E4PO: Aide for helping your PMP "Formula Brain Dump"

As I've mentioned here before on LinkedIn and in my discussions with the Onward to Opportunity (O2O) Hawaii Cohorts, there are two Brain Dumps that you'll want to do for the PMP exam; the first is the Process Group/Knowledge Area/Process Table (aka "The Table"), and the second is the plethora of mathematical formulas. In this post I will describe the aide (= E4PO) that I developed to help me learn (and yes, memorize) those plethora of formulas. This is Part 1 of a series articles on this topic, so more to follow.

Unfortunately, there is not an 'all-inclusive' table in the PMBOK Guide Version 6 which lists out all the formulas you need to learn for the exam. Most of the formulas are spread throughout the PMBOK, less the Earned Value Analysis (EVA) formulas - which are nicely captured in Table 7-1, Pg 267. Furthermore, there are formulas that are needed on the exam which are not even included in the PMBOK - remember, the PMBOK is a 'GUIDE' it is not a book that contains 'ALL' of the PMP knowledge.

For those who have already started their studies, you have already learned that there are quite a few mathematical formulas employed in the PMP profession. For those that have yet to start their studies, or are contemplating the PMP certification journey, you will quickly learn that there 'seems' to be an endless number of mathematical formulas; however, there is a method to help ensure that you don't miss any major categories of formulas when writing down your PMP 'Formula Brain Dump' at the beginning of your exam. That method is something that I developed called 'E4PO'.

E4PO breaks down as follows:

1) E = Earned Value Analysis (EVA)

2) E = Earned Monetary Value (EMV)

3) E = Economic Models

4) E = Estimating

5) P = Precedence Diagram Modeling (PDM)

6) O = Other

These six items represent the six major groups of mathematical formulas used in the PMP profession on the certification exam. Further, there is a reason why the six parts are listed in this specific order - which is outlined below:

EVA: The 1st item is labelled 'E' for EVA, it is the 1st 'E' because EVA has the most formulas of all the six groups of formulas, and the EVA formulas are arguably the most important (aka #1) group of PMP formulas. Refer to Table 7-1, Page 267 in PMBOK Guide Version 6 to see the EVA formulas.

EMV: The 2nd item is labelled 'E' for 'EMV', it is the 2nd 'E' because there are ONLY two (2) EMV formulas, which helps ensure you know that you ONLY have two (2) formulas to write down during your "Formula Brain Dump".

Economic Models: The 3rd item is labelled 'E' for Economic Models, it is the 3rd 'E' because 'Economy' is synonymous with money, which is symbolized as $, and the $ symbol looks somewhat similar to the number '3' (yes, this is a small stretch, but, it worked - at least for me and a few folks I've mentored). 

Estimating: The 4th item is labelled 'E' for 'Estimating', it is the 4th 'E' because there are ONLY four (4) total Estimating formulas, which helps ensure you know that you ONLY have four (4) formulas to write down during the "Formula Brain Dump".

PDM: The 5th item is labelled 'P' for the PDM (for Precedence Diagram Modeling) group of formulas.

Other: The 6th and last item is labelled 'O' for the nebulous "Other" equations that don't fall into the first five formula groups. Examples of "Other" include Six Sigma percentages and number for communication paths in a group.

More to follow in the next article on this topic ...

You may find the following additional items helpful:

a) PMP Certification: 7 Lessons Learned

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/pmp-certification-my-seven-key-lessons-michael/

b) June 2019 O2O brief:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/michael-c-elliot_o2o-hawaii-cohort-8-pmp-lessons-learned-brief-activity-6543942886382284801-LDNo