Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: October 2, 2010
Yes it’s the day which I have wait for it from a long time, spending last period in reading many Project Management resources and involving in practices , sleeping few hours .. Just to achieve this day and finally it came.
After just 3 hours of sleeping, I wake up to take the Taxi for the Exam Center, exam should start at 9:00 am for 4 hours. During my journey to the Exam center I was thinking for my strategy to pass the exam, only 240 minutes for the 200 and with a simple equation you will find that every question will take 1 minute and portion of seconds without any time for review.
So I decide to just have only 1 minute for each question and to save the 40 minutes for review, while I will have 25 of the 200 exam questions as “pre-release questions” meaning they are not included in my score for the exam. The questions will be randomly placed throughout the exam, and i will not know which one are, so also there time is considering from my strategy.
Once I reach the Exam center, I left all what I have (my wallet, Mobile) in a closed box and they give me a pencil and a note and the Supervisor guide me to the Pc and run the Exam. So it’s the time of strategy implementation.
Really the Exam Question is totally different than the any Practice Questions or Simulation Software and it’s deeply checking your experience in situation than your knowledge, you may feel that many Answers is suitable for the questions but you have to choose one and this where is your experience play. Some of questions also include calculation which you should take care about to get the right answers within small time.
So moving from one question to another, marking some of them for review and didn’t feel what the time is. Until I reach the Question 190, I found that I just have 30 minutes, starting to feel that I will not have a sufficient time for reviewing, after 8 minutes I finished my 200 questions and have to start to review the question I marked for review, I was marked around 40 questions so I moving quickly over them and may I change 8 of my answers on them till the exam timer click remaining time 00:00.
The exam center supervisor came at my location to ensure that the result is submitted, and through those moments I was feeling that all people around me hearing my Heartbeats, just few seconds and I found the word Passed is centered on my screen, really there was a lot of words on screens but I was only able to see this word only.
Yes it was a great achievement for a lot of hardworking and learning, and that why PMP Credential is most valued and respected credentials in project management.
All education and learning I spent for the exam, it was not only to pass the exam but it skilled me and open my mind for a lot of areas and experience in Project Management Fields which will support me for my activity in My Project Management career.
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: September 23, 2010
It’s a very hard week, I have just 7 days till my PMP Exam , and I can’t stop doing two things, studying PMP Books, and thinking to postpone my exam, and I actually try to do that, but I only found that the next available exam date will be after six months.
Moving between many PMP preparation books and PMP Exam simulation Programs, and under all of this stress you may loss the control of collecting the required information you need for the Exam, so you have to set your own plan to study for the PMP Exam, for me I started the month before the Exam to set a schedule for reading PMBOK twice by reading a knowledge area every day and tray to review the same knowledge Area from “PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy book” then I write a summary of this knowledge area with some definitions and formulas and start to solve some question related to that knowledge area to ensure that I’m understanding it well and that I’m capable to face any question and situation related to it.
At this Last Week, I start focusing of my weakness in knowledge areas, and start reading them again and try to focus on different situations and questions to be able to face any difficulties in the exam, also I start feeling that days are moving fast and I’m just reading and collecting information but I should have a similar exam stress because i will have 200 questions in just 240 minutes, so I start practicing exams on “PM FASTrack: PMP Exam Simulation Software by Rita Mulcahy” it’s a very nice application with a rich database of questions, of course the real exam questions could be totally different , but the aim of the software is to let you control your time and know exactly the type of questions and how you can deal with them.
So minutes is moving and I have just hours till the Exam, so see you in the next Episode with my Experience of the PMP Exam
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: September 15, 2010
after more one year , i have returned to my Project Management knowledge Base Blog, i spent the whole last year involved in project management activities and issues, and with a lot of experience which i want to share with you all, so i will start with a little changes to our blog with a new series called “Project Manager Diary”.
we will talk about all topics related to the activities the project managers doing daily and issues they face and how they will deal with it.
so keeping following our new topics, also you can get all our new posts by following our channel on Twitter on PM_Diary
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: May 25, 2009
How many times you see “Hard Worker” mention in all CV’s your received when you hiring your team. You will see that Many Peoples are mentioning that word in their CV’s while they didn’t understand what this word Exactly Mean.
The mistake that always thought that hard working is only mean working a lot of time, but the truth is hard working is the work that challenge you to spent time digging into it till you reach the result you aimed without feeling that you passed a lot of time.
But the intelligence is to minimize that time in order to be able to manage your time between your tasks
Most of people try to keep out of this kind of tasks, but people who like this kind of tasks are achievable people who moved rapidly in their career.
One of challenges you will face in project management is to deal with lazy or non hard worker persons, when you intend to finish your tasks on time, the problem raise when your milestone raise and the work doesn’t complete probably, which will affect your project progress and cause delay, the other problem that non hard worker persons always claims for extended effort caused by their weakness or delay in accomplishing Tasks on time.
To know the lazy persons, simply ask the following questions
PM to Team Member: if you didn’t finish your task on time with accepted quality and you required spending more time over your daily work time or in your vacation shall I pay for you for this time.
You can receive many answers for that questions, committed person will never need you to ask such question , but certainly lazy person will answer yes I do my best with daily work time and this will be extra effort
The challenge for the project manager is when he have such persons like this among his team, he should work on how he could motivate them and monitoring their progress in order to take proper decision in required time.
You should be able to care about your project team, as they could affect your whole project, the time, the cost and the quality of the project.
Quotes on Hard Work
- Every job is a self portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.
- Failure is not the worst thing in the world. The very worst is not to try.
Hard Wrok Cartoon

Hard Work catoon 2

Hard Work catoon 1
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: May 18, 2009
What is Risk?
Risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has an effect on at least one project objective. Objectives can include scope, schedule, cost, and quality. A risk may have one or more causes and, if it occurs, it may have one or more impacts. A cause may be a requirement, assumption, constraint, or condition that creates the possibility of negative or positive outcomes.
Known & Unknown Risks & Issues
Known risks are those that have been identified and analyzed, making it possible to plan responses for those risks. Specific unknown risks cannot be managed proactively, which suggests that the project team should create a contingency plan. A project risk that has occurred can also be considered an issue.
What is Risk Management?
Risk Management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and monitoring and control on a project. The objectives of Project Risk Management are to increase the probability and impact of positive events, and decrease the probability and impact of negative events in the project.
Risk Management Activities
More Detailed Information about each activity of Risk Management Activities will blogged Separately along with related Templates and Guidelines.
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: November 24, 2008
One of key elements of the project management is the status reporting, which communicate critical project information between relevant stakeholder, delivering effective information to the right people in a timely manner is a key to successful projects.
What information should be included in the Status Report?
Information included in status report differ from project to project regarding different characteristics such Project Size, involved Stakeholders, organization structure, But there are a typical information for project reporting like:
Project Budget and Costing: focus on actual cost and compare it regarding the baselined budget, the right way to present this section is through Earned Value Management (EVM)
Project Schedule: Focus on accomplished work against the schedule.
Project Milestones: status of project milestones
Project Risks: status of Project Risks and status of mitigation or contingency actions taken against the risks.
Project Issues: reports of issues raised during the project execution and action items taken against those issues.
Project Changes: how changes affect the project progress and what action taken against the changes and how changes handled through project execution.
How frequent should a report be produced?
The answer of this question vary from project to project based on the project size, and activity duration, it could be weekly, bimonthly or monthly in large projects.
The timely report will enable relevant stakeholder to take required decision to keep the project in safe zone.
Status Report Template
Status Report template could be found in this site under templates page.
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: November 10, 2008
ITIL is a public framework that describes Best Practice in IT service management. It provides a framework for the governance of IT, the ‘service wrap’, and focuses on the continual measurement and improvement of the quality of IT service delivered, from both a business and a customer perspective. This focus is a major factor in ITIL’s worldwide success and has contributed to its prolific usage and to the key benefits obtained by those organizations deploying the techniques and processes throughout their organizations. Some of these benefits include:
ITIL was published between 1989 and 1995 by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) in the UK on behalf of the Central Communications and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) – now subsumed within the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). Its early use was principally confined to the UK and Netherlands. A second version of ITIL was published as a set of revised books between 2000 and 2004.
The initial version of ITIL consisted of a library of 31 associated books covering all aspects of IT service provision. This initial version was then revised and replaced by seven, more closely connected and consistent books (ITIL V2) consolidated within an overall framework. This second version became universally accepted and is now used in many countries by thousands of organizations as the basis for effective IT service provision. In 2007, ITIL V2 was superseded by an enhanced and consolidated third version of ITIL, consisting of five core books covering the service lifecycle, together with the Official Introduction.
The five core books cover each stage of the service lifecycle, from the initial definition and analysis of business requirements in Service Strategy and Service Design, through migration into the live environment within Service Transition, to live operation and improvement in Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: September 14, 2008
The Elevator Pitch “The “entryway” to your business”
It’s how you and your colleagues describe your organizational goals and the services you offer.
What is an Elevator Pitch?
An elevator pitch is a concise, carefully planned, well-practiced description of your company that you can comfortably deliver in the time it would take to ride a few floors in an elevator. It should inspire others to seek out more information about your company.
What an Elevator Pitch is not:
It is not a sales pitch. Don’t make the mistake of using the entire pitch to describe the technical specifications of your products or your implementation process. Your prospects seek the solutions which your company offers, not a specific product. Focus on the value you will add to their business.
An effective elevator pitch is:
You should develop both verbal and written versions for different uses:
When to use an Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch is the most essential piece of your marketing program. You should use it in the following areas:
All employees should be comfortable communicating your elevator pitch as ambassadors for your company. Similarly, your suppliers and outside partners should also be comfortable with your elevator pitch.
Examples of Good Elevator Pitches
Hewlett Packard (HP)
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters that ended October 2004, HP revenue totaled $79.9 billion.
FedEx
FedEx provides access to a growing global marketplace through a network of supply chain, transportation, business and related information services.
Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: September 9, 2008
A business plan is an important document for any business and it can be written for a variety of reasons. Internally, it can help owners and managers crystallise their ideas, focus their efforts and monitor performance against established objectives. Externally, the business plan can act as a medium for attracting finance for start-ups or expansion.
There are many books and publications, which tell you how to write a business plan, what it should contain and how it should be used. This one is different. This is a work pack specifically designed for those who wish to raise finance.
For many Entrepreneurs, the experience of raising finance is a new one. The importance of the plan to this process cannot be over‑emphasised. Many opportunities presented to financiers are subsequently rejected. It is essential, therefore, that the entrepreneur prepares a quality document. The objective of this work pack is to help you prepare just such a document by providing you with the headings which need to be covered.
This document will assist you in preparing your plan, particularly by focusing on the possible problem areas. These issues need to be considered at the outset because, if they are not, they will certainly be raised later by potential investors. The problems should be addressed upfront and, in so doing, ensure that none of the questions asked later by investors come as any surprise.
The sections, which follow, outline the contents of the business plan with associated relevant comments designed to provoke thoughts that can assist your preparation of a business plan which will adequately convey your ability to succeed.
The business plan should summarise the proposed activity and the prospects for success for the venture, paying particular attention to factors that are critical to success or failure.
The contents should be tailored to the particular individual requirements, circumstances or characteristics of the proposal. However, in general, they commonly fall within the following categories:
The business plan should be written by the entrepreneur, the management, albeit possible with the help of professional advisers. The investor is backing the management and the plan must be an expression of your objectives. Experience has shown that the advisers provide a useful role in helping to determine the overall structure of the plan and can provide helpful ideas and reactions.
Although preferably written last, the summary should appear at the front of the proposal.
It is essential that the summary ‘catches the eye’ and grasps the imagination of the reader by providing enough information for him to decide in principle if he could be interested in the deal.
Financiers have different preferences and are looking to invest in different situations. The summary must be clear enough for them to establish from the start whether the case is worth pursuing.
The summary should include:
This section should be a brief resume of the stage the business has reached and how the company has developed in the last few years, with reference to factual information
The following questions should be addressed:
The business plan should include a clear and concise statement of the current objectives. Some factors are easily measured such as turnover or profitability targets. Others are, however, more qualitative in nature and these should not be disregarded simply because of their subjective nature. It is important to recognise that performance will be monitored against these targets by external investors at a later stage; consequently they must be achievable. Future positive and negative variances will have to be explained.
You should state the following:
This is a vital area, which should be explained in detail. The location and size of your market will need to be defined, together with your share of the total. Where relevant, you may need to involve third parties to substantiate your claims; guesswork will not do!
You will need to demonstrate the steps you are going to take in marketing your businesses and the impact you expect this to have. Are you assuming that your market share will increase? If so, explain why. Dependence on success from large increases in market share will often be difficult to justify.
How influential are your competitors and to what extent are they in a strong position to influence your market share? Is your market dependent on external factors over which you have no control? If so, these need to be predicted and planned for.
In summary, include the following:
This section may seem more relevant to a manufacturing business but applies equally to other industries and service companies. Existing products or services should be considered in turn, and thought given to how each can be improved, developed or replaced to maintain competitiveness. Furthermore, if goods are being manufactured, or a new service is being offered it is important to consider the side effects. For example, more staff and production space may be required; raw materials purchased and stocks held may need to be increased, or specialist staff recruited. The operations plan should state how all these will ‘come together’ to achieve success.
Describe:
It is said in the industry that financiers back people not businesses. The quality of the management team is recognised as the key factor in any investment decision. The importance of this should be borne in mind both when preparing the plan and during negotiations with potential backers.
It will be important, too, to demonstrate that the team can work together and that there are unlikely to be conflicts or confusion of roles in the future. If there has been a high turnover of senior staff in the past, explanations will be required.
The plan should include:
Many business plans fail to raise finance due to the inadequacy of the financial information provided. Investors will be assessing the projected funding requirement and the anticipated profitability to establish whether the proposition is commercially viable, and the potential return sufficient. Ensure that the financial plan reflects the objectives set out in the other constituent parts of your business plan.
Include the following:
The following must be appended:
Writing a business plan is not a one‑off exercise. It becomes a more valuable management tool by being used and reviewed regularly as the business develops.
Internal review of the business is only possible by ensuring that adequate management information and control systems are in place. Furthermore, external investors are likely to require that regular financial information is forthcoming from the company.
The business plan should therefore contain the following:
It may seem strange to include risk factors in what is intended to be a selling document; however, it has the definite advantage of lending credibility to the proposal.
By including the major risks, financial and otherwise, that are likely to affect the business it demonstrates that the entrepreneur understands that all businesses have potential stumbling blocks and has taken steps to identify these and developed a strategy to overcome these problems.
The best method to consider risk factors is by a sensitivity analysis of the forecasts. Modem computerised spreadsheet packages are capable of being used extensively in this application.
The main results of such analysis should be incorporated into the plan particularly with regard to sales not reaching budgeted levels and the resultant effect on cash flow which is the demise of many new ventures.
Posted by: Mohamed Elashri on: August 21, 2008
To be eligible for a PMP credential, you must meet specific guidelines that objectively measure experience, education and professional knowledge.
Eligibility
Steps to Obtaining a PMP Credential:
The PMP Credential Examination
This four-hour examination composed of 200 multiple-choice questions measures your ability to apply knowledge, skills and techniques used in project management. The examination is developed by groups of individuals from around the globe who hold the PMP credential and is routinely reviewed and revised to ensure the best and consistently objective assessment.
25 of the 200 exam questions are “pre-release questions” meaning they are not included in your score for the exam. The questions will be randomly placed throughout the exam, you will not know which one are which.
Your score will be calculated based on your response to the remaining 175 questions. Passing score on the exam is 141 out of 175, approximately 81%
Examination Content based on project phases
These ranges could be changed, it differ from one to one
How to study for the exam