Prepare for your CAPM Learning Journey

0:00Before we get underway with the project management content that you need to

0:04pass the CAPM exam,

0:05in this skill we're going to get a bit of housekeeping if you like, out of the

0:10way.

0:10Things like starting or application process with the PMI and how best to use

0:14this course

0:14and getting all study planned together and what not.

0:17But as a starting point, let's talk a little bit about the certification itself

0:20.

0:21So the PMI, that's the project management institute, has put together the CAPM,

0:26the certified associate in project management to give you something tangible to

0:30work towards

0:30in order to gain the foundational knowledge that you need in order to kickstart

0:34your career

0:35in project management.

0:36And I do think it is a really nice well-rounded certification because not only

0:41will you get

0:42to learn the mechanics of project management for traditional types of projects,

0:46but you'll also see how agile or adaptive projects work and you will also get

0:50to understand

0:51the business analysis perspective when it comes to project management as well.

0:55It's a very well-respected certification, so I think it's something that's

0:58going to be

0:59a great addition to your CV.

1:01Although having said that, I realized that perhaps the term CV is a bit of a

1:04British term.

1:05So I'm from the UK in case you hadn't already noticed.

1:08So I think my American friends would say it's a great addition to your resume.

1:12So let me start that bit again.

1:14So the CAPM is a very well-respected certification and it's going to be a great

1:18addition to your resume.

1:19And I should also say that it's the perfect stepping stone towards the PMP.

1:24So if you've heard of the PMP, that's the project management professional.

1:28That's the bigger brother certification to the CAPM.

1:31But the CAPM is an excellent stepping stone.

1:33It's the perfect stepping stone towards the PMP certification.

1:37But anyway, as I said, in this skill, we've got a bit of housekeeping to deal

1:40with.

1:40And the first thing I want you to do is to check your eligibility for the exam.

1:45And you're going to do that by going to the PMI website.

1:48So I have given you this link in the skill, but, you know, website structures

1:51change over time

1:52and links may or may not work.

1:54But if you get yourself to the PMI website and then take yourself to cert

1:57ifications,

1:57then you should be able to see CAPM in the list.

1:59Although incidentally, look, that's where the PMP is that I mentioned just now,

2:03but obviously of interest for us right now as a CAPM.

2:06So if you choose that and if you scroll down, you'll get a bit of information

2:09about the certification

2:11and you'll see down here, am I eligible for the exam?

2:14So you have to have a bit of education behind you.

2:17So this may or may not make sense to you depending on what region you're from.

2:20But generally speaking, as always, you managed to stay in education until you

2:23were about 18,

2:24then that should suffice.

2:25But then the second bullet point here is you have to have at least 23 hours of

2:30project management education.

2:31That's where this course comes in.

2:33So this course will fulfill that professional development requirement there in

2:38the second bullet point.

2:39And if you scroll down a bit further, this is where you can download the CAPM

2:43exam content outline,

2:44which we'll talk about in a different video.

2:46And you may find the certification handbook useful, which, you know, takes you

2:50through some of the application process details and whatnot.

2:52But if you scroll back up again and you think to yourself, yes, I'm ready to

2:55apply for the exam,

2:57you'll see that the first thing you need to do is to either log into the PMI if

3:01you already have a PMI account,

3:03or if you don't, you have to create an account before you can apply for the CAP

3:06M certification.

3:07So up at the top right hand corner, there is a register button there which you

3:11can use to go through the very simple process of setting up a free PMI account.

3:15And you can also go through the detail of actually how that works because I

3:18think you can probably manage to follow your nose and do that.

3:21So when you are logged in, you'll see your name appearing at the top right hand

3:23corner.

3:24This is just screenshots now.

3:25And you'll now see that it's saying, yes, do you want to apply right now for

3:29your CAPM?

3:30And you can, if you want to, I will tell you the potential disadvantage, but

3:34you can, if you want to apply for your CAPM certification exam now,

3:38even before you've finished this course.

3:40So you can do that now. So if you were to go ahead and click the apply now for

3:44your CAPM,

3:45and then I've just got a couple of choice screenshots here, but the first thing

3:48it will do is prompt you to fill in your education.

3:51So these are the eligibility requirements to remember.

3:53So you have to fill in your academic education.

3:56And then you also have to fill in your professional education.

3:59Remember, you need 23 hours of project management education.

4:03So this is where you would fill in CBT nuggets as the provider name.

4:07You would fill in the name of this course.

4:10And you would also fill in when you took the course and how long the course is.

4:13So we need 23 hours to qualify.

4:16Well, this course is just over 23 hours.

4:18So just put 23 in there and that'll do nicely.

4:21You then go ahead and click save education and it'll chill on that for a moment

4:25or two and then give you a nice satisfying green checkmark.

4:29But of course, the slight disadvantage of this is, of course, you haven't

4:32actually done the course yet.

4:34I mean, you've just submitted this as that's your professional education that

4:37you have completed 23 hours with at this course.

4:39Well, you're right at the beginning.

4:40You haven't done it yet.

4:41So it's up to you, really.

4:43If you're pretty confident that you're going to be cracking on with this

4:46content pretty rapidly and you expect to be taking the exam in a few weeks and

4:50I don't see a great problem with submitting your application now.

4:54However, be aware.

4:55Let me just show you the next screen when you've stepped through a few other

4:59details in the application process.

5:01When your application is submitted for review, it says here it's going to be

5:05reviewed.

5:05Once your application is updated, you will receive an email with next steps

5:09because it is possible that you will get audited.

5:13And what we mean by this, if your application is selected for the auditing

5:16process and that's by no means everybody, then you've got 90 days to submit the

5:20proof that you have done that 23 hours of project management training.

5:25So you've got to submit your certificate of completion for this course within

5:2990 days of completing the application here.

5:31So as I said, if you're pretty confident that you're going to be cracking on

5:34with this content over the next few weeks, then submitting the completion

5:38certificate within 90 days shouldn't be a problem.

5:40But if you don't really know exactly when you're going to be taking the exam or

5:44perhaps you want to get a feel for the content before you commit and that's

5:48fine, then you might not want to complete the application at this stage.

5:51However, by the time you are about halfway through this course, I would

5:55strongly suggest that you do crack on and complete your application and you

5:59book your exam so that you've got a date in the diary to work towards.

6:03Please don't leave it too late. It's much better to have a bit of a deadline in

6:07front of you when you know you've got the date in the diary for your exam.

6:10But I understand that you may or may not feel comfortable submitting your

6:14application to the exam before you've even started the content.

6:16So I leave that up to you.

6:17But anyway, with a bit of luck, you won't get audited anyway and you'll pretty

6:21much instantaneously see that your application has been approved.

6:24So if I just switch to the live website now so I can show you what will happen

6:29next.

6:29There we go. So this is live so you can see here it says, "Congratulations,

6:33your application has been approved. Take the next step.

6:35And what the next step is going to be is to take your money to actually pay for

6:39the exam."

6:40So this has taken you to the PMI dashboard. You could get to that from clicking

6:45your name and choosing dashboard up here.

6:47But one of the entries on your dashboard will be there we go. The CAPM

6:51application, which is currently open and eligible and active if you like.

6:55You've got about a year to submit payment and actually take the exam and what

6:59not.

6:59But as you can see here, the next step is to pay for the exam.

7:03So the summary of the process then, you start your application by filling in

7:07the eligibility requirements.

7:08And you've got to complete that within 90 days once started. But if you don't

7:12complete it, then you can always abandon it and start it again.

7:15It's not a big deal. But once you do submit the application, it is likely to be

7:19approved immediately.

7:20But if not, if you do get selected for audit, then you've got 90 days to submit

7:24your certificate of completion from this course.

7:27You can then go ahead and pay the exam fee and, you know, schedule in the exam.

7:31So really, what I'd like you to take away from this video is yes, you can

7:35straight away go in and create your PMI account.

7:38It's free. You don't have to become a PMI member in order to create an account

7:42and sign up for the exam.

7:43If you're feeling even just a little bit confident, then by all means submit

7:47your application and schedule your exam.

7:49Alternatively, you might choose to get a bit of a grip on the content first.

7:53But please, as I said, by the time you're about halfway through this course,

7:56please get a date in the calendar for your exam in order to give you something

8:00to aim for.

8:00painful.

0:00I think it's always useful to have an idea of the nature of the beast that we

0:04need to fight before we go into battle. The beast being of course the exam,

0:08although

0:08it's not actually that beastly, perhaps that wasn't a very good analogy, but

0:12anyway

0:13in order to give you an idea of what you're going to be dealing with, in this

0:16video I'd like us to take a look at the structure of the exam and where the

0:19content for it comes from, which is all going to be useful stuff to keep in the

0:23back of your mind as you work through the content of this course and prepare to

0:26actually take the exam. And your starting point is going to be the exam content

0:30outline and I did mention at some point, was it in the last video, that you can

0:35download this from that PMI cap-em page. So down towards the bottom here you

0:39can

0:40see you've got that download exam content outline and before you get too

0:43excited

0:44about practicing your French or your Spanish then you'll notice that the only

0:47language it's available in is English and I would suggest that it probably is a

0:51good idea to download it afresh from the website even though I have given you a

0:55copy in the skill because there might have been the odd correction here and

0:58there but if for whatever reason you can't find the link or you can't find it

1:02then I have given you a copy in the skill anyway. But let's take a quick look

1:05at

1:05it together because there are a few things that I would like to point out.

1:08You can see it here and it does look rather alarmingly long. It says it's 17

1:13pages but I will show you the bits that I want you to take a note of and if you

1:17just scroll through past the contents page and the introduction you will see

1:21this area here which talks you through the four domains that it's going to be

1:26testing you on. So Project Management Fundamentals 36% predictive plan-based

1:32methodologies which is the very traditional project management stuff is

1:35only worth look at this 17% so previous iterations of the cap-em exam would

1:41have

1:41been very heavily focused on this particular area but now that's been

1:46reduced in favor of I'm pleased to say much more content on Agile so domain 3

1:51Agile frameworks 20% and a new addition for the 2023 iteration of the exam

1:57which

1:57is what this content is all about business analysis frameworks so that's a

2:01new domain which is worth well over a quarter of the marks and it's that fourth

2:05domain that seems to be catching candidates out because it's a bit of a

2:08curveball you know if you've got project management experience you might be

2:12feeling quite comfortable with much of this and then all of a sudden you

2:14realize

2:14oh my goodness I have to know about business analysis as well obviously don't

2:18worry I'm going to explain all of this as we progress through the course but it

2:21's

2:22useful to understand the balance of content from those four areas and then

2:26if you scroll on through the document you will see a more detailed breakdown of

2:30the different domains and the individual tasks that it's describing

2:34within them and then various bullets and whatnot within each task and obviously

2:38this is what the content of my course will align to so I don't want you to

2:42worry

2:42too much about the detail of this just now I will talk you through how this

2:46course works in the next video but there's one more thing I do want you to make

2:51a

2:51note of before we leave this document and that's this bit here let me just

2:56highlight that in yellow so this is where it's explaining what textbooks you

3:00know what publications were used as the basis for the questions and it's

3:05listing a number of different references including quite a few PMI books which

3:09I

3:09indeed used as part of my references for the course now I don't particularly

3:13need

3:14you to make a detailed list of these particular references and I certainly

3:18don't need you to go out and buy them and read them because obviously my course

3:21is going to give you the content that you need but I mention it because

3:25sometimes

3:25if you are the type of person that does like a textbook as a backup for you

3:30know

3:30being able to look something up or seeing a different perspective or reading

3:33about it from a different source then these would be the ones to choose from

3:36or maybe if your organization or your department has already got some project

3:41management books on the bookshelf if any of these are included then they will

3:45be

3:45useful ones to have to hand while you're working through the course but they're

3:48not a requirement but I thought it was worth pointing out and if you are a

3:51detailed textbook sort of person please don't let your mind be blown by what I

3:56'm

3:56about to show you but there is also this document here which will give you the

4:02breakdown for each individual section from the outline and exactly which book

4:06and which chapter the content was taken from and it's very detailed really

4:10quite

4:11dull you know just a look at here but again depending on the type of person you

4:16are you might want that level of detail but it is absolutely not I stress not a

4:20requirement to take a look at this because I have done the hard work for

4:24you I've created the course with the content that you need but anyway let's

4:28just flip back to the presentation because I do want to talk to you about

4:32the actual exam itself the you know the way you take the exam and how it's

4:36structured so you can see on the first bullet point here it is very likely

4:40depending on whereabouts you live in the world that you can either take the

4:43exam

4:43in person at a testing center you know a physical location or online from your

4:49home or your workplace and it will depend on your region as to what's

4:52available but both experiences are what we call procted and if that isn't a

4:57term you've come across before it basically means that somebody is

4:59watching you so it means that you can't use reference books you know you can't

5:03cheat so there is going to be stuff you have to learn off by heart so it's not

5:06what we would call an open book exam it's procted so there's no textbooks

5:11allowed no references and you'll be checked to make sure that you don't have

5:14any notes with you now I took the exam online I personally find it very

5:19stressful taking it online because that means I'm responsible for the

5:22environment you know they they make you wave your webcam around and they make

5:26you show them all four walls of the room and they make you put your phone out

5:29of

5:29reach it's quite a exhaustive testing process to make sure that you are

5:34working in an environment that means you can't cheat in but unfortunately for

5:38me there wasn't a local testing center available so I had to take it online but

5:41do think quite carefully as to which is going to suit you best and the exam

5:46itself is a computer based exam if that's not obvious so you're sitting at a

5:50computer terminal and you're filling in an electronic you know series of

5:54questions you've got three hours to complete the content and there are 150

5:58questions in total the vast majority of which are multiple choice questions so

6:05that's why all of the recap questions that I've included for you throughout

6:08this course are all multiple choice type questions most of those questions you

6:13just have to choose one answer but if you do need to choose multiple answers in

6:17a question it will tell you it'll say which two of the following are examples

6:21of blah blah blah or which three blah blah blah it'll tell you how many

6:26answers to choose so of those 150 questions they're divided into two blocks

6:31of 75 questions each and you can optionally take a break in between those

6:36two blocks of questions but bear in mind that once you've finished one block of

6:40questions you know the first block of 75 and then you do don't take the break

6:44but you cannot go back to that first block of 75 questions you know you

6:48submit that first block of 75 and then you kind of start afresh with the next

6:5375 within each block you can mark questions for review so that means you

7:00can flag a question to come back to later be a little bit careful with that

7:04though I mean don't mark every question for review because otherwise you're

7:07going to be there all day because you'll essentially be doing the whole exam

7:10twice so you know use it sensibly just mark questions for review that you think

7:15oh gosh I'll come back to that later because that involves a calculation you

7:19know I'll do that later or maybe you really can think of an answer so be a

7:22little bit strategic about which questions you mark for review and then

7:26when you finish the exam you submit it and he'll say are you sure and you say

7:31yes I am and you will get to see immediately if you have passed or not

7:35well I say immediately you know there's that agonizing 20 seconds while it

7:39chews you know the egg timer goes round but then you will get to see straight

7:43away whether you have passed or not and then you will get to see your exam

7:48report this will be emailed to you shortly after the exam but I want to show

7:52you

7:52what this does look like because you'll also see it in your PMI portal as well

7:57so let me just pop back to the PMI website so here when you're logged into

8:03the PMI website if you click on your name and go into where it says

8:06certification

8:07that'll take you to this page whereby it will show you your active cert

8:12ifications

8:13that so you can see I've got the CAPM which I took in October 2023 and then

8:18down here you get to see your exam score report so notice that you do not get a

8:25natural score it won't say well done you achieved you know 76% you don't get a

8:30percentage or anything you just get told a pass or a fail but interestingly and

8:35I

8:36did find this really quite fascinating you get to see how you performed in each

8:40of those four domains that we just saw on the exam content outline and even how

8:45you performed on the individual tasks listed on the exam content outline so I

8:49did find this quite fascinating and you can see because I was going into this

8:53exam pretty blind with what was included on the business analysis stuff you can

8:57see I did score a little bit lower on the business analysis content but luckily

9:01for you now I've seen the questions I can give you more guidance than I had but

9:05that is very useful I think especially if you don't pass it first time you get

9:08to see which areas which tasks from the particular domains on the outline that

9:13you need to revise a little bit further but please let me reassure you I think

9:17it is a very fair exam there are going to be some odd questions you know there

9:21might well be 10 or 12 questions out of the 150 that you think to yourself my

9:25goodness I have no idea what they're talking about here that's life you know

9:28don't worry about those you've got more than enough content in this course to

9:33be

9:33able to pass the exam even if there's going to be a handful of questions that

9:37you think well heaven's above I have no idea what they're talking about have

9:40faith it is achievable it is a fair exam I don't think it's designed to catch

9:45you

9:45out I really don't

0:00You won't be at all surprised to know that I have structured this course along

0:04the lines

0:05of the exam content outline that we saw in the last video.

0:08I mean honestly, I feel as though that document is permanently printed in my

0:12mind.

0:13But anyway, just as an example, so this is obviously a screen snip from that

0:16exam content

0:17outline we saw in the last video, so yes, it's domain 1 and there are a number

0:21of tasks.

0:22So what I have done is prepared a number of skills that do a line to those

0:26tasks.

0:27Don't worry too much if the names of the tasks don't exactly match the names of

0:31the

0:31skills because I might have re-jiggled things a little bit to make the flow a

0:34little bit

0:35better, but please rest assured that all of the skills that I've created, for

0:38example,

0:39domain number 1, do actually address the content from the exam content outline

0:43for domain 1.

0:44But the reason why I mention that, because that probably is reasonably obvious,

0:48is at

0:49the end of the skills for each domain we then have a review skill, which is

0:53where we go

0:54back and look at each individual skill and cover some recap questions for each

0:59of those

1:00skills with the goal being for you to help uncover gaps in your knowledge.

1:04Because you might have gone through these skills quite happily, but then in the

1:08review,

1:09when we start talking a bit more about project management planning and a few

1:12key points that

1:13we mentioned there, there might be things that you hadn't remembered that

1:16perhaps you should

1:17have, so it's giving you an opportunity to identify what you need to recap and

1:21review.

1:22So therefore, you'll work through all of the skills for domain 1, then you'll

1:25do the review,

1:26then you'll work through the skills for domain 2, do the review, etc.

1:29But those four review skills, one for each domain, they could be useful to

1:34revisit again

1:35at the very end of the whole course, so it's quite possible that you might want

1:39to go through

1:39those review skills a couple of times.

1:42But anyway, just a few other pointers for you for working with this course, so

1:46bear in

1:46mind that yes, we do have a lot of content to work through, more than 23 hours

1:51of content,

1:52as we know, because we had to have that amount of content to make it eligible

1:56for you to

1:57apply for the exam.

1:58And as I've just said, yes, there is roughly a skill for each task on the exam

2:01content

2:02outline, great.

2:03But because there is quite a lot of content, I really urge you to try and keep

2:07up the pace

2:08as you're going through the course.

2:10It's going to be very tempting, especially I think if you are brand new to this

2:14content,

2:15it's going to be very tempting for you to laboriously make notes on every

2:19single detail, and you

2:20know, possibly watch videos multiple times as you're going through.

2:23I urge you to try not to do that, even if you are brand new.

2:28Try and get the first wave of content through, you know, try and blast through

2:32the content,

2:33you know, once making notes of particular videos that you think goodness, I

2:36really do

2:36need to watch that again at some point and pay a bit more attention, just so

2:40you can

2:40get a feel for what the size of the task actually is from end to end.

2:44Because if you spend too much time on each individual video and write down each

2:48individual

2:48point, you are never going to get to the end.

2:51And I should also mention that the goal of this course is, of course, to get

2:55you through

2:56to pass the exam.

2:57So therefore, it's not really a step-by-step guide on how to manage a project.

3:00It's more of a discussion of lots of very interesting project management topics

3:04in an

3:04order that happens to align to the CAPM exam content outline rather than an

3:09order in which

3:10you might perform those activities in the real world.

3:13Now, because there is so much content and because you are working towards an

3:16exam, you

3:17know, your goal is to pass that exam, I would really, really like you to put

3:21together a

3:21study plan.

3:22Please, please, please put together a study plan.

3:25And I have given you some suggestions at the end of this skill, you know, that

3:28's the

3:29final activity at the end of this skill, to actually put something together.

3:32It doesn't have to be too elaborate, you know, you might just say to yourself,

3:35"Okay,

3:35by the end of next month, I want to have got this far through the course and

3:38then by

3:39Christmas, I want to have done this."

3:40You know, just give yourself some sort of overview as to how you want to tackle

3:44this volume

3:45of content.

3:46I would also like you to consider what time of day and whereabouts you're going

3:50to be

3:51doing your studying.

3:52And I also suggest that you do tell your friends, your family and your

3:57coworkers that

3:58you are studying for this exam.

4:01And the reason for that is because it's going to help you stay accountable.

4:04And I hope that you can encourage your family to give you the time and the

4:08space to put

4:09the hours in undisturbed to study for the exam and that they respect the fact

4:13that, you

4:14know, you need to study and that's your time to actually concentrate and focus.

4:18And maybe if you tell your coworkers, you know, you can get some advice and

4:21some help

4:22from them and maybe your employer could even give you some time to study.

4:27Now the reason why sometimes people don't want to tell their friends, family

4:30and coworkers

4:30is because what happens if I fail?

4:33Well the whole point is I don't want you to fail.

4:35You know, I'm very motivated to get you through this because I love it when

4:38people get to

4:39the end of the course, they take the exam and then they message me to say, "Yes

4:42, I pass

4:42the exam thanks to this course."

4:44So I want you to pass, I want you to feel accountable, I want you to, you know,

4:49go to

4:49quite some length to not fail.

4:51So please, please give yourself every possible chance to succeed with this exam

4:58.

4:58But to help you, at the end of every video in this course, I have given you

5:02some kind

5:03of a summary slide at the end and most of them I've labelled a key takeaway

5:07slide, which

5:08is generally going to be a slide that looks like this just with a few simple

5:11bullet points

5:12which summarises literally the key points that I want you to learn from that

5:16particular

5:17video and this is going to help you know what you need to focus on from that

5:21particular

5:22video because there will be a fair amount of background content that's going to

5:26give

5:26you some of those bigger picture concepts but the specific things that I want

5:31you to

5:32learn, that I want you to know, that I want you to take away, I will emphasise

5:35for you

5:36at the end of each video.

5:37So those final slides are kind of what I hope you would have written down in

5:41your notes.

5:42You know, if I was looking over your shoulder, those are the notes that I would

5:45have hoped

5:46that you had written down.

5:47Oh, I've just noticed a typo there.

5:50And to help you, I have collated all of these key takeaway slides into some

5:55reference documents

5:56for you.

5:57So there's one document per domain and in fact, if I just quickly show you what

6:01that

6:01looks like, let me just come out of this presentation for a second.

6:05There we go.

6:06These are the four documents.

6:07So you can see here, for example, domain one, yes, we know that's the project

6:10management

6:11fundamentals.

6:12So you can see there's skill one, video one and you can just see here these

6:15lists of bullet

6:15points.

6:16These are the text versions of those key takeaway slides for each video in each

6:22skill.

6:22So you might be thinking to yourself, oh, well, is this a shortcut to the

6:26course?

6:27Well, not really because these don't really stand alone very well because they

6:30are assuming

6:31that you have watched the entire video.

6:33And also another point to note is most of them are text based, but one or two

6:37of my summary

6:37slides I have used the final image.

6:40So I have just therefore put a screenshot of that final image that I used as a

6:44summary.

6:45But use those as you see fit.

6:47I mean, some people like to use these, but I always get asked for them.

6:50So I thought I might as well preempt the questions and provide you with those

6:53documents if you

6:54think they'll be useful.

6:55And then finally, I suggest you try and get through the content reasonably

7:00speedily and

7:01then revisit, revise and review the areas that you feel are weakest.

7:06So as you're going through, make a note of a video.

7:08If you think you'll need to watch it again, make use of those review skills

7:11that I talked

7:12about and create some flashcards to help you learn those specific things that

7:16you're going

7:16to have to learn off by heart.

7:18You'll be throwing away some easy questions in the exam if you don't learn some

7:22of the

7:22things that I tell you in the videos that you really should learn this for the

7:26exam.

7:26Okay.

7:27So in that, we are nearly ready to start the actual content of the course.

7:31In the next video though, we will run through the PMIs Code of Ethics and

7:34Professional Conduct,

7:35which you should be aware of.

7:37But because it doesn't fit into a particular domain, that's why it's in this

7:40skill.

7:41And then after that, as I said, I want you to finish off this skill by putting

7:44some thought

7:44into what your study plan is going to look like.

7:47[BLANK_AUDIO]

0:00In this video I'd like us to take a look at the PMI's Code of Ethics and

0:04Professional

0:05Conduct. And trust me, it is more interesting than it sounds. And my goal is to

0:10give you

0:10the overview so that you don't actually have to read the code itself if you don

0:13't want

0:14to. And if we start off by pondering what we mean by the term ethics, well a

0:19dictionary

0:20definition will say to us that ethics are the moral principles that govern a

0:24person's

0:25behaviour. And yes, that is how we spell behaviour here in the UK. And yes, I

0:30think

0:31it is all about doing the right thing, isn't it? It's not about doing the

0:35technically correct

0:36thing that a robot might do, it's about doing the morally or ethically correct

0:40thing. Of

0:41course it's going to be the right thing to do to stop and help a collapsed old

0:44lady in

0:45the street or whatever, even if it might make us late for a gym class. You know

0:49, it's a

0:49distinction that makes us human rather than a robot, isn't it? But anyway, the

0:54PMI have

0:54put together a code of ethics and professional conduct. And you can see it here

0:59, it's an

0:59eight page PDF and I have given you a link on what not to this in the skin

1:02itself. I'm

1:03not expecting you to read this by the way, this is just for your background

1:06information,

1:06I am summarising this in the video. And you will also see that this is

1:10downloadable from

1:11this website here. Again, I've given you links to this, that's where you would

1:14go ahead and

1:14download it. You'll also see there's a core values card which is a brief

1:18summary. But anyway,

1:20you next might be wondering, well, why have the PMI gone to the trouble of

1:24creating this

1:24code? I mean, what's the vision and the purpose that the PMI had in mind when

1:28creating the

1:28code? Well, you can see here that it will describe the expectations that we

1:33have of ourselves

1:34as project managers and our fellow project managers in the global project

1:38management community.

1:40The purpose being to instill confidence in the project management profession

1:44and help

1:45us understand what behaviours will make us become a better project manager. And

1:50of course,

1:50the code can do this by establishing a profession wide understanding of what

1:54makes appropriate

1:55behaviour when it comes to acting ethically and professionally in a project

1:59management

2:00environment. And so you can think of it as kind of like a pact. So as project

2:05managers,

2:05we are committed to doing what is right and honourable. And so the code is

2:09going to lay

2:09down some of the ideals and behaviours which we should aspire to in order to do

2:13the right

2:14and honourable thing as a project manager. And so therefore, the code is going

2:18to help

2:18us in making the right decisions, particularly when we're faced with difficult

2:22situations

2:22where maybe it's not quite as clear cut. So being able to apply some

2:27foundational values

2:28and behaviours it can help us out. So who does this code apply to? Well, it

2:34applies

2:34to all PMI members. But even if you're not a PMI member yourself, look, if you

2:40've already

2:40got a PMI certification, then it applies to you. But this one I think is

2:43perhaps most

2:44interest to us, because even if you're not a member but you have started your

2:48application

2:49for the CAPM, then it will apply to you as well. So as a foundation to the code

2:54, there

2:55are four core values. So the global project management community were asked to

3:00identify

3:01the values that formed the basis of their decision making and which kind of

3:05acted as

3:06their moral compass if you like to guide their behaviour and their actions. And

3:10the ones

3:11that the global project management community came up with as the most important

3:14to them

3:15are the ones you can see here, so responsibility, respect, fairness and honesty

3:19. And so these

3:20form the basis of the PMI's code of ethics and professional conduct. And so we

3:24'll just

3:24talk a little bit about each of them now. We shall start with responsibility.

3:29So this

3:29is all about the decisions that we make or don't make for that matter and also

3:33the actions

3:34that we take or that we don't take. The point being that we take ownership for

3:39those decisions

3:39or the actions that we make and we take ownership of the consequences that

3:43result from those

3:44decisions and those actions. And we're making decisions based on the best

3:48interests of society

3:49and public safety and the environment. We fulfil the commitments that we

3:54undertake, you

3:55know, we do what we say we will do. And if we do make errors or emissions or

3:59mistakes,

4:00then we take ownership of them and we make corrections promptly. And it also

4:03means that

4:04we need to keep ourselves informed of policies and rules and regulations and

4:08laws that do

4:09govern our work or industry. So we can't use ignorance as an excuse for not

4:13taking ownership

4:14of the decisions that we make. When it comes to respect, this is all about

4:19showing a high regard for the resources that are entrusted to us. Resources

4:24might include

4:25people of course and money and reputation, safety and also natural or

4:29environmental resources.

4:31And also therefore in order to show the correct level of respect, we inform

4:35ourselves about

4:36the customs of other people and therefore understand what respectful behaviour

4:40looks

4:41like across different cultures. Again, we're not allowed to use ignorance as an

4:45excuse.

4:46Fairness of course means that we're acting impartially and objectively and free

4:50from competing

4:51self-interest and prejudice and favouritism. And this is actually I think one

4:55of the more

4:56difficult areas because it's quite hard to see sometimes where you do have a

5:00conflict

5:00of interest situation because of course we see everything through our own lens

5:04and as project

5:04managers, you know, our goal is to get the project done. So sometimes that can

5:08be difficult

5:09to see where potentially we're not able to act impartially. And then honesty,

5:14of course

5:14we all understand what we mean by honesty. So we actively seek to understand

5:19the truth

5:19and we are truthful and accurate and timely in our communications and we don't

5:24miss things

5:24out. You know, it would be cheating to say, well I didn't actually lie but you

5:28had omitted

5:29some key fact or something. So those are the four values and I think you'll

5:34agree it is

5:34solid stuff. So really ethics is about doing the right thing. It's that moral

5:40compass.

5:41It's the underlying moral values that guide us to do the right thing. The

5:45manifestation

5:46of that being that we make the best decisions regarding people and resources

5:50and the environment

5:51and actually talking of making decisions. You will also see on that same

5:55website one

5:56more document you can download the ethical decision making framework which

6:00looks like

6:01this. And I like this. I think this is really helpful in helping us get out of

6:05a difficult

6:06or sticky situation to help us guide through making decisions based on an

6:10ethical approach.

6:11And you might be wondering therefore, well that's all well and good but why is

6:15it important?

6:16Well for us as project managers, we need to focus on building good

6:20relationships and trust

6:22and we are focused on long term success for our project. So therefore ethical

6:26choices

6:27can help us do that. And also being a successful leader because as we will

6:31learn, as we progress

6:32through this course, as project manager, you might not have managerial

6:36authority over the

6:37people that you're working with. So therefore you are relying on being a

6:42successful and inspirational

6:43leader and nobody wants a leader who is dishonest or unfair or irresponsible or

6:49disrespectful.

6:50So those four values will shine through as a solid foundation for successful

6:56leadership.

6:57So your key takeaways then, the four values that support the PMI code of ethics

7:01and professional

7:02conduct are responsibility and respect and fairness and honesty. The project

7:08manager

7:08has got a unique and multifaceted role which we'll learn more about in this

7:12course but

7:13making right decisions is going to be key. So this is a useful foundation. And

7:17in the

7:18context of taking the CAPM exam, keep this in mind when faced with similar

7:23correct sounding

7:24answers in an exam question. Choose the answer which best aligns to these four

7:29values.