General Management Resources
- World Health Organization - Leadership and management topics
- Defense Acquisition University - Search engine for DAU resources
- Department of Energy - Directives, delegations, and requirements
- EverySpec - Collection of free US government (NATO, too) specs, standards, handbooks
Process Asset Samples and Templates
- Project Management Docs - PMBOK based project management templates
- Brad Egeland - Sample PM plans & templates, with links to related articles
Project Management Newsletters
- The Program Manager's Paper - Articles and links to articles useful to project managers
Project Management Resources
- Lessons Learned.info - Lessons learned (LL) in the context of project management (PM)
- Certified Enterprise Risk Manager® Academy - Risk-based problem solving & decision making, enterprise risk management: resources, training, certification, newsletter
- Herding Cats - Informative blog entry on uncertainty, risk, and risk management
Project Management Tools
- PM Tools Review - Project management & PM-related tools and services
PM Social Media and Online Study Groups
- Google Plus - Project Management, PMI, PMP Certification - Oliver Lehmann's outstanding Google+ group for PMP test prep, Agile, PM news recommended articles, almost everything PM
- PM Lessons Learned - Conference calls for PMP exam study, job hunting, and best practices every Tuesday plus the first through third Thursdays, 9 PM New York time; Archives of presentations and also a discussion capability are available at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pmlessonslearned/
Technical References
- Department of Energy - References, regulations, and requirements
- University of Maryland Space Systems Laboratory Spacecraft Design Reference Library
- EverySpec.com - Government and military standards, specifications, handbooks, and documents
PM Blogs
- The Southern Project Manager - Harry Hall's practical project management insights and tips
PM Study and Free Resources
- PM Study - Free Simulated Practice Test, Sample Guides and Podcasts, Work Experience Hour Calculation Tool
- PM Success - 400 Questions of the Day
- Head First Labs - Free PMP Practice Exam
- Simplilearn - Articles and instructional videos
Agile Study and Free Resources
- ScrumStudy - Free learning resources (including the ScrumStudy BOK) - Hat tip to Kylie Wilson in the Comments.
This is a work in progress. Add links to your favorites in the comments, below, and I'll add them.
Posts
An agile process tends to focus on iterations, and client feedback, to allow for the inevitabilty of changing requirements whereas a waterfall process tries to define all requirements up front, and tends to be inflexible to changing requirements. You can learn more about agile and scrum by referring to some free resources (http://www.scrumstudy.com/free-resources.asp) provided by scrumstudy or by attending any agile scrum certification courses. I would personally suggest Agile Expert Certified course or Scrum Master Certification to you.
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions. Thank you, Kylie.
DeleteHi Ella. Good question. The answer depends on your learning style, your level of background and commitment, and the quality of the instructor. You will need Contact Hours, but you can get them a number of ways.
ReplyDeleteA class can be good, although you still have to do your homework -- reading the handouts, PMBOK, and at least one good text such as Rita's PMP Exam Prep or the Head First book. If you follow that with plenty of free, mock exam questions, you will identify gaps that you need to review or fill in.
One class I took was taught by a very good and smart fellow, but he was from India. I missed much of what he said because I fell behind while trying to figure out what was saying. Accents might not be a problem for you. They are for me.
For the ultimate homework, join LinkedIn PM and PMP forums and get involved in the discussions. There's a reason teachers assign essay questions.
Flexible scheduling, avoiding travel, and minimizing costs have been critical for me. I highly recommend Cornelius Fitchner's online course -- I think it's called PM Prepcast.
You might also check out LearnSmart's course, offered through Groupon -- but it's only good today and tomorrow. http://www.groupon.com/deals/learnsmart-4. Sorry, I know that doesn't give you much time to look for reviews and make a decision.
Online courses generally cost 1/10 of what classes cost unless the classes are taught by volunteers, such as at the local PMI chapter. The one thing they lack is live interaction. There's no discussion or time pressure to get through the material.
Ultimately, you have to weigh the plusses and minuses for your unique personality.
Kyle, Agile practitioners tend to become very... enthusiastic and evangelistic about Agile. They see it as the only solution. In their industry, products have a high degree of modularity. Unfortunately, staring at computer screens can lead to myopia.
ReplyDeleteWhen the product is a system of systems involving multiple technologies and a lot of research, development, and integration, Agile can be totally inadequate (although it can be useful at the bottom levels of a program).
Would you take a drug that was rushed through with only two weeks of testing? Would you want to troubleshoot code that had sparse and outdated documentation? Would you put your family in a car whose various parts were all tested in isolation from each other, and had only minimal testing to make sure they worked together? Do you think it's a great thing that Windows has to be updated every month?
Your comparisons of Waterfall and Agile are severely exaggerated because a simplistic version of Waterfall is usually taught. Product lifecycles interact with Waterfall to make it iterative. Integrated Project (or Product) Teams (IPTs) that included customer participation originated in Waterfall environments. Change can be cumbersome, but that is necessary due to the far greater complexity of projects where Waterfall is more appropriate.
Step back from that little bush. It is not the only type of plant in the forest. There are some big trees out here, too.