Introduction

Overview

Have you ever sat back and wondered how the pyramids were built? Or the Eiffel Tower? Or the Golden Gate Bridge? How did someone have the organizational skills to put all those people together and create such magnificent structures? Coming forward to recent times ”how is Microsoft capable of putting together the literally millions of lines of code that become Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP? The answer to all of these: project management.

The CompTIA IT Project+  will test your knowledge of the extraordinarily large world of IT project management. The basics of project management are simple and elegant, but there are many different opinions about how project management should be done. Some project management experts suggest project management methodologies that are rigorous , others more casual ones. It s left up to you to decide which you ll use and how you ll use them.

Fortunately, the IT Project+   test wasn t written with any one project management methodology in mind. Instead, it s written from the perspective of understanding good project management principles and techniques ”something that all project management methodologies embrace. That being said, this second edition of the CompTIA IT Project+ Study Guide reflects CompTIA s commitment to the Project Management Institute (PMI) and its associated project management practices. These project management practices are detailed in PMI s standards document, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (Guide to the PMBOK) . The four domains measured in CompTIA s 2003 version of the IT Project+ exam map to the five process groups that are the foundation of the Guide to the PMBOK : Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling, and Closing.

In IT Project+ Study Guide , you ll find plenty of discussion of these project management concepts, such as requirements definition; the concept, charter, and scope documents; the project planning process itself; risk assessment and management; and closing out the project. Also, you ll find that the exam quizzes you on categories that are hard to objectively test on, such as team building and people management, and we give you the skinny on these as well. Additionally, you ll find that this study guide is a good starter for your journey to the Holy Grail of project management certifications, the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification as offered through PMI.

If you have a modicum of practical, hands-on project management experience from your work background, you ll find that the test is much more project management “oriented than IT-oriented. We ve included more IT-centric material than you ll see on the test. We did this because there s an interesting quagmire in the project management industry today. Almost all new projects, regardless of their nature, use information systems in one way or another. So you ll find that your project management career will always involve some sort of IT ”and IT presents many interesting twists in the road, in terms of project tasks . For example, suppose that you work for a large manufacturing concern. In the past, the machinery that ran the manufacturing line didn t have any semblance of electronics or IT gear in it, anywhere . But today, manufacturing gear is full of electronics, along with servers and software that run the various manufacturing components . Manufacturing segments may even include lasers and robotics . Regardless of your background, it is likely some segment of IT software and hardware directly affects your business.

Where should you go beyond taking your IT Project+ test? If you haven t already, and you find that you re interested in all things project management, you should enroll in a good university-level class that takes you through the heavier stages of project management. This book and this test only touch the surface of what s really out there. You ll find that there is so much more to learn that you could make a career out of managing projects. After all, that s what a project manager does, isn t it?

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