MCTS 70-178 Microsoft Project 2010, Managing Projects

Suddenly I became nostalgic.

You know, Microsoft Project is one of some early batch of software that I used during tertiary education time besides the obvious DOS, Windows operating system, VB (Not .NET you young people!) and et cetera.

I remembered times when being instructed to present my project schedules which ended up with printing of few ten pages of "partial" gantt charts and stitched them together using double sided tapes or glues. Guess not easy to be a project manager during those times. :D

Anyway, transition from the yawning old version of Microsoft Project to the state of the art version of 2010 (2013 on its way) is phenomenal. Number of users grow into millions and with some quarter of them with a chartered PMP qualification. Still, more projects failed in this decade than the total of few previous decades added up. Microsoft Project is just a tool, and it really can't help if you don't understand the essential of managing a project.

Anyway, back to the story of 70-178.

You see, to me, this examination is nothing but just a milestome to tell people that I'm more proficient in using this tool than others. Technically, it's not a tough one either. I have passed various other exams, which I personally think at a different playing field than this exam.

So, don't worry too much if you are taking this exam anytime soon.

What you really need to prepare are:

• Download the trial version/buy the licensed copy of Microsoft Project 2010
• Use the software alot, and explore various of its features
• Understand the basics of project management (If you are a PMP, congrats that you are on a faster track to pass this)
• Read one or more books on Microsoft Project 2010. I scanned through most of them and I think "Microsoft Project" title from Sybex is short and concise (about 400 pages) whereby "Microsoft Project In Depth" from QuantumPM is indeed, in depth (about 1000 pages).

Well, my passing rate of 962/1000 should indicate to you that the preparation materials above are sufficient. Right?

Can't get the damned "Gangnam style" out from my head. Geez.

TOGAF 9.0 CERTIFIED

After I passed my TOGAF foundation two months back and with additional two months of preparation and extensive study of TOGAF 9.0 specification, I finally settled my TOGAF Certified certification.

The exam was a tough one, depending on how you perceive it. It is questionably easy to pass without a thorough understanding of the topics as many exam takers commented that you just need to pick the longest answer or the most TOGAFish answer. However when you really spend time to delve into each of the scenarios' questions and relate it to available answers, it demands serious understanding and application of the knowledge in TOGAF in order to figure out the best possible answer. The open book nature of the examination allows candidate to cross examine their answer, however only useful if only the candidate knows where to find related information in the book efficiently since TOGAF covers lots of topical grounds in the book.

My score was 85% which means for 2 out of the 8 questions, I had chosen the suboptimal answer. Too bad I don't know which one I screwed up. Too bad.

This is just the start of a wonderful journey with TOGAF certified title. Well done!

TOGAF Foundation

A long awaited first architect level certification of mine, though foundational level, serves as a catalyst to boost value for my employer and clients. It is not a tough paper to pass, comparing to its Part 2 brother. I listed the materials that I used for examination preparation below:

• TOGAF Version 9.0 documentation (Optional but recommended, especially if you are like me going for Part 2 soon)


• TOGAF 9.0 Foundation Study Guide (Sufficient to pass part 1 but hardly flying color)


• Misc. TOGAF 9.0 Summary documents (For understanding only)


• Few years of architecting experiences (Optional but useful for really understand TOGAF values)

My score was 93% which is aligned with my usual passing standard. I think preparation works for Part 2 would be more interesting because it requires drilling deep into in-and-out of TOGAF 9 specification. Sounds fun!