Summary: Play Now: Cornelius Fichtner and Simona Fallavolita Are you studying for your PMP Exam, and did you know that the exam is changing soon? And maybe you are wondering about one of the following questions: Why is the PMP exam changing in 2016? Wait... wasn't it supposed to change in 2015?! So when exactly is the PMP exam changing? What exactly is changing with the PMP exam? Do I have to study new topics? Is there a new PMBOK Guide? Are my study materials still OK after the PMP exam changes? We have the answers to these and many more questions about the upcoming changes. This interview with Simona Fallavolita (Program Manager, PMI) was recorded at the 2015 Global Congress in Orlando, Florida. We review the upcoming PMP exam changes, how this affects training companies, what PMP students can do to prepare for this change, and look at some of the detailed changes that are coming to the PMP exam early next year. Spoiler alert: The PMP exam changes were originally scheduled to go into effect in 2015 but were later moved to early 2016 for scheduling reasons, and no there is NO new PMBOK Guide. Episode Transcript Below are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete transcript is available to Premium subscribers only. Podcast Introduction Cornelius Fichtner: Hello everyone! Welcome back to The Project Management Podcast™ at www.pm-podcast.com. Once again, we are coming to you live from Disney World in Orlando, Florida from the 2015 PMI Global Congress. I'm sitting here at the PMI booth and with me is Simona Fallavolita. Hello Simona! Simona Fallavolita: Hello, Cornelius! Cornelius Fichtner: What do you do for PMI exactly? I see on your business card, it says "Product Manager Credentials". What does that mean? Simona Fallavolita: So yes, I'm a product manager within our certification department and I manage the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification, as well as our CCR Program. So basically what that means is I oversee the certification and the CCR Program with the marketing, the development of the certifications making sure that the whole life cycle of the product is being handled. That's usually what I'm responsible for. Cornelius Fichtner: I spoke to Victor Carter-Bey yesterday. How do you fit in to that organization? Simona Fallavolita: So yes, I am part of Victor's organization and we are broken up in 2 areas - the Exam Development side of it and the Product side of it. So I handle the product side managing the certifications from a business context. That's my role within the Victor's organization. Cornelius Fichtner: Alright! So the PMP® Exam is changing over the next few months. Actually, the exact date is January 11, 2016, right? Simona Fallavolita: Correct! Cornelius Fichtner: Okay, got that one right. We want to talk a little bit about the changes, why the changes, what the change is, how the change is. So that's the focus of our presentation or our discussion here today. First of all, what was the driver behind the upcoming changes? Why are we changing? Simona Fallavolita: So we go through a process in the certification world in general and it's called the role delineation study and basically every 3 to 5 years, we go through this process to ensure that the certifications are reflective of current practice. So that the exam that was created and certification created 10 years ago might not necessarily reflect what project managers are doing today. So this role delineation study process was the main driver behind the changes and updates to the PMP® Exam that is occurring in January. Cornelius Fichtner: And simply put, role delineation means you go out there and you determine what exactly does a project manager do in his or her role? What are the tasks? What are the actions? Is that what we're talking about? Simona Fallavolita: Exactly! So we work with a group of volunteer subject matter experts. We do surveys with the larger industry
