I Haz Projekt Qualifikatiunz

Huzzah!!

Finally the news I've been waiting for...I passed my project management Practitioners Exam.

The news didn't come in quite the way I expected, I've been waiting for a (fat/thin/brown/white/large/small?) ominous looking envelope to fall through the letterbox, or to be staring across the room at me in a malevolent manner as I walked through the front door of an evening.

It came today, unexpected, without the fanfare of one hundred trumpets, not even a toot from a battered old pennywhistle, in the form of an email.

I didn't even have the chance to sit and procrastinate over whether or not to open it, pick my nose in wild anticipation (oh yes...I'm wild), the little '(P)' in the subject title told me all I needed to know.

....I'd like to note that this is assumption, I don't really know what '(P)' means, what I DO know is that, given my immediate conclusion, I'd have been REALLY pissed off if I'd opened the email to find I'd failed!....

That's all by the by, apparently Firebrand were delighted to inform me that I had passed my Prince 2 Practitioners exam, well done me and good luck in all my future projects. I'd stopped reading by this point, as the feeling of relief swept over me. Thank heavens I wouldn't have to go through that again!

Not too much later in the day, I noted that someone from Maginus Solutions had been checking out my blog, this name a-rang a bell and I realised it was the lovely Julian from my course. Obviously everyone had been sent the email at the same time, and so I set about contacting him, to which he responded that he'd gotten so worried about whether he'd passed that he'd been scouring my blog for news of whether I'd recieved my results or not.

It's a relief to know I wasn't the only one starting to get slightly tetchy.

It's also a relief to know that I wasn't a big fat fraud standing up in front of the Team Leaders to give a presentation on Prince2 methodology.

I Haz a Kredibility

I'll be back soon with something more amusing when I get a life and do something fun :D

Day 5 - Gammon Day

I had a sniff and a poke....it seemed ok, so I went for it!

Bloody nice it was too. Gammon, dauphinoise (sure I'm not spelling that right) potatoes, courgettes and mixed veg. Ice cream and fruit salad for afters.

So, today was all about preparing for the Practitioners exam that we're sitting tomorrow morning at 9am.

2.5 hours

9 Questions

12 marks per question

55% to pass.

It doesn't sound like much, but believe me....iz scary

We went through a mock. The first two questions were the homework that I did this morning, I got a massive 14/24 for that....but it's a pass.

Overall I got 79/108 which isn't to be sniffed at, it's way past a pass.

Now....to recreate it tomorrow is the only feat left. There are a couple of subject areas that I'll have a read through tonight, but apart from that I think I'm just going to chill out.

Did I mention this is an open-book exam?

It's all well and good, but it's finding what you need in the book, you should see the textbooks tabbed to the hilt! I stole tabs off of Julian and now I know exactly where all my processes, themes and appendices are. Ironic seeing as I couldn't point out my own appendix if my life depended on it.

Ooooh saaaaa

On the subject of the weather....I'm really starting to get paranoid that we'll be snowed in tomorrow. Not the exam, I'm not worried about that...it's getting my arse home!

It's been trying to snow all day, and at about 6pm it hit properly and started to settle. My journey to the accomodation isn't far, but I was in physical pain from the cold and wind when I arrived. At about 7:30 when I wandered back over for dinner the snow had stopped pretty much, but on emerging again an hour later, it was in full swing. I have a feeling it'll be working overtime tonight, ready for the morning and my long, cold, wet trudge over to be 'examined'.

I was very kindly given a lift back to my accomodation by someone I'm ashamed to say I still don't know the name of. Absolutely lovely guy though!! I'm so ashamed. This is because I sit at the back of the class you see, so everyones name places face away from me.

So ladies and gents, please keep your fingers crossed and wish Julian, Chris, Mark, Brian, Brian, Andrew, Hiten, Jaz, Alex, Ed, myself......and especially those whose names I've forgotten....luck for tomorrow morning.

And a round of applause to Mark Percy for putting up with us for 5 days!!

I bid you adieu xx

Day 4 - Foundation Exam and DRINKS

Today was the foundation exam...I was quietly confident after the two mocks, but as soon as we were sat in the room and the paper was in front of me.....SHITE!! What am I doing here? I know nothing!! NOTHING!!

I felt betrayed.

Two mocks....and the questions in the paper were nothing like those in the mocks. I mean...I didn't expect the questions to come up again, but these questions weren't even in the same kind of format. Completely different.

I'd completed the mocks in less than the allotted hour, with time to check, and then go out and grab tea and coffee to wait for the end. THIS time I was there scribbling right till the end.

Yes...this is a multiple choice. One of those jobbies where you have an answer sheet with circles that you block out so someone can stick a grid over the top and mark...or push them through a computer which will count them. What you don't take into account is how long it takes you to fill in those silly circles with the stoopid mechanical pencil they give you!!

Anywhoo.

We all left the room at the end. With the foundation, the trainer marks them there and then and you get the results half an hour later.

Stood around in the coffee room, it was clear that everyone felt the same way as me. No one came out of that exam in a positive frame of mind. Arms crossed, fingers and feet tapping, moaning, groaning, staring at the ceiling. It was possibly one of the worst 25 minutes of my life. I've never had the experience of having to wait for the results of a pregnancy test....but I imagine it'd feel the same way.

We were called back in, and given our results on the back of little post-it notes. I was given my post-it note.

Becki....it said on the front....I held it between the palsm of my warm little mittens for a while before summoning up the guts to turn it over and look at my result:

54!!

Thank Frack for that......phew.....

The highest mark was 68, and only one guy failed, we all felt for him. He has to retake tomorrow morning before doing the practitioners exam on Friday....shitehouses.

Afterwards we were given our homework for tonight, and in true Becki style, I decided a trip to the bar was in order instead. I dragged Brian along with me...he didn't need much persuasion in all honesty.

We were soon joined by Andrew, then Chris and Mark...etc etc, until we had a little crowd going. Then Alex turned up and bought me another. 2 pints and I haven't had any since Sunday...that's a long time for me.

Roastie dinner...mmmmm

And now I'm back in my room...post-beer fug, blogging and thinking...I should do some homework. I think what I'll do now is....drink lot's of water and get up early tomorrow to do my homework. The past few days I've been getting up at 7am, having brekkie and in the training room by 8am (training doesn't start till 9), but seeing as someone is doing their exam we can't get in till 9.

Up drinking beer and doing homework in the morning.

Becki is back on form ladies and gents...

Day 3 - Mock Numero 2 and Morrocan Beef

Dinner today was Morrocan Beef and cous cous, with mandarin cheesecake for afters. The food seems to be getting better every day, but some of the meat eaters were turned veggie after day number 1. More fool them and all the more for me!

Today was apparently one of the most intense days of the course, there was no weekend before it and tomorrow is supposed to be more relaxing, ending at about 6pm after a 'little exam'. Restful my arse.

There was still much caffeine intake, but I was regulating it today and had a blueberry and apple tea during the mock....oh yes, well done me. A packet of walkers ready salted and a packet of mini cheddars were my evils, but with all the brain juice we're sapping I'll forgive myself.

I personally didn't find today as bad as yesterday. That 6 hour stint in the afternoon is still a killer though. It appears that I don't have a throat infection *crosses fingers*, it's much better today. I think it must have been my body giving me a warning shot across the bows, I haven't been treating it very nicely lately.

Mock Number 2! I got 53 out of 75!! Oh yes. Oh yes!!

I had assumed that I was one of the crapper people in the class seeing as most of my compadrés seem to be consultants 'between contracts' (unemployed) at the moment. However, having a listen out at dinner it seems I'm not. Scores bandied around ranged between 32 and 58, so I'm not doing too badly.

That doesn't mean I won't be doing any reading tonight though. What was it Tony taught me?

'Previous Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance'

Or something along those lines. I just hope that the stuff being shoved in one ear isn't pushing stuff straight out of the other, cos that's how it feels sometimes.

I'd make some funnies, but I haz nothing funny to talk about :(. Oh!! On the way back to my room I had such massive wind I thought I might poo myself...so I had to run.

I didn't poo myself. I wonder if this is a side-effect of all the caffeine?

Day 2 - Near Caffeine Heart Attack

Seriously, I was in danger of caffeine overload today. If I'd had any more tea I think I'd have just keeled over.

Tea, Pepsi Max, Irn Bru and Aero are what kept me awake, I hit a wall at about 3:30pm, (with 54.5 hours to go), I had no choice!! I had the worst nights sleep last night, and I hope that my excessive caffeine consumption won't cause the same tonight. I stopped drinking tea at about 6:30pm so fingers crossed.

I also suspect I'm coming down with a throat infection. So that's nice.

10 hours of Project Management today, processes and themes and principles. It all blurs into one after a while, and I'm just grateful that everyone else in the room has the same moans and groans as I do when we're finally released back into the world:

'Why does he have to go so fast?'

'Did you get that bit about 'tailoring' the project?'

'Yeah I got question 8 wrong too.....bastards!!'

And some of them have MUCH more experience of project management than I do.

(We had a mock exam today, and we've only learned a third of the material. Pass mark is 38/75 and I got 40. Everyone else got much higher I think...but I'm pretty happy with that!!)

Norm brought up a valid point in his comment, which I copied below for you, save you searching around:

"Sounds like fun. I'm a bit of a sceptic about things like this. I've not yet come across a course of this nature that I thought I learned anything from. The theory's always fine - it's when you get into the real world that you run into trouble. You know, Yvonne has to leave at four pm on Thursdays for choir practice. Steve and Alex don't like each other and won't co-operate. Kev is utterly useless but cannot be fired. Stuff like that tends to gum up the works and somehow these fantastic theories never take these little difficulties into account."

I think that this will/would be an incredibly useful tool for me when I go back to work IF I get the opportunity to apply it properly and often enough. However, I expect you're correct.

I doubt that if I were asked to run a project, that I would be given any resources. A Project Manager acting alone does not a Project make. I'd at least need a Project Board, but the problem is that they would need to know what their reponsibilities are under the Prince2 framework. As you say, you also need a team who are going to work well together.

What I'm going to gain from this course is essentially a way to organise such projects as I am given. In my current position I'm never going to be given a huge project, the chances may be that I'm the only person working on the project. Hence, Prince2 will give me the ability to be able to monitor my own progress and make sure I'm not rushing off in a random direction and being distracted from the project goals, so that I can deliver the 'product' withing budget and on time...etc etc etc.

I can only hope that I'm given the opportunity often enough to practice this so that when the day comes when I am give a larger project to run...I can still do it!

On a lighter note....the food was better today, garlic chicken and boiled potatoes. Yesterday was a leathery turkey steak that we all had trouble trying to swallow. The consensus seems to be that the veggie option is far prefereable. We'll all have turned veggie by the end of the week.

Tune in tomorrow for Day 3