PMP EXAM CONTENT OUTLINE

Domain 1  -  PEOPLE  

(Manage conflict)

• Interpret the source and stage of the conflict  
• Analyze the context for the conflict 
• Evaluate/recommend/reconcile the appropriate conflict resolution solution  
• Practice Tests and Discussion

(Lead a team)

• Set a clear vision and mission
• Support diversity and inclusion (e.g., behavior types, thought process)
• Value servant leadership (e.g., relate the tenets of servant leadership to the team) 
• Determine an appropriate leadership style (e.g., directive, collaborative)
• Inspire, motivate, and influence team members/stakeholders (e.g., team contract, social contract, reward system) 
•  Analyze team members and stakeholders' influence 
• Distinguish various options to lead various team members and stakeholders  

(Support team performance) 

• Appraise team member performance against key performance indicators
• Support and recognize team member growth and development 
• Determine appropriate feedback approach 
• Verify performance improvements  

(Empower team members and stakeholders)

•  Organize around team strengths
• Support team task accountability
• Evaluate demonstration of task accountability 
•  Determine and bestow level(s) of decision-making authority

(Ensure team members/stakeholders are adequately trained) 

•  Determine required competencies and elements of training 
• Determine training options based on training needs 
• Allocate resources for training 
• Measure training outcomes 

(Build a team)

•  Appraise stakeholder skills 
•  Deduce project resource requirements 
•  Continuously assess and refresh team skills to meet project needs 
•  Maintain team and knowledge transfer  

(Address and remove impediments)

• Obstacles, and blockers for the team
• Determine critical impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team
• Prioritize critical impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team 
•  Use network to implement solutions to remove impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team 
• Re-assess continually to ensure impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team are being addressed

(Negotiate project agreements)  

• Analyze the bounds of the negotiations for agreement 
•  Assess priorities and determine ultimate objective(s) 
• Verify objective(s) of the project agreement is met 
• Participate in agreement negotiations
• Determine a negotiation strategy 

(Collaborate with stakeholders) 

•  Evaluate engagement needs for stakeholders 
• Optimize alignment between stakeholder needs, expectations, and project objectives 
•  Build trust and influence stakeholders to accomplish project objectives  

(Build shared understanding) 

•  Break down situation to identify the root cause of a misunderstanding
• Survey all necessary parties to reach consensus 
• Support outcome of parties' agreement 
• Investigate potential misunderstandings 

(Engage and support virtual teams)

•  Examine virtual team member needs (e.g., environment, geography, culture, global, etc.) 
• Investigate alternatives (e.g., communication tools, colocation) for virtual team member engagement 
• Implement options for virtual team member engagement 
• Continually evaluate effectiveness of virtual team member engagement  

(Define team ground rules) 

• Communicate organizational principles with team and external stakeholders 
• Establish an environment that fosters adherence to the ground rules 
• Manage and rectify ground rule violations 

(Mentor relevant stakeholders) 

• Allocate the time to mentoring
• Recognize and act on mentoring opportunities 

(Promote team performance through the application of emotional intelligence)

•  Assess behavior through the use of personality indicators 
• Analyze personality indicators and adjust to the emotional needs of key project stakeholders 

Domain 2 - PROCESS

(Execute project with the urgency required to deliver business value)

•  Assess opportunities to deliver value incrementally 
• Examine the business value throughout the project 
• Support the team to subdivide project tasks as necessary to find the minimum viable product 

(Manage communications)

• Analyze communication needs of all stakeholders 
• Determine communication methods, channels, frequency, and level of detail for all stakeholders
• Communicate project information and updates effectively 
• Confirm communication is understood and feedback is received 

 (Assess and manage risks) 

• Determine risk management options
• Iteratively assess and prioritize risks 

( Engage stakeholders) 

• Analyze stakeholders (e.g., power interest grid, influence, impact) 
•  Categorize stakeholders 
• Engage stakeholders by category
• Develop, execute, and validate a strategy for stakeholder engagement 

(Plan and manage budget and resources)

• Estimate budgetary needs based on the scope of the project and lessons learned from past projects 
• Anticipate future budget challenges 
• Monitor budget variations and work with governance process to adjust as necessary 
• Plan and manage resources 

(Plan and manage schedule )

• Estimate project tasks (milestones, dependencies, story points) 
• Utilize benchmarks and historical data
• Prepare schedule based on methodology 
• Measure ongoing progress based on methodology 
• Modify schedule, as needed, based on methodology 
• Coordinate with other projects and other operations

  (Plan and manage quality of products/deliverables) 

• Determine quality standard required for project deliverables 
• Recommend options for improvement based on quality gaps 
• Continually survey project deliverable quality 

(Plan and manage scope) 

• Determine and prioritize requirements
• Break down scope (e.g., WBS, backlog)
• Monitor and validate scope 

(Integrate project planning activities)

• Consolidate the project/phase plans 
•  Assess consolidated project plans for dependencies, gaps, and continued business value 
• Analyze the data collected 
• Collect and analyze data to make informed project decisions 
• Determine critical information requirements 

(Manage project changes)

• Anticipate and embrace the need for change (e.g., follow change management practices) 
• Determine strategy to handle change
• Execute change management strategy according to the methodology
• Determine a change response to move the project forward

(Plan and manage procurement)  

• Define resource requirements and needs 
• Communicate resource requirements
• Manage suppliers/contracts 
• Plan and manage procurement strategy 
• Develop a delivery solution   

(Manage project artifacts)

•  Determine the requirements (what, when, where, who, etc.) for managing the project artifacts 
•  Validate that the project information is kept up to date (i.e., version control) and accessible to all stakeholders
• Continually assess the effectiveness of the management of the project artifacts 

(Determine appropriate project methodology/methods and practices) 

• Assess project needs, complexity, and magnitude 
• Recommend project execution strategy (e.g., contracting, finance) 

• Recommend a project methodology/approach (i.e., predictive, agile, hybrid) 
• Use iterative, incremental practices throughout the project life cycle (e.g., lessons learned, stakeholder engagement, risk) 

(Establish project governance structure)  

• Determine appropriate governance for a project (e.g., replicate organizational governance) 
• Define escalation paths and thresholds 

( Manage project issues)

• Recognize when a risk becomes an issue 
• Attack the issue with the optimal action to achieve project success
• Collaborate with relevant stakeholders on the approach to resolve the issues
• Ensure knowledge transfer for project continuity 
• Discuss project responsibilities within team 
• Outline expectations for working environment 
• Confirm approach for knowledge transfers 
• Plan and manage project/phase closure or transitions 
• Determine criteria to successfully close the project or phase 
• Validate readiness for transition (e.g., to operations team or next phase)
• Conclude activities to close out project or phase (e.g., final lessons learned, retrospective, procurement, financials, resources)