Explain the Project+ Certification and Basic Concepts

0:00[AUDIO LOGO] Welcome. My name is Simona. That's me on the screen right here. And I'm really very pleased that you're joining me on this journey towards the CompTIA Project+ exam. As we'll see, this course aligns with the PKO-005 exam. There'll be more on that later. But I just wanted to drop by and introduce myself and give you an idea of what you can expect to learn from this skill. So here's the list of videos for this skill. And, in fact, let me turn my camera on so I can say hello to you properly.

0:32Hello. Here I am. And this is a British accent that you're hearing. And, yes, I do have English breakfast tea in my mug. But anyway, in this skill, I want to start us off by talking with you a bit more about the CompTIA Project+ Certification and how it fits in with other project management certifications and whatnot. And then I'd like to share with you some detail about the exam experience itself. Now, that might feel a bit premature given we haven't learned the content yet, but I think it's nice to know in advance what we've got to deal with. Although I should say, if you're not planning on taking the exam at all but want to learn the basics of project management, then, outside of this skill, I'm not going to be mentioning the exam in every other breath.

1:10So this course should still serve as a good general project management course rather than just exam preparation. But anyway, for the rest of this skill, I want us to clarify some basic terms to get us started. For example, what is project management? How do we define a project? And we'll talk about the different phases a project goes through in its life and how these phases compare to the process groups as defined by the Project Management Institute, the PMI. We'll talk about programs and portfolios, and we'll finish with a recap quiz. And, of course, there are many more skills which follow on from this one as we dig deeper into the wonderful world of project management.

1:45But for now, let's jump in.

0:00[AUDIO LOGO] As I mentioned in the introduction, this course has been designed to align with the CompTIA Project+ PKO-005 exam. And so I thought it was worth us taking a look at this certification and see how it fits in to the project management world as it were so that you can see if it's going to be a good fit for you and your career progression. And you probably already know that CompTIA provides a wide range of vendor-neutral exams.

0:32You can see the Project+ logo here lined up with some of its more famous cousins. And as you might imagine, this Project+ Certification is designed to give you something tangible to illustrate that you've got some knowledge around what's involved in managing a project. But this particular certification is very much an entry-level one. And I should probably point out that if you do have some project management experience already, then you might find some concepts possibly oversimplified to a point which might make you wince a bit if you've got some knowledge in that area.

1:04But I have to say, in my book, a simplification is exactly what we should expect for an entry-level exam. And you might also know that the CompTIA certifications are designed to be what's described as vendor-neutral. They cover a broad range of technologies from different vendors. And although project management isn't a technology, this vendor-neutral idea does still apply in that it covers a wide range of project management frameworks and methodologies. It's designed to give you a broad, foundational knowledge as you begin your project management journey.

1:36Having said that, though, lots of ideas and definitions have been borrowed from the PMI. That's the Project Management Institute. And because of that, I will be using one of the industry standard references, the PMBOK, the PMI's guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. That's where the PMBOK-- P-M-B-O-K-- that's where the acronym comes from. And for your reference, I'm actually using the Seventh Edition. But note, I do not expect you to have this reference to hand. You don't need to read the PMBOK. It's a pretty dry read, to be honest, and contains far more detail than we need for our purposes in this course.

2:11But please rest assured that I will give you the edited highlights that we need for the Project+ Certification. And, in fact, throughout this course, when I do quote the PMBOK, I will show this illustration here of the open book so that you know where the definition or whatever has come from. So, yes, the CompTIA Project+ is an entry-level, vendor-neutral-ish certification to illustrate your knowledge of project management. But I realize you might be in two minds about the value of this certification in the first place.

2:41And indeed, people often say to me, well, isn't real world experience better than a certification? And to be honest, we could be here all day debating this. I could write you an essay to answer this question. But I think really the key points we need to consider are these. Firstly, you can study for and sit this exam without having any prior experience in project management. So it truly can be your very first step into the world of project management, which could get your foot in the door to actually getting some real world experience in the first place.

3:13And secondly, if people around you are trying to poison your mind against studying for this exam and telling you that a certification isn't as valuable as real world experience, let me tell you this. Acquiring this certification will tell your current or your future employer that you've got commitment to the field of project management, and that you've actually been able to apply yourself and knuckle down and learn the important project management concepts well enough to pass an exam. And that really is valuable.

3:44Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. This certification is going to be an excellent addition to your resume, or to your CV, as I would say here in the UK. But anyway, having hopefully convinced you that a project management certification is worth studying for, you might now be asking yourself, hmm, should I choose Project+ or the PMI's CAPM Certification? Where CAPM stands for Certified Associate in Project Management. And, in fact, the best answer to this question lies I think on the CompTIA website.

4:17And so if you take yourself to comptia.org and then in Certifications find Project+, there we are, and then scroll down to, yes, this bit here. So you can see the Project+ Certification in the first column is positioned as an entry-level certification for smaller projects, whereas the CAPM is a bit more involved, getting us more towards an intermediate level with a specific focus on the PMI methodology in particular, which is going to stand you in good stead if you need to manage larger projects.

4:49And then as you can see here in the third column, if you need a focus on PRINCE2-- and we will touch on this framework in the next skill-- then you would work towards an exam specific to that. But anyway, my point is if you already know that you do need the detail of the PMI methodology, then I think you could jump straight to the CAPM. And, in fact, here at CBT Nuggets, I do have other training available, which studies the PMI methodology according to the PMBOK, which aligns with the CAPM exam. And note that because the CompTIA Project+ does, as I mentioned, borrow a fair bit from the PMBOK, then there is a bit of overlap between my training for these two certifications.

5:29So I don't necessarily think you need to do both courses. Either pick the course which belongs to the certification that you want to pursue, or if you just want the more introductory level 1, then stick with this CompTIA Project+ course. And at the time that I'm creating this content, the latest version of the Project+ exam is hot off the presses. It was launched in November 2022, the 005 version, and we're not going to expect it to get replaced for another three years or so. But even when it does, keep the certification on your resume.

6:01It doesn't expire. It's just that they'll update the content to reflect current best practices and relevant modern-day scenarios. But in answer to my own question about what's changed in this particular iteration of the exam, the 005, it's a bit more aimed at the IT pro. And so to that end, there's a whole new domain on the basics of IT and governance to help you, not only with some IT concepts that are common to many IT projects, but also security and privacy and compliance around data and whatnot. So that's the biggest change for this release of the exam.

6:33And I should mention here that this is a screen snip that you're looking at here of part of the exam objectives, just to show you that extra domain. And you can download your own copy of this from the CompTIA website. So therefore, given what we've talked about over the last couple of slides, clearly, this course is going to be absolutely the right choice for you if you are planning on taking the CompTIA Project+ exam. That's kind of obvious. But even if you're not planning on sitting the actual exam itself, I mean, maybe you're an IT pro and you find yourself managing small IT projects alongside your regular duties, then, yes, I do think that this course will be a good fit for you.

7:10And who knows? By the time you get to the end, you might end up choosing to give the exam a go because it would be a nice thing to add to your resume. But also, even if you have no real aspirations to actually be a project manager but you do work on projects as a team member, and you want to be able to contribute better in project update meetings, then this course will give you the foundation that you need to be able to kind of talk the talk, as it were, with regards to schedules and budgets and resources and scope and all of that kind of stuff. So, obviously, I've structured this course, so it does cover everything listed in the exam objectives.

7:44In fact, let me turn on my camera for a second so I can wave around my printout of the CompTIA objectives. Hello. Here I am. But the thing is the order of the topics on this printout doesn't really make the best order for a logical progression of topics. So please rest assured, if you are using this document as part of your exam preparation, I promise, I've done my very best to cover every bullet point but not necessarily in the same order as this document. Next up, I'd like to share with you my actual experience of taking the exam itself. But for now, I hope this has been informative for you, and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00[AUDIO LOGO] I suppose I should begin by saying that if you have no intention of taking the exam, then, for sure, you can skip this video. Or you may prefer to revisit it at the end of this training course when you're ready to take the exam. But I do find that most people who are starting their exam preparation journey like to get an idea of what the exam entails right at the beginning of that journey, hence why this video is in this introductory skill.

0:30And so in terms of the exam structure itself, it's what I tend to refer to as a closed-book exam. And by that, I mean you can not take any reference material into the exam with you, and so you are relying entirely on what is inside your head. And note that you can take this exam either in person at a testing center or online at home or at your place of work. And in both cases, checks will be made that you're not trying to cheat-- you know, that you're not wearing earbuds or that you haven't got notes in your pocket or whatever else they deem might be an indication that you're cheating.

1:02So the exam itself is 90 minutes long. But your overall appointment for the whole exam will be longer. But in terms of the length of time, you've got to answer the questions, and it's 90 minutes. And you will see a countdown showing you how much time you've got left and how many questions you've yet to answer. And there will be a maximum of 90 questions, and the vast majority of those will be multiple choice. And because they are mostly multiple choice, that means you must guess if you don't know an answer. You do not lose marks if you mark a question incorrectly.

1:35And get into the habit of guessing intelligently. For example, disregard any obviously wrong answers first, and therefore you're only guessing between the more likely answers. Now, as I said, the vast majority of the questions are multiple choice, and the majority of those, you'll only need to choose one answer. But there will also be a case study type of thing, which CompTIA refers to as performance-based questions. So there's a bit of blurbage to read about some scenario or other and then a couple of different parts to answer where you might have to drag and drop to put processes in the right order or something or choose which project documents need updating.

2:10But as I said, the bulk of your time will be spent answering multiple choice questions. You can mark a question for review to come back to later. But I would be a bit wary of this because you've got to be careful that you don't end up marking everything for review because that means you'll essentially be taking the whole exam twice, if you see what I mean. So I tend to try and be quite selective, and I usually end up with, I don't know, no more than 15 or so to review at the end. The pass mark is 710, so that's the number to look out for. And you will see your result after you finish.

2:41But rather agonizingly, they make you take an online survey, presumably while the computer chews on your results for a minute or two. But when you finish the survey, you will see your score and whether it's a pass or fail. And then afterwards, you can log in to CompTIA and see the general areas in which you got questions wrong, as per the domains in those exam objectives. So I seem to remember waving at you at the end of the last video. And if I just show you what that looks like, if you log in to CompTIA and take yourself to the Manage Exams area, now be aware that websites do change.

3:13So it might not look exactly like this. You might need to click around. But you want to get to My Exams because that's where you can see what exams you've got scheduled, and also you can view your exam history and see score reports and whatnot. So if I just click Score Reports just here, that means that I can say, yes, that I've taken this particular exam and I passed it. And then, obviously, I would click this View button here to see my score report itself, which is where I will see the exam objectives that I didn't learn properly, meaning I got questions wrong in those areas. When it comes to preparing for the exam, then do look at the exam objectives.

3:45It will certainly give you a feel of what you're supposed to know. And be aware that there are some things which you are just going to have to learn off by heart-- definitions and whatnot. For example, the difference between smoke testing and regression testing. Of course, I'm going to be taking you through all of that as we progress through this course, but my point is there is some stuff you're just going to have to learn. Now, if you are an experienced exam taker, then just do what you normally do to learn stuff. You will already know what approach works for you. But if it's been a while since you last took an exam and you're feeling a bit daunted at the thought of how you're going to revise, then I suggest you create some flashcards for yourself.

4:22And before you ask, if I've got a set that I could share with you, could I just say that the actual creation of the flashcards is a great revision exercise in itself? And so I urge you to create your own. And there are free apps that you can use. If you like the idea of an electronic approach, for example, in the past, I have used Quizlet on my iPad. But do you know what? If in doubt, just use bits of paper. This revision activity is a relatively short-term effort, so don't waste time choosing just the right app or dithering about what size index cards to order from Amazon.

4:54I mean, if I just get rid of these scribbled annotations and turn on my camera, look, you can see my set of flashcards just here. I've torn up bits of paper from this notepad, so there's nothing fancy about it. And for example, the very first one on my list is fast tracking. So when I'm using my flashcards, I'd look at that, and I think to myself, can I define what fast tracking is? And then, obviously, I turn it over to see the answer. And then you might think that I just put that at the back of the pile of cards and carry on the next flashcard, but we can be smarter than that. Because if I think to myself, ah, no, fast tracking, I know that now.

5:26I don't need to be tested on that again in this session. I can actually put it to one side and take it out of the pack. Or if I look at it and think, oh, I want to be tested on that again sooner rather than later, then I put it back in the middle of my stack of flashcards so that I see it sooner than I would do if I put it right to the back. But anyway, I took this exam and passed it this morning. And, of course, I'm not allowed to share with you the details of specific questions. But let me share with you my general impression of the exam. Firstly, although this is an entry level exam-- for example, I didn't have to perform any calculations or anything-- you do still need to know your stuff.

6:04You are not going to be able to just wing it using common sense. I can tell you that right now. I didn't particularly feel that it was trying to catch me out. But, yes, there were a couple of odd questions that did seem a little bit odd to me even now. And I'm not really sure what the right answer should have been, but, hey, that's life. A pass is a pass. But anyway, in the next video, let's crack on and start the material to prepare you for this exam. I hope this has been informative for you, and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00[AUDIO LOGO] If you're new to project management, then you might be wondering, well, what is project management? How do we define it? Or maybe you're just thinking, er, isn't project management simply the act of managing a project? And, yes, I suppose it is. But before we get into a definition, I think really we need to backpedal a little bit and understand what we mean by a project. So I borrowed a definition from the PMBOK-- that's the guide from the Project Management Institute.

0:33And what it says is this: a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. And it goes on to say that the temporary nature of projects indicates a beginning and an end to the project work, and that projects can stand alone or be part of a program or portfolio. But for this video, let's just focus on these first two sentences here, and we will come back to the rest later on in this skill. So, yes, a project is temporary. But sometimes people push back on this and say, but I've been working on the same project for five years.

1:07But don't mistake the word "temporary" for meaning "short term." It's got nothing to do with duration. It's about the fact that the project doesn't last forever but, more specifically, that it has a defined beginning and end. And normally, in an ideal world, the end of the project is reached when the objectives of the project have been achieved. Yay! But there could be other less positive factors which determine the end of the project, such as running out of money or resources, or maybe it turns out that the project's objectives aren't going to be able to be met, or that the outcome of the project is no longer needed, for example.

1:42Now, the project itself might be described as temporary, but the outcome of the project should create something of lasting value. And in particular, we describe it as creating a unique product, service, or result. So projects create unique results. And even if you've built 10 office blocks in the last 10 years, which were broadly the same, each one of those office blocks is going to be unique because they're on different plots, for a start, and there'll be other differences too, such as the weather and the people involved and other things about the environment and probably the specification and whatnot too.

2:16So this uniqueness and the temporary nature of a project helps us to distinguish projects from what we describe as ongoing operations. So the construction of that office block was the project. That was a unique and temporary endeavor. But at the end of the project, we will transfer that deliverable-- so the finished building-- to operations. So there's going to be building maintenance that needs to be done, but that's ongoing maintenance. And it's not constrained by time, and so therefore it's considered to be part of the day-to-day operations, which are going to continue potentially indefinitely.

2:51So even though, depending on the scenario, you might have team members working on both projects and what we describe as day-to-day operations, in the project management world, we should think of these as two distinct separate things. And it may or may not be obvious but a project should absolutely have a particular reason or purpose for existing in the first place. And that's usually I think going to be to create some sort of business value. And by that, we mean a quantifiable benefit, and this could be tangible or intangible.

3:22And I think the most obvious tangible benefit is going to be money. But it could be market share, for example, or, of course, the actual goods you've created, like the office building. But there might be intangible benefits too, such as reputation or brand recognition and things like that. So, yes, I think the most obvious purpose of a project is to create business value. But I suppose, more generally, we could simply say that the project drives some kind of change. The project is moving us from our current state to a future one. When we successfully complete the project, we've arrived at that desirable future state that we were hoping for.

3:57And, yes, as I said, that change is normally either directly or indirectly going to be in the form of creating some kind of business value. So having got a definition of what a project is-- you can see all of those characteristics listed here-- I think now we're in a better position to define what project management is. And again, let's borrow the definition that the PMI gives us in the PMBOK. You can see it here. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

4:29So, basically, if you practice project management, you're trying to achieve the project objectives whilst balancing scope and schedule and costs and risk and quality and resources. That's where all of the skills and tools and techniques come in. And we will talk more about this balancing act as we progress through the other skills which follow on from this one. So when project management is done well, we can enjoy a whole host of benefits-- the main one being, of course, that we're more likely to get a successful outcome and actually achieve what the project is set out to do.

5:00It also means we're more likely to have completed the project on time and within budget. And throughout the project, we're better able to give accurate status updates to the people who need to know and would have been better prepared to resolve issues and respond to risks and whatnot. But with poorly managed projects, or situations where we don't have any project management at all, there are lots of negative possibilities. We might miss deadlines. We might go over-budget or end up with low quality output which needs rework. We might find our reputation is damaged, and we've got dissatisfied stakeholders.

5:33And ultimately, it's likely that the project won't have a successful outcome. Now, I am aware that in this video, I've been throwing around quite a lot of project management-y terms, such as "scope" and "stakeholders" and "quality" and "risk" and "constraints" and whatnot, but I don't want you to worry about the detail of that right now. Let these terms wash over you as you immerse yourself into this new wonderful world of project management, and you can rest assured that we will cover these terms in detail as we progress.

6:05Let me leave you with those two definitions from the PMBOK, for your reference. And so for now, I hope this has been informative for you, and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00[AUDIO LOGO] Our goal for this video is to understand what we mean by project lifecycle phases. And I should mention here that we'll be seeing how CompTIA in particular describe these phases because don't forget, for this exam, we're looking generally at project management, touching on different frameworks as we go. So CompTIA has created a simplified general concept of project lifecycle phases.

0:30But anyway, you will remember from our last video that the PMBOK describes a project as a temporary endeavor blah, blah, with a beginning and an end. So yeah, it's born, if you like, at the beginning, and then it dies at the end when it finishes. So there's a lifecycle there from birth through living to death. That's the temporary nature of the project that we already talked about. So the project lifecycle, which is our topic for this video, is described by the PMBOK as the series of phases that a project goes through from its start through to its finish.

1:03And this is going to give us a very basic framework for managing the project. It's kind of going to give us a top-level roadmap to follow for when we might perform our different project management activities. I mean, we're not going to be creating a project schedule before we've even put together the business case for the project, and we can't document lessons learned until after we've at least done some project work. You get the idea. And so, at the simplest, most generic level, we first would have, for example, the idea for the project. And then we can plan it. Then we can actually do the work, and that's going to be the biggest phase.

1:34And then, finally, we finish it. The project has to die at the end, remember, because it's only a temporary endeavor. And so CompTIA has decided that the phases of the project lifecycle can be described as follows. First, we have our discovery and concept preparation phase. Then we initiate the project to get it started. Then we do loads of planning, and then in the execution phase, we manage the actual work being done. And then we'll have a closing phase to finish up the project. And the idea is that all of the various project management activities that we are going to be learning about at some length throughout the rest of this course-- but all of those activities get slotted into these phases in order to give us a framework to guide us with the project management itself.

2:14For example, we're going to be developing our project schedule in the planning phase. But the names of these phases are fairly arbitrary. We could have just as easily have decided to call these phases idea, plan, do, finish, like I scribbled up here. It's just that CompTIA has decided on these five phases with these particular names here. I mean, your organization might call them different things, or you might see these first two phases combined into one. And specific frameworks will organize this differently too. But from a nice, general foundational level, which is where the Project+ exam positions itself, these phases will serve us just fine.

2:50And indeed, we're going to be using them as the structure for this course. And so for the rest of this video, I want to start to give you an idea of what these different phases mean, but I do not yet want you to worry about the detail. We are in overview mode here, and so my main goal of this video is to make sure that you are introduced to the names and the order of these five phases here. And we'll talk a little bit about what's involved because sometimes people do get distracted by what does initiation actually mean. So we'll touch on some general bits and pieces, just to warm you up as to what's involved in each phase.

3:22And you know that we'll be revisiting all of these project lifecycle phases and the activities we perform within them as we progress through this course. So we saw that the very first phase, according to CompTIA is called discovery and concept preparation. And this is where we'll be asking ourselves, hmm, is this project even worth doing? Given the time and money it's going to require to actually go ahead and do this project, is the end result going to give us a good reward? Are we going to get a good return on our investment? And so in this phase, we will be analyzing what our return on investment might be.

3:56We'll be putting together a business case. And don't forget, there's more detail to come later on in this course. We're just in overview mode, remember. And we need this business case in order to illustrate, for example, to senior management what business need we think we're fulfilling with this project so that they can see it's going to be worth the money it's going to cost. And also in this phase, we'll be looking at what we've already got with regards to existing vendors that we already work with, any existing contracts already in place. Identifying these things early on might help us to see how ready we are to undertake this project work right now.

4:28And we'll also be looking at some very high-level budgets, including whether we're talking about capital expenses or operational expenses-- all the stuff that senior management are going to need to know before we get the nod to go ahead with the project. So this phase is all about discovering the top-level stuff to see if this project is a good fit for us as an organization right now. In the next phase, the initiation phase, well, having decided that, yes, this project is something we should undertake, initiation is the formal authorization for the project to begin.

5:02We're firing that starting gun. It's all systems go from this. And so some of the project management activities which fall into this phase, which is going to lead us up to the actual initiation itself, are things like identifying who might be affected by or who could affect the project. These are our stakeholders. We'll be looking at any existing templates or documents. These are examples of artifacts. My goodness, we've got an awful lot of project management terms creeping in here, haven't we? And there are more project management activities we could list here. These are just some examples.

5:33But this leads us up to developing the project charter which, once signed off, is the document that formally authorizes the existence of the project. And you know, don't you, that we're going to be addressing more detail on all of this later. We are just in overview mode, remember. But anyway, now that our project has begun, we can crack on with the planning, at last. So we know from the last two phases what we're trying to achieve overall with this project. But now we need to break that down into detailed units of work, which, in turn, means we can start to determine the budget for our project, and we can start assigning work to resources and build out a project schedule, determine the order in which the project work needs to be done.

6:16But, again, there's an awful lot more that we could put on this list. These are just some obvious examples. But as you can imagine, the project manager is rolling up his or her sleeves right now and producing the project management plan. And then, having got our plan in place, the actual work of the project is going to be performed in the execution phase here. And again, we're performing all kinds of project management activities, such as tracking and reporting on project work and conducting update meetings and whatnot. We'll also be managing changes.

6:47Maybe stakeholders want to add a new feature to the product we're building or something. Well, that's a change that needs to be managed following a proper change management procedure. And, therefore, if we decide to go ahead with the change, the plan is going to need to be updated accordingly. And throughout all of the phases, but especially, I think, during execution the project manager will be exercising his or her soft skills-- communicating, negotiating, and managing conflict, for example. And again, there's loads more that we could add to this list, but these are some examples to give you an idea.

7:20But something I think I should mention here is that even though this arrangement of the 5 phases is sequential, it doesn't mean that we don't revisit activities which we might categorize as being in the planning phase when we're actually executing the project work. I mean, we'll be tracking and managing changes and whatnot and will therefore be needing to rebudget, reschedule, and replan, which are all activities we might describe as falling into the planning phase. But we're doing them during what we're describing as the execution phase. So I tend to think of these two phases in particular as more of a cycle rather than separate, discrete parts.

7:54And then, of course, our final phase is when the project ends, the closing phase. This is when the project work is formally accepted and signed off and it's handed over to whoever's going to be in charge of the ongoing operations, and you might think that's all we have to do, but there's more. We need to close contracts and release resources for work on other projects. We'll need to document the lessons learned from this project-- you know, what went well and what didn't, what can we learn for next time? And how about some kind of end of project party as well? You get the idea.

8:25But again, don't get too hung up on the apparently strictly sequential nature of these lifecycle phases. As another example, there's no reason why we can't be writing down lessons learned while the project work is being executed. In fact, it's much better to be noting these things while they are fresh rather than relying on remembering them when the project has been finished over however many weeks or months or years later. But we'll certainly collate them and archive them during this closing phase. So those are our five project lifecycle phases according to CompTIA.

8:55It may be different in your organization, remember. But there is one final concept that I would like us to tackle in this video, and that's the idea of the product lifecycle-- not the project lifecycle we've just been talking about but the product life cycle. This is the life of the whole thing, the product that we have created in the project. So let's say we're a hardware manufacturer, and we've designed and produced a rather fabulous new printer. Well, we would have had a project lifecycle that we already talked about with the various phases to get it from the concept stage right through to release into market.

9:32So the project has ended at that point, having gone through those lifecycle phases that we talked about. But the product, the printer, the product itself lives on. We carry on manufacturing it and supporting it and updating drivers for it or whatever and making parts for it-- that's the operational stuff-- until we retire the product. So that product lifecycle encompasses the entire evolution of the product from concept right through to retirement, whereas the project lifecycle is that temporary endeavor just here.

10:04Whoops, I didn't mean to cross that out. I was trying to highlight it. There we go. Here's your summary, for your reference. This is what I would like you to remember from this video-- those two definitions just here along with those five project lifecycle phases according to CompTIA. And so, for now, I hope this has been informative for you, and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00[AUDIO LOGO] A question that I sometimes get asked, after having talked about those project lifecycle phases, is are those phases basically the same as what the Project Management Institute calls process groups? Now if you truly are brand new to the world of project management, which, given that this is an entry level certification, is quite possibly the case, then, of course, I do not expect you to have heard of this idea of process groups from the PMI.

0:32But it can be a source of confusion, as we'll see. So anyway, we already know from the last video that the project lifecycle is defined as that series of phases that a project goes through from its start through to its finish. And CompTIA has decided that there are five project lifecycle phases with these names, as we've already seen. But as you increase your knowledge of project management, you will stumble, I'm sure, on other material from the PMI, and so you might wonder if these lifecycle phases that we've talked about are the same as the PMI's process groups from the PMBOK guide, which are shown down here at the bottom of the screen in green.

1:07And you'll look at them and you'll think, well, the words are a bit different but it kind of looks similar. Well, the thing is, at the time of recording this video, the current edition of the PMBOK guide is the seventh edition, but the sixth edition was very heavily focused around what they call process groups, where a process group is described as basically a logical grouping of related project management processes or activities. So in the planning process group, for example, we're going to be having processes or activities such as determine budget and develop schedule and perform risk analysis.

1:43These are all different project management activities or processes which the PMI has put into the planning process group-- kind of makes sense. And the sixth edition of the PMBOK guide goes through all of these processes in more detail than you could ever possibly imagine. And so this really does look like a variation of our project lifecycle phases, doesn't it? But that PMBOK guide does go to great lengths to stress that no, they are not phases. Instead, they should be thought of as groups of interconnected processes that occur repeatedly through the project lifecycle.

2:16And we already had that conundrum, didn't we, when we were talking about our project lifecycle phases? Do you remember this slide here, from the last video, when we were talking about the execution phase, that there will be planning activities that get repeated as the project progresses and the project work is underway. And for sure, the bigger and the more complex the project, the more overlap and repetition there's going to be in all of these areas. But let me just pop back to that other slide-- yep, there we go-- because, really, it's just semantics, I think.

2:46And I suppose the answer to my original question here in the green is yeah, they are kind of the same concept. These process groups are simply the PMI's way of organizing all of those project management activities that get performed during the different lifecycle phases that we talked about. So don't worry about it too much. Just know that, in this course, we're working with a more straightforward idea of the same kind of thing. So in summary, then, stay focused on our project lifecycle phases that we've already had a quick look at and just have in the back of your mind that as you read around the subject, as you continue your project management journey, you will almost certainly stumble across the PMI's process groups, which are pretty similar, but not quite the same.

3:31And please rest assured that you do not need to know about these process groups for the CompTIA Project+ exam, and the seventh edition of the PMBOK guide has a different focus anyway. I hope this has been informative for you, and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:06In this video, I'd like us to briefly explore the idea of projects in the context of programs and portfolios. Now you already know how to define what a project is, and indeed, here's our PMBOK definition of a project that we've already seen in this skill, and it's this last bit that we haven't yet looked at, which is going to be the focus of this video. So projects can be standalone or part of a program or a portfolio or both, actually, as we will see. But anyway, yes, a project is that temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.

0:39And I've represented a project here with a drawing of a piece of paper, and indeed, an organization might well have lots of projects going on at the same time. In fact, it's really quite likely. And if any of these projects are related, then that's where the idea of a program comes in, where we can define a program as related projects which are managed in a coordinated way. So you can see, we've still got those individual projects, along with their individual project managers performing the detailed project planning and whatnot. But they are part of the coordinated effort that is the program.

1:13So at the simplest level, we can say that the purpose of a program is to tie a group of related projects together. But don't be fooled into thinking of a program as just a really big project. That isn't quite right, and certainly, in the project management world, according to the PMI, the terms are certainly not interchangeable. But let's think of an example. So let's say that we make fitness equipment, and we're making a new stationary exercise bike-- a spin bike thing. So there's going to be a number of specific, well-defined efforts here that goes into creating that product.

1:46And by that, I mean separate projects that all need to happen alongside each other in order to bring that bike to market. So we might have one project for the software on the screen and another one for the hardware and another one again for the associated online experience with, I don't know, virtual cycle rides or whatever. And there might be more too. So, yes, these are all clearly defined separate projects, but as a program, they're all brought together to form a particular end result-- that bike. And note that a project doesn't have to be part of a program.

2:16You might well have standalone projects that aren't related to any others. And that's just fine. So that does beg the question, well, where does a portfolio fit in? Well, if I just tuck my projects into their programs here, we can define a portfolio as those programs and projects all being coordinated such that they contribute to the organization's overall strategic objectives. Oh my goodness, it sounds quite grand, doesn't it? So we can kind of think of a portfolio as being the next level up collectively.

2:47They do meet the overall objectives for the organization, but the individual projects and programs themselves inside of that portfolio are not necessarily dependent on each other or directly related, unlike those projects within the program, which are related in some way or other within that program. Now note that our portfolio, and, indeed, our programs for that matter, may actually include work that is operational in nature. So this really is kind of the big picture view of all of the work that's being done to achieve the strategic objectives of the organization.

3:21And that standalone project that we had-- well, that may or may not be part of that portfolio. So this means, therefore, that a project can exist in distinct scenarios-- so firstly, number one here, as a standalone project outside of a program or portfolio; secondly, within a program which actually itself might be inside or outside of the portfolio or, as we saw, within a portfolio. To wrap up though, I have got something else that we need to be aware of.

3:53So this course, of course, is all about project management-- everything that's involved in managing the scope and the schedule and the budget and whatnot, which we're going to learn more about as we progress through this course. But note that program management and portfolio management would be different disciplines. And there is an awful lot that we could say here, but suffice it to say that program management focuses on those interdependencies between those projects in the program, while portfolio management is a much more strategic view-- have we selected the right projects and the right programs that best align with the organization's objectives?

4:30I hope this has been informative for you, and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00[AUDIO LOGO] Let's finish up this skill with a recap quiz to help you focus on all of the key points that we've covered. Here's our little quizmaster, ready and waiting. So I'm going to take you through a series of questions. And don't forget that you can pause me if you need more time to digest the question before I go through the answers. But are you ready? Here's question number 1. Which of the following best describes the target audience for the CompTIA Project Plus exam?

0:32So is it A, marketing or admin people who need to learn the basics of project management. Well, I have to say, that would be fine. I'd be happy enough for them to study and take the exam. That might be the right answer, but we're looking for the best description. B, anyone who needs to understand the PMI concepts in detail. Well, no. That is definitely not the case. They should be going for the CAPM or even the PMP exam. What about C? IT pros who need to manage small projects. Well, that's sounding really quite promising. I like that. And what about D? Project Managers who want to avoid reading the PMBOK.

1:03Well, no. If you're already a project manager and you know about the PMBOK, then I don't think that the CompTIA Project Plus is going to be for you. So yes, let's go with C, IT pros who need to manage a small projects. Question number 2. How many questions Does the CompTIA Project Plus exam have? Well, it's a whole raft of multiple choice questions. I don't remember saying anything about case studies. It's not going to be those two. The correct answer is this. It's a maximum of 90 questions. How about the next one in our recap quiz.

1:36Which of the following are characteristics of a project? So you may have noticed that I've got the reference video just mentioned down here. So when we were talking about what is project management, what is a project, we were talking about characteristics of a project. So let's try and find the three correct answers from this list. A, can follow either predictive or agile methodologies. Well, in theory I suppose that is true, but we haven't yet talked about predictive and agile and ERD. So no, it's not going to be that. Has a start and finish. So, yes, we learned that projects are a temporary endeavor.

2:09So I'm liking that one as one of our three. But no, don't be tempted to think of projects as being short-term just because they are temporary. So no, that is not a right answer. But yes, they are unique. Yes, I have a reason or purpose. So that's already hour three. So hopefully, this is nonsense. Yes, uses Kanban boards. We're going to be talking more about different methodologies and whatnot in the next skill so. But this particular question, B, D, and E are the correct three options for this question. How about our next quiz question? What do we mean when we say that a project is distinct from operations?

2:43And we're looking for two answers here. So answer A, project is the term used in traditional frameworks, whereas modern alternatives will-- no, that sounds like absolute nonsense, so it's not going to be that one. B, operations could continue indefinitely and are therefore not constrained by time. Now, I do quite like that one because we're talking about a project being temporary. It's got to start and a finish, whereas operations carry on. So I'm hoping that's going to be one of our two. What about C? When a project is successfully completed, it'll be handed over to operations.

3:14Now, that does sound quite good. So therefore, I'm hoping that D is going to be a bit of a red herring. So unlike a project, operations will never be unique nor well. I'm hoping that operations will still have a defined purpose. So no, that sounds like nonsense. So the correct answers for this question are B and C. Let's move on. Which of the following are the CompTIA Project Lifecycle phases. And you might remember we're looking for five parts of the project lifecycle here. So project kickoff. Well, that does sound like something we might do as part of the lifecycle, but that's not the name of the phase.

3:47So no, that's not right. Discovery, concept preparation. So yes, that was one of the phases as was initiation, as was planning, well, we're doing well. Here, that's three of the five. Define a budget. No that's not going to be one of the lifecycle phases. That's actually a process and activity that we would perform in the planning phase. Execution. Yes, that's when the work actually happens. Monitoring and controlling. A bit of a red herring there. That's actually one of the PMI process groups. So that's not one of our lifecycle phases.

4:18And then yes, closing at the end of the lifecycle. So hopefully, that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Good. Those are our five project lifecycle phases. Onto our next question then. In which phase has the project formally been authorized to start? Well, it's certainly not going to be any of these. That's all of your pre-start stuff. So it's actually initiation. That's the phase where the project is formally authorized to start. And then finally, our last question. Which of the following is true regarding projects, programs, and portfolios?

4:51So how about A? Projects will only be part of a portfolio if the organization has a project management office. Well, that sounds a bit odd. I really don't think that's going to be the right answer. Projects can stand alone or be part of a program or a portfolio. Well, I'm thinking that probably is going to be our right answer. We had something like that, didn't we, in our definition of a project. But let's just disregard the others before we settle on answer B. C, projects are always part of either a program or a portfolio. No, that's definitely not right. What about D?

5:22Small projects will be part of a program, while larger, more complex projects will be part of a portfolio. No. That's obviously a red herring there. That's nonsense. So yes, answer B is our best answer there. Well done. That was the last question in this recap quiz, and you've now completed the final video in this skill. I hope this has been informative for you, and I'd like to thank you for viewing.