Yeah

So all right, let's play the tape.

If you're listeners, you've taken the PMP before, um, July of this year, you will know the questions are not focused on rote memorization.

They're not focused on terminology, except that it's used in describing the concepts, right? They're all situation-based in some case, generally more or less, even if they're real short.

Your cost performance in- index is this.

What does that mean about your project? Right? Or more generally, a couple of lines of context.

You have a bunch of squabbling stakeholders, X, Y, Z sponsor wants you to do this, so and so says that.

Mm.

And so how then do you see the job of a project manager, the role of a project manager changing that is driving these changes in the exam?

Yeah.

So project management has always been about managing complexity and delivering value.

A project by definition, a project, a program is something that is designed to bring about change, to change something about the way things are or to bring something new into the world.

To do that requires a vast array of skills, stakeholder management, understanding and articulating value as it's understood by your team within the context of your mission, within your agency, or across different stakeholder groups.

Our research at the Project Management Institute, which we conducted in an ongoing way, looking at global trends in project management, show that some of those skills I was just mentioning in navigating complexity and interpersonal management are more important now than ever.

And that's because the context within which projects happen is becoming more complex, whether that's geopolitical trends or local political pressures, supply chain disruption.

How did you work that into the exam?

Mm

... all the way to more enduring ones.

Those technical skills tend to be in the middle, I would say.

A lot of what we think of as ways of working from a project management, project professional point of view, they're frameworks, they are equations, they are ways of understanding value and time, and a lot of the, um, specific technical constraints of trying to manage complex work on a timeline within a budget and within a changing business context.

Those still matter, and, you know, the research that the PMI's done on project success, it's, uh, again, like, it's a little depressing, but it's like, that's table stakes.

Like, you still need to be able to do that.

It's not that if you just have a really good heart and are an exceptional communicator, you're gonna be an exceptional project professional.

Yeah

Is there a best practice? I mean, what do you see most frequently or what do you advise?

So if I had to boil my advice down to three main topics, they would be, number one, consistency.

Make a plan.

Don't try to cram it all in the night before, right? Cognitive science of learning shows us that what's called interleaved practice or focused study sessions spread out over time are much better at helping you retain the information you're trying to internalize and then apply it to new contexts like success on the certification.

Number two.

Active study.

It feels very natural and comfortable to sit back and listen to lectures, right? I think we've all experienced a lot of that in our educational journeys.

Kelly, is there a particular aspect of the exam that tends to be the most daunting for lots of folks or that you see identified as a hurdle more commonly than other things?