PMP Exam is changing in January, 2021 – Part 2 – The PMP Exam Content Outline
What is New PMP Exam Content Outline and how is it causing change in PMP Exam from 1st January, 2021?
In the last post PMP Exam is changing in January, 2021, I explained what is changing in PMP Certification Exam effective 1st January, 2021. In this post let’s get into PMP Exam Content Outline that is causing change in PMP Exam. In June, 2019, PMI® came out with its new PMP® Examination Contents Outline that suggested some fundamentals changes in the structure of PMP® Exam. Most the of the PMP Aspirants have no idea what this PMP Exam Content Outline (PMP ECO) is all about and what impact it has on PMP Exam? Let’s understand what PMP ECO is and how it is changing the exam.
What is PMP Exam Content Outline
PMI aligns its process with certification industry best practices, such as those found in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. The PMP® certification is also accredited against the internationally recognized ISO 17024 standard. A key component of this process is that organizations wishing to offer valid and reliable professional credentialing examinations are directed to use a Role Delineation Study (RDS) or Job Task Analysis (JTA) as the basis for the creation of the examination.
PMI regularly conducts Role Delineation Study (Global Practice Analysis market research study) to understand the current market trends with respect to role of project manager. These trend are used as inputs into the Job Task Analysis to ensure the validity and relevance of the PMP Exam. PMP Exam Content Outline is a Job Task Analysis which refers to current practices in the industry and describes tasks to be performed by project managers.
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How does PMP Exam Content Outline impact PMP Exam?
PMI conducted a similar study and came out with new PMP Exam Content Outline in June, 2019. The taskforce members who created new PMP ECO were charged with outlining critical job tasks of individuals who lead and direct projects based on their experience and pertinent resources. As a result tasks were categorized in 3 domains (People, Process and Business Environment) instead of 5 domains (Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring & Control and Closure) as was the case earlier so far.
The research conducted through the Job Task Analysis validated that today’s project management practitioners work in a variety of project environments and utilize different project approaches. PMP Certification Exam post 1st January, 2021 will reflect the same. Following statement is an important statement to be noted…
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About half of the examination will represent predictive project management approaches and the other half will represent agile or hybrid approaches. Predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches will be found throughout the three domain areas listed above and are not isolated to any particular domain or task.
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PMP Exam Content Outline is consist of a table having domain name, tasks and task enablers. Domain is one of people, process and business environment. Task is a title given to a responsibility that project managers own in a domain. Enablers are illustrative examples of the work associated with the task.
This change will cause change in some PMP Books also. Writers of PMP Exam Books will update their books to reflect this change. It may not impact much because most of the PMP books are organized Knowledge Area wise and not Process Group wise.
For detail on this change, you should not look at PMP Handbook as PMP Handbook will not change but you need to look at PMP Exam Content Outline, June, 2019.
What next?
In the next posting, I will list down all the tasks with their enablers and explanations so that a PMP Aspirant can understand what tasks PMI has identified for a project manager. A PMP Aspirant can understand underlying work of a project manager and the scope of PMP Exam to prepare accordingly. PMP Exam questions will be prepared considering that a project manager typically performs these tasks.
Watch out this space for detailed explanation of each task listed in PMP Exam Content Outline and on the basis of which, PMP Exam Questions will be framed.