PMP® Illustrated

Explore the PMP exam content outline across the people, processes, and business environment domains, with tasks and enablers to guide your study.

Meet Mike Griffiths, creator of PM Illustrated, a seasoned project management expert who blends agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches for the PMP exam, using clear visual models.

Interpret the source and stage of conflict to resolve issues early and professionally. Explore the five levels of conflict—from problem solving to world war—and the five dysfunctions of a team.

Lead teams by blending management with leadership to boost productivity and net contribution through motivation and ownership, and a shared vision with empowerment and recognition.

Explore McGregor's theory X and Y, Herzberg's two-factor motivation, and stages of psychological safety—inclusion, learner, contributor, challenger, and project safety—within agile teams and retrospectives.

Distinguish options to lead team members and stakeholders by applying agile ceremonies, retrospectives, an action wheel, information radiators, and servant leadership that align autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Verify performance improvements by coaching team members and setting new goals. Use tools like RACI matrix, management by objectives, benchmarking, burn charts, and sprint reviews to gauge progress.

Empower team members and stakeholders by delegating appropriate authority, staying out of the way, and consulting those doing the work to gain insight into risks and effort.

Organize work around team strengths by sizing tasks to each member's competencies, while offering training and stretch opportunities. In agile settings, encourage trying new roles in a safe, supportive environment.

Assess task accountability by verifying work aligns with project scope and user stories through testing and quantitative analysis, comparing agile and predictive practices like sprint reviews and phase gates.

Deduce project resource requirements by analyzing competencies, resource schedules, and costs for teams, including virtual setups, and apply agile, predictive, or hybrid approaches with product and sprint backlogs.

Resolve and remove impediments via the gemba walk, go see, ask why, and address root causes with empathy and servant leadership.

Assess priorities to determine ultimate objectives in traditional and agile projects, balancing schedule, cost, scope, quality, risk, resources, and the product owner's definition of done.

Verify that the project agreement objectives are met by aligning scope with the statement of work, WBS, and activities, then prove success through phase gate reviews, product demonstrations, and sign-offs.

Practice principled negotiation by separating people from the problem and pursuing mutual gains. Set formality by stakeholders and use contracts, service level agreements, go live blackout periods, and performance reports.

Collaborate with stakeholders by identifying anyone affected by a project, any group or organization that can affect it, and actively manage that engagement.

Identify stakeholders early, assess their positive, neutral, and negative needs, and drive engagement through a lifecycle of collaboration, determine requirements and expectations, plan and communicate, and monitor stakeholder engagement.

Engage stakeholders to understand business value and align needs, fostering dialogue and consensus. Practice participatory decision making, confirm participation, and monitor engagement to move toward the project’s common goal.

Explore how team agreements and ground rules foster consensus and reduce conflict, with the charter outlining how the project will operate and be enforced by the team.

Define team ground rules with the group to secure buy-in and set agreed behavior, meeting norms, conflict handling, and decision-making, reducing confusion and improving performance.

Communicate principles with the team and stakeholders by establishing team charters, ground rules, and shared values. Define work hours, meeting cadence, and how conflicts are handled with feedback and celebrations.

Establish a team environment that enforces rules, fosters psychological safety, and enables experimentation, innovation, and safe contribution while learning by doing and embracing fail fast.

Lead by understanding the emotional needs of key stakeholders through listening and connection. Foster teamwork, transparency, and problem solving to move from current state to the desired future state.

Master effective communication to manage people, stakeholders, and vendors, linking clear agreements and conflict management to stakeholder engagement and resource coordination as you move into processes.