How to Memorize the 49 Processes from the PMBOK 6th Edition Process Chart

Hello and welcome. In this video, you are going to learn how you can memorize the 49 processes from the process chart, which is in your PMBOK 6th edition, in under 30 minutes, which is amazing. The process chart is really, really important for you to understand for your upcoming PMP or CAPM exam. PMP stands for Project Management Professional, and it is a leading certification for project managers worldwide. It's very important that you get certified if you are interested in pursuing a career in project management. So on the slide right here, we have the process chart, and it's very important to understand the process chart because this is the skeleton of the PMBOK Guide. Now, this is a skeleton because what the PMBOK does is that it takes each of these knowledge areas and expands into them in much more detail. And essentially what this chart tells you is how PMI, or the Project Management Institute, wants you to manage projects. So across the columns right here, we have the process groups. And there are 5 of them. And along the rows, we have the knowledge areas, and in the intersection between them, we have the 49 processes. So essentially, each of the processes has a corresponding process group and knowledge area. So for the remainder of this video, we are going to talk about how you can memorize this chart. So let's start with the 5 process groups. The 5 process groups are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing. These 5 process groups actually tell you sort of the timeline of when the processes happen, so the stages of the project, if you will. So your project first starts initiating, and once it's been initiated, you move into planning. And once you finish planning the tasks that you're going to do, then you're going to execute them. So this is when you're actually going to do the task. And then as you're executing upon your project plan, you will monitor and control it to make sure that there is not a deviation between what you plan to do and what you actually did. And then once the project deliverables are completed, you move into closing down the project. It's very important for your upcoming PMP or CAPM exam to note that you cannot end the project once you finish your deliverables. You must move through the closing processes. So the quick way for you to memorize the 5 process groups is using this quick and simple phrase: In Physical Education, Mary Cries Constantly. What you can note here is that the first letter of this phrase begins with the same letter letters as the 5 process groups. And it's much easier to memorize this phrase than it is to hard memorize the 5 process groups. So when you create these sort of statements that begins with the same letters as the, as the task that you're trying to memorize, it makes it much easier to memorize what you want to. This is because our brains work by association. So when we associate something that we already know with something that we don't know, we are able to memorize that much faster. Okay, so again, the quick phrase to memorize The 5 process groups is In Physical Education Mary Cries Constantly. Now let's move on to our 10 knowledge areas, which is across the rows of our process chart. So just as a quick recap, the 10 knowledge areas are integration, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, procurement, and stakeholders. And the phrase that we can use to memorize the 10 knowledge areas is In I saw 6 cars quickly rip Carol's rear passenger side. And as you can see, the first letters of this phrase begins with the same first letters as the 10 knowledge areas. And by memorizing this, it will make it so much easier for you to remember what the 10 knowledge areas are. Now that we know our, our knowledge areas and our process groups, we're now ready to move on to our processes. Now, to memorize the processes, I want to introduce you to something called the phone number technique. So the phone number technique states that you can write out the number of processes in each of the knowledge areas, and it kind of spells out a phone number. So for example, there are 7 processes in integration, 6 processes in scope, 6 processes in schedule, etc., etc. And the phone number that you get in the end, it's 766-436-3734. And the cool thing is that one of our past students at Exams PM actually saved this number onto his phone and he looked at it every day. He didn't actually call or text it. I wouldn't actually recommend that because, you know, that person might think you're a stalker, so don't actually call it. But it's, it's a cool way for you to memorize how many processes are in each of the knowledge areas. So save this number on your phone and look at it daily, and in no time you'll have this memorized. Okay, now the second technique you can use is called the postal code technique. So if you look across the columns, we have the process groups, and if you look at the number of processes across the process groups, it kind of spells out a postal code. So it's 2, 24, 10, 12, and then 1. Now that you know this, what it helps you to do is to double-check your work. So if you forgot a process then now you are able to narrow down where did you forget that process. So that's why it's cool to memorize the phone number and the postal code. Now that we know that, let's now actually dive right into the 49 processes and memorize those. Let's start off with our initiating process groups. The one quick way to help you memorize all of the processes initiating— and there's only 2— is to use the phrase Do it, kind of like the Nike slogan, just do it. That might be a good way to jog your memory as to what it is. So there are 2 processes in initiating: develop project charter and identify stakeholders. And the first letter of both of these processes is D and then I, which matches with do it. So that's a quick way for you to memorize all of them in initiating. Okay, now let's move on to closing. I know planning comes next, but we're just going to do closing because this is a really easy one. So there's only one process in closing. For closing, you just need to remember you're closing down the project. There's only one process and it is Close Project or Freeze. What you can notice here as to what we are in the chart right now, we have a process in 3 of the 4 corners. When you're filling out this chart, one quick thing you can do is just fill in the 3 corners before moving on to the planning, executing, and monitoring controlling processes. All right, now let the fun begin. Let's move on to the planning process group. So this— in the planning process group, which is our biggest process group, we have 24 processes. And to memorize all of the processes in the planning process group, we can use the following phrase, which is plan to the power of 9 plus DCDCD, SEDED, IPPP. Plan to the power of 9 plus DCDCD, SEDED, IPPP. Kind of sounds like a song, right? And if this looks really overwhelming for you, please stick with me. So one quick tip here is that you can actually just write out the short phrase that's going to jog your memory as to what all of the processes are at the top of your process, just to remind yourself what you have to write out for the remainder of the chart. Now, Plan to the Process to the Power of 9 tells you that there are 9 processes that begins with the word Plan. Another way to memorize this is that except for integration, which is your first knowledge area, all of the remaining 9 knowledge areas has a process that begins with the word plan. It's quite simple to memorize this. Scope management has plan scope management. Schedule management has plan schedule management. Cost management has plan cost management. I don't need to go on, but I think you get the point here. You basically add the word plan plus the name of that knowledge area to get the name of the process. So to remember the remaining processes in the planning process group, we can use a rhythm. So it's D-C-D-C-D, F-E-D-E-D-E, I-P-P-P. Kind of sounds like a song almost, right? So the first letters of this cool rhythm actually begins with the first letters of the remaining processes in the planning process group, which are develop project management plan, collect requirements, define scope, create work Breakdown structure, define activities, sequence activities, estimate activity durations, develop schedule, estimate cost, determine budget, estimate activity resources, identify risk, perform qualitative risk analysis, perform quantitative risk analysis, and finally plan risk responses. So again, you can just use this rhyme to help you remember the first letters of the planning process groups, which is going to jog your memory as to what they are. Or alternatively, you can use this phrase which begins. with the same first letters as the remaining processes in the planning process group to jog your memory as to what they are. So the phrase is, dastardly Candies double-crossing dandelions sit elegantly down Ellen's dirty exhibit in Patty's pretty pots. So I know this phrase doesn't make too much sense, but, you know, if it works, then use it. Now let's move on to the executing process group. The way that we can memorize all of the processes in the executing process group is using the formula manage to the power of 5 plus D-A-D-I-C. So like its name suggests, we have 5 processes that begins with the word manage, which is manage project knowledge integration, manage quality, manage team, manage communications, and manage stakeholder engagement. Once we have written down our 5 manage processes, we're Now we're ready to move on to the second portion of the executing process group, which is the D-A-D-I-C. And the phrase that you can use to memorize this is DAD IS CORRECT. The first letters of this phrase begins with the first same letters of the remaining processes in the executing process group. So they are direct and manage project work, which is the D, acquire resources, which is the A, develop team, which is the other D, Implement risk responses, which is the I, and conduct procurement, which is the final C. Now that we have all of our processes in execution down, let's now move on to the monitoring and controlling process group. So the formula that we can use to memorize all of the processes in monitoring and controlling is monitor to the power of 4 plus control to the power of 6 plus VP. So like this formula suggests, there are 4 processes that begin with the word monitor, 6 processes that begin with the word control, plus 2 other ones that begin with the letter V and the letter P. Now let's take a closer look. So on the slide right here, we have the 4 processes that begin with the word monitor written out. So it's monitor and control project work, monitor communications, monitor risk, and monitor stakeholder engagement. So once we filled out our 4 monitor processes, we then fill out the 6 control processes. Now what's interesting to note here is that every single process either has a process that begins with the word monitor or the word control. So all the cells in the monitoring and controlling columns are filled with something. So if you want a pattern to help you remember which one is monitoring, which one's control, you can use the following rhyme, which is M-C-C-C-C and MCM. It kind of sounds like a song again, right? Sort of like what we saw in planning. So if this can help you better remember which of the processes are monitoring and which ones are control, please feel free to use that. Now don't forget the third part of our equation in the monitoring and controlling process group, which is the VP. There are 2 more processes in this process group, which are validate scope and perform integrated change control, which is the final VP portion of this formula. Now that we looked at how to memorize both the process group and the knowledge area and the 49 processes within the chart, let's do a quick recap to cover what we have learned. So first we looked at how to memorize the process group, which is using the phrase, in physical education, Mary cries constantly. And then we looked at how to memorize all of the knowledge areas, which is using the phrase, I saw 6 cars quickly rip Carol's rear passenger side. And then we used the phrase, do it, to help us memorize the 2 processes within initiating, which is quite fitting, right? Because when you're starting a project, you're just doing it. And then we looked at how to memorize the processes in closing, which is just using close because there's only one process in the closing process group, and that's to close project or phrase. Now then, we moved our attention to the planning process groups, which is using the phrase plan to the power of 9 plus The— you can either use a rhythm, D-C-D-C-D, S-E-D-E-D-E, I-P-P-P, or if you like a phrase instead, you can use the phrase, dastardly dandies, double-crossing dandelions, sit elegantly down, Ellen's dirty exhibit in Patty's pretty pots. And then we moved on to executing, and the way that we can memorize all of the processes in the executing process group is using the formula manage to the power of 5. Plus DAD is correct. So DAD is all capital case because each letter of the word DAD, it's going to match with the letters of the processes in the executing process group. And then finally, we moved on to monitoring and controlling. And the formula that we can use to memorize all of the processes within monitoring and controlling is monitor to the power 4 plus control to the power 6 plus VP. Now you It's great to note here that every single knowledge area has either a process that begins with the word monitor or control, so every single cell down the monitor and control column is filled out with something. That's a quick recap on how you can memorize the entire process chart in your PMBOK Guide. It's very important to have this chart memorized. A quick note here, you should memorize the process chart, but you don't have to memorize all of the associated ITTOs. Or inputs, tools, and techniques, and outputs for each of these processes. You just need to have a general and good understanding of them, but the chart is a good thing to have memorized. Now, if you want more tips like this, be sure to check out our free course, which is an hour and a half long, where we'll go into much more detail about everything you learned here, plus a lot of other topics. So you can sign up at examspm.com/free, and don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment below if you have any questions. Thank you so much, guys, for joining us today.