SDLC Project Management and PMP Guide

I am not directly posting any sample questions. I have links to other sites. This gives an idea how the questions are asked in PMP exam.
Here are some links.

PMP Sample Questions Link #1

PMP Sample Questions Link #2

PMP Sample Questions Link #3

PMP Sample Questions Link #4





These sample PMP questions are good guide. One thing is sure you have to read the PMBOK. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK Guides)

Agile Software Development

This methodology develops software through iterations for the whole life cycle of the software development project. You can find lot of stuff written about this on internet and in books. There are many ways to define this method of programming. The Owner Admin of Agile Alliance explains Agile Software Development as follow.

In the late 1990’s several methodologies began to get increasing public attention. Each had a different combination of old ideas, new ideas, and transmuted old ideas. But they all emphasized close collaboration between the programmer team and business experts; face-to-face communication (as more efficient than written documentation); frequent delivery of new deployable business value; tight, self-organizing teams; and ways to craft the code and the team such that the inevitable requirements churn was not a crisis.

Agile development is based on adapting the requirement changes. There is very active user involvement. Small incremental development is done and released and tested. These tested pieces of the code are delivered to the client on regular basis. These are functional codes. Testing on regular basis is one of the main feature of this methodolgy.


There are similar methods to Agile like SCRUM, DSDM, XP (extreme programming) being used.

DSDM is Dynamic System Development Method.




Some recommended books

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Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Edition

Book Description by Amazon


The definitive, Jolt-award winning guide to learning and using Rails is now in its Second Edition. Rails is a new approach to web-based application development that enables developers to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications using less code and less effort. Now programmers can get the job done right and still leave work on time.
NEW IN THE SECOND EDITION: The book has been updated to take advantage of all the new Rails 1.2 features. The sample application uses migrations, Ajax, features a REST interface, and illustrates new Rails features. There are new chapters on migrations, active support, active record, and action controller (including the new resources-based routing). The Web 2.0 and Deployment chapters have been completely rewritten to reflect the latest thinking. Now you can learn which environments are best for your style application, and see how Capistrano makes managing your site simple. All the remaining chapters have been extensively updated. Finally, hundreds of comments from readers of the first edition have been incorporated, making this book simply the best available.

Rails is a full-stack, open source web framework that enables you to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications with a twist...you can create a full Rails application using less code than the setup XML you'd need just to configure some other frameworks.

With this book, you'll learn how to use Rails Active Record to connect business objects and database tables. No more painful object-relational mapping. Just create your business objects and let Rails do the rest. You'll learn how to use the Action Pack framework to route incoming requests and render pages using easy-to-write templates and components. See how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, talk to web services, and interact dynamically with JavaScript applications running in the browser (the "Ajax" architecture).

You'll see how easy it is to deploy Rails. You'll be writing applications that work with your favorite database (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, and more) in no time at all.

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Agile Project Management with Scrum (Microsoft Professional)

Book Description
Apply the principles of Scrum, one of the most popular agile programming methods, to software project management#151;and focus your team on delivering real business value. Author Ken Schwaber, a leader in the agile process movement and a co-creator of Scrum, brings his vast expertise to helping you guide the product and software development process more effectively and efficiently. Help eliminate the ambiguity into which so many software projects are borne, where vision and planning documents are essentially thrown over the wall to developers. This high-level reference describes how to use Scrum to manage complex technology projects in detail, combining expert insights with examples and case studies based on Scrum. Emphasizing practice over theory, this book explores every aspect of using Scrum, focusing on driving projects for maximum return on investment.

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK Guides)

This is a must read book.

Book Description: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—2000 Edition is now available in eight additional languages to help project managers around the world.

Each of PMI’s official translations includes a bilingual glossary of newly translated and standardized project management terminology. This allows candidates to study the guide in the same language in which they plan to take the Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification exam.

PMI undertook a rigorous, year-long process to ensure the maximum effectiveness of each official translation. Each translation team included qualified bilingual PMPs as well as professional translators and editors.

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PMP Exam Prep, Fifth Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam

From the PublisherThis is the 4th edition of the PMP Exam Prep, often called "Rita's book" by project management students, which has easily become the standard training material to help project managers pass the PMP exam. PMP Exam Prep is being used in over 43 countries.

It is more than a series of sample exams. It is a comprehensive guide to get ready to pass the PMP exam.

PMP Exam Prep goes beyond the material contained in the PMBOK incorporating input about project management from around the world. The emphasis on this publication is the tools you need to pass the exam and apply project management principles to real-world situations.

From the Author"I have tried to make the PMP Exam Prep a truly comprehensive guide to passing the PMP exam. I wanted it to be more than a rehash of the PMBOK or a series of exam questions, but a study guide that uses accelerated learning techniques to give you the most information in the least amount of time."

"I also wanted to use my experience training students to pass the PMP exam to help PMP hopefuls understand what to study and how to study and give them the best chance of passing." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author
Rita Mulcahy, PMP, has helped tens of thousands of project managers pass the PMP exam. She is an internationally-recognized expert on project management techniques, advanced project management theory, risk management and the PMP exam. Rita has over 14 years and US $2.5 billion worth of hands-on project experience, as well as 5 best-selling project management resources to her credit. She speaks to thousands of executives and project managers each year, and has a reputation for helping people to learn and to have fun while doing it.

Lot of us uses Rational tools for software development.  RUP is one of the hottest techniques.  We develop software application based on Rational Unified Process.  This is a project management tool being widely used.  Some PM consider RUP focuses on best practices of software project management.  Then comes PMI Project Management Institute with its own PMBOK.  It focuses on the best practices for management of projects in any domain.  As a PMP certified manager how you can work on RUP projects.  This question is asked almost every day. 

Here is an interesting article by   Serge Chabonneau of Xelaration Software Corporation  under the title "Software Project Management -- A Mapping between RUP and the PMBOK"  (From The Rational Edge: This paper compares the Rational Unified Process (RUP) with the PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and provides a mapping between best practices in the RUP project management discipline and best practices in the PMBOK)

This article gives RUp overview and then mentions dimensions of RUP, RUP disciplines, RUP lifecycles and RUP PM disciplines.  Then it gives comparison between RUP and PMBOK.  It is pretty interesting. 

In the end the author concludes in his own words "Based on the comparison between RUP and PMBOK, there are no fundamental incompatibilities between the two standards. As highlighted in this paper, different terms are used to describe semantically similar or identical concepts, but nothing in RUP contradicts the PMBOK practices and nothing in PMBOK contradicts the RUP practices."

The Project Management Knowledge Areas as defined by PMBOK are as follows:

1. Integration
2. Scope
3. Time
4. Cost
5. Quality
6. Human Resource
7. Communication
8. Risk
9. Procurement

There are other very imporatant topics which I will touch in my next entries. These topics are as follow and are not limted

1. Triple Constraint
2. Schedules and PERT formulas Gantt chart
3. Earned Value Management
4. Risk Analysis both qualitative and quantitative
5. Communication
6 Work Break Down WBS

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