Risk vs Uncertainty in Project Management
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Risk vs Uncertainty in Project Management

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

Risks are commonly assumed to be the same as uncertainty in the area of risk management. Although there is a big difference between risk and uncertainty, many professionals often think that they are the same.

Although this concept is not too important from a PMP or PMI-RMP exam point of view, you must understand the difference to avoid mixing them up.

Therefore, I’m writing this blog post to explain it and I hope after reading it, you won’t have any problems distinguishing between risk and uncertainty.

Contingency Reserve vs Management Reserve
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Contingency Reserve vs Management Reserve

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

Risks occur in every project and as a project manager, it is your responsibility to manage them as they occur. These risks can be identified or unidentified. If these risks are identified, you will implement the contingency plan; otherwise, you will manage them through a workaround.

To manage these risks, you will use the contingency reserve and management reserve. These reserves are defined during the risk management planning process. The contingency reserve and management reserve provide you with a cushion against the risks and are part of your project budget.

Many professionals assume these reserves are the same since they serve the same purpose. Generally, small and medium-sized organizations do not differentiate between them and take them as a percentage of the project cost to keep things simple. Therefore, professionals that have experience with these organizations may not know the difference between the contingency and management reserves.

Contingency Plan Vs Fallback Plan
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Contingency Plan Vs Fallback Plan

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

This is one of those concepts that makes professionals scratch their heads. I was a victim of it myself. During my initial days of PMP exam preparation, I had difficulty understanding the difference between the contingency plan and the fallback plan.

I used to think that the contingency plan was used to manage identified risks and the fallback plan was for unidentified risks. This was wrong. Contingency and fallback plans help manage identified risks.

However, since both plans are used to manage risks, you may wonder which you should follow if any identified risk occurs as both deal with identified risks?

Since I have passed the PMP and PMI-RMP exams and understand these concepts well, I am writing this blog post and hope after reading it you will be able to differentiate the contingency and fallback plan.

Enhance Risk Response Vs Exploit Risk Response Strategies
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Enhance Risk Response Vs Exploit Risk Response Strategies

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

风险管理是一个主动的process that helps you manage risks before they occur. In your project, you will encounter two types of risks: negative risks and positive risks. A negative risk could harm your objective and a positive risk can have some positive effects on your project.

Since these risks are different, the strategies to manage them are also different. You must manage both types of risks accordingly.

For positive risks, you will try to increase the likelihood of occurrence and for negative risks, you will try to decrease the probability of them occurring or reduce their impact if they do happen.

Project Plan vs Project Management Plan
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Project Plan vs Project Management Plan

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

A few months back I attended a local PMI chapter seminar. While I was having a conversation with other professionals, this topic arose: “Are project plan and project management plan the same?”

This discussion led us to some interesting discoveries, which I am going to share, along with my research on the topic.

在我们的谈话中,我们得出结论,was no standard difference between the project plan and project management plan.

The organization you work for determines the difference. They may decide to stick with only one term, both terms may be used as synonyms of each other, or they can refer to different types of plans.

Product Scope vs Project Scope
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Product Scope vs Project Scope

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

Projects are undertaken to deliver a product, service, or result. It will be difficult to achieve your objective if you don’t understand both the project and product scope. In project management, you will find many important concepts vital to complete your project with minimal obstacles. Among these terms and concepts, project scope and product scope stand out.

Project scope depends entirely on the product scope. You must understand the product scope to define the project scope. These are the most important concepts in project management. I have noticed that many professionals incorrectly use these terms synonymously.

I saw a related question posted in a PMP forum a few days ago. Someone was asking for clarification on the differences between project scope and product scope. There were many replies, however some were incomplete, and a few of them were wrong. It seemed like the posters were more concerned with supporting their own opinions.

Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF) & Organizational Process Assets (OPA)
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Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF) & Organizational Process Assets (OPA)

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

Though the nature of a project is temporary, they are not performed in isolation. They work in a controlled environment and affected by Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF) and Organizational Process Assets (OPA).

The Project Management Institute terms them as influences. Enterprise environmental factors can be internal or external, while organizational process assets are always internal to an organization.

Enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets are widely discussed in the PMBOK Guide and are inputs of almost all processes. You must have a thorough understanding of these terms.

Although the concepts are straightforward, many PMP aspirants fail to understand them and often make mistakes on the exam.

What is a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)?
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What is a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)?

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

No one wants a defective product. Defects are costly, frustrating, and damaging to the company’s reputation.

As a project manager, you will try to avoid failure in your deliverable using every possible technique. One is “Failure Mode and Effect Analysis,” or FMEA. This helps you locate potential issues with a product and allows you to take corrective action.

The FMEA can improve your systems, design processes, and production processes.

This technique is also known as “Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis” (FMECA) or sometimes simply “failure modes.”

What is Six Sigma in Project Management?
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What is Six Sigma in Project Management?

By法赫德Usmani, PMP

Six Sigma is a quality management methodology used to reduce defects and maintain consistency in products.

Six Sigma is mentioned in the PMBOK Guide and included in the PMP Exam Content Outline, so you will see questions on this topic on your exam.

I see that many PMP exam reference books do not discuss this methodology. This is an important concept and you should know it.