
Senior Acquisitions Editor: Kenyon Brown
Development Editor: Alexa Murphy
Technical Editors: Brett Feddersen, Vanina Mangano, and Dan Tuuri
Production Editor: Dassi Zeidel
Copy Editor: Liz Welch
Editorial Manager: Mary Beth Wakefield
Production Manager: Kathleen Wisor
Associate Publisher: Jim Minatel
Supervising Producer: Rich Graves
Book Designers: Judy Fung and Bill Gibson
Proofreader: Rebecca Rider
Indexer: Ted Laux
Project Coordinator, Cover: Brent Savage
Cover Designer: Wiley
Cover Image: ©Getty Images, Inc./Jeremy Woodhouse
Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-1-119-17972-6
ISBN: 978-1-119-17974-0 (ebk.)
ISBN: 978-1-119-17973-3 (ebk.)
Manufactured in the United States of America
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016932172
TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. PMP is a registered trademark of Project Management Institute, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
To BB, my forever love.
—Kim Heldman
To Al Smith Jr., whose support and encouragement have given me the ability to do greater things.
—Vanina Mangano
To April, Kayla, Marcus, and Adric, the light and joy of my life.
—Brett Feddersen
I'd like to thank Vanina and Brett for an outstanding job writing this book. They were both lifesavers and bore the brunt of the work. I enjoyed seeing how they gave the content a fresh face, and their illustrations are terrific. I appreciate the diligence and the new ideas that Vanina brings to these projects. Brett's insights were a great contribution to this edition as well. He is a true friend and an outstanding leader. As always, it was a great pleasure to work with Vanina and Brett.
I also echo Vanina's thanks to Kenyon Brown, senior acquisitions editor, for the opportunity to update this book.
I also want to thank Neil Edde, former vice president and publisher at Sybex, for taking that leap of faith on a crazy project management study guide idea way back when. Thanks, Neil.
Alexa Murphy, development editor, is the best. She had some great suggestions that improved the content and kept us on track with deadlines just like a seasoned project manager.
A very big thanks goes to all of the instructors who use my books in their classrooms. I appreciate you choosing Sybex and my books to help your students master PMP® concepts. Thank you also to all of the readers who choose this book to help them study for the PMP® exam.
—Kim Heldman
To start, thank you to the team at Sybex who devoted a great deal of effort toward making this review guide come together successfully. It is incredible to see the amount of teamwork and effort that goes into the making of a book. The process is certainly thorough, and there are many people not named here who were key to producing a solid product. Once again, thanks to all of you!
I'd like to thank Kim Heldman for the opportunity of working together once again on this book. Kim's warm, positive, and dynamic nature always make her a pleasure to engage with. I'd also like to give a special, heartfelt thanks to Brett Feddersen. Brett worked tirelessly to produce a great product and always had the reader in mind. Not only was Brett's positive attitude and outlook contagious, but he made the process fun, collaborative, and memorable.
Thank you to Kenyon Brown, our senior acquisitions editor, who saw the value of updating this book and whose great and supportive personality always comes through on the phone and in email. I appreciate you welcoming me back to the Sybex family!
A tremendous thank-you to Alexa Murphy, development editor. With your guidance and feedback, we were able to take this book to the next level, and I am thrilled with the result! You ensured that everything stayed on course, and your recommendations were valuable and instrumental in creating this finished product. It was absolutely wonderful having an opportunity to work with you once again.
A special thanks to the individuals who are such a big part of my life and who have always influenced me in a magnificent way. This includes my family, Nicolas Mangano, Marysil Mangano, Nicolas Mangano Jr., Carina Moncrief and her husband, Jonathan Moncrief; and my beautiful nieces, Kaylee, Alyssa, Yasmin, and Rianna—you mean everything to me! Thank you to Al Smith Jr., who is supportive and an inspiration to me—I enjoy all of our adventures and accomplishments together! And finally, thank you to Roshoud Brown, who always encouraged me to write and inspired me with his own words.
—Vanina Mangano
I could not have asked for two better contributors to work with on a book than Vanina Mangano and Kim Heldman, and I want to thank them for the opportunity to join their team in collaborating on this book. Vanina's talent, experience, and drive are extraordinary, and she willingly shared her passion and knowledge with me. Her sense of humor and attention to detail helped make the process fun and helped us deliver a superior product to the reader. Kim Heldman is a superior mentor who freely shares her enthusiasm, knowledge, humility, and leadership, and her contributions are what makes this book great. She has consistently pushed me to believe in myself, helping me to grow into the best professional I can be. It has been an honor to work with this team and help other prepare to the take the PMP® exam.
Everyone needs their first opportunity, and I would like to thank Kenyon Brown for
giving me my first shot at contributing on a book. And I would also like to thank Alexa Murphy and the editorial team for their push to make this product.
A commitment of this size normally requires a compromise in another part of one's life. Accordingly, I want to thank my three children, Kayla, Marcus, and Adric, for being willing to have Papa retreat to working on this book. They all kept their sense of humor, though, and they know that I will follow my wireless mouse anywhere. However, without my wonderful wife April I would not have the successes in my life like finishing this book. April is always there to hear my stories, talk me down after a bad day, laugh at my jokes, share a movie with me, and encourage me to be even better than I thought I could be. There is no greater cheerleader in all the world, and I am humbled that she cheers for me.
—Brett Feddersen
We would like to thank Liz Welch, copyeditor, who made sure grammar and spelling were picture perfect; Rebecca Rider, proofreader, for catching those last little “oops”; and Dassi Zeidel, production editor, who made sure everything flowed through the production process. Thanks also to our compositor, and the indexer, Ted Laux. The book couldn't happen without them.
—The Authors
Kim Heldman, MBA, PMP®, is the CIO for the Regional Transportation District in Denver, CO. Kim directs IT resource planning, budgeting, project prioritization, and strategic and tactical planning. She directs and oversees IT design and development, enterprise resource planning systems, IT infrastructure, application development, cybersecurity, IT program management office, intelligent transportation systems, and data center operations.
Kim oversees the IT portfolio of projects ranging from small in scope and budget to multimillion dollar, multiyear projects. She has over 25 years of experience in information technology project management. Kim has served in a senior leadership role for over 18 years and is regarded as a strategic visionary with an innate ability to collaborate with diverse groups and organizations, instill hope, improve morale, and lead her teams in achieving goals they never thought possible.
Kim is the author of the PMP®: Project Management Professional Study Guide, Eight Edition. She is also the author of Project Management JumpStart, Third Edition and Project Manager's Spotlight on Risk Management and coauthor of CompTIA Project+, Second Edition. Kim has also published several articles and is currently working on a leadership book.
Kim continues to write on project management best practices and leadership topics, and she speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can contact Kim at Kim.Heldman@gmail.com. She personally answers all her email.
Vanina Mangano is an executive member of Never Limited LLC, which owns a portfolio of companies, including The PM Instructors. The PM Instructors specializes in PMI® certification exam preparation material and training. Through The PM Instructors, Vanina has authored courseware material within the subject of project management, including the most recent release: PMI® Risk Management Professional Exam Preparation.
Over the past decade, Vanina has specialized in working with and leading project, program, and portfolio management offices (PMOs) across various industries and companies, most recently at NBCUniversal and Microsoft. Currently, Vanina leads an enterprise project management office (EPMO) at AMN Healthcare.
As part of her contribution to the community, Vanina devotes time to furthering the project management profession through her volunteer work at the Project Management Institute. Vanina is currently serving as the Chair for The Standard for Program Management, Fourth Edition, and participates in activities that seek to harmonize PMI®'s four foundational standards. She has also served as a core committee member for A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Fifth Edition, and has served as a subject matter expert on multiple PMI® Standards and Practice Guides.
Vanina holds a dual bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside, and holds the following credentials: Project Management Professional (PMP®), PMI® Risk Management Professional (PMI®-RMP), PMI® Scheduling Professional (PMI®-SP), CompTIA Project+, and ITIL Foundation v3.
You may reach Vanina via email at Vanina.Mangano@ThePM-Instructors.com.
Brett Feddersen MPS, PMP® is a career public servant with 18 years of experience in government, including the United States Marine Corps, the state of Colorado, the city of Boulder (Colorado), and with the Regional Transportation District (RTD) in the Denver/Metro area. Brett has been a certified project manager since 2007 and has contributed to several books as a technical editor and technical proofreader. In additional to his commitment to the project management community, Brett is passionate about leadership and organizational excellence, and he has contributed to several cultural revolutions, helping government agencies become high-performing organizations.
Brett holds a bachelor's degree from Colorado Mesa University and a master's degree from the University of Denver. He holds the following credentials: Project Management Professional (PMP®), Gamification, and ITIL Foundation v3.
You can reach Brett through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettfeddersen.
Congratulations on your decision to pursue the Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential, one of the most widely recognized credentials within the project management industry. The PMP® credential is offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), a not-for-profit organization with thousands of members across the globe. PMI® has been a long-standing advocate and contributor to the project management industry and offers several credentials for those specializing in the field of project management.
This book is meant for anyone preparing to take the PMP® certification exam as well as individuals who are looking to gain a better understanding of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide). If you are studying for the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®) exam, you may also find this book useful because the CAPM® exam tests your knowledge of the PMBOK® Guide contents.
This review guide has been formatted to work hand in hand with PMP®: Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, 8th Edition, from Sybex. The Study Guide provides a more comprehensive review of the concepts included on the exam along with real-world examples. This review guide will reinforce these concepts and provide you with further explanation and a handy reference guide to the project management processes within the PMBOK® Guide. You’ll find references to the Study Guide throughout this book, guiding you to where you may find additional information as needed. With all of these great resources at your fingertips, learning and understanding the PMBOK® Guide, along with other project management concepts, has certainly become easier!
This book has been structured in a way that carefully follows the concepts of the PMBOK® Guide, allowing you to understand how a project is managed from beginning to end. For this reason, we will review the processes in the order of the process groups:
We start by covering the project management framework and the PMI® Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and then move to a comprehensive review of the process groups. You’ll find that each chapter offers a concise overview of each project management process and concept as well as the process inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. This structure allows you to go back and reference terms, definitions, and descriptions at a glance.
PMI® offers several credentials within the field of project management, so whether you are an experienced professional or looking to enter the project management field for the first time, you’ll find something to meet your needs. You may hold one or multiple credentials concurrently.
Over the years, PMI® has contributed to the project management body of knowledge by developing global standards used by thousands of project management professionals and organizations. In total, there are four Foundational standards, 7 Practice Standards, and four Practice Guides, all grouped within the following categories:
Several credentials offered by PMI® are based on the PMBOK® Guide, which is part of the Projects category. As of the publication date of this book, PMI® offers eight credentials. Let’s briefly go through them:
Project Management Professional (PMP)® You are most likely familiar with the PMP® credential—after all, you purchased this book! But did you know that the PMP® certification is the most widely and globally recognized project management certification? The PMP®, along with several other credentials, validates your experience and knowledge of project management. This makes obtaining a PMP® in itself a great achievement. The following requirements are necessary to apply for the PMP® exam:
Work Experience The following work experience must have been accrued over the past eight consecutive years:
Contact Hours “Contact hours” refers to the number of qualified formal educational hours obtained that relate to project management. A total of 35 contact hours is required and must be completed before you submit your application.
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® The CAPM® credential is ideal for someone looking to enter the project management industry. You may meet the requirements through work experience or through formal project management education. If you do not currently have project management experience, you may apply if you have accumulated the requisite number of formal contact hours:
Work Experience 1,500 hours of formal project management experience
Contact Hours 23 contact hours of formal project management education
Program Management Professional (PgMP)® The PgMP® credential is ideal for those who specialize in the area of program management or would like to highlight their experience of program management. A PMP® is not required to obtain this or any other credential. You must meet the following requirements to apply for the PgMP® exam:
Work Experience The following work experience must have been accrued over the past 15 consecutive years:
Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)® The PfMP® is meant for those specializing in the area of portfolio management. It reflects several years of hands-on portfolio management experience, geared toward achieving strategic objectives. You must meet the following requirements to apply for the PfMP® exam:
Work Experience The following work experience must have been accrued over the past fifteen consecutive years:
PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP®) The PMI-RMP® credential is ideal for those who specialize in the area of risk management or would like to highlight their risk management experience. The following are the requirements to apply for the PMI-RMP® exam:
Work Experience The following work experience must have been accrued over the past five consecutive years:
Contact Hours
PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP®) The PMI-SP® credential is ideal for those who specialize in the area of project scheduling, or who would like to highlight their project scheduling experience. You must meet the following requirements to apply for the PMI-SP® exam:
Work Experience The following work experience must have been accrued over the past five consecutive years:
Contact Hours
PMI Agile Certified Professional (PMI-ACP®) The PMI-ACP® credential is ideal for those who work with agile teams or practices. The PMI-ACP® covers approaches such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, Extreme Programming (XP), and Test-Driven Development (TDD). You must meet the following requirements to apply for the PMI-ACP® exam:
Work Experience The following work experience must have been accrued:
Contact Hours
PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA®) The PMI-PBA® credential is meant for those specializing in business analysis. This credential is ideal for those managing requirements or product development. You must meet the following requirements to apply for the PMI-PBA® exam:
Work Experience The following work experience must have been accrued over the past eight consecutive years:
Contact Hours
For the latest information regarding the PMI® credentials and other exam information, you can visit PMI®’s website at www.PMI.org.
We’ve included several learning tools in the book. These tools will help you retain vital exam content as well as prepare to sit for the actual exams.
Exam Essentials Each chapter includes a number of exam essentials. These are the key topics that you should take from the chapter in terms of areas on which you should focus when preparing for the exam.
Chapter Review Questions To test your knowledge as you progress through the book, there are review questions at the end of each chapter. As you finish each chapter, answer the review questions and then check your answers—the correct answers appear in the appendix, “Answers to Review Questions.” You can go back to reread the section that deals with each question you got wrong to ensure that you answer correctly the next time you’re tested on the material.
The interactive online learning environment that accompanies PMP® Project Management Professional Exam Review Guide, Third Edition, provides a test bank with study tools to help you prepare for the certification exam—and increase your chances of passing it the first time! The test bank includes the following:
Sample Tests All the questions in this book are provided, including the Chapter Tests that include the review questions at the end of each chapter. In addition, there are two Practice Exams. Use these questions to test your knowledge of the study guide material. The online test bank runs on multiple devices.
Flashcards One set of questions is provided in digital flashcard format (a question followed by a single correct answer). You can use the flashcards to reinforce your learning and provide last-minute test prep before the exam.
Other Study Tools A glossary of key terms from this book and their definitions are available as a fully searchable PDF.
After gaining the necessary prerequisites to sit for the exam, the PMP® exam itself serves as the final measure to earning your certification. You are already well ahead of the game in preparing for the exam when you purchase this book. The preparation you put forth will help you show up on the day of the exam in a calm and confident state. Throughout the course of this book, you will find sections that offer tips of what to do on the day of the exam. While you are not allowed to take anything into the exam, you are given scratch paper to work with during your exam. Using the tips in this book, before you begin the exam, you can jot down notes that will free your mind to focus fully on the questions. In the days leading up to the exam, we recommend that you practice creating your reference sheet by memorizing the mnemonics, formulas, and other information that you will need.
Clearly, standard test taking advice is relevant here, such as getting a good night’s sleep, eating a good breakfast, and going through relaxation exercises before you are called into the exam room. In addition, during the exam:
For more information from PMI® on preparing for the exam, be sure you check out pmi.org and search for “PMP Exam Guidance” for more valuable resources.
The PMP® exam tests your knowledge of the competencies highlighted in the exam objectives. The following are the official PMP® exam objectives, as specified by PMI®.
The following objectives make up the Initiating the Project performance domain and are covered in Chapter 2 of this book:
The following objectives make up the Planning the Project performance domain and are covered in Chapter 3 of this book:
The following objectives make up the Executing the Project performance domain and are covered in Chapter 4 of this book:
The following objectives make up the Monitoring and Controlling the Project performance domain and are covered in Chapter 5 of this book:
The following objectives make up the Closing the Project performance domain and are covered in Chapter 6 of this book: