IPMA Level C cheat sheet

Perspective covers five ICB4 competences: Strategy, Governance, Compliance, Power and Interest, and Culture; context is assessed across all of them.

Governance decision rule: project governance structures must align with the parent organisation's governance; escalation paths are defined before execution starts.

Power/interest grid: high power + high interest = manage closely; high power + low interest = keep satisfied; low power + high interest = keep informed; low power + low interest = monitor.

Compliance is conformance to external requirements (law, regulation, standards) plus internal requirements (policies, procedures, contracts); both are in scope.

Strategy alignment test: a project is justified only if its outcomes trace to at least one organisational objective or strategic initiative.

Culture has three layers: visible artefacts, espoused values, and underlying assumptions; the assumptions layer is hardest to change and drives behaviour.

Context dimensions to scan: political, economic, social, technological, legal/environmental (PESTLE) plus organisational and project-specific factors.

Stakeholder salience model uses three attributes - power, legitimacy, urgency; any two present = expectant stakeholder, all three = definitive.

People area covers personal and social competences: self-reflection and self-management, personal integrity and reliability, communication, relationships and engagement, leadership, teamwork, conflict and crisis, resourcefulness, negotiation.

Tuckman stages in order: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning; conflict peaks at storming and is expected, not a failure signal.

Conflict modes (Thomas-Kilmann): competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, accommodating; collaborating is preferred when both task and relationship matter and time allows.

Communication model: sender, encoding, medium, decoding, receiver, feedback, noise; effective communication requires a feedback loop, not one-way transmission.

Situational leadership: directing (high task/low relationship), coaching (high/high), supporting (low task/high relationship), delegating (low/low); style matches follower maturity.

Negotiation: BATNA is the best alternative to a negotiated agreement; a deal is acceptable only if it beats the BATNA; ZOPA is the zone between both parties' reservation points.

Emotional intelligence components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skill; self-awareness is the prerequisite for the others.

Integrity test: decisions are consistent with stated values and are defensible if made public; inconsistency between words and actions erodes stakeholder trust.

Practice covers technical competences: project design, requirements, scope, time, organisation and information, quality, finance, resources, procurement, planning, risk and opportunity, stakeholders, change and transformation.

Critical path = longest path through the network; it determines minimum project duration and has zero total float; delay on it delays the project end date.

Earned value formulas: CV = EV − AC; SV = EV − PV; CPI = EV/AC; SPI = EV/PV; EAC = BAC/CPI (typical variance); ETC = EAC − AC; VAC = BAC − EAC.

Scope baseline = scope statement + WBS + WBS dictionary; any change to it passes through integrated change control.

Risk process order: identify, analyse (qualitative then quantitative), plan responses, implement, monitor; response types for threats: avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept, escalate.

Quality: assurance is process-oriented and preventive; control is product-oriented and detective; both are needed and are not substitutes.

Requirements must be traceable to a business need and testable; a requirement that cannot be verified is not a valid requirement.

Change control decision rule: assess impact on scope, time, cost, quality and risk before approval; approved changes rebaseline, rejected changes are logged with rationale.

Procurement: fixed-price transfers cost risk to the seller; cost-reimbursable keeps cost risk with the buyer; choose based on requirement clarity and risk tolerance.

IPMA 4-L-C levels: A (portfolio/director), B (senior project/programme manager), C (project manager of moderately complex projects), D (project management associate/certified knowledge).

Level C assessment combines a written exam with a competence-based assessment (interview and/or assessment centre) plus evidence of experience; knowledge alone does not certify C.

ICB4 competences are rated on a scale from 0 (not applied) to 10 (innovates/teaches others); the assessor looks for demonstrated behaviour, not recalled definitions.

Evidence rule: a competence claim needs a concrete situation, the actions taken, and the outcome; generic statements without examples score low.

The three competence areas (Perspective, People, Practice) are assessed together; strength in one area cannot fully compensate for a clear gap in another.

Assessment centre exercises typically include a presentation, a role-play or interview, and a written exam; each targets different competences.

Self-assessment precedes the formal assessment; candidates map their own experience to competences and identify evidence before the interview.

Assessor judgement is referenced to the ICB4 competence indicators; feedback identifies which indicators were met and which need development.