Reddit reviews A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Fifth Edition

Please understand, all three are generally speaking fairly senior roles.

A Project Manager (obviously) manages projects.
Most PMs have a background in business or a technology area that they were good at, but discovered and got really good at managing projects.
An IT PM needs to know a little bit about damned near all technology areas - just enough to know when they need to bring in another resource.
An IT PM needs to know when they are being lied to. The business sets due-dates, and the PM needs to organize resources to meet those dates. Some resources don't want to give accurate or realistic estimates on how long their components will take, which has a snowball effect on project components that depend on that component...

Above all else, a PM must have excellent communication & organizational skills.

Formal Project Management is practically a religion, and this is their holy text: PMBOK

More info here: http://www.pmi.org/certifications/types/project-management-pmp


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A Technical Consultant is a specialist with significant experience & expertise in a given technology area. They know how a particular widget works, and how most businesses tend to use and integrate said widget into an organization. The deeper the history of knowledge and longer the track record of successful projects, the more a consultant tends to be paid.

A consultant will usually be brought in as a resource to be managed by a Project Manager.

The consultant has answers to questions and design or implementation recommendations that will be used by the incumbant technology teams to integrate the widget into their company.

Sometimes a company will engage a consultant and pay them to do everything. You are the expert - just make the widget work, and tell us when you are done. This is a clear indication of a terrible company, with piss-poor management. How will you keep the widget working if you don't know how it works, or how it was implemented in the first place?

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A Solution Architect is a Technical Consultant who has expertise in not just a specific widget, but the entire technology area and/or business operation that will use the widget. They can design or modify your business or technology department or infrastructure to best use a new widget.

These are among the most senior of technologists.

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Question for you:

What happened for you when you went to Google and searched for "wiki project manager" or "wiki technical consultant" or "wiki solution architect" ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_manager

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_consulting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_architect

The reason I ask the question is that nearly all IT staff members are paid to solve problems of one sort or another.
Learning something new is just another problem to solve.

If you hope to succeed and excel in this career, you really need to improve your ability to answer questions of this level on your own.

Hi skunk,

Since everyone is remaining quiet I might as well give this a shot. I'm from a technical background but currently studying PM in my spare time in the hope that I can progress in this direction within my industry.

PMP

It seems like the global standard is the PMP with PMI which requires:

> A secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree, or the global equivalent) with at least five years of project management experience, with 7,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.

> OR

> A four-year degree (bachelor’s degree or the global equivalent) and at least three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.

I'm currently studying towards this. I've taken recommendations from this subreddit (and /r/pmp) and bought:

• Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep, Eighth Edition
  
  and
  
  
• PMI's PMBOK, Fifth Edition
  
  In order to obtain the required 35 contact hours, I bought one of several cheap Groupons for $99. I'm not going to link the course because I don't necessarily recommend it - it should be easy enough to find and people have linked to these in previous posts. It doesn't really matter anyway because it's just so I can "tick that box", as I've learnt everything I need to know from the books.
  
  The exam however will have to be sat in person. I have yet to do this so can't give you any pointers.
  
  CAPM
  
  If you don't match the above criteria, you can always opt for the lower qualification of CAPM (also with PMI) and work your way up.
  For this I reccommend CAPM/PMP Project Management Certification, Third Edition and the previously mentioned online course.
  
  Please note that you can potentially pitch anything as a project in the right light, even washing the dishes. Aim high and try to get the hours for PMP if possible.
  
  PRINCE2 & SIX SIGMA
  
  What else? Well, if I'm successful with the PMP and still enjoy PM after the blood, sweat and tears, I'm looking at these two qualifications.
  
  I've already added a few books to my Amazon wishlist but have yet to seriously look into these with enough detail to commit.
  
  
• Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2
  
• PRINCE2 Study Guide
  
• PRINCE2 For Dummies
  
  I know that the exam for the PRINCE2 foundation level (and possibly practitioner level?) can be sat online with a webcam.
  
  
• Six Sigma for Dummies
  
• Six Sigma Workbook for Dummies
  
  Six Sigma I know very little about except that several colleagues have mentioned it and my industry takes it seriously. However, I don't believe you can do these Six Sigma "belts" online.
  
  Sorry for the serious wall of text but I just thought I'd share everything I know about PM accreditation. This isn't a comprehensive list but I'm planning on doing 90% online so I'm in a similar situation to yourself.
  
  I would be grateful for any feedback myself from experienced PMs on my plans going forward.

Links:

• Project Management Institute --- this is definitely the place to start. Check the 'Professional Development' tab for one.
  
• CAPM
  
• PMBOK via Amazon
  
  If you're serious about a PM career, you'll probably want to pursue the PMP credential, which requires (from the PMI site):
  
  
• A secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree, or the global equivalent) with at least five years of project management experience, with 7,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education. - OR -
  
• A four-year degree (bachelor’s degree or the global equivalent) and at least three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.

Hi I'm a graphic designer, UX engineer, and I have worked for a lot with a bunch of different PMs. Some have been great and some treat people really badly. I can share what was most effective for me and the other graphic designers I have worked with.

1. "Craft" can be kinda condescending. It's a technical skill set just like project management and while different I assure you both can be equally challenging. Just like you don't want a failed project that others can judge you on you that your designers are also very aware of how their project (which will be visible to everyone) will impact their ability to find and bargain for future work. Not to say you cannot negotiate with your designers but I have seen PMs treat graphic designers and developers like button pushers when there is a lot of skill that goes into developing their work. You may want to find out what is most important to them as far as how the work represent them. It might take them longer on one project because they are honing a new skill set (just like you are doing). If you can get them to talk to you about it you can better negotiate cutoffs on projects so everyone wins.
   
   When it comes to the long hours I would like to ask who is making the estimates for the projects? I really recommend including the designers when you are making your estimates and scoping out the work. This not only will help you get better estimates but it creates buy in from the designers so that they feel more committed to meeting those estimates. I have seen PMs throw work over the wall to people to complete in unrealistic time frames or unrealistic prices. The person doing the estimate didnt know rendering an animation would take 4 days and 100% use of someone's computer etc. All parties end up blaming each other for not having the right talents and in the end its just the project that is put at risk.
   
   As far them asking other resources to be involved. Somewhere they got the notion they could do that, they feel they have no choice, or they are doing some skill swapping and team building between departments. I really recommend looking into why this is happening before bringing down the hammer on anyone, a lot of times there is some other resource issue occurring that needs to be resolved. If you can approach it as a way to help solve their underlying problem people are more likely to be open to change.
   
   
2. I cringe at calling people Resources because I see how poorly it affects manager behavior. Remember that you are just talking to a person and all the skills needed for leadership are important. Gaining the respect of the people you work with makes a huge difference in how effective you can be. As a leader work with and defend your people as best you can and they will respect you and you will have value to them. This means when you have to ask them to do hard things they trust you and are more likely to comply even if they don't like it. This credibility is difficult to build at first but every little bit counts. Is their a particular painful client you can shield them from talking to? Can you get the printer fixed so they can get back to work? One of the best ways I use to judge a PM (or boss - sometimes they are the same) is how respectful they are to the people who work for them and how they treat people they don't need. I would say the other thing to take into consideration is that if your were given authority use it but try not to beat people with it.
   
   
3. I am rather certain this is going to be specific per company. Give them a call or go see them, tell them that you are new and ask the account manager how they have done things in the past. This will at least give you a starting point and you can adjust it as you move along.
   
   
4. As a designer the absolute most frustrating part of the job is working with the client and any intermediary for the client. Communication over requirements vs wants is utterly painful and in all most all cases no stakeholder has the same vision as other stakeholders. Meetings can be this painful The expert. Because this is so utterly political many graphic designers limit the number of iterations they present because any more communication can lead to endless rework as clients forget what they said or change their mind for the 10th time. This is can work if its within scope (time, budget) of what you have both agreed on when scoping/pricing the project. If it wasn't considered I can see why they would want to avoid this, another factor to consider is how overworked these people are. If they are routinely working 14 hour days I can see where changing everything and throwing off their work schedule could be disastrous for them.
   
   
5. Documentation is only as useful as what it is for. Do not make more work to justify your position ( I have seen people do this). Generally I find it falls into these two categories..
   Liability:
   

• Meeting minutes - send them out after the meeting so if anything was misinterpreted there is a chance to correct it. Also if no one corrects it, then it is the current set of requirements.
  
• Emails, IMs, SMS, and even notes on phone calls - keep them all. Keep them as long as you can. Make an archive and associate them with the project. Someone could come back a year or two later, their finance department saw the bill and then they never asked for the 5 more changes.
  
  Reference:
  
• Creative briefs - look at previous similar projects for estimates so you start to get ballpark ideas of what something might take.
  
• Notes on Pros/cons/mistakes per project - Do not show this to anyone. Keep it for yourself and when client X comes back for another "standard" projects look at your notes. Oh, they always try to negotiate the lowest price but want 4 revisions every time and won't change the deliverable date. Charge them more for the 14 hour days that you know the designers are going to have to put in. Or certain stakeholders are really hard to work with because they have terrible communication skills describing what they want, maybe they don't respond to your questions right away and it delays the project. Can also be great to make nots on designers over a period of time who excels in what time of project, or who really gets a specific client etc.
  
• Processes - Use these to clarify expectations or to improve a workflow. Do not make a process for everything, only the things that have pain points and are important.
  
  
  This may seem lame but I totally recommend reading the PMBOK for reference. Don't feel like you have to take the test but I think it covers a lot of the responsibilities of PMs well. PMBOK
  
  Sorry if this is very pro designer but I have seen way way too many PMs just pretend we aren't people. If you can gain peoples respect you have have an awesome job. Hope this helps. Good luck.
  

Not all of these are in our core training/ required knowledge, or related to our day to day functions as a university A/V department, but They are all available to my team for knowledge building and professional development. Additionally , and our job ladder includes Infocomm certifications, so the library is a little biased towards infocomm resources at the moment.
Books I use are

• [Master Handbook of Acoustics](
  http://www.amazon.com/Master-Handbook-Acoustics-Alton-Everest/dp/0071603328)
  
• CTS exam guide
  
• sound reinforcement handbook
  
• a/v best practices
  
• Sound system engineering
  
• show networks and control systems
  
• television production handbook
  
• tcp/ip illustrated vols 1-3
  
• PMBOK
  
• network wiring
  
• entertainment electricity
  
• sys admin
  
  just ordered digital video and hd
  based on a recommendation in r/videoengineering
  
  infocomm's audio and visual systems design, essentials of the av industry, av best practices, AV installation hand book
  
  
  white papers/ online training from extron, JBL, Dalite, surgeX, bluejeanscable, and others. (out of the office and do not have the exact list and links with me
  
  
  
  
  

I would say the BEST book is this one, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Fifth Edition.

The reason why, is the PMP/CAMP/Project+ are all based on this book. So not only will it get you Project+, but it will also prepare you for the other two certs from PMI. It's not short, I mean it's 600 pages, but it really is the best for these certs.

Otherwise, I think the Sybex book is your best bet. It's half the size and will only focus on the topics covered in Project+

Books on project management, software development lifecycle, history of computing/programming, and other books on management/theory. It's hard to read about actual programming if you can't practice it.

Some of my favorites:

• Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software - GREAT choice I notice you already have listed. Possibly one of my favorite, and this should be on everyone's reading list who is involved in IT somehow. It basically how computers and programming evolved and gets you in a great way of thinking.
  
  
• The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography - Another great history book on code and how things came to be. It's more about crypto, but realistically computing's history is deeply rooted into security and crypto and ways to pass hidden messages.
  
  
• Software Project Survival Guide - It's a project management book that specifically explains it in terms of software development.
  
  
• The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders and Deceivers - A fun collection of short hacking stories compiled and narrated by Kevin Mitnick, one of the most infamous hackers. Actually, any of Mitnick's books are great. Theres a story in there about a guy who was in jail and learned to hack while in there and get all kind of special privileges with his skills.
  
  
• Beautiful Data: The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions - Most of the books in the "Beautiful" series are great and insightful. This is one of my more favorite ones.
  
  
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK(R) Guide - THE guide to project management from the group that certifies PMP... boring, dry, and great to help you get to sleep. But if you're committed enough, reading it inside and out can help you get a grasp or project management and potentially line you up to get certified (if you can get the sponsors and some experience to sit for the test). This is one of the only real certifications worth a damn, and it actually can be very valuable.
  
  You can't exactly learn to program without doing, but hopefully these books will give you good ideas on the theories and management to give you the best understanding when you get out. They should give you an approach many here don't have to realize that programming is just a tool to get to the end, and you can really know before you even touch any code how to best organize things.
  
  IF you have access to a computer and the internet, look into taking courses on Udacity, Coursera, and EDX. Don't go to or pay for any for-profit technical school no matter how enticing their marketing may tell you you'll be a CEO out of their program.

1. Figure out a sensible workflow pipeline
   
2. Ensure my permits are in order
   
3. Ensure my insurance is approrpiate
   
4. Figure out a cost effective legal disposal plan
   
5. Purchase a text book
   
   Any other pointers?

Well if you are looking for study material here are some links to books I suggest.

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Project-Management-Body-Knowledge/dp/1935589679/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405382005&sr=8-1&keywords=pmbok


http://www.amazon.com/PMP-Exam-Prep-Eighth-Edition/dp/1932735658/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

http://pmhigherlearning.com/project-management-exam-guide/