Once you have set the career goal of taking the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam you have to decide on your study approach. Your choice will depend on how much self-motivation you have, the schedule you set and (of course) your budget. This article explores the three options that lie before you.

About the author: Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a noted PMP expert. He has helped over 9,000 students prepare for the PMP Exam with his PM PrepCast at http://www.pm-prepcast.com.

Companies seeking to improve productivity usually divide their resources between focusing on building teams or individuals. How effective are team building events in the long run? Sometimes, they’re like drinking some high-powered energy drinks. You feel great for a short time period, followed by a hard crash. The team building event goes something like this.

First, you’re divided into teams. Next, you’re given some goal-oriented task, such as stacking blocks or building towers with Popsicle sticks. This task is completely unrelated to your real world projects and planning processes. You then perform the task under the watchful eyes of the facilitator and/or your manager. At the conclusion, you’re asked “What good and bad things did you learn from the experience?” And finally, someone says the famous team building motto, There’s no ‘I’ in TEAM. Everyone agrees and returns back to the real world.

Rick identifies and discusses the day to day world of a Project Manager. Project Managers have the unique ability to find shortcuts or workarounds in dealing with projects, sponsors, and stakeholders. This paper will try to help Project Managers avoid the playing of games through the sharing of years of experience and help them with getting stronger, more process oriented, and more respect for the work they do. Rick will offer real world advice, you’ll gain proper techniques that you can immediately use to impact your projects, learn how to influence without authority, stop end rounding projects and get back to the basics that will help create a Project Manager that will do the right things the right way.