Six Tools to Master PMBOK ITTOs

Memorizing the PMBOK^® Guide Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs (ITTO)’s is one of the biggest hurdles for PMP^® and CAPM^® aspirants. If you look around the web, you will find a gazillion spreadsheets and charts with titles such as “The Best Tools to Memorize ITTOs”, “ITTO Cheat Sheet”, “ITTO Guide”, “PMP ITTO Chart” etc., which are simply reproductions of the ITTO tables of the PMBOK^® Guide with some filters thrown around them. They are neither useful nor effective, and a waste of money and time. Read this post to learn how we can help.

BrainBOK provides a comprehensive suite of tools to help you get your head around the PMBOK^® Guide and master ITTOs very efficiently and effectively. You will not just pass the certification exam, but also gain a good insight into project management tools and processes. No other company provides such a comprehensive set of tools to gain mastery over ITTOs. Let’s review these tools in details.

Popular Myths

Before we get to the tools, let’s clear a few myths around ITTOs.

Myth #1: You Need to Memorize ITTOs

This is simply not true. It’s neither feasible nor necessary to memorize all the 1452 ITTOs. You do not need to memorize the ITTOs. We provide the tools to help you learn ITTOs the right way.

Myth #2: Learning ITTOs is Hard

Learning ITTOs is hard if you simply try to mug ‘em up. But if you spend time to learn and understand the important ITTOs for the exam, you will find the effort very enriching and rewarding. We’ll show you how to do it using our tools.

Importance of ITTOs for the Exams

The CAPM^® exam is a knowledge-based test. It will have several direct questions to test your knowledge of the ITTOs. Let’s see a few examples.

• In which process would you apply leads and lags?
• Which document captures the gap between current and desired levels of stakeholder engagement?
• Which document would you refer to to know the assumptions and constraints on the project?
• What documents or plans do you need to create the project budget?

These questions are usually straight forward. If you understand all the Processes and the unique ITTOs, you are well-placed to ace the exam.

The PMP^® exam is a competency-based test. It is unlikely to have any direct questions on the ITTOs. Instead, the ITTO questions would be weaved into situation to test your competency. For example:

• A stakeholder has complained that they have not been receiving the project reports, what should the project manager do first? The options may be around the communications management plan, stakeholder engagement plan, or other project documents.
• A new risk has emerged, what should the project manager do? The options may be around the risk register, risk management plan, etc.
• Team members do not agree with the project manager’s decision. What should the project manager have done to avoid the situation? The options may be around the Team Charter, Communications Management Plan, etc.
• There is a dispute among two stakeholders. What should the project manager do? The options may be around the different interpersonal and communication skills.

We hope this gives you an idea about how you may be tested on the ITTOs on the exams, and why it is important for you to have a good understanding of the ITTOs.

Now let’s review the ITTO tools that we offer to help you in this area.

Six Tools to Master ITTOs

We provide six powerful tools to master ITTOs. You can try the free version of most of these tools without any obligation. The full access to all the tools is included in our Premium plan.

1. ITTO Explorer

ITTO Explorer is an interactive tool that literally brings the 600-page PMBOK^® Guide to a single page. It is a part of the BrainBOK app. It was first launched in 2010 and has matured into one of the best tools to get your head around the PMBOK^® Guide.

This tool helps you learn all the Project Management Processes and their ITTOs, where and why each ITTO is used, and the data flow among the processes.

We have explained the use of this tool in the post Do I need to memorize ITTOs for the PMP and CAPM?.

To access the ITTO Explorer, sign in to the BrainBOK App.

2. PM Study Guide

BrainBOK PM Study Guide provides 100% coverage of the PMBOK^® Guide and all the additional topics that you need to know for the PMP^® and CAPM^® exams. We have explained each one of the 1452 ITTOs in our guide in simple and easy to understand terms.

The guide also comes with an intelligent context-sensitive search feature. You can search for any ITTO or process and find all the references to it in the entire guide very efficiently. It is much faster, more accurate, and more intelligent than a primitive text based search.

Head over to our PM Study Guide now and try it for yourself.

3. ITTO Quiz

The Quiz module of the BrainBOK app provides a multi-dimensional quiz that will test you on ITTOs by Processes, ITTOs, and Data Flow. The ITTO Quiz is integrated with the ITTO Explorer. With each answer, it shows a snippet of the ITTO Explorer to let you verify the correct answer without leaving the quiz. Refer to the screenshot below and try it out in our app.

The quiz is 100% automated and can generate in excess of 10,000 unique ITTO questions. Many companies sell ITTO-based exams as add-ons for additional $$$, but our ITTO Quiz offers 10 times more value at no additional cost.

To access the ITTO Quiz, sign in to the BrainBOK App.

4. ITTO Flashcards

The Flashcard module of the BrainBOK app provides 2100+ flashcards, including about 235 ITTO Flashcards. The ITTO Flashcards are meticulously crafted to test you on important concepts and pitfalls around ITTOs. These flashcards particularly focus on ITTO ‘gotchas’ and things that are not obvious.

You can study these flashcards on your mobile devices just like you can do with all the other features of the BrainBOK app.

To access the ITTO Flashcards, sign in to the BrainBOK App.

5. ITTO Cheat Sheet

The ITTO Cheat Sheet provides a comprehensive list of tips and tricks, the common pitfalls, and the most important ITTOs that you need to know for the exam. The cheat sheet also includes the “special cases” around the ITTOs that you need to be aware of going into the exam. It would take only about one hour to review this sheet, and it can save you a few hours of preparation time and help you score better on the exam.

To access the PMBOK ITTO Cheat Sheet you need to subscribe to our premium plan.

6. ITTO Usage Maps

The ITTO Usage Maps is the newest addition to our suite of ITTO Tools. It includes 3 maps:

• Inputs Usage Map
• Outputs Usage Map
• Tools and Techniques Usage Map

For each ITTO, the map shows the Process Id(s) where the ITTO is used. By clicking on a Process Id, you’ll be taken to the exact section of the PM Study Guide where the ITTO is explained in the context of the selected Process. This is a very thorough and effective way to learn ITTOs.

To access the PMBOK ITTO Usage Maps you need to subscribe to our premium plan.

Test your ITTO Knowledge with our Exams

The Exam Simulator module of the BrainBOK app includes 7 exams each for PMP^® and CAPM^® with 1230 and 1000 questions respectively. These exams will put your ITTO knowledge to test and help you uncover any gaps.

Sign Up for BrainBOK

We hope you are excited about using these tools. We invite you to try them right now and experience their effectiveness first-hand.

Subscribe to any of our plans and get a 7-day free look period with our money-back guarantee. If you have any questions or comments, please post them below.