Why I’m Glad I Got My PMP

 

Over the years, I’ve had many discussions about whether project managers should pursue the Project Management Professional (PMP)® credential. Some people argue that extensive experience is much better than the knowledge they can acquire through the PMP credential.

I appreciate the value of my counterparts’ experience and respect their opinions. Before I earned my PMP certification, I shared their views. But while studying the PMBOK® Guide—my employer required all project managers to be certified within six months of hiring—I found that my experiential knowledge was enhanced by the new tools and techniques I learned about. I wished I had known about them during previous projects.

My eyes were also opened by a quote from Lewis E. Platt: “The danger of success is to think what made you successful in the past will make you successful in the future.

The project management profession, like many others, evolves constantly. As a responsible practitioner, I need to keep my skills and knowledge current by reading the latest PMBOK® Guide edition, as well as being familiar with evolving methodologies and standards in project management.

Here’s an example of why not keeping up with the latest publications and standards can be problematic. I often hear people talk about the “triple constraint.” But that concept is not in the latest edition of the PMBOK®. Nowadays, project management is a strategic competency for organizations. It enables them to tie project results to business goals—and thus, better compete in their markets.

Finishing a project on time, on budget and within scope doesn’t necessarily help an organization meet its business goals. Today, organizations need to respond quickly to internal and external influences, which may lead to sudden changes in scope, budget, and schedule.

The need for competent project managers will persist—PMI projects  that between 2010-2020, 15.7 million new project management jobs will be created in just seven project-intensive industries.

Organizations no longer look for project managers with technical skills only. They’re looking for people whose technical skills are complemented by business, strategic management, and leadership skills.

The project management profession is changing, and pursuing a certification makes it more likely that you’ll stay up to date with the times.

What’s your view on the value (or lack thereof) of the PMP certification? Share your thoughts below.

Floyd Mokhena, PMP

If you are not in Project Management Profession, you are missing out in the most exciting profession ever.

7y

I have being running my projects from just experience before I became PMP and after getting my PMO credential I started managing my projects differently and successfully because of PMP

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Luqman Shantal

Transforming Telecom Through TM Forum Expertise

7y

Triple constraints are now called Performance Measurement Baseline and consists of: Scope Baseline: Project Scope Statement, WBS and WBS dictionary. Schedule Baseline: Project Schedule, Cost Baseline: Project Cost Estimates plus contingency reserves. Those are not enough for the success of a project, a project manager should always identify the benifets and make his decisions inline with the business case. PMP certifcate has an impact on the enterprise , though OPM3 gives the context for that, it is something that is more within the PgMP, PfMP and OPM3 guidlines. In my view it is something that should integrate with Enterprice Architecture and strategic planning . However, applying rolling wave planning, understanding that you have to set a business case within a charter, collect requirements and set a scope statement afterwich you create your WBS, create your schedule and set your budget and identify the risks and go through the iterations till you close the planning cycle and execute, monitor and control till you close with rolling waves again will do magic at any stage of the chain, since the building block is always: Projects. Speaking of PMP as something that is easy to get is funny, it is one of the most difficult to get in its class, the people I know failing the exam are more than the people who pass, and it is like some one is telling me that is getting IPMA or other certifications will get you the job straight without verification of your knowledge.

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Khalid Ibrahim MBA, ITIL, PMP

Senior Principal Consultant at IntMav Llc

7y

Concur with Mounir.

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Sridhar Peddisetty

Senior Vice President, People Insights and Analytics at Concentrix Catalyst

7y

Completely concur with you Conrado when you say "Finishing a project on time, on budget and within scope doesn’t necessarily help an organization meet its business goals." In my earlier post "Are You Providing 'Right' Status To Stakeholders?" (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-providing-right-status-stakeholders-sridhar-peddisetty), I had shared on similar lines.

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