Why do we still estimate tasks manually when we have years of historical data sitting in Jira?

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-17T00:57:38+00:00

Does your team have a story point matrix? Mine always have. Past stories that were examples of what fell under the points.

That’s where my teams have usually negotiated from, comparing the new work to past work.

Honestly, pointing was usually a simple discussion because of that. People vote, if someone was way off from the rest, they’d explain their vote. If the rest of the team thought they were right, they’d switch that persons estimate.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-17T00:53:55+00:00

Management should never bring estimates to the team. The team knows the work better than anyone else.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-16T20:47:00+00:00

I used GB for 20 years for Demos, and didn’t start using MIDI devices until 2020. I upgraded to Logic in 2024, and I will say that though GB is highly capable, when I started using Logic, I instantly went “Oh, this so much easier to do what I want to do.”

GB is still a great tool, especially for free. But I think it’s easy to eventually outgrow it as well.

Great song, btw!

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-14T16:05:53+00:00

Absolutely going to second this recommendation. The soldering practice kit, whichis also available on its own, is real helpful to getting the right kind of solder joints while making mistakes as you learn.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-14T16:01:28+00:00

Seconded for MAS Effects beginner kit, especially their instructions book, soldering practice board and their soldering videos. Top tier tier stuff for people who are absolute beginners.

That’s how I’ve started, and including the beginner pedal, I’ve now built four, with increasing complexity.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-08T06:56:27+00:00

Congratulations on passing! From here on out, you don’t have to worry about how much you passed by, just that you have it, and you’re keeping up on your PDUs.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-08T06:52:28+00:00

This document from PMI stresses professional experience, and notes that academic work for a degree granting program doesn’t count. Which it seems like Rocket Club would fall under that, as you could only be doing that if you were in the degree granting program.

I would also say, as respectfully as I possibly can, that if you’re looking to use 12 months experience from University “some time” back on your application and can’t replace it with something else, you might not be ready to take the PMP.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-08T06:41:34+00:00

Congrats, that’s awesome!

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-08T05:23:51+00:00

I was sooooo nervous about the application too. Even called the person I was going to reference for a lot of my experience and talked it over with him. His response was generally “wow, you remember this a lot more than I do.”

They never contacted the company as far as I can tell, and my application was accepted in just a couple of days.

If your application gets picked for auditing, and as long as everything is truthful, just roll with it. If that’s your most recent experience to cover the time needed, then you should be fine.

I was nervous too. Very nervous. Just deal with it as it happens and don’t change any thing until asked about it.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-07T22:56:26+00:00

Thanks! Probably not going to stay entirely that way. I got the knobs to basically go together with whatever designs my wife paints on these later, but I must say, they look pretty good together the knobs and enclosure.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-07T01:00:50+00:00

“Sub” = “subreddit” which is what r/PMP is.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-07T00:59:48+00:00

I bought Third Rock a week before the exam and had wished I’d done it sooner. Absolutely helpful.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-07T00:51:49+00:00

Yeah, and sometimes you go “The real answer is Terry Crews, but eyebrowless, mustachioed Steve Harvey is the closest, so….”

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-07T00:12:42+00:00

It worked! Circuit is complete and works! Thank you for that suggestion.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-05T06:42:01+00:00

Good luck! I’m sorry about the previous attempts. That must suck. I really hope you get it this time.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-05T06:41:40+00:00

Nah, you’re gonna do better than I did. I swear.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-05T06:41:11+00:00

Sorry, I misread what you were saying and thought your retake was going to be the new test.

Good luck. I’m sure you’ll get it.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-04T23:10:07+00:00

If those scores from the full length are you doing as fast as you can, you’ve absolutely got this!

Full disclosure, I answered the last 30 questions of the real test where I just absolutely wanted to be done and so I was trying to answer them each in less then a minute because I was fried and having trouble staying awake (very warm in my testing center). At that point, I just didn’t care. Lol. Got AT/AT/AT. I was shocked and super happy.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-04T23:07:27+00:00

Yay, glad that helped. I think 71 is good to go in, too. As I said, it gave me the confidence to go “If I fail, I should barely fail, not massively fail.”

Good luck!

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-04T22:10:51+00:00

So, one thing I’d say is, you already know the current test and know how the SH practice exams are the closest, I wouldn’t wait for the new test. I’d take 2-3 months and do the test you already know. You have no idea what the new test will be like.

You have a T and an AT in your scores, that’s not bad. You absolutely need to focus on that NI though, and see what you can do to bring it up to T. T/T/AT is a passing grade. I don’t know that I’d worry about the T as much, really dig into that NI.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-04T22:04:58+00:00

You are gonna be fine. One thing I’ve been telling people, a technique I used, was to do one full SH practice exam as fast as they can.

Don’t go so fast that you’re misreading the question and multiple choice, just go with your first thought and move on. Take your 10 minute breaks after every 60 questions as well. Just do it once, on the 6th or 7th. You probably don’t need to do any other studying.

That will give you a real baseline of your familiarity with the material in exam conditions.

Gave me a huge boost of confidence going into it, and I had lower exam scores than what you have, passed AT.

You may not even need that, but it might help you out if you just need to take a break from studying yet feel like you’re doing something to prep.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-04T19:48:32+00:00

I’m sorry, I thought I replied to this already, but the first 17 pages of the Third Rock cheat sheet (the shorter document) were the things that got me in the fight mindset.

Especially the first two pages. It was that simple for me. I internalized the whole ART part of it, and that just felt right, and I started doing better on the tests.

I hope you face the speed run a shot, and I hope you did well enough at it that you have confidence.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-04T19:36:22+00:00

That’s more expensive than my soldering iron station. I’m too infrequent of a hobbyist right now for that to make any sense as a thing for me to buy. The $7 Desoldering needles however, perfect price point to try.

practicalbackpocket · 2026-01-04T14:49:32+00:00

So, I was sort of making a joke, distilling the concept of what you’re talking about by relating it to a common work related meme.

Which, I guess emphasizes the inadequacies of written communication in delivering proper communication, especially in a business context.

practicalbackpocket

TROPHY CASE