PMP study guide
PMP · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Project Management Professional (PMP)® is a certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) that recognizes project managers who can evidence real project leadership and pass a demanding exam. PMI positions it as methodology-agnostic - it applies to predictive, hybrid, and agile ways of working, across industries and geographies - and reports 1.7M+ holders, making it the most widely held project certification. The PMP study guide has 3 sections and about 1,050 words.
01People: Leading Teams, Conflict, and Stakeholders
The People domain tests how you lead, not how you administer. Expect questions on servant leadership and the shift from directing work to removing obstacles; Tuckman stages (forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning) and what a PM does at each; conflict resolution modes (collaborate/problem-solve, compromise, accommodate, avoid, force); team development, ground rules, co-located versus virtual teams, and training needs; motivational theory (Herzberg hygiene factors versus motivators, Maslow, McGregor X/Y, McClelland nAch/nAff/nPow, Vroom expectancy); emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management); negotiation; and stakeholder engagement.
344 words, about 2 min02Process: Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, Risk, and Change
Process is the largest domain and rewards knowing the sequence and purpose of each artifact. Master scope (requirements, WBS, validate scope versus control scope), schedule (critical path, total float, crashing versus fast-tracking), cost (earned value: CV, SV, CPI, SPI, EAC), quality (manage quality means prevention and audits; control quality means inspection and testing), resources, communications, risk (identification, analysis, threat and opportunity response strategies, contingency versus management reserve), procurement (fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, time and materials, and who carries cost risk), and integration (charter, project management plan, integrated change control, lessons learned, closing).
348 words, about 2 min03Business Environment: Value, Compliance, and Organizational Change
This domain asks why the project exists and what context it lives in. Know the business case and benefits management plan as distinct from the project management plan; the chain from output to outcome to benefit to value; and the fact that benefits are frequently realized after the project closes and are owned by the sponsoring organization, not the project manager.
358 words, about 2 min