Welcome to The PM PrepCast. Here is the first lesson of the course:

Once you have completed this lesson we recommend the following next steps:

Please remember that these are just some basic recommendations for how to get going. Everyone is different and you are responsible to adjust your approach to what works best for you.

Finally, if you need technical help or customer support then please contact our support team to get answers.

Until Next Time,

Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, CSM
President, OSP International LLC

Transcript

[00:00] [Introduction]

Hello and welcome to the Project Management PrepCast™. I’m your instructor, Cornelius Fichtner. This is the introductory lesson to The PM PrepCast training course, and I would like to start out by saying “Thank you! Thank you very much for purchasing the PrepCast.” I personally guarantee that you will be satisfied with what you are going to see and what you are going to hear. We have put a lot of effort into the training material to ensure that you will get the most benefit out of watching and listening to the individual lessons. In fact, I am so proud of this product that I give you this guarantee here.

[00:48] My Guarantee

If you don’t like The PM PrepCast training course for any reason, then please write to our support team, and we will refund your purchase price. We will honor your refund request up to 90 days after your order just as long as you haven’t completed the final exam to print your certificate of course completion. You can also find the detailed refund policies in the terms and conditions on the PrepCast website. There’s a link in the footer. So once again, welcome to The Project Management PrepCast™.

[01:21] Lesson Overview

Here is what this lesson is all about, First, I would like to introduce you to your instructor. His name is Cornelius Fichtner, and he is a really good guy. But, that’s just my opinion. Then, we have to get a bit of administration out of the way and look at the learning objectives and learning outcomes for this course. This is your starting point to then get exam ready. Third, I do have to stress that I cannot get you exam ready all on my own because you have a lot of responsibility in this as well. And so, we look at what you can do to succeed. I also don’t know exactly how and where you are watching this lesson right now. But did you know that you can not only watch this lesson online, but you can also download it to your phone, tablet, and watch them anytime and anywhere? I’ll explain how. And then lastly, I would like to get you pointed in the right direction with some suggested tasks with which you can start your journey with. And now, let me introduce you to your instructor.

[02:31] Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, CSM

Hello! Hello again! I’m your instructor, Cornelius Fichtner. You and I are on a journey together from hereon. And at the end of this journey, I want to see those three letters p-m-p behind your name. So, I am originally from Switzerland. I moved to the USA in 2001 and became a US citizen in 2010. Now, I live in Tucson, Arizona. I have worked as a project manager in Switzerland, Germany, and also the US, and I have managed information technology projects for a consulting company, a national supermarket chain, an internet startup company, and for one of the largest and oldest financial services company here in the USA. I’ve managed projects since about 1989, both in predictive, as well as adaptive environments. I’m also active within PMI, where I have volunteered for about four different roles over the years. Oh yes, and I’m past president of the PMI Orange County Chapter in California. Just one word of caution: I really enjoy teaching project management, and I bet that once you saw and heard some of the lessons of the PrepCast, you will be able to tell how passionate I am. So, I should probably apologize to you because sometimes I can get carried away and animate it, and my voice gets loud. Well, I guess that’s also a good thing because that’s what keeps it interesting for you. But, enough about me. Let me now introduce the PM PrepCast to you and explain how we developed it. In that way, you know what you can expect.

[04:24] Experienced Education Provider

Our company, OSP International LLC, is a trusted and experienced education provider. We are one of the leading online training companies for Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam preparation and have helped nearly 60,000 students with our exam prep training courses and simulators, and who knows, maybe you are number 60,000. We have clearly-defined quality criteria, and we follow good practices of course development and assessment when designing our courses. In particular, the PM PrepCast here includes learning objectives and learning outcomes, as well as an assessment of these outcomes. The objectives that we have for you are the intended result of our instruction. They also contain learning outcomes that we want you to achieve, so that what you have learned is measurable. And together, the objectives and the outcomes, they describe the significant and essential learning from this course that you as the learner will have gained and that you can also demonstrate in an assessment at the end of this course. And we call this assessment our final exam. Sounds ominous, but don’t worry, it is actually in reality really, really, really easy. More about that later on. Right now, would you like to know what you are going to learn in this course?

[06:01] Learning Objective & Outcome 1

I bet you do. So here are the three learning objectives and learning outcomes for the PM PrepCast. First of all, at the conclusion of this course, you will be able to identify the correct application, knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project tasks in order to meet project requirements as they are outlined in the PMP Exam Content Outline. In essence, this means that through watching the PM PrepCast, you will gain the fundamental knowledge about project management that is required for you to take your exam. And, we will measure how you have achieved this in the PM PrepCast Final Exam, where you will have to apply what you have learned.

[06:50] Learning Objective & Outcome 2

Here is our second learning objective. Once you complete the PM PrepCast, you will be able to select the most generally accepted good practices within the project management discipline. And for you, this learning objective means that when you are using the PrepCast Simulator, which is sold separately from this course, then you will be able to select the correct answers to those sample questions, and overtime improve your simulation scores, which is crucial for exam success. And once again, we will also measure how well you have achieved this learning objective in the Final Exam, where you will have to answer a number of knowledge-based sample questions.

[07:35] Learning Objective & Outcome 3

And here is our third and final learning objective: By the end of this course, you will be able to demonstrate a strong working knowledge of ethics and professional responsibility. And again for you, this learning objective means that just as for the previous learning goal when you’re using the separately sold PrepCast-Simulator, you will be able to select the correct answers and overtime improve your scores. And again, we will also measure how well you have achieved this learning objective in the final exam. And that’s it for our three learning goals, their importance, and how they will be measured. But, what about this final exam thing?

[08:21] Final Exam Course Assessment

Yeah! So by now, you know that we follow good practices and course development and that the learning outcomes must be assessed and that we call this assessment the Final Exam. And this is just a short online test in which we assess your achievement of these learning outcomes. In the exam, you have to answer 10 questions in the same multiple-choice format as on the real exam. The questions, they do represent a cross section of the many concepts that we teach here on the PrepCast training course. And once you take this assessment, then you can print your certificate for the contact hours. And lastly and most importantly, I want to ease your worries. The final exam is not hard. In fact, it’s not even a test. So there is no passing score. The final exam is intended to help us assess your understanding of the course material and help you determine at the highest level possible how ready you might be to take the exam based on your final exam result. Obviously, the final exam is not and does not replace an exam simulator, and it’s by no way equal to the PMP Exam. But it will provide a basic measure of your understanding and test readiness.

[09:49] In Other Words

As you will have noticed, the learning objectives that we just looked at or rather, well, academic. And they have to because learning objectives are developed following a specific process. So, let me give you a translation of this learning objectives and learning outcomes and show you what you can expect in everyday language. First of all the learning goals mean that you will feel ready to take the PMP Exam and become certified with confidence, period. This is of course our primary target for you. Our course is designed to take you there, to give you the confidence to sit for and pass the exam. Second, as you study, you will see your strong and weak areas. And as you follow the course, there will be skills, knowledge, tools, techniques that you have more trouble comprehending. This will allow you to change your plan and add additional study time wherever needed, so that you can review those concepts again. The good news is that you will be able to maximize every available minute of your day as study time. As a modern project manager, you are probably always on the go. Time is precious. And so, you need to be able to study whenever and wherever the opportunity arises. And that is not a problem because the PM PrepCast here is a fully-featured podcast. Just install a podcast app on your phone and then download every single video lesson right into your pocket. More about that in just a couple of minutes. I also predict that in the process of all these studying, you will become a better project manager. What you learn in our course isn’t just theory. You will be able to apply what you learned on your projects. And you should! Applying a technique on your projects will help you to be more successful both on the project and on the exam. And then finally and of course, we want you to pass the exam. This is the ultimate goal that I work for.

[12:09] Your Responsibility

However, I cannot do this on my own. If you want to pass the exam, then you have a lot of responsibility in this journey as well. First of all, you have to be dedicated and be willing to invest time and effort in your studies. You have to want to succeed on the exam. Second, I need you to be an involved participant. That means that when you are watching one of these lessons, you give me your full attention, and you’re not switching over to check your email. Oh sorry, to check your email in the background while I talk here, right. You simply cannot be a passive consumer in this. Don’t just sit there and let me talk at you. Instead, follow along with the presentation to learn about the concepts that we are teaching. So, sit up straight and pay attention because there will be a test at the end, and that test is called the PMP Exam. I also suggest that you use additional study materials. Out of the many that you could choose from, there are a few very important ones right here. First and foremost, you must study the PMBOK® Guide, and the active word here is “study.” You cannot just simply read it and leave through it. You must study it, possibly even two or three times, and really internalize what the guide says. Second, because 50 percent of the exam is on Agile, you must also have and study The Agile Practice Guide from PMI. And in case you’re wondering where to get these two documents: If you are a PMI member, then you can download a PDF version of each of these from www.pmi.org. Oh, and third, I strongly recommend that you use an exam simulator to help you prepare. And now, in order for you to pass your exam, you will have to study hard, and I’m doing everything from my side to teach you all the knowledge and the skills you need. So please, do your part as well, and participate in the endeavor by investing the necessary time and effort and attention in your exam preparation.

[14:39] A Must-Have: Exam Simulator

And here is the one thing that I would like to repeat and emphasize. In the past years, the exam has been getting increasingly harder and candidates find that an exam simulator helps them succeed considerably. It’s pretty much a must-have exam prep tool in order to pass these days. Just like a pilot who first practices on a flight simulator, you should practice with a PMP exam simulator. So, when I recommend that you use an exam simulator like my own PM Exam Simulator at www.pm-exam-simulator.com then this is not necessarily a selfish recommendation. I primarily want to make sure that you use the best tools to help you prepare.

[15:28] Any Device

And now as promised, I want to help you maximize your available study time. How you access and watch the PM PrepCast training course, that’s really up to you. But here are the three most popular ways in which our students access and watch the video lessons. So on the left here, you can see phone, yes. The PM PrepCast™ is a podcast. So, you can install a podcast app and download the lessons to your phone. But podcast apps are also available for the tablet, and they’re also available for laptops and PCs. So, whatever device you want to use, install a podcast app, and then download the lessons to that device. If you prefer not to use any kind of apps, but instead would like to browse the website, log on to our LMS. That is the learning management system, and then, watch the lessons online, not a problem. You can log in using your phone, tablet or laptop PC. You can use any of these three devices to access in whatever way you would like.

[16:40] Mobile Data Warning

Just one word of caution though: If you plan on downloading all the PrepCast lessons to your tablet or your phone, then please do connect to a Wi-Fi network and don’t download it over your carrier’s network. The PrepCast have over 50 lessons and that adds up to a huge amount. Gigabytes and gigabytes of data. So, if you try and download these videos using your mobile data allowance from your provider, you will probably hit your maximum data limit very, very quickly.

[17:13] Study Responsibly

Also, this one should be obvious. Please don’t watch PrepCast lessons when your full attention is needed on other activities like driving your car, flying an airplane or operating a carving knife. Please be responsible and only watch these lessons when it is safe for you and your surroundings, especially with a carving knife.

[17:35] Take Action 1

And that’s pretty much it. But to get you started on your journey, I have four slides with recommended actions for you. And here are the first two, which focus on PMP Exam basics. The first thing that I want you to do is I want you to download and read PMP Exam Content Outline because this document defines exactly what’s going to be on the PMP Exam, and what it is that you will be tested on. You can also watch a series of PMP Exam basics videos that I recorded at www.pm-prepcast.com/more. Now, these videos are part of the course that you will purchase. So, for example, if you download everything to your phone, you will find those videos on your phone as well. But if at any time, you’re stuck somewhere and you’re like: ‘What am I going to do?’ Remember, www.pm-prepcast.com/more and you will have to access to a number of free videos on YouTube that you can watch about PMP Exam basics.

[18:45] Take Action 2

My second take action focuses on PMI documents. The first one is obviously the PMBOK® Guide, and the second one just below is The Agile Practice Guide. Both of these documents are available for free as a PDF document download if you are a PMI member. And frankly, being a PMI member and the fact that you can get this for free in PDF version, as you are preparing for your exam, it makes total sense to become a member because the money saved is greater than the expense of what your PMI annual membership fee is going to be in the first year. So please, do download the PMBOK® Guide for www.pm-prepcast.com/pmbokdl as in PMBOK download, and The Agile Practice Guide at www.pm-prepcast.com/apgdl as in Agile Practice Guide download.

[19:47] Take Action 3

My third take action focuses us on the process focus of project management. In the current PMBOK® Guide, the seventh edition, PMI introduces us to principles and performance domains, which you will learn about later on. But in the previous editions of the PMBOK® Guide, things were more process-focused. How do you create a schedule? How do you develop a work breakdown structure? What do you doing initiation, planning, execution? So, all those tasks were part of the PMBOK® Guide Sixth Edition. All of these has now migrated over into PMI’s online repository called Standards Plus, and you can find that at www.standardsplus.pmi.org. So, if you’re interested in learning more about the process-based approach of project management and you need that for your exam as well, obviously, do check out www.standardsplus.pmi.org.

[20:51] Take Action 4

My fourth and final take-action slide here answers a question that we get quite often from students, and that is the question: Well in which order should I be watching all these lessons? Is there a recommended way of going about it? Frankly, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you watch all the lessons, all 35 plus hours, you are good to go. However, if you want a little bit more of a focused approach, try this here, right. Watch the overview lessons first. So, that’s Lesson 01.00 then 02.00, 03.00, and so on. So, watch all the ones that end in 00. To kind of get an overview of the big picture of what will be coming. Each of these lessons is the first lesson in each of our modules. So 1.0 is Module 1, 2.0 is Module 2, and so on. And then, go ahead and watch all lessons in the order that they are. So, from Module 1, all the way up to Module 99. Yes, Module 99 only includes the goodbye lesson. But, if you feel that, you know what, Lesson 2.04 Empower team members and stakeholders, now that sounds interesting because I’m going to have to deal with my team members and stakeholders tomorrow. I’m going to watch that one first. That is a perfectly sound approach.

[22:21] Tutorials, FAQ, Support and Forum links

And before I let you go, if you need any support, then please do use these resources here. First of all, we have a number of tutorials that show you how to use the PrepCast course, and also how to use the PrepCast Simulator, and you find those at www.pm-prepcast.com/tutorials. An extensive FAQ is at www.pmhelpdesk.com. If you need technical support, then please don’t hesitate to write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. However, that’s our technical support, our customer support. These people are not project managers. So, if you got a question about the work breakdown structure or the process and the initiation domain, they will not be able to help you. Instead, pleas ego to the discussion forums at www.pm-prepcast.com/forum. Here, we have 12 PMP-certified community moderators that will be able to answer all the questions that you have regarding the PMP Exam, and maybe even some topics that are specific to the items that you learn here on the course.

[23:34] [Closing]

And with that, we have to the end of this first lesson. I wish you much success on your road to your certification. Until next time.

[End of transcript]