a project manager, do you get into technical things ? Will you be able to represent the project - both on technical and commercial terms in front of the customer ?

Interesting take-away from books - Part I of V.

If a book has one passage, one idea with the power to change the reader’s life : that alone justifies reading and re-reading it and finding room for it in one’s shelves. Here are passages from 4 books.

How to fail at almost everything, and still win big. By Scott Adams
Positivity is far more than a mental preference. It changes your brain, literally, and it changes the people around you. It is the closest thing that we have to magic.

Good + Good > Excellent. Success Wise, you are better off being good at two complementary skills than being excellent at one. The success formula : Every skill that you acquire doubles your odds of success.

Tuesdays with Morrie. By Mitch Albom
Tension of opposites. Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn’t. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.

“A tension of opposites, like a pull on rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle. Life is like a wrestling match. And love always wins at the end.

Blink, by Malcomm Gladwell
Perhaps the most common - and the most important - forms of rapid recognition are the judgements we make and the impressions we form of the other people. Every waking minute that we are in the presence of someone, we come with a constant stream of predictions and inferences about what the person is thinking and feeling. When someone says, “I Love you”, we look into that person’s eyes to judge his or her sincerity. If you were to approach a one year old child, and do something a little bit puzzling (say cupping your hand over hers), the child would immediately look up into your eyes. Why ? Because what you have done requires explanation, and the child knows that she can find an answer on your face. This practice of inferring motivations and intentions of others is a classic example of “Thin slicing”.

Man’s search for Meaning, Viktor E Frankl
(This book is a narration of experiences in Hitler’s concentration camps)

He, who has a “why” to live for can bear almost any “how”. The prisoners, who had lost faith in the future - his future - was doomed. With his loss for belief in the future, he also lost his spritual hold. He let himself decline and became subject to mental and physical decay. Those who know how close the connection between the state of mind of a man - his courage and hope, or lack of them - and the state of immunity of his body, will understand that sudden loss of hope and courage can have deadly effect.

Email mistakes that even experienced guys make !

There are about a zillion articles on email etiquette on the web. Lessons on Email etiquette are part of the orientation , to anyone who joins the corporate set up. It is common knowledge that email mistakes can leave an indelible impression about you. Despite this, even the most senior professionals are still prone to making common email mistakes

Here are the common email mistakes, that we spot every day in our office.

Copying too many people Seeking attention is our natural instinct. It follows that we tend to copy many people, to let the world know we are working. Directors and Vice presidents are often copied on emails about the status of menial tasks. True, initially these emails will get the attention that you need. But it is a matter of time, that the attention will turn sour. You will be now noticed for being “silly” to copy everyone on such emails.

Thank you emails In response to a status update to an email group, the common mistake would be to “Reply all” to just say thank you. By replying all, you are being the time-killer for 20 other people. They will have to spend time to open your email, read it and delete it.

No addressees Emails without addresses and signatures (Dear John, Hello xxx) can be really rude. It is like shouting out loud to a crowd.

No Responses to emails Have you ever wondered, why there are no courses on email management ? I may not be alone, in having a colleague who has more than 200 unread emails. And some of these unread emails were sent months back. Not responding to emails addressed to you, should be treated like a crime. There is a different variant to this mistake - you respond to the email, but not fully. This is equally painful for the sender, as he needs to follow up for the rest of the answer.

Meeting invites with no agenda Meeting invites without meeting agenda, is like calling people for a coffee table chat. Your friends will be OK with that, your colleagues and peers might not like the idea. On a similar note, not responding with a “Accept/Decline/Tentative” to meeting invites : will leave a “not so happy” feeling about you.

Farewell emails And when it’s time to quit, say goodbye to your peers in person. Sending a email to the company’s distribution list and Bothering people you have never met, with a farewell email is not a good idea.

Use of colored fonts, long stories in emails, sending reminders with 25 people in CC,missing attachments, use of all capital font and other common mistakes have already been covered in the other zillion articles i mentioned at the start.

What sets you apart from your peers ?

What is the one thing that really sets you apart from your peers ? One of the recent conversations that was spotted in LinkedIn, an author had requested his network: In one sentence, what is the unfair advantage that puts you ahead? There were about 150 responders. Cherry picking from about 150 responses, here are the advantages that the responders had to say Ability to see “over the hill” Not being hesitant to ask questions or for help Linking the seemingly unlinkable Being a giver, not a taker Not really seeing the impossible Empathy Emotional intelligence Seeing the big picture Being flexible Sense of humour Everyone has their own unfair advantage. Would love to hear yours !