The best Business Project Management books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897

Haven't read it myself yet, but heard it recommended a lot.

If you haven't done so already, I would give this book a read: https://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Build-Trap-Effective-Management/dp/149197379X. It sounds like your org falls into a couple of traps explained in the book and potentially it helps you to vocalize your concerns in a compelling way.

Personally, I am a big proponent for shipping features fast and often, but only if you have a good feedback mechanism set up. Have the sales team fill in a 2-minute feedback form per deal lost/won (this can be built into most popular CRM's) detailing reasons on why this deal was lost/won, look at the adoption of new features in tool like Amplitude, Mixpanel, etc. With this information, you can go to management with a clear story.

• Definitely read the Agile Practice Guide by PMI at least twice.
• Take several mock tests and do lean in on the ones you get wrong. I did about 1500 questions total. One of the mock exams was from this course on Udemy; it does have many agile questions that I found were instrumental in my passing the exam (https://www.udemy.com/course/pmp-exam-situational-question-practice-test-200-q-pmbok6/).
• Watch YouTube channels: PMP with Ray, Aileen Ellis, and Andrew Ramdayal.
• I read the PMP Exam Simplified written by Andrew Ramdayal instead of the PMBOK. That material was given to me in PDF format by a school, and it looks like you can get it from Amazon, although I cannot guarantee that it’s the same material I received. (https://www.amazon.com/PMP-Exam-Prep-Simplified-Learning/dp/B08SBFTXQT/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=pmp+exam+simplified&qid=1624489789&sprefix=pmp+exam+simpl&sr=8-3).

not free, but certainly affordable:

Joe Philips Udemy course ($12.99) https://www.udemy.com/course/capm-pmbok6/

Peter Landin's Practice Tests ($9.99) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

a lot of the free stuff you might find is questionable, outdated, or worse, or at best incomplete (a taste to get you to purchase the full package).

Get P. Landini's practice tests on amazon and do the Quick Quizzes for each Knowledge Area as you make your way through the coursework.

Then, when you are done, start taking the 50 question practice tests that span the full range of questions. Refer back to PMBOK sections to better understand incorrect answers.

Finally, take the 150 Question CAPM simulation at least once to guage your readiness. Do again if you score below 80%.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

Your scores on these practice tests will accurately guage your readiness to pass the actual CAPM.

very best wishes...

First off, becoming a member of PMI is totally optional and your choice. Some find value, others do not. Membership has absolutely no bearing on your credential.

Next, as far as Agile is concerned relative to CAPM, you can expect a dozen or so questions in the exam, but they do not go deep. So understanding the short sections in your PMBOK called Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Environments in each knowledge area should provide you with all the info you need.

If it doesn't tie together for you, allow me to suggest the Agile Quick Start Guide https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1502393468 as an easy to read introduction.

To actually prepare for the exam, you'll want to test yourself on practice questions, and this https://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Practice-Questions-Certification/dp/1692528459 is probably the best one out there, and contains a section dedicated to Agile and the right percentage of Agile questions in the simulation exams, and at the proper depth for the CAPM.

If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend the Scrum book authored by Jeff Sutherland (one of the two creators of the Scrum concept).

Additionally, be sure to read the actual Scrum guide which can be obtained for free.

https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X

I used the tia 35hr course it has the mindset videos https://www.tiaedu.com/training_pmp_course_nyc.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAkfucBhBBEiwAFjbkryvYtkzSoYCGpLUzEA_g6xd9YV5Uh9Nbl-KRczG1eiSkrATAeXPs5hoC70cQAvD_BwE

If you purchase the book the course is free https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SBFTXQT?ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_2DZ80JVQDZ49ACJYS7E2

To add on to the project+ part, as I just took it.

Going through the Udemy course https://wgu.udemy.com/course/comptiaproject-pk0-004/

and the abridged study guide (250 pages, vs the 450+ for the provided ebook) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119280524/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Set me up well to pass it, I didn't do the best but I got like 768.

Watching the videos first on 2x seemed to provided a good basis, I also screen capped some of the graphs and charts when they were covered and took notes, though I didn't read those notes and they were a waste.

Then I worked through the book taking notes as I went along and reviewed them for a few days before the test.

I recommend taking simple hierarchical notes, using bullet points and nesting what things are under what part/topics and what they entail. It was dry, I hated it and spent way too long on it from procrastinating, but when I really went at it at the end it was pretty quick to pick up. The actual test isn't that hard imo. I was getting ~80% on the comptia questions, then only 65-70% on the pluralsight ones that I've read some post saying were more accurate to the test, which had me worried towards the end as studying my notes didn't improve that score. But in the end the comptia questions lined up with the topics covered more.

PMP Exam Prep Simplified includes a code in the back of the book to access his 35 hour course and practice exam for free. It's the same as his Udemy course, but not hosted on Udemy

>After reaching 70-80-90%, the effort of adding one more percentage grows exponentially instead of linearly.

Yes! I learned this from using SCRUM at work. It helped my team get so much done and helped me not worry so much about things being "perfect". "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough or done." You got this!

So I see you clarified that this is for a group of PMs. I'm a technical program manager for an internal facing SRE group on a large SaaS product's platform group. The group I'm talking about is entirely voluntary, but are my tech leads, managers, some principal engineers, and managers, plus the incident management group that can basically represent where there are any problems across our whole "customer" base.

I usually start with "What are you working on now?" and that fills out the start of the board. Then as we go along certain net new ideas will make it in. We'll discuss and argue it for a bit, and then it either gets punted right there or we start doing some discovery work. If it's something feasible, we backlog it.

As far as how do I balance them? Idk, just continue to talk about all the ideas on the board and things get shuffled organically over time. Tell the teams about political pressure or supply chain issues or silly exec asks and let them do their own prioritizing. If something really needs driven, I'll use this to know where I need to be jumping in to project manage or yell at a finance guy.

TL;DR: it's Melissa Perri's discovery/OKR process, that creates a kanban managed backlog which we review in a weekly stand up/argument hour.

This book really helped me make the jump from IC to manager: The Manager’s Path. There’s also a lot of great content on YouTube, my favorite is from the Lead Developer conference. Some of the talks by Pat Kya, Lara Hogan and Poornima Vijayshanker speak directly to your journey.

Read PMBOK sections Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Environments in each knowledge area and test yourself using Landini's question sets:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

That will cover all agile material on CAPM

> Their legal obligation, as a publicly traded company, is to put the company's, and by extension the shareholders', finances as their top priority. Their number one job is to make as much money as possible, which is why you see so many short sighted decisions and companies being run into the ground for a quick buck.

This is not exactly true in a legal or technical sense. It's certainly a convenient/hand-wavey rationalization for greedy/local-optimum seeking behavior, though.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Shareholder-Value-Myth-Shareholders/dp/1605098132

Works fine. Not perfect. My thought is that leveraging the team is important. So if someone thinks a task is a 5 but another is 13 the average is a 9 which is what gets put on the task. Obviously the first person may know something the other doesn't and by pushing for communication and quality scrum calls the task shouldn't take much longer for the person who put down 13 vs the person that put down 5.

Just remember it's an average. Sometimes a 13 point task takes longer. Sometimes it's shorter. If a task was woefully underestimated you just have to communicate upwards and try not to make it happen again.

Anyway I just follow the principles in this book https://www.amazon.ca/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X.

Is this test from Peter Landini’s Project Management: Practice Questions For CAPM and PMP Certification Exams? If so, this will help you give a good sense of how the questions are structured for the exam. They’re a lot closer than what PocketPrep offers.

Consider yourself lucky, assuming you like it and make sufficient money.

If you ever join the corporate world and they do Agile/Scrum at that particular place then buy this book and read it. Then you'll know the theory of how its supposed to work at least before you are thrown into it.

The places that do scrum correctly are rare, which is unfortunate. If they say they are doing it, then they should actually do it. But whatever, I don't actually prefer it anymore. I prefer a straight up kanban board which is essentially a prioritized list of features and/or bugs, highest at the top, you pick items off the top to work on regardless of anything else. If it's on the top and you are free, you take it and work on it until completion.

The Peter Landini practice tests are most similar in content, style, and format to the actual exam.

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

Hint: all the practice tests are accessible online using a link provided when you purchase the book.

Pocket prep scores are NOT an indicator of your readiness to pass CAPM.

Why? The pocket prep questions are actually more difficult than the actual exam and it is shaking your confidence. They are phrased in a tricky and confusing way that is not at all like the CAPM.

Instead, use the Peter Landini tests, which are most similar in content, style, and format to the actual exam.

• Peter Landini Practice Tests : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

Do the 50 question sets, and the full 150 question simulation. If you score 70% you can consider that barely passing, 75-79% is a little better, and over 80% means you are all set to succeed.

You can do it!

hope this helps

Phillips Udemy is good, probably the best CAPM prep value for the money (he has PMP too). But, sorely lacking as it comes to Agile.

Rita materials are uninspired and pretty much useless, if you already have PMBOK-6 may as well just stick with that as a reference guide.

Peter Landini Practice Tests are the real deal! Just like the actual exam, including Agile (which several other prep tests seem to miss) And, its only $10 and comes with a link to online simulation tests (full 150 question)

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

If you need to read up on Agile, this Quick Start ($13.99) guide is good in covering the basics

• https://www.amazon.com/Agile-Project-Management-QuickStart-Guide/dp/1502393468

Agile will account for about 10-15% of the exam, and spans across all Knowledge Areas and Process Groups, so be sure to be comfortable with the basics and key terms...

Start doing practice tests to see what you have retained, what you understand, and what you need to go back to study.

Peter Landini's questions are most similar to the exam so you will get a realistic indicator of what you need to know, and in the format and style of the actual CAPM. you can purchase on Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Practice-Questions-Certification/dp/1692528459

Start with the Quick Quizzes that are arranged by Knowledge Area, so you can progress chapter by chapter, then move on to the 50 question tests after you've completed the course. Finally, be sure to do the 150 question simulation exam to get a true reading on your readiness to pass.

If you are having trouble with the Udemy and PMBOK material, the "Head First" book by Jennifer Greene and Andrew Stellman is very good : https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-PMP-Management-Professional/dp/1492029645/

hope this helps...

Thanks for that. The link to AR's Udemy course is for 2021 exam though, you think it's still good?

I was thinking of buying this one, which seems to be the book + the same Udemy Videos https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SBFTXQT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_glt_fabc_H43Z4YZ83WAYWVJ073K4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for that, I'm in the same boat, trying to set up a study plan.

Questions for you:

• When you refer to AR's udemy course, is it that one? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SBFTXQT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_glt_fabc_H43Z4YZ83WAYWVJ073K4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
• What is TIA exams? I read a lot of people go for the Prepcast exam simulator, I suspect its something similar?
• Don't you plan on reading the PMBOK? Or just AR's course?

Pick up Peter Landini Practice Tests : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

Do the Quick Quizzes for each knowledge area as you complete them in your course work. Go back to read sections you get wrong or don't understand.

When you complete your course work, do the 50 question practice tests, and the 150 question simulation test. This will give you an indication of your overall readiness.

7/24 is a month away, seems like enough time, but not enough to lose focus! stay on top of your study schedule.

*** And, since your primary language is Spanish, look into the Language Aids option when registering for the exam. The exam is given in English, however the Language Aids will translate key words to your language of choice - However, to my understanding you have to select this option in advance)

Hope this helps...

Having already completed the master of project course, there is no need Udemy. All you should need now is a good set of practice tests and your PMBOK 6th edition for reference.

The best practice tests are these: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Practice-Questions-Certification/dp/1692528459

Hi there! A couple things - the exam isn’t changing in October anymore, it’s been moved out a bit further.

I just passed mine yesterday so it’s all still fresh here!

Pete Landini questions buy the kindle version and go to the page with the link, and go through all the questions. These were the most helpful questions for me. Won’t go into too much detail in fear of sharing too much but I recommend these from the start.

Pocket Prep app - do the one month pack for $20, and go through as many as possible. These were harder than the exam imo once you start getting good at these, you know you’re getting the points

Ricardo Vagas processes video - I watched this a total of 4 times - first, watch all the way through. Second, take notes of everything he’s saying. Third, make notecards with descriptions of each process. 4th, watch through again without notes, really absorb it.

This is very important! PMI has been increasing its emphasis on Agile concepts, with CAPM devoting 10-15% of its questions and PMP up to 50% Agile-related questions.

For CAPM, the PMBOK 6th edition is still the source for the remainder of 2022, so be sure the review and re-read the Considerations for Adaptive/Agile Environments in each Knowledge Area.

Peter Landini's Practice Tests probably do the best job in simulating what you can expect on the actual exam, and has a separate section devoted to Agile question for extra emphasis.

-https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV1N9VJ

If you need to read up on Agile, this Quick Start guide is good in covering the basics at an introductory level: https://www.amazon.com/Agile-Project-Management-QuickStart-Guide/dp/1502393468

there is no such thing as 'sub project' in PMi terms, so my advice for the OP is to refer to such experience as 'leading and directing project activities',

I would go for the CAPM as a first step towards PMP only if the project experience was so specialized that it does not translate well to PMBOK standards. In this case, using the CAPM as a stepping stone will offer the opportunity to learn and associate the text book terms and processes with prior job experiences. CAPM will be an easier exam to pass, get a credential, learn the PMBOK formalities, and springboard quickly to PMP.

If OP is already up to speed on PMI's methodology and has the experience, I'd look to bypassing the CAPM as perhaps an unnecessary step (read: time & money).

Here's a suggestion that can build confidence into this decision:

- Pick up Landini's practice questions on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Practice-Questions-Certification/dp/1692528459

- This book contains both CAPM and PMP practice tests.

- Without studying, take one of the PMP tests and see how you do... if you get somewhere close to a passing grade (say, 60% or better) stay the course directly to PMP. You will have to study hard for about 4-6 weeks and you can guage your progress using the set of practice tests.

- If you are not in tune with the material and fail the practice test miserably, drop back to CAPM is the first step. Get the methodology and terminology down cold and you will pass that easily, then move on to PMP.

Hope this helps....

I bought this book from Andrew Ramdayal based on Amazon reviews, and it comes with access to the TIA course. I read the whole book and did every practice question. The questions are MUCH easier than on the actual exam, but it did help me build my knowledge base as well as my confidence. PMP Prep Simplified

I also used the Pocket Prep app, which were a bit harder. Loved the instant feedback, and how you could just do a few questions whenever you had a moment.

Finally, I also did the free PrepCast simulator, which was helpful.