How motivated are you?

A former student reached out to me recently because she wanted to talk about her PMP application. When we first met a few months ago, she was excited and motivated about completing the application. Of course, after several short weeks, she said she lost some motivation after learning more about the long process and felt that she needed some guidance to get back on track.

We chatted for about 45 minutes or so with topics such as application tips, what to expect if she's audited, and what her next steps are. We also briefly talked about my speaking engagements and what I told her was that although it's really easy to just show up and disseminate information, my goal is to "kick people in the butt". I want to see people pumped up about whatever the topic is and I want them to feel empowered.

When we finished our conversation, she said that's exactly how she feels about her PMP application after our chat. The lesson? Never hesitate to ask someone for help if you need it. It could be the little nudge you need to accomplish your task.

Another semester starts tonight!

Tonight, I begin classes with a new group. It's always exciting to see who's in there. Sometimes I get students who were prior students from a course that I did for their company; other times I get students who have seen me speak at an event. But most of these folks will be people who I have never met before.

I'm actually in a training session all week so was I looking forward to this 16 hour day? Not exactly. However, I believe what sets some trainers apart is that fact that they can treat their one hundredth class with the same level of enthusiasm as their first. So when 6:00 PM hits, I will be 'on'. The show begins and undoubtedly, the time will fly by.

The only real down side is that I won't get to see my 10 month old on days like this. It's really causing me to reconsider whether or not I want to continue teaching these certification courses at night.

The PMP prep book to get

Quite often, I get asked about whether or not a PMP prep book would be helpful and the answer is an absolute yes! However, there are so many out there, how does one go about choosing?

I have reviewed many PMP prep books and have used several different ones for my classes. Rather than write one on my own, which many of my students are still trying to encourage me to do so (hard to do with a 10 month old at home!), I ended up choosing a new one for my PMP prep classes a few months ago.

Here it is, my choice may surprise you:

PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide, Second Edition (Paperback)
by Joseph Phillips

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Professional-Study-Second/dp/0072262907

I do not get royalties nor do I know Mr. Phillips. What I do know is that it has all the things that I look for in a prep book:

• Chapters in order of knowledge area, not process group
  
• Easy to comprehend
• Enough depth to understand without having to memorize
• Practice test simulator CD included (not just written at the end of each chapter)
  

You'll find that many books meet one or more of the above but not all. Even the most popular authors like Rita Mulcahy (e.g. no CD) or Kim Heldman (e.g. order of process group) miss the mark in my opinion. Although they do a great job of marketing, don't they?

So if you're going to buy only one book, and I recommend you buy only one prep book, this is the one to get!

MS Portfolio Server in a nutshell

Microsoft Portfolio Server 2007 is a powerful, somewhat complex portfolio management tool so when I state ‘nutshell’, I really mean it.

Portfolio Server allows senior management to meet their organization’s strategic objectives by providing insight on their projects. This allows them to make sound decisions on the choosing the right project mix.

The tool is broken down into three major sections:

• Builder: Users enter information about details for each project
• Optimizer: Users define what’s important to them from a strategic level
• Dashboard: Users view the results of their choices

So there you have it. Enjoy your nut!