Practical PMP - Applying PMBOK principles with MS Project Tool

Let me tune you into a real time situation. Many of you would have faced it in real life, while taking interviews. Even if you have never took an interview, still I believe you can correlate!

Situation: You are taking an interview for the position of an Android Developer with experience of 2 to 3 years range in your company. The management is clear - get the best possible candidate for the post. Finally you shortened it to three aspirants for the post. 

Aspirant - 1: Knows Android decently and is a certified Android professional, from a well known institute. 

Aspirant - 2: Knows Android very well as he has real world experience in Android development. But he does not hold any certification. 

Aspirant - 3: Knows Android well as has hands on experience and is also a certified Android developer from a well known institute. 
With all other things being equals, it is a no brainer on who will be your desired candidate among the above three? It is Aspirant Number 3. Is not it? 

If you consider only between Aspirant 1 and Aspirant 2, who will be considered a better candidate and will have more likelihood of succeeding? I believe it will be Aspirant Number 2. Some of you may disagree, but the majority of you will agree. And I am sure all of would agree that Practical understanding or experience rules over everything else. 

In one of my earlier posts - "What is There in A Certification", I wrote this:

Conventional education and certifications, per se, are not useful if you can not apply them in real life. I have read 48 papers in my 4 years of investment in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Though I remember some of them, they never had any practical value for me. And I doubt if it would have for anyone!

In the same post, I also informed how I remember the formula for impulse as I applied in real life - driving a bike or taking a catch in cricket match. 

Let us add on to it. In today's world, though certification is valued, there is no substitute for knowing the practical utility of a certification. Project Management Professional certification from PMI is perhaps the most well known and most respected program world wide. 

However, only PMP on its own does it help? How about knowing the practical applicability of PMBOK? How about knowing how critical path is actually analyzed in a schedule? Similarly there are many concepts which PMBOK/PMP gives you - like WBS, Various forms of Dependencies, Network Diagram, Compression Techniques (Fast Tracking/Crashing), Resource Leveling, Cost Baselinging, Schedule Baselining, Earned Value Management (EVM) et al from various knowledge areas such as Scope,Schedule,Cost, Human Resource. How about various reports that can be generated and communicated as noted in Communication Management Knowledge Area? Imagine them to be applied with a practical tool along with PMI-PMP preparation course. 

That is what makes Practical PMP. 

To put is simply, it is a combination of PMBOK and MS Project. This is one of the courses, I introduced in mid last decade to great success in India.  

Practical PMP Program - PMBOK with MS Project

And yes, let me also tell you that for the 1st time, the entire team remembered all the process areas, all the knowledge areas, all the process groups. They did not miss even one of them and also remembered many ITTO . Not only that, they learned how to use PMBOK with MS Project. 

Does it sound exciting to you? If yes, you may want to start from here. It has both PMBOK 4th and 5th along with MS Project 2007 or 2010.

Link 1: PMBOK Guide 5th Edition and MS Project 2010 - A Practical Step-by-Step Approach

Link 2: Synergy between PMBOK Guide 4th Edition and MS Project 2007 - A Schedule Management Perspective

And if interested to join me and know how to apply PMBOK principles with the help of tools, drop a mail.  

Friendly Warning: You will have to be more hands-on with PMBOK via MS Project than mostly listening to theories of PMBOK for days. So, if you decide to join, please come with a laptop or tablet to do the practicals with MS Project and to get your hands dirty!