PMP Study Notes

Thanks, Deepak ! That was amusing :)

Hello Suresh (Chelluri),

This question has been asked so often that it warrants a separate post of its own. Watch out for a new article on this within next week.

To give you a quick answer, you are right that Residual risks are "known unknowns". But remember that "known unknowns" are actually "known" risks. Similarly, "unknown unknown" are actually "unknown" risks.

For Residual risks, it's not that we don't know the impact. We do know the impact, but we do nothing to eliminate the Residual risks or reduce their impact. Therefore, we do have sufficient information about them to make an estimate of the potential impact, and the reserve (time and money) needed to address the impact, if the risk occurs.

In summary, Contingency Reserves are for Residual Risks ("known unknowns" or simply "known" risks). Management Reserves are for "unknown unknowns" or "unknown" risks.

Hope that helps. I recommend that you study the Risk Management chapter from Rita Mulcahy's book.

Hello Pradeep,

First of all, my apologies for the delay in responding to you. I was caught up in several things and didn't even get a chance to look at my own site for the past 3 days.

You have asked a great question. The response from 'Anonymous' is absolutely correct. When change requests are approved, it's logical that baselines need to be updated, and baselines are updated in the Control Scope process (read section 5.5 Control Scope on page 125 of the PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition).

But, I see a problem in the PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition. The approved change requests are coming in as inputs only to the Direct and Manage Project Execution process, but not to the Control Scope process.

If you refer to figure 4-11 in the PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition, there's no output coming from 4.5 Perform Integrated Change Control into 5.5 Control Scope. Similarly, in figure 5-14, there's no output coming from 4.5 Perform Integrated Change Control into 5.5 Control Scope.

Therefore, while it is logical that when change requests are approved in the Perform Integrated Change Control process, the baselines need to be updated in Control Scope, the PMBOK Guide seems to missing this flow of data. Rita's book is correct in this respect.

I hope I've not confused you more. I'm open to discussion. I don't claim to know everything, but I'll share whatever I know. Feel free to post more queries.

Thanks.

Hello Giri,

Q.18 Option A is not correct because the float of Activity B is 9 days. Activity B ends on the evening of day 21, and activity D begins on the morning of day 31. If you count the number of days in between - 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 - you have 9 days.


Q.31 Answer is 37 because:

a. Activity 1 has a duration of 20 days. So, let's say it's starts on Day 1 and completes by the end of Day 20.

b. Activity 2 has a duration of 10 days. Let's say it starts on Day 21 and completes by the end of Day 30.

c. Activity 3 has a duration of 5 days. Relation between Activity 2 and Activity 3 is a Finish-to-Finish relation, with a lead of 2 days (FF - 2d). That means Activity 3 must finish 2 days before Activity 2 finishes. Therefore, Activity 3 must finish by the end of Day 28.

d. Activity 4 has a duration of 6 days. Relationship between Activity 3 and Activity 4 is a Finish-to-Start relationship with a lag of 3 days (FS + 3d). Therefore, Activity 4 can only start on the morning of Day 32 (3 days after Day 28) and completes by the end of Day 37.

Therefore, the minimum duration is 37 days.


Q.75 Now this is a tough one for me. This is definitely way beyond the scope of the PMP exam and I wouldn't bother about it at all. But, I'll try to answer anyway, though I'm not 100% sure.

The relationship between Activity E and Activity F is FS-60%. That means Activity F can start when Activity E is 40% complete (60% lead on the predecessor). Now assume that the duration of activity E is 10 days, duration
of activity F is 4 days, and Activity E starts on Day 11. So, Activity F can start on Day 15. Activity F may complete by end of Day 18, but Activity E can only complete by the end of Day 20.

Refer to this Project Schedule / Gantt Chart I created to explain the scenario:

Logical Dangle in a Network Diagram

So, it's likely that Activity E may go beyond the project end date (as seen in my project schedule / Gantt Chart above). If that happens, it would be a logical dangle.

Hope I've answered all your questions. You can also post these questions in forums to get better responses.

Hello Giri,

The free float formula that you mentioned is applicable when you start counting the project start date from day 0, and the successor starts on the same day when the predecessor ends. Refer to Rita Mulcahy's book for this method. I also used the same approach in my examples in the study notes above.

In Q.18 of Oliver Lehmann's exam, a different approach is used for calculation of early/late start/finish dates. Question clearly says that an activity starts in the morning and finishes in the evening, and the next activity starts on the next day. In this case the formula would be:

Free Float = ES of successor activity - EF of predecessor activity - 1

In conclusion, keep in mind that the formulas will change depending upon the approach you follow to calculate the early/late start/finish dates.

Therefore, it is best to understand the concepts and leave the formulas in the book.

Regards.

Hello Giri,

This question can only be answered by the person who developed it. I can't calculate the CPI without knowing the Actual Cost (AC). Where did you get this question from?

P.S.: My name is 'Harwinder' :)

Regards.

Giri,

On second thoughts, if we assume that the human resource cost is the only cost involved for the task, then my answer would be 'b' (1.5).

Suppose the cost of each resource is $500/week, and human resource cost is the only cost involved. Therefore, original cost estimate (BAC) = 2 * 2 * $500 = $2000 = PV at the end of 2 weeks.

Actual cost at the end of 2 weeks is = 2 * 500 = $1000 (because only one resource was used).

Earned value = 75% of $2000 = $1500.

CPI = EV / AC = $1500 / $1000 = 1.5

I hope that answers your question.

Hello Giri,

My answers are exactly the same as yours and I'm quite confident we are right.

You can post this in some forum and seek opinion from others as well, if you have time. Otherwise, just move on.

Good luck.

@ Anonymous:

This is one of the best questions posted on this blog.

If you could narrow down each question to 2 options, then you have won 80% of the battle. How? Because that itself would bring your score to 50% and generally you need to score about 56-66% to pass the exam. So, you just need another 6-16% score to tilt the balance in your favor.

Now to answer your question directly, after you narrow down to 2 options, you can use the following tips:

1. Think the PMBOK-way.

2. Read the questions very thoroughly, and keep an eye for these keywords that you mentioned.

3. Try to remember the order in which the activities in the planning process group are performed. The planning processes have a particular order, which is important. So, if you keep that order in mind, it may help you figure out what to do NEXT.

4. PMs don't rush to others with problems. They propose solutions. So, if the question asks you what is the FIRST thing a PM should do, and the answer option is "go to the sponsor or customer", then be vary of that option. It's a potential trap. A better option would be something on the lines of "analyzing the problem" (to validate the problem first).

5. LEAST important thing would be something that doesn't address the problem at hand, or doesn't address it in a timely manner.

6. FORGET? Perhaps something that is part of the process but not followed. For example, the scope was increased, but the plan was not updated, or something was not communicated to an important stakeholder, or an important approval or check was missed, etc.

These are just some thoughts on the top of my head. I really liked this question. I would probably do more research on this topic and do a separate blog post on it shortly.

Thanks !

Hello Mark,

That's a wonderful response. Thanks for sharing your insight. I also want to mention that your site has some really useful material for PMP certification.

I plan to do a separate blog post on this topic and have already started working on it.

Keep in touch.

Thanks.

Hi Giri,

Sorry for not being able to keep up with all the comments and questions here.

I suggest that you post specific doubts that you have about these questions and show me how you approached them. From there, I'll help you fill the gaps.

BTW, I do not trust the answers on this website. So if you are getting a different answer, you might be right.

Regards.

Hello Vanina,

The order of the planning processes is pretty much the same as shown in the "Planning Process Group" column on Page 43 of the PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition, starting from the top.

Note that Planning process group is the only process group where the order of processes is important, and it is logical too. For example, you cannot write a scope statement, unless you have the requirements. You cannot have a Network diagram without knowing the scope or having a list of activities to accomplish the scope. Similarly, you cannot create a budget, without knowing the cost for each activity. You cannot start to plan procurements unless who understand what needs to be procured.

Also note that, the processes in the Planning Process Group are iterative. You may need to repeat the processes as you go further during planning. For example, during Risk Response Planning, you may decide that you need to add some extra activities to the project in order to deal with the risk. So, this may require you to go back and update your activity list and repeat all the downstream processes.

I hope you get the idea. I suggest that you grab a good study guide to complement the PMBOK Guide.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Regards.

Hello Ashwin,

That's a really good question and shows that you are a keen observer and taking your preparation very seriously.

Your question has been already addressed by another reader above (thanks to him/her). Let me add some additional comments.

The difference between Scope Baseline and Project Scope Statement is really the WBS (and the WBS Dictionary). So, I would rephrase your question this way:

Why is the WBS an input to Identify Risks process?

I think it's quite logical. I'll take an example to explain. Assume that your WBS is deliverables based. Let's say you are building a product based on a new technology. During risk identification, you find that one of the deliverables in the WBS is too risky to build right away. In order to mitigate the risk (under Plan Risk Responses), you decide to add a new (internal) deliverable, which is a "prototype" of the product, to your WBS.

Just looking at the Scope Statement, you may not know whether the team has planned to build a "prototype" or not. Only by looking at the WBS, you could figure this out.

Similarly, there may be other risks in the WBS. How about an incomplete WBS itself?

I hope I've addressed the question. If I've missed something, please feel free to correct me. Again, that was a good question and I encourage people to ask more of such questions.

Thanks.

Hi Ashwin,

Yes for the purpose of passing the exam. "Plan Risk Management" is about how you'll approach risk management. It's not about finding risks or addressing them (those happen in other processes). So, you don't really need the WBS at that point.

But remember that PMBOK Guide is a set of "guidelines", not a "methodology". On a real project, if you need to refer to the WBS for planning risk management, there's nothing stopping you from doing it. There are no hard and fast rules here.

Hope that helps.

@ Anonymous:

In response to: "If a new risk is found during Monitoring and Control risks will it go back to qualitative analysis or identify risks before response is planned"

I think it depends on the situation. If you have already identified a risk, logically you would go to Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis. But let's say you suspect there could be more underlying risks. In that case, you may want to repeat the Identify Risk process again.

For such cases, there's no single "best" way to do things. PMBOK Guide is a set of "guidelines", not a "methodology". The PM has to tailor the guidelines according to the needs of the project and the demands of the situation.

Regards.

Hello Roberto,

Sorry for the delay in responding to your question.

I didn't understand your example clearly. Can you elaborate it further? I promise that I'll respond sooner this time.

Generally speaking, we need to understand PMIisms (PMI way) to answer questions on Professional Responsibility. I got 100% on this domain in my PMP exam.

The trick I used was to always go by the "rules". For example, even if my real brother does something unethical, I simply "report" him to the authorities. I should not give him a second chance. If my boss asks me to do something unethical or unlawful, I should go against him, and not only stop him, but also report him to the authorities.

This domain is a good scoring opportunity if only we understand the trick to answering the questions.

Thanks.

@ Anon,

Regarding your question about the cost of training, I don't think there's a single best answer for all situations.

If the training is very specific to skills required on the project, the project may bear the cost. Otherwise, it may be borne by the performing organization.

For example, if I want to build my project management skills, and my company sends me for a training, it's unlikely that the cost will be borne by my current project. But if I need a specific technical training to complete my job on my current project, the money is likely to come from the project budget.

Hope it helps.

Hello Malli,

That's a good suggestion. Let me look into it.

Thanks.

Hello Sir Chawlz,

Read the following 2 articles on this subject:

Estimate At Completion (EAC) vs Estimate To Complete (ETC)

Solving the Estimate At Completion (EAC) Puzzle

In short, it's good to have understanding of all 4 formulas. But generally, the formula related questions on the PMP exam are straight forward, and you may be able to get by with the basic formula that you mentioned.

Good luck.

Hello Anon,

Thanks a lot for your comments and truly fantastic feedback. I particularly liked your questions on risk management.

I wish I could work on all the ideas right now. But given my schedule and other priorities, I can spend a limited time on blogging.

I maintain a log of ideas, which come from readers like you and other sources, and process them one by one. For example, right now I'm working on a series of posts on PERT estimation. That idea also came from a blog reader who asked me to explain standard deviation concept.

In short, I'll definitely work on each of your ideas, but it may not be in time for your exam. However, I'll try to get you the "short answers" soon.

Regarding your question on Conflict Management, I do have an article What can Indo-Pak Conflict Teach PMP Aspirants that might address it to some extent.

Also, I encourage other readers to answer your questions. I'm sure I can benefit from their knowledge too.

If you have other suggestions, feel free to post them. I really value them.

Thanks.

Hello Anonymous (I wish you could use a proper name, even if it was a fake one),

Thanks for your feedback.

I'm relieved to hear that. It gives me some breathing space. I want to finish the series on PERT estimation first, that I'm working on right now.

Couple off the top comments about the difference between 'preventive action' and 'risk mitigation plan' - one is an 'action' and the other is a 'plan for action'. Preventive action may be for problems, and not necessarily for risks.

These are good questions. Keep them coming.

I spent a lot of effort on the WPI / Performance Report articles. I'm glad to hear that you found them useful. It makes all the effort worthwhile.

Currently I do not have any place to discuss exam questions. There are 3 reasons for it:

1. Blogger platform is not ideally suited for it. Forums are the right place for them.
2. I can start my own forum, but I don't want to bite more than what I can chew. I already find it difficult to keep up with the blog activities. I don't have any helping hand here.
3. These things can tread into copyright issues, and I want to save myself from having to deal with it.

But your comment has made me to rethink. Let me see if I can find an effective way to incorporate it into this blog.

Regarding other articles, you can click on the "SITEMAP" link in the top menu bar. That'll show you all the blog posts in one shot.

Thanks again. I appreciate your inputs.

Hello Anonymous,

You can find the answer here: Accuracy vs Precision.

Let me give an example as well. Suppose 4 different manufacturing lines are producing cylindrical rods with diameter 3.00 cm. A random sample of 10 rods is taken from each line. The measurements are:

Line 1: 3.05, 3.25, 3.40, 2.55, 2.45, 3.15, 3.00, 3.35, 2.85, 2.80

These are neither precise, not accurate.

Line 2: 2.45, 2.40, 2.50, 2.40, 2.45, 2.45, 2.50, 2.40, 2.45, 2.45

These are precise, but not accurate.

Line 3: 3.15, 3.10, 2.90, 2.85, 2.90, 2.95, 3.00, 3.05, 3.05, 3.10

These are accurate, but not precise.

Line 4: 3.05, 3.00, 2.95, 2.95, 2.95, 3.05, 3.00, 3.05, 3.05, 3.00

These are accurate and precise.

Hope that helps.

Hello Francis,

Thanks for your feedback.

These are fantastic ideas for blog posts. You'll surely see some posts on these topics.

I'll probably start with QA vs QC. Stay tuned.

Thanks again.

Hello Victor,

Awesome stuff, really. I think I need a month's break from work to clear the backlog now. I've already started working on your ideas and you'll soon (hopefully within a week) see some posts on these topics. I don't like to do half-baked posts. Will post something that you guys find useful and appreciate.

I don't have any specific links on these topics right now. Google search would be your best bet.

I also want to encourage you to share ideas and help each other. You don't have to wait for me to answer every questions. Please continue the discussion and try to help each other.

Your inputs are really appreciated.

Thanks.

Hello Rookie,

These are very good questions. I'll give you my thoughts. I've not done any research into these areas.

1. Project documents remain project documents unless they are shared at the organization level. When they are shared across the organization, they are considered OPAs.

2. EEFs have the most impact on the project planning processes. In M&C you are ensuring that the project is being executed to the plan. And don't confuse Process Groups with Project Phases.

Moreover, PMBOK is not as black and white, as you might think it is. I know of several things in the Guide that are very hard to explain with logic.

Hope it helps. Thanks for your insightful comments.

Hello Rookie,

I'm humbled by your comments. You have more confidence in my abilities than I have myself :) I would love to author a book some day, but I think I have a fair distance to go before that.

I agree with you on your comments about the PMBOK Guide. The people who helped draft the standard must have had good reasons, but they have fallen short in expressing their intent in many places. However, I find PMBOK version 4 better than version 3 in many aspects. They are making improvements, though in baby steps.

This is one topic I have wanted to take up in a blog post for a long time, but just not getting around it. I already have a very interesting title for that post in my head, though I won't disclose it just yet :) Now that you have revived my interest, don't be surprised if you see this topic in the next few days.

So yeah, there'll be times when logic will evade you and you must "memorize" things in order to pass the exam. That's the sad reality of it as of now.

Thanks.

Hello Imran,

Thanks for your wonderful comments and questions. I think your questions warrant a separate blog post and I'm writing one now. I should be posting it latest by tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay in my response.

Best regards.

Khurram,

You don't really need to memorize all the ITTOs. Search for "itto" using Google Search at the top right of this page, for posts on this topic. BrainBOK will certainly help with the ITTOs.

All the best.

@Anon.,

Sorry for the late response.

Relax. That's my advice. You sound too anxious to me. You have good 2 weeks before the exam. Use this time and study hard. Read the PMBOK Guide thoroughly (every line in there is a potential question). Attempt lots of sample questions. Understand PMIisms. Understand Input / Output (you could use BrainBOK for that) flow. Understand the Tools and Techniques.

Good luck.

Hi Ramesh,

Direct and Manage Project Execution is an Integration process. It "integrates" the work of all the other knowledge areas.

The process of managing the risks and implement risk responses is called Monitor and Control Risks. To say that risks are managed and controlled in the Monitor and Control Risks process is not the right way to put it. The Monitor and Control Risks process is not a "phase" of the project where risks are managed and controlled. Think of each process as "work" that needs to be done during the project, and not as a "phase" of the project. Many people make this fundamental mistake.

Now if you think of "Monitor and Control Risks" as "work", then your question "where does the implementation take place" doesn't make any sense.

I see many sample questions that read something like this:

You are doing so and so work. Which process are you in?

I think those questions are simply "wrong". The people who write such questions also do not understand the subject. You are not "in" any process. You are performing a process. So, the question should be:

You are doing so and so work. Which process are you performing (or what is the name of this process)?

Now if the exam asks you this:

You are managing risks and implementing risk responses on the project. Which process are you performing?

The answer would be Monitor and Control Risks.

Hope that helps.

Best regards.

@Ramesh - I think that's a good observation. Thanks for bringing it up.

Plan Procurements is a "planning" process. The schedule may still be tentative (and not approved) when you start to plan procurements. You may not have a baselined scheduled at that point. Moreover, planning is an iterative process. Just because Time management is listed before Procurement Management in the PMBOK Guide, doesn't mean that all the schedule planning must be 100% complete before procurement planning begins.

Hope that answers your question.

@Anonymous,

I've a bunch of posts on Point of Total Assumption on this blog. Just search for that topic using the Google Search feature at the top right. Those would be more than sufficient for the exam.

Just focus on understanding the concepts. Rita's questions are not going to appear on the exam.

Best regards.

Hello Mohamad,

The answer is - both. Change to the project plans and/or baselines require a change request that should be processed through the integrated change control process.

BR.

Hello Manish,

You are right. The answer is B, and I've fixed it on the page where you took it from.

Thanks for pointing it out.

But I have one request. In case you want to refer to a question and ask others to comment, the best approach is to point people to the source (for e.g. post a link or refer to the question/page no. from the book), and "not" copy the question in its entirety.

Best regards.

Hi,

There's a Google search field at the top right corner of this site.

Funding limit reconciliation is done to balance your projected costs against the funding available. For example, if you have $100 available in May, but you plan to spend $150, then there's a problem. You need to either adjust your cost or request for more funding. This is a "planning" function.

Cost re-baselining is done to change your cost baselines as a result of approved change requests. This is a "monitoring and controlling" function.

Hope that makes sense.

Hello Maruthi,

Thanks for your feedback. Most of the questions posted on this site are available under the FREE Mastering PMBOK Guide exam on BrainBOK. That’s even better because you can take that exam in the simulated exam mode.

Best regards.