PMP PREPARATION : COMMUNICATION

I cleared my PMP on 26th may 2014. I have gone through all the three books PMBOK, RITA MULCAHY'S and HEAD FIRST. During preparation I made few notes. so the material has been picked up from all the three books and these are just the key points. 
 NOTE : IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ONE SHOULD READ THESE POINTS IN DETAIL FROM THE BOOKS (which ever interests you more) AND ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED A THOROUGH READING, YOU CAN GO THROUGH THESE POINTS FOR CONSOLIDATION.

COMMUNICATION : EASIEST KA OF ALL

PM HAVE TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY ABOUT ISSUES, STATUS, REPORTING WHICH HE CAN DO BY FOLLOWING THE COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT PLAN

• COMMUNICATION TYPES : 

1. Forman Written : When communicating complex problems. All project documents. Communicating over long distances. Contracts, signed copies, blueprints, specifications, project management plans, requirements.
2. Formal Verbal : Presentations (to update), Speeches, prepared talks.
3. Informal Written : Emails, Handwritten notes, text messages, instant messaging (IM)
4. Informal Verbal : Meetings are always informal verbal, even if some very  important point is conveyed in the meeting, conversations, chit chat near coffee machine, hallway chat, planning session, chat.

• COMMUNICATION METHODS : 

1. Interactive : Meeting, phone call, IM, video conferencing, conference call, chat. Simple you just interact directly. 
2. Push : Letters, memos, reports, email, faxes, voice mail, blog, press release. You send the info to the concerned. Not necessary he will read it.
3. Pull : Intranet sites, e-learning, lesson learned database, knowledge repositories. All the information is kept at one place. One can retrieve as per requirement.

• COMMUNICATION BLOCKERS  : Language, culture, hostility, noisy surroundings, distance, making negative statements
• NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION : Gestures, facial expressions, physical appearance
• PARALINGUAL COMMUNICATION : Tone and pitch of your voice (will be clearly mentioned tone or pitch)
• NOISE : Unfamiliar technology, Inadequate infrastructure, lack of background information, distance.
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT : does not mean agreement with or comprehension of the message. it only means the message have been received.
• EFFECTIVE LISTENING : It means paying attention to both, verbal and non verbal communication
• COMMUNICATION MODEL : 

ENCODE - TRANSMIT - DECODE - ACK/ FEEDBACK - RESPONSE

NOTES : 

1. Giving and requesting feedback is the best option.
2. communications are often enhanced when the sender shows concern for the perspective of the receiver.
3. Performance reports are part of OPA
4. Whenever you hear back from a team member about how the job is going, that is Work Performance Information.

Please feel free to ask questions or a detailed explanation of any topic. Let me know if you want me to add any topic and if anything you find wrong. Please leave a comment if you find it useful.

PMP PREPARATION : HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

I cleared my PMP on 26th may 2014. I have gone through all the three books PMBOK, RITA MULCAHY'S and HEAD FIRST. During preparation I made few notes. so the material has been picked up from all the three books and these are just the key points. 
 NOTE : IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ONE SHOULD READ THESE POINTS IN DETAIL FROM THE BOOKS (which ever interests you more) AND ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED A THOROUGH READING, YOU CAN GO THROUGH THESE POINTS FOR CONSOLIDATION.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Go through rita mulcahy's for this topic. Covered really well.

Team is PM + Project Management Team + Other members of the project team who will be doing the work of the project

DO NOT ASK FOR THE BEST RESOURCES IF THE PROJECT DO NOT NEED THEM

• HUMAN RESOURCE PLAN : What resources you need, their roles and responsibilities, how will you train your team, how to make sure they stay motivated
1. Project Organization Chart : Reporting structure of the resources assigned to the project team
2. Staffing Management Plan : How you will manage and control your resources
3. Roles and Responsibilities : List each role on the project that needs to be fullfilled


• ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS (WAYS TO RECORD AND COMMUNICATE “ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES” ) : Important. How your team members relate with each other
1. RESPONSIBILITY ASSIGNMENT MATRIX : e.g. RACI, Responsible, Accountable, Consult, Inform.
   There can be more then one person responsible for a task but there has to be only one person accountable for the task. It has to be clear whose neck you have to catch if something goes wrong :)
2. OBS (ORGANIZATIONAL BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE) : Responsibility by department. e.g. marketing , accounts
3. RBS (RESOURCE BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE) : Break down the work by the type of resource. e.g. people, material, equipment
4. POSITION DESCRIPTION : Text format, no chart
• STAFFING MANAGEMENT PLAN : Important. Please remember this very clearly that what all is the part of staffing management plan. Everything you need to build a team, keep them motivated , manage them and resolve conflicts
1. Your plan for acquiring the team
2. Resource calender
3. Staff release plan
4. Staff training need
5. Recognition and rewards
6. Compliance (HR Rules)
7. Safety (Policies)


• ACQUIRE PROJECT TEAM : The way you bring them on board
1. Negotiation : You have to negotiate with the concern person who all do you want in your team.
2. Pre Assignment : Who are guaranteed to you. They were already assigned to the project when you got the project.
3. Virtual Teams : All the team members do not work from the same location.
4. Acquisition : Outsource. Acquire resources from outside. e.g. contractor, consultant
• DEVELOP PROJECT TEAM : Make sure the team is motivated and well managed.
• GROUND RULES : Set a standard for how everyone works together. e.g. everyone always emails the team when they take a day off.
• RESPONSIBILITY ASSIGNMENT MATRIX (RAM): Clearly identifies the roles and responsibilities of management, team members and other stakeholders. e.g. RACI

It does not show when people will do their job.

• TIGHT MATRIX : Colocation. Team in one room. Good communication. Less conflicts. OR Many or all of the most active project team members in the same physical location.

Colocated teams may have a WAR ROOM.

• TYPES OF TEAMS : DPPV (my own abbreviation :) )
1. Dedicated : as in Projectized organizations
2. Part-Time : as in Functional organizations
3. Partnership : One project many organizations
4. Virtual : team is located offshore
• MULTI CRIETERIA DECISION ANANLYSIS : (for acquiring the team) when selecting a team, you analyze people not just for one requirement but for many e.g. availability, cost experience, location, knowledge, training, required skill set etc. makes sense :)
• TEAM BUILDING : remember the sequence and the key words. Very important. Questions are asked. In which stage the team is in. or what will be the next stage. Given by Bruce Tuckman


1. Forming : team member working independently. Trying to figure out their role
2. Storming : learn more about project, form opinion about other mates, fights, arguments
3. Norming : learn even more, adjust, start to trust each other
4. Performing : Cohesive unit, work like a well oiled machine
5. Adjourning : close to completion. Project completing. In projectized org team member will be assigned new project and in functional org they will go back to their respective departments.


Try to create some abbreviation for this. For indian Students it can be Faltu Syappa No, Perform Aaho (I never forgot it this way :) )
WBS CREATION IS A TEAM BUILDING TOOL




POWERES OF THE PROJECT MANAGER : (abbreviation can be PREFeR ;) ). please remember the alternative names too. Important.


1. Formal (Legitimate) : Comes from position. All legal. You are authorize to use this power.
2. Reward : Best power. Comes from position. Tied to goals.
3. Penalty (Coercive) : Worst power, Comes from position. Never use it. Always in private. One-on-one
4. Expert : Best power, Earned. Knowledge.
5. Referent : The bigggg boss likes you :) and so people have to listen to you.
So now you know which power is earned, which powers come with the position, what is the best powers to use and what is the worst.




SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP : Using different leadership styles for different situations.
SOURCES OF CONFLICTS : Important. Please remember sequence wise. You can be asked the first, the first three or the last source of conflict. Or you can be given few conflicts and asked which one will you resolve first. There, this sequence will help.


1. Schedule
2. Project Priorities
3. Resources
4. Technical Opinion (memorize the first four)
5. Administrative Procedures
6. Cost
7. Personality (its the last)
Over 50% of conflicts come from Schedule, Priorities or People (Resources)




CONFLICT RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES : Very Important. Please remember the alternative names too.


1. Collaborating (Problem Solving, Confronting) : best way to resolve a problem. Fix the root cause. Their view points and perspective are taken into account. Win-win.
2. Compromising (Reconciling) : lose-lose. You leave some point, you leave some. Compromise only if you can not confront.
3. Withdraw (Avoidance) : People get so angry, frustrated or disgusted that they walk away.
4. Smoothing (Accommodating) : Temporary resolution. Give people some time and space to rethink. Minimize the problem. Cool off people. Emphasize on agreement not difference.
5. Forcing (Directing) : Pick one side. Win-lose. Worst technique.
Forcing and Withdraw – not recommended






ARBITRATION : A neutral party hears and resolves issues.
PREREQUISITES (Perks) : Corner office, Executive dining etc.
FRINGE BENEFITS : Standard benefits for all. e.g. insurance, profit sharing etc.
RESOURCE HISTOGRAM : WHEN people will work on WHAT
RESOURCE CALENDAR : Tell the company, exactly when the team members will be available once they are done.
HALO EFFECT : Just because someone is very good at one job does not mean he or she has the skills to do the other equally hard job. e.g. you have an amazing technical guy and you promote him to the manager team. He was good in technology that does not mean he will have all the leadership qualities also to manage a team.
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS :


1. Leadership : Team understands the value, that the product is going to bring to the company.
2. Team Building : Help your team to bond with each other.
3. Motivation : Helping them to be satisfied with the job they are doing.
4. Communication : Open and Honest
5. Influencing : Set the standards for your team mates.
6. Political and Cultural awareness : Understand the similarities and differences in the working environment.





DECISION MAKING : Command, Consultation, Consensus, Coin flip. Self explanatory :)


Please feel free to ask questions or a detailed explanation of any topic. Let me know if you want me to add any topic and if anything you find wrong. Please leave a comment if you find it useful

PMP PREPARATION : QUALITY

I cleared my PMP on 26th may 2014. I have gone through all the three books PMBOK, RITA MULCAHY'S and HEAD FIRST. During preparation I made few notes. so the material has been picked up from all the three books and these are just the key points. 
 NOTE : IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ONE SHOULD READ THESE POINTS IN DETAIL FROM THE BOOKS (which ever interests you more) AND ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED A THOROUGH READING, YOU CAN GO THROUGH THESE POINTS FOR CONSOLIDATION.

QUALITY

Degree to which the project fulfills the requirements

Company Quality Policy is part of OPA

• WHO SAID WHAT/ WHO GAVE WHICH RULE (Important) :

Joseph Juran : Fitness for use (product does both - what it is supposed to do and does it well)

W Edwards Deming : PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act)

Philip Crossby : Zero defects

                            Do it first time

                            Quality is "Conformance to Requirement" (product does what it is supposed to do)

                            Concept of cost of poor quality

                            Prevention over Inspection

• GOLD PLATING : giving the customer extra

• MARGINAL ANALYSIS : The benefits you are going to get from the improved Quality equals the cost to achieve that Quality. At this point you should stop trying to improve the Quality further. It will be of no use . makes sense :)

• KAIZEN : Continuous Improvement. It's a philosophy that guides management rather then a particular way of doing Quality Assurance. 

• JIT (Just In Time) : No/ Zero inventory, Force attention on Quality. If anything goes wrong there is not any extra inventory to deal with the mistake.

• IMPACTS OF POOR QUALITY : 

1. Increased cost
2. Decreased profit
3. Low morale
4. Low customer satisfaction
5. Increased risk
6. Rework
7. Schedule delay

• QUALITY MAIN BENEFITS : 

1. Less rework
2. Higher productivity
3. Higher efficiency
4. More satisfaction

• PLAN QUALITY : What is quality.  How to ensure it.

• PERFORM QUALITY ASSURANCE : Are we following the processes and procedures as we planned. Preventive measure. Tracking the way you work and improving it all the time.

• CONTROL QUALITY : Examine the actual deliverable and ensure it is correct, Corrective measure. Inspecting product to find defects.

                         You should be absolutely clear about the difference between PERFORM QUALITY ASSURANCE and CONTROL QUALITY . Tools used in the above two processes are the same but in QUALITY ASSURANCE  they are used to check the processes and in CONTROL it checks the product. Just because you see a perform quality control tool does not mean you are in control Quality process, the same are used in Quality assurance too. Figure out what you are using them for 

• COST OF QUALITY : How much will be spent on the Quality.  Absolutely everything you spent to ensure the quality on the project. Cost of all (Prevention + Inspection) activities. e.g. testing, time spent in writing standards, reviewing documents, meeting to analyze the root cause of the defect, rework to fix the defect etc.

                      Cost of Conformance : money spent to avoid the problems .

                      Cost of non-conformance : Money spent because of the problem that occurred .

• SEVEN BASIC QUALITY TOOLS : 

1. Cause and effect diagram (Fishbone or ISHIKAWA) : See all of the possible causes (material, worker, machine).  Pinpoint the cause. Vertical line of fish bone shows category and horizontal line of fishbone shows root cause.
2. Flow chart : How processes work visually. 
3. Check sheet : Used to verify that a set of required steps have been performed. 
4. Pareto diagram : (80-20), 80% of the problems are because of 20% of causes. Large number of problems are caused by a small number of causes and that category is the most important.
5. Histogram : How your data breaks down into categories. 
6. Control chart : Rule of seven. Upper control limit, lower control limit and the mean. Any point outside an upper or lower control limit - that data point is out of control - entire process is out of control. Seven data point on one side of the mean - process out of control.
7. Scatter diagram : Relate two different types of data to each other.

• IDENTIFY: The question is talking about which Quality Tool

Cause and Effect : A creative way to look at the cause of a problem OR Identify the best way to plan OR help stimulates thinking, organize thoughts, generate discussion OR explore the factors

Pareto : Help focus attention on the most critical issue OR Prioritize potential cause of the problem OR Separate the critical few from the uncritical many.

• DOE (Design Of Experiment) : Statistical method Fast and Accurate. Identifies which variable will have the most influence on a quality outcome. 

• SIGMA (Standard Deviation ) : How much variance from the mean is permissible in a process.

• PROCESS ANALYSIS : If you are doing something again and again, check it after few. Like installation of computers

• AUDIT : To check if the customer is following the quality process.  Auditor comes from outside the company.

• FIXING THE BUG : 

In project : Solve the problem that gives trouble

In process : Avoid your project's Problems + other projects can learn from the problems you have faced

• BENCHMARKING : It can give you some reference points for judging your own project. Part of OPA.

FEW IMPORTANT COMPARISONS

QUALITY	GRADE
Degree to which the project fulfills the requirements like ISO9000. What you have asked for that function. You asked for a chicken pizza and you got noodles that is a quality problem Always a problem	Same functional use but different technical characteristic  You asked for a chicken pizza but you got a mushroom pizza that is a grade problem May not be a problem
PRECISION	ACCURACY
Precision is a measure of EXACTNESS  e.g. All bullets at one place even if away from bulls eye that is HIGH PRECISION	Accuracy is an assessment of CORRECTNESS. measured value close to the true value e.g. Bullets more spread out but equidistant from the bulls eye is same degree of ACCURACY
ATTRIBUTE SAMPLING	VARIABLE SAMPLING
Result either conform or does not conform. Yes or no	Result is rated on a continuous scale that measures the degree of conformity
PREVENTION	INSPECTION
Keeping errors out of the process	Keeping errors out of the hands of the customer
TOLERANCE	CONTROL LIMIT
Specified range of acceptable results. Beyond this it will be unacceptable	Boundaries of common variation in a statistically stable process.  e.g. upper control limit, lower control limit
VALIDATED CHANGES	VERIFIED DELIVERABLES
The changed/ repaired item is inspected	The correctness of the deliverable is checked

QUALITY MATRIX	QUALITY CHECKLIST
How the control quality process will measure a project or product attribute e.g. On time performance, cost control, defect frequency, failure rate, test coverage	Component specific Used to verify that a set of required steps have been performed

Note : please feel free to ask any question. If something confuses you or you need more explanation on the same, please let me know. if you find any point wrong please comment. I shall check it and amend 

PMP PREPARATION : COST

I cleared my PMP on 26th may 2014. I have gone through all the three books PMBOK, RITA MULCAHY'S and HEAD FIRST. During preparation I made few notes. so the material has been picked up from all the three books and these are just the key points. 
 NOTE : IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ONE SHOULD READ THESE POINTS IN DETAIL FROM THE BOOKS (which ever interests you more) AND ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED A THOROUGH READING, YOU CAN GO THROUGH THESE POINTS FOR CONSOLIDATION.

COST 

• VALUE ENGINEERING : less costly way to do the same work (value analysis)

• FAIT ACCOMPLI : contract is not negotiable

• EARNED VALUE FORMULAS : WILL MAKE A SEPARATE POST WITH ALL THE FORMULAS. WILL EXPLAIN THE TYPE OF QUESTIONS ALSO, YOU ARE GOING TO GET IN THE EXAM . ITS REALLY EASY. SIMPLE FORMULA BASED. SO YOU DONT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THIS PART . AT ALL 
• ROUGH ORDER OF MAGNITUDE (ROM), BALL PARK :  Estimate really early, very little accuracy, at initial stage. the first guess without any details.                                                  -25 to +75%  (acceptable range)

• BUDGET ESTIMATE :          -10 to +25% 

• DEFINITIVE ESTIMATE :     + - 10% (plus minus 10%) 

just remember these. questions will be direct

• HOW TO ESTIMATE THE TOTAL COST OF THE PROJECT : this is the clearest way of explaining how you estimate the total budget. i picked this as such from the Rita Mulcahy book. it can not be clearer then this . Read this from the book for even better understanding. you have to start from number one. from the bottom

8. Cost Budget

7. Management Reserve

6. Cost Baseline

5. Contingency Reserves

4. Project Estimate

3. Control Account Estimate

2. Work Package Estimate

1. Activity Estimate

note one : clearly when you add contingency reserve to the project estimate you get cost baseline.

note two : clearly cost baseline does not include Management Reserve 

note three : cost baseline + management reserve = cost budget 

note four : contingency reserves are under PM. PM can spend it as and when required.

note five : management reserves are out of PMs control. he has to take permission to spend this.

remember these. very very important.

• CPI : we are getting --- $ worth of work out of every 1$ spent 

e.g. if the CPI is .87 then we are getting .87$ of work out of every 1$ spent

• SPI : we are (only) progressing at ----% of the rate originally planned 

e.g. if the SPI is .87 then we are progressing at 87% of the rate originally planned 

• TYPES OF COST : Important

1. VARIABLE COST : Change with the amount of production or the amount of work

      e.g. cost of material, supplies, wages etc.

2. FIXED COST : Do not change as the production change

      e.g. cost of set up, rent, utilities etc.

3. DIRECT COST : Spent directly to the work on the project 

      e.g. team travel, team wages, recognition, cost of material used in the project etc.

4. INDIRECT COST : Overhead items or costs incurred for the benefit of more then one project

      e.g. tax, fringe benefit, building guard etc.

• ANALOGOUS ESTIMATE : (TOP DOWN) start with the whole project, without breaking at all, find similar other project, compare with the similar project, use that to come up with new estimate

• BOTTOM UP : Break into pieces, estimate each piece, add them up.

• BENEFIT COST RATIO (BCR) : Money project is going to make vs it will cost to build

• NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV) : Actual value of the project at a given time.

• INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN (IRR) :  Money the project will return to the company that is funding it. %age of allocated fund

you don't have to go any deeper about these definitions of NPV, IRR, BCR etc. you will get simple questions on these. that too is in a numerical form with some numbers. i shall explain it all in the post with formulas 

• COST AGGREGATION : Take activity estimate - roll up into control account on your WBS - now you know how much each work package will cost 

PROJECT FUNDING REQUIREMENT = BUDGET (COST PERFORMANCE BASELINE) + MANAGEMENT RESERVE 

• BUDGET (COST PERFORMANCE BASELINE)  : take out some reserve from this - that is CONTINGENCY RESERVE. this is for the KNOWN risks whose extent is UNKNOWN ...so this is called known unknown. PM can spend it. does not need a permission from the management. 

• MANAGEMENT RESERVE : this is for UNKNOWN risks whose extent also is UNKNOWN. unexpected unplanned cost. PM can not spend this, have to request management

• FUNDING LIMIT RECONCILIATION :  make sure you have not blown your limits. have not exceeded the budget.

• CONTROL ACCOUNTS :  do not represent activities or work package but the cost of the work package and activities.

• LIFE CYCLE COSTING :  Estimating the money it will take to support your product or service when it has been released. it includes the cost of maintenance after release too 

PMP PREPARATION : TIME : IMPORTANT POINTS

I cleared my PMP on 26th may 2014. I have gone through all the three books PMBOK, RITA MULCAHY'S and HEAD FIRST. During preparation I made few notes. so the material has been picked up from all the three books and these are just the key points. 
 NOTE : IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ONE SHOULD READ THESE POINTS IN DETAIL FROM THE BOOKS (which ever interests you more) AND ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED A THOROUGH READING, YOU CAN GO THROUGH THESE POINTS FOR CONSOLIDATION.

PMP PREPARATION : TIME 

1. Reestimate : atleast once.
2. Schedule Network Analysis is a technique that generates the Project Schedule Model.
3. Standard Deviation tells you how uncertain the schedule is.
4. You want to see scheduling flexibility - Critical Path .
5. If the number of resources are most important and not the cost and schedule - Perform Resource Optimization.
6. Crashing also has some risk in it.
7. Ask team members about their estimate of time for their activities and enter that in calendar - Develop Schedule
8. You are drawing a network diagram - PDM
9. If you have to shorten an activity - pick the one on critical path - if there are more then one -  pick the one who is coming first  - not the one with bigger duration.
10. As part of the estimate activity duration process, reserves are created (to cover risk)
11. Schedule is not finalized until after Schedule Compression 
12. Compress Schedule - finalize - gain approval 
13. Rolling Wave Planning : should be used where it is not possible to plan in any other way.
14. Activities are broken down to a level where they can be estimated accurately.
15. Activity List : lower then the WBS
16. Activity Attribute : description of each activity (any predecessor activity, successor activity, constraints, resources for that activity etc.)
17. Network Diagram : visualize the way activities relate
18. PDM : activities in rectangle, relationship as arrow, AON 
19. Activity Attribute should list the predecessor and successor 
20. Resources are people, equipment, location. anything that you need to do an activity. 
21. Every activity in the activity list needs to have resources assigned to it.
22. Resource Calendar : what resources can you use for your project. when are they available to you.
23. Parametric Estimation : put the data about your project in a spread sheet , formula, database or computer program.
24. Analogous Estimation : trends, historical data, previous project.
25. Develop Schedule : all the outputs from the other time management processes are input to this process
26. Sequence Activity : see the dependencies between activities - create a diagram of the activity network 
27. Critical Path - string of activities - if anyone of them is delayed - the project will get delayed 
28. FLOAT = SLACK = how much extra time can you take for doing that activity without delaying the project
29. Float = how much extra time do you have 
30. Low float can be a problem
31. ES/ EF (early start / early finish) : freedom you have to move the start date of that activity without causing any problem to the project
32. LS/ LF (late start / late finish) : activity with large late start or late finish date means you have more options 
33. Fast Tracking : work in parallel, risk, may have to redo
34. Crashing : add resources, more cost, expensive
35. Update the resource requirement OR update the activity attribute : no CCB
36. Project Calendar : working days for the team member, holidays, non working days, planned training, dates that could affect the project etc.
37. Any time you generate data for your project - add it to your OPA
38. How long an activity can slip before the whole project is delayed : FLOAT.
39. Plugging data into a database or spreadsheet : Parametric 
40. Kind of analysis where you ask many questions : what-if analysis.
41. Duration : calendar time, how long the activity takes
42. Efforts : person hours. it takes two people 6 hours to complete a work. duration = 6 hours. efforts = 2 * 6 = 12 hours
43. Resource estimate : how many people + other resources for one activity

PMP PREPARATION : TIME

    I cleared my PMP on 26th may 2014. I have gone through all the three books PMBOK, RITA MULCAHY'S and HEAD FIRST. During preparation I made few notes. so the material has been picked up from all the three books and these are just the key points. 
 NOTE : IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ONE SHOULD READ THESE POINTS IN DETAIL FROM THE BOOKS (which ever interests you more) AND ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED A THOROUGH READING, YOU CAN GO THROUGH THESE POINTS FOR CONSOLIDATION.

TIME 

• DEFINE ACTIVITY : Decomposing work packages into activities

• ROLLING WAVE PLANNING : Form of progressive elaboration. plan for only the immediate work, rest of the planning as it comes

"plan activities to the detail needed to manage the work only when you start that 

phase "

• MILESTONES : Are not activities , have no duration.

• SEQUENCE ACTIVITY : Take the milestones and activities and sequence them - in order in which the work will be performed .... RESULT WILL BE A NETWORK DIAGRAM (it is not a PERT chart)

• very very important

SCHEDULE NETWORK DIAGRAM : Shows just the dependencies. LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP between activities.

If activity duration estimate is added to it --- it can show the CRITICAL PATH

If plotted against time ----it becomes a TIME SCALED SCHEDULE NETWORK DIAGRAM

be very very clear about these terms. many more to come. there should not be any confusion

• PDM (PRECEDENCE DIAGRAMMING METHOD) : Or AON (Activity On Node) : Method to draw a network diagram

it can have four types of logical relationships between activities  :-

1. finish to start (mostly used)
2. start to start
3. finish to finish
4. start to finish (rarely used)

its self explanatory. finish to start is one activity has to finish for other to start and so on. activity which comes before an activity is the precedence activity of that. and second activity is the successive activity of the first . makes sense :)

• SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES : based on their dependencies

1. Mandatory (HARD LOGIC) : inherent in the nature of work. e.g.sockets have to be installed before putting the bulbs. its mandatory.
2. Discretionary (SOFT LOGIC) : Preferred.  what you prefer you can choose. there are two activities and you do first what you prefer. ceiling painting or flooring. 
3. Internal
4. External

• PADDING : Extra time or cost added to an estimate because the estimator does not have enough information . then you guess and add some more time or cost . It is a wrong practice

   e. g. there is an activity you have very less knowledge or information about. so you guessed it will take 5 days. but just for precaution you added three more days. so you estimated 8 days for that activity. imagine if you have a large project and you have many activities in that and you do the same for many activities what will happen to your total time estimate for that project

solution of padding : the need for additional cost or time should be addressed with reserves through the risk management process. THE UNCERTAINTIES ARE TURNED INTO IDENTIFIABLE OPPORTUNITIES OR THREATS 

• HOW TO ESTIMATE : very important (used for cost and time both)

            1. ONE POINT ESTIMATION : Just one guess. e.g. the house painting will take around 1200$.

            2. ANALOGOUS ESTIMATION : TOP DOWN, Use expert judgement + historical                                      information, just pick up the cost or time estimate from a similar past project or ask the                            experts.

            3. PARAMETRIC ESTIMATION : It looks at the relationship between two variables of an                          activity to calculate
                      a. Regression Analysis : Scatter Diagram (will come ahead)
                      b. Learning Curve : e.g. the 100th room painted will take less time then the first room                                    because of the IMPROVED EFFICIENCY
                      c. Heuristics : Generally accepted rules like 80/20 Pareto rule
            4. THREE POINT ESTIMATION :  (P+M+O) / 6

            5. TRIANGULAR DISTRIBUTION (AVERAGE, SIMPLE, STRAIGHT) :(P+M+O) / 3

            6. BETA DISTRIBUTION : (WEIGHTED AVERAGE) : (P+4M+O) / 6
                        P=pessimist estimate, O= optimist estimate, M= most likely estimate
there will be simple and straight questions on this. just read the question carefully for what have been asked
remember the difference. you will see the historical information in both, the analogous and the parametric estimation. you use historical information to guess that is analogous (you just pick up the past project data) and if you are using historical information to calculate your project estimate that is parametric estimation. now you will know when you see a question.

• ACTIVITY STANDARD DEVIATION : (P-O) / 6

      The possible range for estimate. greater the range higher the risk
e.g. estimated range of an activity means this activity can take 5+_ 2 (five plus minus two)days means range is 7 to 3 days. you might have to calculate it in few questions.
HOW TO CALCULATE THE RANGE : You can calculate the range of an activity from the estimate using weighted (beta) averaging
EAD (Expected Activity Duration) = (P+4M+O) / 6
SD (Standard Deviation) = (P-O) / 6

                      RANGE = EAD + - SD (EAD plus minus SD)

if all this estimation thing confuses you, drop me specific question and i shall clear it. it is very simple

• HOW TO CREATE THE FINAL SCHEDULE : DEVELOP SCHEDULE METHODS

1. CRITICAL PATH METHOD : you will get few numerical on this for sure which are very easy.will explain in some other post 
      a. can be more then one, zero float (zero extra days to do the work. has to has to be done in the given time)
      b. can change with progress
2. CRITICAL CHAIN METHOD : add buffer, provide cushion for delays
      buffers are not padding
3. SCHEDULE COMPRESSION
      a. Fast tracking : doing activities in parallel
      b. Crashing : adding more resources
4. MODELING : Monte Carlo Analysis
5. RESOURCE OPTIMIZATION
      a. Resource Leveling : can not add resources, level the available one among activities
      b. Resource Smoothing : can add resources

• PROJECT SCHEDULE CAN BE SHOWN IN :  Important

      1. NETWORK DIAGRAM : To show interdependencies among activities
      2. MILESTONE CHART : To report to senior management 
      3. BAR CHARTS (GANTT CHART) : To take progress from the team and to report to the team.                         interdependencies and assigned resources are not shown

PREDECESSORS : Help you sequence your activities
      1. EXTERNAL PREDECESSOR 
      2. DISCRETIONARY PREDECESSORS : not necessary, just a matter of preference, best practice
      3. MANDATORY PREDECESSOR : the kind that have to exist 

• LEADS & LAGS : Sometime you have to give some extra time between activities. in some cases you have to have a gap and sometime you can do things in parallel. start a new activity before the one you are doing finishes. or sometime you have to leave few days blank between activity.

LAG : you purposefully put a delay between the predecessor and successor activity. making sure the one task waits a while before it gets started. its like one activity finishes....then a gap of few days ...and then the next activity starts...that is a gap 
LEAD : You let a task get started before its predecessor is finished. One activity is going on ... before it finishes ... you start the second activity... some overlapping ...that is a lead 

Note : please feel free to ask any question. If something confuses you or you need more explanation on the same, please let me know. if you find any point wrong please comment. I shall check it and amend