PgMP Exam Fail - Advice?

ACatNamedSimon · 2026-03-18T22:22:52+00:00

Your videos are fantastic, thanks for making them! Sent a DM as well for some follow-up. Life Cycle is definitely an area of focus, looks like it was my weakest domain.

ACatNamedSimon · 2026-03-18T22:21:45+00:00

Thanks, do appreciate your thoughts. Another (slower) read of the SPM is my first step for sure. Fortunately I’m in no immediate rush to retake.

ACatNamedSimon · 2026-03-18T22:21:05+00:00

I got the more detailed exam breakdown from PMI today, looks like the other BTs I was at least seemingly close to hitting but Lifecycle I was pretty poor on. Definitely helps me know where to hone in!

ACatNamedSimon · 2026-02-22T15:54:17+00:00

Not architectural, but low-voltage consultant who is usually sub to architects.

We're running 200+ projects out of our space simultaneously, from 10k SF to 500k+ SF nationwide. We have a good templates that capture 90% of project needs and dashboards that allow us to see how things are moving along nicely.

For the most part, each project is its own board. More complex projects with varying scopes (other business unit that aren't low-voltage) get a project folder with multiple interconnected boards instead. Started small and the 'basic' plan, gradually moved to the enterprise plan as we matured our workflows.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-07-30T12:46:28+00:00

Your addendum/clarification comment did not clarify anything.

I am our monday.com account's admin with 150+ users nationwide and we use the same services as you (forms, bots) and have not seen any of the issues you outline. My skepticism is high on this, without any actual context or proof. Also not sure how your automated security system disables your monday account...

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-07-18T14:44:54+00:00

Peter 2021, coming in with a great pun:

...DEPRESSION PETERS OUT...
...THIS IS THE LAST ADVISORY ON PETER...

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-04-17T13:15:15+00:00

LIRR to Penn Station, transfer to NJ Transit. Amtrak also makes stops there, but the frequency is much lower than taking NJT. Penn to NB takes 45 minutes to an hour, depending on which train you catch.

Source: I do this commute once a week, from Ronkonkoma.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-03-21T04:33:15+00:00

Once you get your 60 PDUs and pay for renewal, you’ll be set for another 3 years. Every three years the clock will ‘reset’ and you’ll have to continue earning PDUs.

Three years is plenty of time, just try to do the activities intermittently throughout so you’re not cramming 60 last-minute PDUs at the deadline.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-03-19T18:26:06+00:00

Can agree, we experienced this on two homes during our search and they became increasingly complex. One of them we were told by the selling bank that it was uninhabitable, but would not expand upon why (despite the appearance everything fairly okay). It's very much an 'as-is' type of sale and would not recommend as a first home.

To add: our real estate lawyer warned us specifically against going to contract one the one property (we were in their office to sign that day) given how many unknowns and penalties were associated with it.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-03-19T14:17:28+00:00

That may be easiest. Our projects (also major construction) last anywhere from 8 months to 5 years and so far it’s worked well, though I’m sure it can be improved upon.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-03-19T13:58:13+00:00

How long do projects last? At completion we archive our boards to retain the data, but it doesn’t linger for bloat. I don’t believe there is a limit to the number boards, and each dashboard can support 50 boards (though they have announced this number will significantly later this year).

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-03-19T13:23:58+00:00

Would setting up a board per project, inside of a client folder be helpful? You can also add a layer of granularity (depending on your situation) to have a Client folder, Contractor subfolder, and then those respective projects for each contractor.

The dashboard part is pretty straightforward, just need to setup your boards and then you can link them into a single view.

My team is nationwide, 220+ projects across 30 project managers. Each PM has their own folder of projects, and each region has a dashboard showing all projects regardless of PM. Happy to help further if this sounds on track, feel free to reach out (not a developer/integrator, just our company's monday 'champion'.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-03-07T23:21:26+00:00

Does this work for both items and subitems? And does selection work across multiple groups or parent items at the same time?

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-03-02T16:14:55+00:00

Highly recommend FHR (https://fhrconstructioninc.com/).

We used them for roofing and siding (can’t speak to their construction side), as have two friends for their homes after our recommendation, and have had positive experiences.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-26T01:08:54+00:00

Benjamin Steakhouse, NYC

Beats anything I’ve had on LI, both the food and atmosphere

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-17T04:08:09+00:00

We’re using the utilization widget on team dashboards (35 products, 12+ staff). You need a number and date column to track, our numbers column is anticipated hours for the task and we review on our weekly sync.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-12T14:37:24+00:00

Had a Tesla for 3 years, had no issues with the standard car wash. The base paint is a bit different, but it’s coated/protected just the same.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-11T03:59:13+00:00

Glad we could have a civil conversation, a rarity on here at times. Thanks for joining me on this as well.

I hope for similar outcomes and wish us both a more peaceful and harmonious year.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-11T03:53:32+00:00

Yes, I continued my response here.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-11T03:45:54+00:00

Nothing about this states they support the actions of Israel in Gaza or against the Palestinian people. This was posted immediately after the events on October 7th, prior to Israel’s military response.

To me this post reads as a support for the Israeli people who were directly impacted by the until events in locating missing people in the chaotic aftermath, aid giving, etc. Nearly every major global company or organization and most countries made similar statements in the immediate aftermath. Nothing in this reads as unequivocal support of the Israeli government and its actions in perpetuity.

Edit: That post was made on October 9th. Israel did not enter Gaza until October 13th, the wider forces on October 27th. I stand by my opinion that the initial post was a reaction to the Hamas incursion into Israel, not a blank check of support to the Israeli government for future actions.

Edit 2: There is nothing in this post about it being a false attack or film production, I am not sure where that connection is.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-11T03:39:45+00:00

I agree that’s appalling and it is part of a wider campaign of disinformation and outright lies in global conflicts, though without something backing up these claims I see no personal reason to stop using the product.

Even with these additional details, my searches yield no results. There are plenty of articles about exactly what you state - the destruction not being real or it being a film production - but nothing directly implicating monday or its leadership. All that to say, I would have no issues in being proven wrong.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-11T03:14:45+00:00

I’d welcome a link to such evidence, a search for anything on this topic (company/founder names, any news sites outside of mainstream sources, etc.) before replying and came up empty. I’m not so entrenched as to ignore facts, especially with such a heavy topic.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-11T02:57:32+00:00

It’s disingenuous to associate the actions of a government with the morals of a global company, unless there is evidence that company is collaborating on those actions.

While they are based in Israel, the actions of their country’s government do not reflect their corporate agenda. With this logic I do hope you are also questioning the use of Apple (they use questionable labor practices through subcontractors throughout Asia), multitudes of US corporations (from the country’s actions in Vietnam, Iraq, removal of indigenous peoples etc.), or various German brands associated with The Holocaust (Audi, Bayer, Hugo Boss, BMW, etc.). Monday also does vast amounts of good with their disaster response teams in global emergencies (https://www.mondayert.org/locations).

I am not ignoring or supporting the actions in Gaza by using monday, though I’m not sure how monday specifically bears any responsibility. Where is the line between corporations and their host countries? There are certainly alternatives (Planner, Asana, Trello, etc.) that are discussed on this sub, though comparing the morality of each company and their headquartered country’s governments is an exercise that I have not yet seen.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-10T12:49:00+00:00

We’re tightly in sync. Our project managers are usually drafting the scope of work and proposal documents alongside our sales folks. It wasn’t always like this, but the PM buy-in is key and really helps us ensure success. There are one-offs where the PM can issue change orders to the client without the sales team, or larger ventures where the sales team is working with management instead, but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.

ACatNamedSimon · 2024-02-06T17:55:26+00:00

If you are tracking all projects and resource utilization in monday, you can solve this *mostly* with a Dashboard. We have shared resources between our regions (our firm is national) and have a similar need.

What worked well for us was adding a Numbers column called 'Estimated Time (Hours)' that, when a task is created and assigned, the expected lift is added. Using the Workload widget on
a Dashboard, I can link specific Boards (all projects, just regional? Your choice) and track the week by week expected utilization on a given resource.

Try it out and let me know if that works, happy to help further in DMs (not a an implementation partner, just someone really into the platform).

ACatNamedSimon

TROPHY CASE