iCert Global Blog

Continuing with our previous blog post about the changes in the PRINCE 2017 Release, this posting covers the exam details for both Foundation Exam and Practitioner exam.

The details are provided from the Axelos site to preserve integrity of the data, and also avoid unnecessary ambiguity

Foundation Examination Design

Exam Design

• Number of questions reduced to 60 (previously 75 with trial questions), and no trial questions

• Exam duration unchanged (1 hour)

• (Pass mark may be adjusted following standard setting)

• Negative questions removed, except where it is part of the learning outcome to know that something shouldn’t occur (e.g. NOT, FALSE, INCORRECT)

• Number of list and missing word questions reduced, i.e. more standard questions

Foundation Exam Structure

• 5 Questions on key concepts

• 8 questions on principles

• 28 questions on themes

• 3-5 questions on each theme

• 19 questions on processes

• 2-3 questions on each process.

Practitioner Examination Design

Exam Design - Questions

• Number of questions (marks) reduced to 75 (previously 80)

• Exam duration unchanged (2.5 hours)

• (Pass mark may be adjusted following standard setting)

• Question styles removed:

• Multiple response

• Assertion reason

• Question styles retained:

• Matching (for BL3) – max 3 marks with 5-6 tokens

• Classic (for BL4) e.g. Yes, because…..

 Practitioner Examination Design

Exam Design – Scenario/Information

Candidates will only need to refer to:

• A one-page project scenario

• One page of additional information for the organization theme (person profiles)

• Approx. 4 lines of information before the question stem to provide the context (especially BL4 questions).

In other words:

• No separate lengthy additional information (except for organization theme)

• No ‘delete entry 1’, ‘amend entry 1’ questions’!!

please watch this space for more update. We will keep you posted more about the developments about PRINCE 2-2017 release.

Wishing you good lucl in your endevaors.

image courtesy: goo.gl/XrGZEt

PRINCE2 – Managing Projects in a Controlled Environment, is one of the well-known, widely acclaimed, and globally recognized certification in Project Management.

Those familiar with Axelos-PRINCE2 (2009) don’t need any introduction. By Mid-2017, Axelos decided to roll out an enhanced edition, which they named as PRINCE-2017.

Recently PRINCE2 has evolved further with changes incorporated in its syllabus, Examinations for both Foundation and Practitioners. The changes reflected are only in English language and for other language supported by Axelos, the release is expected in 2018.

Now you may ask, why Axelos got this change done? What is so different in this new edition?

AXELOS regularly seeks feedback from the international community about the standard and usage of its Certification programs in enhancing the ability of the PRINCE2 certified professionals to manage and deliver projects successfully. The feedback over a period of consultation from 75% of Accredited Organizations (AOs) concurred the need and agreed for an update of the program syllabus and exams. Not only the AOs, but Industry experts and stakeholders were consulted in improving the content to align with the work-environment that’s fast-paced and ever-growing to reap more benefits for the practitioners, customers and other associated benefactors.  

Answering the second part of the question, as to what is so different in this new edition, the themes chapters have been restructured to enhance flow and readability and to accommodate important new material on how to tailor projects.

Besides, The update is characterized by an emphasis on:

● tailoring PRINCE2 to the needs of organizations and project environments

● the principles that underpin PRINCE2

● greater clarity on the link between the themes and principles

● the restructuring of the themes guidance to accommodate specific examples of tailoring

Now the next question expected would be, ‘why so much stress on Tailoring’?

As you know, PRINCE2 is extremely flexible, versatile and completely scalable., which  have  always been a key factors in the success of PRINCE2: the method is readily tailored to the needs of any organization. The philosophy and practice of tailoring is a thread that now runs throughout the guidance and the training programme. In fact, it permeates the entire thinking of the PRINCE2 2017 update.

Summary of the changes in PRINCE 2017

With regards to the syllabi: 

In the Foundation level, Addition of chapter 2, 4 and 21;  

• Chapter 2: Project Management with PRINCE2

• Chapter 4: Tailoring and adopting PRINCE2

• Chapter 21: Practical considerations for organizational adoption (Tailoring & Embedding)

Notably the old Chapter 19 (PRINCE2®: TAILORING PRINCE2® TO PROJECT ENVIRONMENT) removed.

Now, there is much emphasis about Tailoring.

In terms of Exam, the changes include:

Foundation Exam

 – Focus is clearly on the core of PRINCE2

- Elements of the exam that are not part of the core have been removed 

- Assessment criteria around tailoring have been added

- The emphasis on different parts of the syllabus has been readjusted

The Practitioner exam 

The major changes include:

● The Practitioner exam will now test candidates on all parts of the PRINCE2 method

● The emphasis on different parts of the syllabus has been readjusted

● The candidate is now tested on the general application of the core of each theme and process and on their practical ability to assess, in a particular context, whether an approach to project management is effective and fit for purpose

● Improvements to the exam design have been made.

The most powerful mode of marketing is the word of mouth.  

Is Digital marketing same as word-of-mouth marketing?  Yes or no? Well, what do you call ‘thing going viral on the social media’. The word spreads faster than a forest fire. We bank on referrals and trust the testimonies of our contacts before deciding on a service provider or business provider.

Today, it’s too expensive to try out the trial and error, and hence we follow footprints to be better safe and sure. Check and double-check. And that’s the reason why the online reviews are attached too much importance because you can’t collect all the information from your known sources, and hence, need to rely on unknown sources as well. Be it a travel or hotel booking or buying a car, we need to arm ourselves with facts, figures and Opinions. It matters more these days on others’ experience to get a perspective of ‘how it will be’, before doing it on our own for the ‘self-experience.’ Isn’t it? How many times have you checked a restaurant‘s reputation online before booking a table? And scrolled down all the way to sniff out foul smell? Yes, that one star rating which makes your face frown. Yes!

Word of mouth is more personalized. But in this digital era, where time is money, it’s impossible to knock on every door to get first-hand feedback. Technology has advanced. We speak of being ahead or behind the curve in technology. So the best way to pool in people’s views in one place would be the internet. And if that be, what’s stopping you from marketing using internet as a channel.

This could be the genesis of digital marketing. People prefer both brick and mortar shops and online shopping too. There exists a market share for both, and if you consider convenience, comfort, choice, online shopping is head over shoulder.

Times have changed and it’s wise to turn along the tide. So hoardings which do exist have shrunk in number and instead the online banners have risen exponentially in numbers. The medium of sale has shifted. Online transactions have spiked in numbers. Marketing of products and services using technologies through internet is otherwise known as Digital marketing, wherein the online space is used to provide the user experience to the best extent possible in promotions and pushing sales.

‘data is the new oil’

Why? Because that’s the most valuable resource. What moves the needle? Sales. And sales to happen, you need data. Refined. There, indeed, is an information overload. Looks like there is a data dump, and that’s why refined. 

Transparency is the key. Be it a website or a product/service promoted in a website. ‘how many users? how many likes? how many new users?  And that leads to the next poser ‘do you have the resource to refine?’ 

People are crunching the numbers and scrambling for data to dissect the demography in order to study and better understand the market conditions and customer behavior.  Anything that cannot be backed up with data becomes merely an opinion. Credibility is the cornerstone.  Data integrity. Everything centers on it.

Know your customer.

When a customer shops for a book, or a perfume or a laptop, or holiday vacation or anything for that matter, it gives a glimpse of the customer in terms of taste and take. Next time when the same customer visits the page, there will be “you might also like” with several  allied products or services listed. If that can bring a smile on customer’s face, then its good user experience.

Now this can be made possible only we have credible data.  Don’t let data sound so technical. It is information. How much you know about your customer to serve better and thereby improve your relationship. Relationship building is the ultimate key because that's how you earn the customer’s confidence. 

Data is the decisive factor.

Image credit: goo.gl/WmYFDt 

We will discuss more about this subject in the week to come.  Stay tuned.

The Sixth Edition of PMBOK® Guide Will Be Soon Out | Project Management

PMI (Project Management Institute) is expected to roll out the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition by the third quarter of 2017. It is expected that the draft version of the Sixth Edition is ready by the first or second quarter, and the final version of the Sixth Edition should be available by mid-2017, if things go as planned.

What are the changes expected in the Sixth Edition?

>> The size of the book. Presently, the fifth edition PMBOK® Guide, has 13 chapters that spans 415 pages. The sixth edition is expected to be quarter the size of the 5th edition, which means it should be close to 84 pages and the number of chapters too have come down to 10. So, sixth edition should be 10 chapters with 84 pages in the draft version. By the time sixth edition gets published, PMI  possibly will add more pages. The final number of pages for now is unknown.

>> Inputs, Tools & Techniques, Outputs (ITTOs) – the sixth edition will not dwell deep into ITTOs, rather it will be covered at a high level.

>> The first version of the PMBOK 6th edition is ¼ the size of the PMBOK 5th edition. The 6th editions currently has 10 chapters and 84 pages, while the 5th edition had 13 chapters and 415 pages.

>> Alignment with Process Groups: the sixth edition will be divided based on the 5 process groups, and not the 10 knowledge areas. This is considered a major change as the Role Delineation Study (RDS)  conducted by PMI has presented its findings and proposed the changed to be aligned  with process groups.

>> Combination of first three chapters. In the sixth edition, the first three chapters will be combined as one – the interpersonal skills  of the project manager and organizational skills will be merged in to one.

>>Two processes are expected to be deleted. The Close Procurements process and Estimate Activities Resources are more likely to be deleted.

>>Two knowledge areas to be renamed; Time Management  and Human Resource Management to be renamed.  Time management will be renamed Schedule management, while human resource management becomes Resource Management

>> Knowledge Areas to feature four section. Every knowledge areas will  have four new sections, namely, Key Concepts, Trends and Emerging Practices, Tailoring Considerations and  Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Environments.

>> An exclusive chapter on role of Project manager.  This chapter on Project Manager will cover the key concepts about core competencies, expertise, leadership skills expected in leading a project.

>> Approaches for Agile  : every knowledge area will be inclusive of a section with a the title Approaches for Agile, Iterative and Adaptive Environments’. This will , detail the integration of agile practices in project backgrounds.

>> PMI Talent Triangle™: PMI spells the details about the technical skills, business intelligence , and leadership considered the key skills for success. It is also known as Talent triangle.

Reference source: http://www.examspm.com/2016/07/16/pmbok-6th-edition-release-date-changes/

https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/about/current-projects

http://www.pmi.org/certifications/types/project-management-pmp/update

https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational-standards-exposure-draft

https://www.pmi.org/learning/training-development/talent-triangle

 image courtesy:goo.gl/D9V6Rb

The biggest challenge in any corporate or company [big or small] is conflict management. Most of the professionals as part of the human capital are admittedly millennials and the most worrisome aspect is their psyche. This generation is simply intolerant or less tolerant. However talent they might, being a bigot is the last thing a Project Manager want in the team, the delivery is not going to happen. No project has ever delivered by one person. It’s a team effort. The team has to be open to each other and are to criticize the ideas but criticize the person. That’s a very line as differentiating a person from their thought isn’t easy as put. Many tend to take it personal.

Another challenge is that most of the people don’t have common objective.  Or the vision is not the same for everybody. The same thought can be perceived differently – just like half full and half empty. We tend to see things differently looking at the same object. So this lack of sync in project members adds to the conflict. Hence people at different layers in a project need to be in the same and understand one another. This, of course, is easier said than done because there is something called residual anger that becomes a huge bottleneck. There could be a bitter rub in the past project or some engagement and human by nature are egoist. Hence, in a professional environment, we have to conduct professionally setting aside personal differences.

How to fix when we have multiple stakeholders [internal stakeholders]?

People should know their boundaries. [It is already mentioned that they must have common objectives,]. There might be a QA manager in the development team. Though the QA Manager identified some issues in the development, it will not in in the person’ premise to fix as part of the common objective. Rather, the QA manager must escalate to the Dev Manager who must attend on the fix. The conflict arises when the QA Manager tries to solve the Dev manager’ problem out of enthusiasm or interest or urgency or reason conceivable. But this is unacceptable.  This will cause chaos and conflict in the system.  Unless they are the owner of the problem, they should not solve the problem. In a professional environment, if every profession tries to solve every other problem, that itself will create conflict because different people will different strategies to deal with problems and manage project. The need of the hour then is people at al layers must be organized – they should their mission, vision, boundaries and roles & responsibilities.

In a complex project, conflicts are common, and this where the project plan plays a critical role. The project plan helps in communication plan – as how as stakeholders – must communicate with each other and the frequency of communication and manner in which information can flow back and forth. The moment people start to respect their project plan, then there is less chances for conflict. Sometimes we may need to set back and view what the plan states. T There might be moments when you may have to listen to your instincts. Before the project started, you might have agreed to do, and by now looking the project plan, you may not be on track and even lag. Whether you are over boarding or under. Whether there burn rate is more as compared to the efforts or within control. Going by experience, the burn will be more. That’s why you may have to sit back and look back at the rule of engagement drafted at the start of project initiation for greater clarity.

The boundaries for the stakeholders too must identified, well documented, and respected. Thus will avoid inference, intrusion and encroachment. Thus when there is greater collaboration and cooperation within the team is paramount to keep the stakeholders satisfied. 

image courtesy: http://www.pmi-ksa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Stakeholder-Management-and-Conflict-Resolution-Course-Brochure-3.png

Automation is almost everywhere, and head more in the IT sphere. Of course it started from there and soon spread to other industries. It wasn’t a question when they are introduced in software industry, especially in testing. It was more about the replacement skilled hands good at manual testing. No matter how good you are testing, there is a slack on everyone as the day wears out, human fatigue, wear and tear is all part of the daily rigor, but for a machine that’s lifeless and programmed to perform complex and complicated work, there is no such fatigue except the glitch, which the engineers anticipate, preempt before deploying into production. 

There is flip side into automation but the benefits far overweigh manual testing and hence the job loss.  With automation taking over as a technological drive, it was only a matter of time before manual testing would replace men with machines. That’s the reality and sooner one reconciles and find alternatives to stay relevant, and required there is less to worry about pink slips.

It is a technique that was devised way back in 1990s by two engineers working in Motorola to improve the quality by decreasing the numbers of errors that might occur. It is basically about identifying the causes of the errors, and systematically removing there errors, so that there will be not any recurrence. The quality engineer follows management methods based on experimentation and observation and analyse their findings through statistical methods. 

The higher the probability of reducing the errors, then higher will the profitability to the organization. This was the underlying principle. This practice created a specialized pool of talented people who have an eye of detecting the flaws and direction solutions to fix. 

They follow a step of methods that sequential in inspecting and identifying the defect to create a defect-free product. Statistically speaking 3.4 defective features per million opportunities means 99.99966% of all opportunities to produce some feature of a part that are free from defects. That is six sigma in a nut shell.

Six Sigma Green Belt Certification

Couresty:wiki

DPMO is Defect Per Million Opportunities. From the chart, it is evident the desired six sigma level is 6.

Along with the various level of identification came the expertise with in a person to handle six-sigma related projects and to evaluate their expertise, karate belts like yellow, black were used to identify the skillset of the six sigma professionals.

The Six Sigma Green Belt professionals are generally employees who are involved with maintenance of Six-Sigma as part of their job responsibilities. This does mean that this is their only job but one among many parts of their line of work.   Six Sigma Certification Online is very much possible as training centers provide different modes of imparting knowledge transfer: Instructor-led Classroom, Instructor-Led Online Class and E-Learning.

There are many benefits of Sig Sigma testing, some of which are highlighted below:

Improved quality: when Motorola initiated in early 90s, it almost went unnoticed. Jack Welch made it popular when he announced the annual results and heads started turns to Six Sigma and more companies followed suit.

Increased ROI:  As mentioned above, higher probability of reducing the errors leads to greater profitability to the organization.

Greater Customer Satisfaction: It’s a win-win where both the stakeholders are happy: the client and vendor.

Employee Recognition. The employees who worked in bringing the turnaround by tightly controlling the defects deserve due appreciation and accolade.

image courtesy: goo.gl/sfgsje

The human capital, with the exponential growth in population, is immeasurably huge. Today the talent pool is just terrific. Paradoxically, the skill gap persists despite the overwhelming numbers of resource. The issue, as always, is the fitment. The question is: do you fit? An organization's needs vary from time to time, and that’s why the insistence of skills upgrade. Stopping at a place in today’s pace Is walking backwards. That spells something about the competition – which means you have to have always in your guard, keep your eyes and ears open and be ready on your toes. The physical attributes aside, the mental faculty needs to be brushed up and stepped up. Now comes the key question? What are your skills? Everyone is gifted with a primary skill. Problem is we don’t know what we are good at. Really! We just follow the crowd and flow with the tide and knock on doors that have good opportunities – that pays you well offering good positions. So it’s more about aligning your skills towards the direction of boom and bucks. 

Have you ever tried to identify your own talents or primary skills and pursue a career where you can flourish given your natural abilities and gifted talents? Today, most of us want to try our hand in IT. Why? Because it pays handsomely, and the scope is just superb. What if you are good at writing? Or painting or fixing wheels or sort or any other vocation? Sense of job satisfaction is a far cry these days because our occupation is marked by demand in the market. What happened to your skills? Either untapped or unaware.  

So how to identify your skills?

• Whatever you can do with relative ease and keep motivating you keep going.
• Whatever you enjoy doing
• Whatever people come to you often for aid/assistance/assignment

Once you know what you are really good at, nurture. Try getting advice from peers and superiors. Mentoring helps. Remember, there are primary skill and secondary skills. In today’s competitive world, you need to don more than one hat as a performer. So learn more skills. Become multi-talented. Versatile. And that’s makes you more in demand, rather than following the demand of the market. Make them come to you, instead of you approaching them. You know well where lies the bargaining power. The one to give the most job satisfaction is the one you really enjoy.

image courtesy: goo.gl/aLq3tg