Free Project Management Information, Advice, and Templates

Archive for September, 2009

Formulas To Remember For The PMP Exam

– September 23, 2009Posted in: Project Management

I think back to when I sat for the PMP exam and remember taking the first few minutes to quickly write down the following formulas. It was my cheat sheet. There was enough to think about for the next few hours and worrying if I could remember some key formulas was not one of them. So, here is a bit of advice. If you’re preparing[1] to take the PMP exam, MEMORIZE these formulas. The exam won’t come right out and ask you to identify the correct formula for a variance of an activity. Rather, it will offer a question like: Your current activity was pessimistically estimated at 65 hours and optimistically estimated at 40 hours. What is the variance of the activity? (you can use this formula for both time and cost)

You can see how knowing the formula is going to make you or break you on this question.

Do yourself a favor. Make flash cards, get a tattoo, it doesn’t matter. Commit these formulas to memory and you’ll save yourself some pain and suffering (and a few points on the exam).

The Formulas

Acronym	Title	Formula
PERT	Program Evaluation and Review Technique	P = Pessimistic Estimate M = Most Likely Estimate O = Optimistic Estimate
	Standard Deviation of Activity
	Variance of an Activity
	Total Float	LS – ES or LF – EF
	Communications Channels	[N(N-1)] / 2
CV	Cost Variance	EV – AC
SV	Schedule Variance	EV – PV
CPI	Cost Performance Index	EV / AC
SPI	Schedule Performance Index	EV / PV
EAC	Estimate at Completion	BAC / CPI AC + ETC AC + (BAC – EV)
ETC	Estimate to Complete	ETC = EAC – AC
VAC	Variance at Completion	BAC – EAC
CPI^c	Cumulative Cost Performance Index	Σ EV / Σ AC
TCPI	To-Complete Performance Index

[1] This is a link to a product I created

Popularity: 6%

Tags: CPI, CV, EAC, ETC, Exam, Formula, Free, PERT, PMI, PMP, Prep, SPI, SV, TCPI, VAC

Free PM Templates and Worksheets Page Updated

Derek Huether

– September 17, 2009Posted in: Project Management

Project Charter Template
Though I haven’t uploaded any new templates today, I did fix some broken links. Thank you PJ for bringing it to my attention. The Free PM Templates and Worksheets page has been fixed. I understand the page should be redesigned so it’s easier to see what is available. Thank you for those who let me know when they find an issue on the site. Feel free to just add a comment to a page. I’ll get it!

Regards,

Derek

Popularity: 2%

Tags: Free, Template, Worksheet

Passion + Commitment + Skill = Success

Derek Huether

– September 17, 2009Posted in: Application Development

I just read an intriguing post on Dan Schawbel’s blog. It was titled The Excellence Equation: Passion and Commitment.

For several years, I’ve been promoting a similar “success” equation. The only component not listed in his blog post was skill. I think ANYTHING is possible if you have passion, commitment, and skill. If you’re short in one area, you can make up for it in another. I’ve worked with people that lacked a specific skill, but were so passionate and so committed, there was no way they were not going to succeed. When building teams for a project, I like to find individuals who excel in each area. I don’t want an overly-skilled team as much as I don’t want an overly-passionate team. But, when there is balance in all three areas, I’ve seen magic happen.

Popularity: 2%

Tags: Balance, Commitment, Magic, Passion, Skill, Success, Teams

Mike Cottmeyer talks about scaling Scrum

Derek Huether

– September 15, 2009Posted in: Agile, Application Development, Scrum

On our current project, we have over 100 people across 14 Scrum teams. The challenge? How do you communicate between Scrum teams? Well, that all depends. What are the dependencies between the teams? Though I could write a 1000+ word post about this, I figured I would just link to a short but informative video. In it, you’ll see Mike Cottmeyer talk about scaling Scrum and how you might have different types of scrum-of-scrums (the way you would communicate between Scrum teams). Mike is a Product Consultant and Agile Evangelist at VersionOne. You can read more from Mike on his blog, Leading Agile, or on the VersionOne blog, Agile Chronicles. I’m hoping if all goes well, we’ll be bringing Mike to Washington DC to offer a few days of training. I’m sure this will be one of the many important topics to cover.

Tool Of The Week: Tweet Effect

Derek Huether

– September 2, 2009Posted in: Misc

Because I feel it is important to help others, I figured I’d start doing something new. It’s not a new idea in the grand scheme of the Internet, but it is something new for me. I’m going to attempt to promote tools, people, or businesses on a weekly basis. I’m not being compensated accept for maybe some good karma. I am exposed to some brilliant people and products on a daily basis. I have to believe someone will benefit from this series.

This week will be about a product I went searching for. I noticed I had a drop in Twitter followers and I needed to know why. Was it something I said? Well, the short answer is YES.

Tweet Effect

I found a product that simply states “Find out which of your Twitter updates made people follow or leave you. “ It didn’t require that I provide my Twitter credentials, only my Twitter ID. It then gave a well formatted timeline of my tweets, the number of my followers, and the changes that correspond with my tweets.

I think this tool is excellent. It provides the feedback necessary for me to change my Twitter behavior. I discovered two possible behaviors people following me (or used to follow me) don’t like.

[1] My former followers didn’t like it when I retweeted my own post. I’ll admit, I was trying Tweetmeme as a new feature and that one backfired on me. The result was 3 unfollows. In the future, if you want to retweet my posts, I welcome it. But, I won’t be doing it myself.

[2] My former followers either didn’t like the appearance that I alienated someone or the fact that I had four hash tags in my tweet. The back-story is The Triple Constraint blog had a post titled Top Project Management Twitterers. I was included on the list and was very flattered to have been mentioned. It was retweeted and I posted a thank you. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of people that could have been on that list that were not. When one of the people I follow expressed that the roll call of PM Twitterers felt like being back at school waiting to be picked in P.E., I felt like a complete heel. I posted a semi apology and asked if anyone knew of a directory of PMs. The result was 4 unfollows.

So, I’m here to recommend Tweet Effect [www.tweeteffect.com]to all those Twitterers who are curious about what they tweet about and how it might impact those who follow them. The feature is free of charge.

Let me know if you found this post helpful.

Regards,

Derek

Popularity: 1%

Tags: Blogs, Feedback, Free, Tool, Twitter