Implementing Project Portfolio Management

This book is a companion guide to Project Management Institute’s The Standard for Portfolio Management, currently in the Fourth Edition. The standard is now a principle-based standard that provides greater universality of applications. As a principle-based standard, the “how” of portfolio management is largely removed. While the “how” is context specific and therefore cannot be standardized, there is nevertheless value in understanding the various approaches. Implementing Project Portfolio Management: A Companion Guide to The Standard for Portfolio Management was written to address the “hows” that support the “what” of portfolio management.

As a companion guide to the current standard, this book is designed for three primary audience groups: 

  • Business Executives – Part 1 of the book includes Chapter 1, which provides a comprehensive but high-level description of portfolio management, including the what, why, who, and how.  Other groups are encouraged to review Part 1 as well, to achieve an executive-level understanding of portfolio management.
  • Portfolio Leaders and Practitioners – Part 2 of the book, Chapters 2 to 8, offers an in-depth examination of the various performance domains discussed in the Standard for Portfolio Management – Fourth Edition. In addition, this book goes beyond the standard with additional domains and concepts that are in practice today. Each chapter offers new insights on how to apply the principles covered in the standard. As appropriate, selective tools and templates are introduced.
  • Portfolio Thinkers – Part 3, the final chapters, is designed for tinkerers and inquisitive professionals who want to look ahead and see the future of portfolios and some areas of latest development. Part 3 is a true work in progress. 

This book is designed to guide busy project professionals with the preparation and passing the CURRENT PfMP exam, which is especially difficult due to the amount of experience required to qualify and pass the exam. Written by a certified PfMP, this book introduces a proven approach to satisfactorily completing the exam and it includes 400 practice questions, exam aids, lesson plans, and important concepts. To prepare for the “experience-based” questions, the author has taken a Socratic approach based on questions and answers to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. Beyond the basic, this guide contains additional sample deliverables and approaches that will help you professionally. Finally and perhaps most importantly, this book licenses certain content from PMI to ensure clarity and save you time.

Why should you consider this book? The reasons are simple. This book is:
* The first book on this top that is written by a certified portfolio manager.
* One of the few (perhaps the first) to license intellectual property from PMI. 
* Designed to prepare experienced project professionals with an innovative approach. 
* Presents a time tested system to passing the exam with shortcuts, exam aids and 400 practice questions. 
* More than a test guide. It is like a companion guide that advances project portfolio management.

As a bonus, this book includes 30 days of access to the 400 questions online for the original purchaser of the book upon registration. 

This book is a part of a larger suite of products and services to help organizations and project professionals to achieve execution excellence. The author’s company, PMO Advisory, also offers additional PfMP practice questions and a preparation course. For more information, visit www.pmoadvisory.com/pfmp.

Making Choices: Aligning Strategic Business Execution with Strategy Through Project Portfolio Management

As a recent portfolio manager leading the enterprise portfolio management office (PMO) of a growing consulting firm, Isabella Garcia found herself confronting a series of real-world firestorms that includes: poor adoption of new knowledge management (KM) systems, punishing schedule changes on mission-critical projects, managing difficult resources and capacity challenges, attracting strong talents to her team, prioritizing projects within the portfolio, determining requirements in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, managing up, down, and across the organization, and leading a merger and acquisition (M&A) endeavor. As a contemporary woman, Isabella is also confronting the challenges of balancing life, work, and more work.

This a fictionalized business book based on actual and highly relevant situation that many project professionals, especially portfolio management professionals will face. The book is vital and relevant for those who aspire to complete the Project Management Institute’s Portfolio Management Professional (PMI PfMP) credential as one of the requirements is an experienced-based examination. Isabella’s many firestorms provide insights on the actual role of a portfolio manager and greatly enhance both the understanding and application of project portfolio management.

The Sensible Guide to a Career in Project Management in 2016

Project management has been growing rapidly for the past decades. Yet, until now, aspiring and practicing project managers struggle to find a relevant and timely guide on planning and developing careers in project management. In this comprehensive guide, the book provides the latest information on the state of the profession. In addition, the author proposed a career ladder with seven major steps as professionals start at the beginning and reaching the executive role, a stretch of twenty or more years. 

This book contains five chapters and is updated with the latest development and statistics. Below is a summary of the topics and the key questions addressed in the book.

1: Introduction
2: Career in Project Management
3: Project Management Institute
4: Project Management Career Ladder
5: War Stories