PRINCE2, SCRUM, CPLP – certifications, oh my!

As a Project Management Professional – PMP® – I am curious about the other certifications for project management recognized worldwide.  I have gathered a few of the materials for PRINCE2 and CompTia Project+.  Both seem fairly close to the PMBOK® (which I was a contributor for) and the PMP Exam items.  Although, I am not too surprised, since they are all based on generally accepted practices.

Naturally in job searches and in presenting myself/courseware, the more verification via certification the better.  Although, I am pondering whether or not gathering more certification revolving around the same basic concept is worth pursuing.  Does more = better?  Diversity valued?  Overload?  Extensive  knowledge about all approaches better than one (or none) with track record of work experience?

I am leaning on the side of “knowledge is power”.  Although, this verification of knowledge is costly.  Counting the THOUSANDS of dollars spent on acquiring PMP and 6 ITIL certifications, do I really need to cough up more?  Haven’t I spent enough?

Yes, it is a costly game played.  Alas, so is formal education.  I certainly spent a great deal more in my undergraduate and Masters degrees.  I spent many more thousands just in my first quarter of my Doctoral work at Seattle Pacific University than I spent achieving various certifications.  Maybe that is something to be said for certifications – cheaper, faster, and often more relative.  Certainly more cost effective.  I enjoyed pursing my Doctorate.  But the sticker shock was too great.  No student loans.  No short term pay back period.  No reason for me to continue my formal studies.

Consequently, that brings me back to my original point – do I pile on the certifications?  Potentially adding the proverbial alphabet soup after my name.  Adding related certifications is a lot like learning a new language.  The first one is the most difficult.  The ensuing one gets assimilated  faster and with more ease.  And the pattern continues; save for occasionally interchanging a wrong term or syntax from time-to-time.

Once I claim my ITIL v3 Expert designation – as soon as I clear the MACL capstone exam – I plan to tackle more certs.  The practice CompTia Project+ exam I took was a breeze.  It was so similar to the PMP.  The PRINCE2 does not seem much of a stretch.  Especially considering the language comparisons with ITIL.  Add on the M_o_R – seemingly another reasonable certification with my production and research of Risk Management topics.  Hm, but where from there?  SCRUM?  CBAP? PMP-Risk? 6 Sigma? COBIT? MOF?  CPLP? Doesn’t matter.  There are certainly enough to keep me busy!  I’ll do my best to document my travels.

Have Course Published at GoGogh

Want to hear my voice?

What to learn something?

What to earn PDUs – if you are a PMP?

I have produced a course for the Training website: GoGogh.com

You can see my course and the others offered.  My bio and list of podcasts (Radio Shows) are listed too.  I have more courses and podcasts in the pipeline and should appear soon.

If you would like a discount on your GoGogh subscription, use the code: gogogh46

Off to Phoenix next week to film a course at their headquarters.  That one is on the PMP Exam prep.  Look for it soon!

Conducting a class in DC next week

Balancing ITIL study prep for my ITIL Expert exam, securing jobs, and preparing to instruct PMP and ITIL classes next week, it has been a busy week. I do promise to publish more.  Especially on my attempts on the ITIL Expert exam (Managing Across the Lifecycle).

If you are in the DC area the week of April 5 and are interested in either a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam prep class or an ITIL Foundations prep class, send me an email: neal@theitilcrowd.com

Otherwise, look for another post soon.  Cheers!

The New ITIL Crowd Logo

The New ITIL Crowd logo

The ITIL Crowd unveiled its new logo this weekend.  Drawing from the 50’s lounge style, the ITIL Crowd was tapping into a more relaxed, fun approach to IT and Project Management training.

Seeking to breakaway from the dull, mundane technical training that encompasses much of the training options out there, the ITIL Crowd is a training company with a better approach.

Why do some trainers simply slap their black text on a white background powerpoint and call it a training?  Seriously.  Too many call this ‘training’.  Remember ‘Telling ain’t Training”.  And “Death by Powerpoint” is a well known cliché for a reason.

What is most sad: many trainer take their powerpoint slides, put them on handouts, and call this a “Study guide”.  How original.  And drawing lines under your powerpoint does not make it “interactive”.  This is no way to force million of people to learn – and often with this technique forget.  The ITIL Crowd has better solutions.

The ITIL Crowd has decided it is about time to get the IT, project management, and other technical and management learning endeavors up to the 21st century.  Participants should be demanding this.  Training should ingrain the leading cognitive and pedagogical research. Most technical trainers don’t care knowing the multitude of learning best practices.  They are more concentrated on knowing their subject area and spitting it back to you.  The ITIL Crowd loves wading thru the piles of educational and scientific research to bring the subject matter expertise to life.  After all, it is no good if you can’t remember it.  You can’t remember it if you are bored, or worse, asleep!  The ITIL Crowd training courses are more dynamic; and consequently more effective.

The ITIL Crowd does not didactically  give you the information you seek to learn.  Why waste your time?  No reason for us to just talk “at” you for hours on end.  It may fill your brain like a cup.  But much will spill.  Less will be absorb.  And the whole wasteful cycle would need to begin again.  Whereas, The ITIL Crowd training classes incorporate true learning research and best practice.  The classes are truly “instructionally designed”.  The audience is considered.  Lessons built around you.  Multiple learning styles infused.  Most importantly, the end goals are layout and targeted – but equal attention and care is spent on the means.

In learning, your path to success is as important as hitting the goal.  Learning is about the long term goals as much as the short term goals.  You can only achieve that with good, strong instructionally designed curricula.  The ITIL Crowd is forming classes now.  See what we mean.  You will not be disappointed.

The full ITIL Crowd website is currently under development.  In the meantime, you can visit our temporary site at http://www.theITILcrowd.com

If you would like to see the ITIL Crowd in action, bring us to you.  Onsite courses available at extremely reasonable and economic pricing.

ITIL Crowd also Heading to California

The ITIL Crowd has scheduled two classes in California this summer.  Join the ITIL Crowd for a limited engagement in the LA area at the end of June and San Jose in August.

As extra incentive, the classes are not the normal price of $1,200, but only $529 for the 2 day ITIL® v. 3 Foundation certification exam prep course.  You can register at http://ITILla.eventbrite.com

More information about 5 Day Project Management Professional (PMP) courses coming soon.

NOTE: This LA ITIL class has been moved to Santa Ana, California for the weekend of July 10 thru 11. As a bonus, the price has been reduced further to $429 for advanced purchase only. If you wait too long to register, then the price returns to the regular $799 course fee.
Here is the link: Attend This Event

ITIL Foundation Classroom Course in Seattle Area this April

The ITIL Crowd is offering an exclusive certification preparation class for those planning to sit for the ITIL® v. 3 Foundation certification exam.  This one time (currently) course will take place in Issaquah, Washington – a east side suburb of Seattle and Bellevue/Redmond.

The course details and registration is posted at http://itilseattle.eventbrite.com.  The 2 day class is being offered at super-generous $499.  If you don’t pass, you can have all your money back.  So, if you are in the Seattle area, what do you have to lose?  Join the ITIL Crowd!

The course is currently in the accreditation process.

Writing an ITIL Foundation Book

After writing for this blog and my many course documents/study guides, I have decided to also write a stand alone book for those wishing to learn the foundations of ITIL v3.

It is currently titled, ITIL® V3 Foundations in Plain (American) English. Being American and most of the ITIL documentation and study guides in British English or Dutch, I decided there needs to be a colloquial American take on the topic.

Using a conversational approach and my hand drawn illustrations,

Sample illustration from upcoming book

I aim to bring a light, entertaining presentation of the complex – and often boring and abstract – ITIL v3 information.

Years developing course materials and comprehensive learning environments for project management, risk management, conflict resolution, quality management, emotional intelligence, project leadership, organizational theory, general how-to, and general management theory, beyond IT service management topics, I have found this formula to work well. Studying research on effective learning strategies and cognitive science as part of my Doctorate program, there is plenty to support the concept of presenting data in comfortable, conversational format. With graphics and supporting material coupled closely to the written text, reinforcing the concepts, the learner is absorbing the complex material in many formats – making retention easier and more lasting. I hope my efforts benefit many who desire to either take on the ITIL® v. 3 Foundation certification exam or simple familiarize themselves with the ITIL framework, purpose, and the processes involved.

Writing a book takes much longer than one thinks. Especially when producing one’s own illustrations and supporting material (not to much contributing to my other projects). With luck, this book project will be completed and published within the next few months. I will see how long I can work for free – I mean “invest” – my time on this endeavor over other projects.

I am in need of reviewers. If you are interested in reviewing rough drafts or advanced copies, please contact me or comment on this blog. Former participants in my PMP and ITIL training classes are accustomed to my style and published study guides. I may have to give a shout out to all of you!

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Advice on Taking ITIL Intermediate Exams

Now having cleared all 5 ITIL® v. 3 Intermediate Exams on the Lifecycle Module path, I wish to share some of my suggestions on clearing them.

One suggestion I mentioned in an earlier blog post was to look to eliminate 1 answer choice off the top. There is one answer that serves as a distractor. Often, it sticks out. Find it. Get rid of it. The distractor may have it’s own direction or something the others don’t.

What I mean by “it’s own direction”, is for example: 3 answers may have a “negative” or all “positive” response. Say, “inform the CIO the suggestion cannot (can) work at the present time…”. Whereas, 1 answer has the opposite approach. That makes it stick out. That is the one you must remove. Granted, there are not many blatant examples such as this, nonetheless there are a few from time to time.

Frequently, the distractor has its own errors. Maybe terms/definitions wrong, off topic, repeats irrelevant material from scenario, or something you can -or should – spot as erroneous.

The other suggestion I have for you: READ THE QUESTION FIRST! It took me a few exams before I started doing this, and I wish someone told me to do this from the start. The scenarios are long. They have lots of information. Potentially, more information than you need. How do you know what is important and what is not? Exactly. You don’t. Unless you read the question first.

Some scenarios are written to be used multiple times for various questions. Each question seeks out different learning objectives from the same scenario. Worrying your little head about all the fine details unnecessarily clouds your mind. This is a timed exam. No reason to waste your time.

Scroll down to the question first. Don’t even start reading the scenario – you may not stop. Read the question – usually a line to a paragraph in length. Then read the entire scenario! Now you have a frame of reference. You know what they are seeking from you. You know which data points are important. You know what to look for.

Before, I would read a scenario slowly. Taking detailed notes. Making certain I had all the information comprehended. Only to read the question and discover some of the information was totally irrelevant. Sometimes all the scenario information was absolutely important. But a few times, I had to demonstrate in the answer is comprehension of a concept. Essentially able to answer without reading the story at all. The story helped put the question in perspective and give it “meat”. But not that crucial to answering the question. If you don’t read the question first, you do not know if the story and all its details are absolutely important, certain parts important, or very little of it.

That is my recommendation. Try it out on your practice exams first. It takes some behavioral change; but an easy one to make. It pays off in your ability to answer the exam questions and the time management. My later ITIL Intermediate exams I was finishing with 20 -30 minutes remaining. Earlier Intermediate exams I was taking them down to the wire.

I shall post more suggestions. More are being included in my ITIL v3 training courses and study book materials. Alas, I do not mind sharing some of my experiences for free.

Reading Kotter’s Change Book

As noted in another post, I failed to clear the Continual Service Improvement -CSI- of the the ITIL v3 Intermediate certification exams. The only one remaining in my goal to clear all the Intermediate Lifecycle modules. All the others I have passed. Not only passed; but with distinction. Alas, for some strange reason this CSI exam eludes me.

Determined to pass this one soon, I am trying to find inexpensive ways to enhance my preparation. Very little resources are out there to prepare oneself for the CSI exam. I have taken multiple practice exams (oddly have passed each one on the first attempt) and have read the CSI core publication. I will read the core book a little more closely once again and take extensive notes. In the meantime, I thought I might complement my studies with a side book.

The CSI book stresses the 8 Steps to Transforming Your Organization theorized by John Kotter. Hence, I thought: let’s read it straight from the source. Grabbed a copy of Kotter’s “ground-breaking” book Our Iceberg is Melting Sadly, this has been the lamest professional book I have read since… Who Moved My Cheese. Maybe because they take the same lame ass way of presenting the data. And yet people eat this stuff up. I think it belittles people’s intelligence. I guess I might be in the minority when I think professional books should be… more professional?

Only 147 pages. With pictures. Then add ample white space . And 16 point FONT! I think the entire book is no longer than my entire blog.

What was most annoying, was the feeble attempts at using an analogy, but not sticking with it. He went from penguin actions to human actions. If you are going to use an analogy, then stay in the analogy. This book was so disconnected. Î guess I should not be too harsh. I am working on an ITIL v3 Foundation book using an analogy/story. I might have to take other’s criticism.

But it is a short read. Don’t waste any money buying it. You can finish before you leave the bookstore. Keep the change. The lesson on the ‘change’ is worthy. Knowing the 8 steps is good. At least for those considering sitting for the CSI certification exam. I have also produced a GoGogh podcast/radio show on the topic. I will link it once it is up.

I have also received the new book by Chip and Dan Heath entitled, Swith. The topic is also change management. I have higher hopes for this. I really enjoyed their last book, Made to Stick. I’ll give you my review once I am finished.

Until then, I need to re-read the CSI publication in preparation for my exam Monday.

When Taking an ITIL Intermediate Exam – get it down to 2

There are only 4 choices on your Intermediate exam. You know that one is the distractor. Find it first and eliminate it! Search for the one that does not belong. Either because it contains an error or sticks out from the others.

There is often a pattern with the four answer choices. Two answers – or possibly 3- typically have common threads. Material may be identical, with point here or there being different. When the question was authored, the correct answer may have a few of the points or words altered – turning it into the “mostly correct” answer. Consequently, if you notice that 2 or 3 answers have the same core response and one that goes on a whole new path, the one on the off path is most likely the distractor.

Doing this first step at least guarantees you a point. Scoring any distractors – worth 0 points – hurts your score hard. Getting rid of the answer that does not belong cleared out from the start makes it a “best out of three” chance. From here, you can start weeding thru the points that are good and picking the best of what remains.