Head First PMP, 4th Edition

Table of contents

1. the authors
2. Table of Contents (the real thing)
3. how to use this book: Intro
   1. Who is this book for?
      1. Who should probably back away from this book?
   2. We know what you’re thinking.
   3. And we know what your brain is thinking.
   4. Metacognition: thinking about thinking
   5. Here’s what WE did
   6. Here’s what YOU can do to bend your brain into submission
   7. Read me
      1. The chapters are ordered the same way as the PMBOK Guide.
      2. We encourage you to use the PMBOK Guide with this book.
      3. The activities are NOT optional.
      4. The redundancy is intentional and important.
      5. The Brain Power exercises don’t have answers.
   8. Acknowledgments
   9. O’Reilly Online Learning
   10. Updated for the 2021 PMP exam
4. 1. Introduction: Why get certified?
   1. Do these problems seem familiar?
   2. Projects don’t have to be this way
   3. Your problems…already solved
   4. What you need to be a good project manager
   5. there are no Dumb Questions
   6. Understand your company’s big picture
   7. Your project has value
   8. Your project follows a lifecycle
      1. Predictive
      2. Adaptive
      3. Iterative
      4. Incremental
      5. Hybrid
      6. Tailoring
   9. Projects, programs, and portfolios have a lot in common
      1. Professions with proven processes
      2. Business value
      3. Deal with constraints
   10. Projects, programs, and portfolios all use charters
       1. Charter
   11. What a project IS…
   12. … and what a project is NOT
   13. A day in the life of a project manager
   14. there are no Dumb Questions
   15. How project managers run great projects
   16. Project management offices help you do a good job, every time
       1. Supportive
       2. Controlling
       3. Directive
   17. Good leadership helps the team work together
       1. Leadership
       2. Team building and trust building
       3. Motivation
   18. Project teams are made of people
       1. Influencing
       2. Conflict management
       3. Coaching
       4. Political and cultural awareness
   19. there are no Dumb Questions
   20. Operations management handles the processes that make your company tick
   21. A PMP certification is more than just passing a test
   22. Meet a real-life PMP-certified project manager
   23. Exam Questions
   24. Exam Answers
5. 2. The organizational environment: In good company
   1. A day in Kate’s life
   2. Kate wants a new job
   3. Organization Magnets
   4. There are different types of organizational structures
   5. The project manager has the most authority and power in a project-oriented organization.
   6. A few more types of organizations
   7. PMOs can be supportive, controlling or directive
   8. there are no Dumb Questions
   9. Kate takes a new job
      1. Kate’s working in an organic organization
   10. Back to Kate’s maintenance nightmare
   11. Managing project constraints
   12. there are no Dumb Questions
   13. Don’t reinvent the wheel
   14. You can’t manage your project in a vacuum
   15. Kate’s project needs to follow company processes
       1. Kate’s project needs clear acceptance criteria
   16. Kate makes some changes…
   17. …and her project is a success!
   18. Organization Magnets Solutions
   19. Exam Questions
   20. Exam Answers
6. 3. The process framework and the project manager’s role: It all fits together
   1. Cooking up a project
   2. Projects are like recipes
   3. If your project’s really big, you can manage it in phases
   4. Phases can also overlap
      1. Iteration means executing one phase while planning the next
   5. Break it down
   6. Process Magnets
   7. Process Magnets
   8. Anatomy of a process
   9. there are no Dumb Questions
   10. Combine processes to complete your project
   11. Knowledge areas organize the processes
   12. Knowledge Area Magnets
   13. Knowledge Area Magnets Solutions
   14. The Project Manager’s Role
   15. Your technical skills make successful projects happen
       1. How does your project fit in?
   16. Leadership is different than management
       1. Styles of leadership
   17. Project managers need to understand how power dynamics affect the team
       1. Types of power
   18. there are no Dumb Questions
   19. The benefits of successful project management
   20. Exam Questions
   21. Exam Answers
7. 4. Project integration management: Getting the job done
   1. Time to book a trip
      1. Larry’s cutting corners
   2. The teachers are thrilled…for now
   3. These clients are definitely not satisfied
      1. Larry’s been let go
   4. The day-to-day work of a project manager
      1. A bird’s-eye view of a project
   5. The seven Integration Management processes
   6. Start your project with the Initiating processes
   7. Integration Management and the process groups
   8. The Develop Project Charter process
   9. Make the case for your project
   10. Use expert judgment and data gathering techniques to write your project charter
       1. Data gathering techniques help everyone understand the goal of your project
       2. Interpersonal and team skills and meetings make sure everyone is on the same page
   11. A closer look at the project charter
   12. Two things you’ll see over and over and over…
   13. there are no Dumb Questions
   14. Plan your project!
   15. The Project Management plan lets you plan ahead
       1. The Project Management plan is a collection of other plans
   16. A quick look at all those subsidiary plans
   17. there are no Dumb Questions
   18. Question Clinic: The just-the-facts-ma’am question
   19. The Direct and Manage Project Work process
   20. The project team creates deliverables
   21. Executing the project includes repairing defects
       1. The three components of the Direct and Manage Project Work process:
       2. Deliverables include everything that you and your team produce for the project
   22. The Manage Project Knowledge process
   23. Knowledge is the lifeblood of any project
   24. Eventually, things WILL go wrong…
       1. …but if you keep an eye out for problems, you can stay on top of them!
   25. Sometimes you need to change your plans
   26. Look for changes and deal with them
   27. Make only the changes that are right for your project
   28. How the processes interact with one another
   29. Changes, defects, and corrections
   30. Decide your changes in change control meetings
   31. Control your changes; use change control
   32. Preventing or correcting problems
   33. there are no Dumb Questions
   34. Finish the work, close the project
   35. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here
   36. So why INTEGRATION Management?
       1. What else is there?
   37. Project Integration Management Magnets
   38. Project Integration Management Magnets Solution
   39. Integration Management kept your project on track, and the teachers satisfied
   40. Exam Questions
   41. Exam Answers
8. 5. Scope management: Doing the right stuff
   1. Out of the frying pan…
   2. …and right back into the fire
   3. Cubicle conversation
   4. It looks like we have a scope problem
   5. there are no Dumb Questions
   6. You’ve got to know what (and how) you will build before you build it
   7. The power of Scope Management
   8. The six Scope Management processes
   9. Plan your scoping processes
   10. Now you’ve got a roadmap for managing scope
   11. Cubicle conversation
   12. Collect requirements for your project
   13. Talk to your stakeholders
   14. Make decisions about requirements
   15. Understand your requirements
       1. The stakeholders know a lot about the project already
   16. See your ideas better
   17. Use a questionnaire to get requirements from a bigger group of people
       1. Observation can help you see things from a different point of view
   18. A prototype shows users what your product will be like
   19. there are no Dumb Questions
   20. Now you’re ready to write a requirements document
   21. Define the scope of the project
   22. How do you define the scope?
       1. Interpersonal and team skills
       2. Product analysis
       3. Data analysis
       4. Expert judgment
       5. Decision making
   23. there are no Dumb Questions
   24. The project scope statement tells you what you have to do
   25. Fireside Chats
   26. Question Clinic: The which-is-BEST question
   27. Create the work breakdown structure
   28. The inputs for the WBS come from other processes
   29. Breaking down the work
   30. Break it down by project or phase
   31. Decompose deliverables into work packages
   32. Project Scope Management Magnets
   33. More Magnets
   34. Project Scope Management Magnets Solutions
   35. Inside the work package
   36. there are no Dumb Questions
   37. The project scope baseline is a snapshot of the plan
   38. there are no Dumb Questions
   39. The outputs of the Create WBS process
   40. there are no Dumb Questions
   41. Cubicle conversation
   42. Why scope changes
       1. Good change
       2. Bad change
       3. Scope creep
       4. Gold plating
   43. The Control Scope process
   44. Anatomy of a change
   45. A closer look at the change control system
   46. Just two Control Scope tools and techniques
       1. There’s no “right order” for the Control Scope and Validate Scope processes
   47. there are no Dumb Questions
   48. Control Scope Process Magnets
   49. Control Scope Process Magnets Solutions
   50. Make sure the team delivered the right product
   51. The stakeholders give you criteria for deciding when you’re done
   52. Is the product ready to go?
   53. The project is ready to ship!
   54. Exam Questions
   55. Exam Answers
9. 6. Project schedule management: Getting it done on time
   1. Reality sets in for the happy couple
   2. Meet the wedding planner
   3. Schedule management helps with aggressive timelines
   4. Project Schedule Management Magnets
   5. Project Schedule Management Magnets Solution
   6. Plan your scheduling processes
   7. Now you know how you’ll track your schedule
   8. Use the Define Activities process to break down the work
   9. Tools and techniques for Define Activities
   10. Rolling wave planning lets you plan as you go
   11. there are no Dumb Questions
   12. Activity Magnets
   13. Activity Magnets Solution
   14. Define activities outputs
       1. Activity list
       2. Activity attributes
       3. Milestone list
       4. Change requests
       5. Project Management plan updates
   15. The Sequence Activities process puts everything in order
   16. Diagram the relationship between activities
   17. Network diagrams put your tasks in perspective
   18. Dependencies help you sequence your activities
       1. External dependencies
       2. Discretionary dependencies
       3. Mandatory dependencies
       4. Internal dependencies
   19. Leads and lags add time between activities
   20. there are no Dumb Questions
   21. Scheduling software can help you see the sequence of activities
   22. Create the network diagram
   23. Figuring out how long the project will take
   24. Estimation tools and techniques
   25. Create the duration estimate
   26. there are no Dumb Questions
   27. Back to the wedding
   28. Bringing it all together
   29. Question Clinic: The which-comes-next question
   30. One thing leads to another
   31. Use the critical path method to avoid big problems
       1. How does knowing your critical path help?
   32. How to find the critical path
   33. Finding the float for any activity
   34. Float tells you how much extra time you have
   35. there are no Dumb Questions
   36. Figure out the early start and early finish
       1. Early start
       2. Early finish
   37. Figure out the latest possible start and finish
       1. Late start
       2. Late finish
   38. Add early and late durations to your diagrams
   39. Take a backward pass to find late start and finish
   40. Let’s take some time out to walk through this!
   41. there are no Dumb Questions
   42. Crash the schedule
   43. Fast-tracking the project
   44. Use data analysis techniques when you build your schedule
       1. Simulation
       2. Scheduling tool
   45. Other Develop Schedule tools and techniques
       1. Resource optimization techniques
       2. Adjusting leads and lags
       3. Data analysis: schedule compression and schedule network analysis
       4. Agile release planning
       5. Project management information system
   46. Outputs of Develop Schedule
       1. Project schedule
       2. Change requests
       3. Project calendars
       4. Schedule data
       5. Schedule baseline
       6. Project Management plan updates
       7. Project documents updates
   47. there are no Dumb Questions
   48. Influence the factors that cause change
   49. Control Schedule inputs and outputs
   50. What Control Schedule updates
   51. Measuring and reporting performance
   52. Control Schedule tools and techniques
   53. there are no Dumb Questions
   54. Control Schedule Magnets
   55. Another satisfied customer!
   56. Control Schedule Magnets Answers
   57. Exam Questions
   58. Exam Answers
10. 7. Cost management: Watching the bottom line
    1. Time to expand Head First Kitchen
    2. The renovation goes overboard
    3. Kitchen conversation
    4. Introducing the Cost Management processes
       1. Plan Cost Management
       2. Estimate Costs
       3. Determine Budget
       4. Control Costs
    5. Plan how you’ll estimate, track, and control your costs
    6. Now you’ve got a consistent way to manage costs
       1. Cost Management plan
    7. What Alice needs before she can estimate costs
    8. Other tools and techniques used in Estimate Costs
       1. Data analysis
       2. Vendor bid analysis
       3. Reserve analysis
       4. Cost of quality
       5. Project management information system
       6. Decision making
    9. Let’s talk numbers
       1. Benefit-cost ratio (BCR)
       2. Net present value (NPV)
       3. Opportunity cost
       4. Internal rate of return
       5. Depreciation
       6. Lifecycle costing
    10. Now Alice knows how much the Kitchen will cost
        1. Cost estimates
        2. Basis of estimates
        3. Updates to project documents
    11. Kitchen conversation
    12. The Determine Budget process
    13. What you need to build your budget
    14. Determine budget: how to build a budget
    15. there are no Dumb Questions
    16. Question Clinic: The red herring
    17. The Control Costs process is a lot like schedule control
    18. A few new tools and techniques
        1. Data Analysis
        2. Project management information system
        3. To-complete performance index
    19. Look at the schedule to figure out your budget
        1. Budget at completion (BAC)
    20. How to calculate planned value
    21. Earned value tells you how you’re doing
    22. How to calculate earned value
    23. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes
    24. Is your project behind or ahead of schedule?
        1. Schedule performance index (SPI)
        2. Schedule variance (SV)
    25. Are you over budget?
        1. Cost performance index (CPI)
        2. Cost variance (CV)
        3. To-complete performance index (TCPI)
        4. You’re within your budget if…
        5. You’ve blown your budget if…
    26. The earned value management formulas
    27. Interpret CPI and SPI numbers to gauge your project
    28. Forecast what your project will look like when it’s done
        1. Meanwhile, back in the Kitchen
    29. Once you’ve got an estimate, you can calculate a variance!
    30. Finding missing information
    31. there are no Dumb Questions
    32. Keep your project on track with TCPI
        1. To-complete performance index (TCPI)
        2. TCPI for the Head First Kitchen renovation project
    33. A high TCPI means a tight budget
    34. Party time!
    35. Exam Questions
    36. Exam Answers
11. 8. Quality management: Getting it right
    1. What is quality?
    2. You need more than just tests to figure out quality
    3. Once you know what the product is supposed to do, it’s easy to tell which tests pass and which fail
    4. Quality up close
    5. Quality vs. grade
    6. “An ounce of prevention…”
       1. And that’s why you need the three Quality Management processes!
    7. Plan Quality is how you prevent defects
    8. How to plan for quality
    9. The Quality Management plan gives you what you need to manage quality
    10. there are no Dumb Questions
    11. Inspect your deliverables
    12. Use the planning outputs for Control Quality
    13. Tools for data gathering
    14. Tools for data analysis
    15. Inspection, testing, and product evaluation
    16. Tools for data representation
    17. Question Clinic: The which-one question
    18. Control Quality means finding and correcting defects
    19. there are no Dumb Questions
    20. Trouble at the Black Box 3000™ factory
    21. Introducing Manage Quality
    22. A closer look at some tools and techniques
    23. More ideas behind managing quality
    24. Fireside Chats
    25. The Black Box 3000™ makes record profits!
    26. Exam Questions
    27. Exam Answers
12. 9. Project resource management: Getting the team together
    1. Mike needs a new team
    2. Cubicle conversation
    3. Get your team together and keep them moving
    4. Figure out who you need on your team
    5. A closer look at the Plan Resource Management outputs
       1. Important components of the Resource Management plan
    6. The Resource Management plan
    7. there are no Dumb Questions
    8. What you need to estimate resources
       1. Resource calendars
    9. Estimating the resources
    10. Get the team together
    11. Cubicle conversation
    12. Develop your team
    13. Develop the team with your management skills
    14. Your interpersonal and team skills can make a big difference for your team
    15. Lead the team with your management skills
        1. Four important kinds of power
    16. Motivate your team
    17. Stages of team development
    18. How’s the team doing?
    19. Cubicle conversation
    20. Managing your team means solving problems
    21. Conflict management up close
        1. Some of the common reasons that conflicts happen
    22. How to resolve a conflict
    23. Make sure to control resources to keep your project on track
    24. Outputs of the Control Resources process
    25. there are no Dumb Questions
    26. The Cows Gone Wild IV team ROCKS!
    27. Question Clinic: The have-a-meeting question
    28. Exam Questions
    29. Exam Answers
13. 10. Communications management: Getting the word out
    1. Party at the Head First Lounge!
    2. But something’s not right
    3. Anatomy of communication
    4. Get a handle on communication
    5. Tell everyone what’s going on
    6. Get the message?
    7. More Manage Communications tools
       1. One of your most important outputs
    8. there are no Dumb Questions
    9. Let everyone know how the project’s going
       1. It all starts with work performance data
    10. Take a close look at the work being done
    11. Now you can get the word out
    12. People aren’t talking!
    13. Count the channels of communication
        1. Counting communication lines the easy way
    14. there are no Dumb Questions
    15. It’s party time!
    16. Question Clinic: The calculation question
    17. Exam Questions
    18. Exam Answers
14. 11. Risk management: Planning for the unknown
    1. What’s a risk?
    2. How you deal with risk
    3. Plan Risk Management
       1. The Risk Management plan is the only output
    4. Use a risk breakdown structure to categorize risks
    5. Anatomy of a risk
    6. What could happen to your project?
    7. Data-gathering techniques for Identify Risks
       1. Useful data gathering techniques
    8. More Identify Risks techniques
       1. Data analysis tools and techniques
    9. Where to look for risks
    10. Now put it in the risk register
    11. Rank your risks
    12. Examine each risk in the register
        1. Data gathering
        2. Data analysis
        3. Data representation
    13. there are no Dumb Questions
    14. Qualitative vs. quantitative analysis
    15. Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
    16. First gather the data…
    17. …then analyze it
    18. Calculate the expected monetary value of your risks
    19. Decision tree analysis uses EMV to help you make choices
    20. there are no Dumb Questions
    21. Update the risk register based on your quantitative analysis results
    22. How do you respond to a risk?
        1. It isn’t always so bad
    23. Add risk responses to the register
    24. Implement Risk Responses
        1. As you respond to risk, you update your project documents
    25. Risk response can find even more risks
    26. Risk Management Exposed
    27. You can’t plan for every risk at the start of the project
    28. Monitor Risks is another change control process
    29. How to monitor your risks
    30. More control risk tools and techniques
    31. there are no Dumb Questions
    32. Question Clinic: The which-is-NOT question
    33. Exam Questions
    34. Exam Answers
15. 12. Procurement management: Getting some help
    1. Victim of her own success
    2. Calling in the cavalry
    3. Agreement Process Magnets
    4. Agreement Process Magnets Solutions
    5. Ask the legal expert
    6. Anatomy of an agreement
       1. You can have several contracts for a single project
    7. Start with a plan for the whole project
    8. Make or Buy Magnets
    9. Make or Buy Magnets
    10. The decision is made
    11. Types of contractual agreements
        1. Fixed price contracts
        2. Cost-reimbursable contracts
        3. Time and materials
    12. More about contracts
    13. Figure out how you’ll sort out potential sellers
    14. Contract Magnets
    15. Get in touch with potential sellers
        1. Use outputs from the Plan Procurement Management process to find the right seller
    16. Pick a partner
    17. there are no Dumb Questions
    18. Two months later…
    19. Keep an eye on the contract
    20. Stay on top of the seller
        1. Data analysis tools
    21. there are no Dumb Questions
    22. Kate closes the contract
    23. Question Clinic: BYO questions
    24. Contract Magnets Solution
    25. Exam Questions
    26. Exam Answers
16. 13. Stakeholder Management: Keeping Everyone Engaged
    1. Party at the Head First Lounge (again)!
    2. Not everybody is thrilled
    3. Understanding your stakeholders
    4. Find out who your stakeholders are
    5. How engaged are your stakeholders?
    6. Managing stakeholder engagement means clearing up misunderstandings
    7. Monitor your stakeholders’ engagement
    8. Now you can tell when you need to change the way you deal with stakeholders
    9. It’s party time!
17. 14. Professional responsibility: Making good choices
    1. Doing the right thing
       1. The main ideas
    2. Keep the cash?
    3. Fly business class?
    4. New software
    5. Shortcuts
    6. A good price or a clean river?
    7. We’re not all angels
    8. Exam Questions
    9. Exam Answers
18. 15. A little last-minute Review: Check your knowledge
    1. Process Magnets
    2. A long-term relationship for your brain
    3. Here’s how to do this next section
    4. Use the Examination Content Outline… as a study tool
    5. How to do this next section
       1. Download and read the Examination Content Outline right now!
       2. Answer each group of questions…
       3. …then fill in the “Sharpen” exercise for one of the questions
    6. Process Magnets Solutions
19. 16. Practice makes Perfect: Practice PMP Exam
    1. Before you look at the answers...
20. Index