Like you (and a growing number of other professional practitioners) I believe PMI is no longer a legitimate professional organization, but a for profit business, conveniently posing as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit.

Back in January, 2009, I put together a quick preliminary research comparing the major global credentials against the US Professional Engineer (PE) license http://www.pmforum.org/library/papers/2010/PDFs/feb/FP-Giammalvo-PMCertsCompared.pdf and it quantifies what many of us have long believed- both PMI and APM are selling a lie. Both of them are marketing what best can be described as entry level credentials and allowing or encouraging people to believe that these establish oneself as a professional practitioner.

The worst part is, I am not sure who is more at fault- PMI and APM/APMG for allowing/encouraging people to really believe that taking a multiple choice exam is sufficient to establish a person as being a professional anything; us practitioners who bought into this absurdity; or those companies who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars training people to pass the PMP exam hoping it will help them deliver projects faster, better or cheaper.

In short, IMPO, PMI and to a lesser degree, APM and APMG have become nothing more than the AMWAY or Mary Kay Cosmetics of the project management world. A sophisticated pyramid scheme…… Selling the promise of a dream to people eager for what they see to be a shortcut to being a true professional practitioner…

Keep up the good work, Richard and colleagues…. You are not alone in recognizing the emperor is naked…

BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta, Indonesia
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com

I have checked the article and this caught my attention:

From the PMBOK “Because of the potential for change, the project management plan is iterative and goes through progressive elaboration through the project’s life cycle. Progressive elaboration involves continuously improving and detailing a plan as more-detailed and specific information and more accurate estimates become available. Progressive elaboration allows a project management team to manage to a greater level of detail as the project evolves.”

This is great news that PMI now thinks this way, but it’s easier said than done? Where is the process? They’re just stating something that any project manager with even a mild experience knows.

PMI have the resources and the experience to lead the change and create a new process, and not to adopt non-perfect solutions like Agile.

Managing projects for some thirty years has taught me that the single largest responsibility of a PM is “expectation management,” and you don’t learn that in a certification process. Sure, budget and schedule adherance are givens, but if you’re not managing everyone’s expectations correctly throughout, your project WILL fail.

Feel free to send money - that little tidbit might be worth more than all of PMBOK.

One of the things that is really turning me off of the PMP is the recertification requirements. Were it a lifetime designation, I’d probably do it, but I don’t want to be caught in always needing to keep current on it. I don’t plan on being a PM forever!

However having gone through pmi, prince2 and scm I must admit that from a commercial aspect as a PM to get qualified for projects this is a basic requirement (at least in Denmark), but at the interviews it is the last thing mentioned - if mentioned at all.

I think that having bodies of knowledge is great and provides som usefulness, but hey - we aer speaking 2010, and it is not until recently that both PMI and APMG have considered the benefits of agile - is that because they can see there are more and more organisations who are looking at the agile principles or are they realiasing a new business opportunity??

Kasper

Additionally, PMBOK does not describe a pure and rigid waterfall methodology. While some organizational PMO’s use PMBOK to justify waterfall approaches - this is an inaccurate understanding of the PBMOK. Check out http://www.dennisstevens.com/2010/08/22/synergy-between-pmbok-and-agile/ for a discussion of this.

The PMBOK Agile divide is actively being discussed in detail at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/pmiagile/. You should join in there and participate in the discussion.

Amen.

I personally believe that project management skills are gained by experience, and not by theory, though they may be ironed and enhanced with theory (e.g. PMP).

I think PMI started doing a great job, but then lost focus. The PMBOK and the PMP tests draw a rosy picture of the project manager’s life, and an ideal project management environment. Of course, this rosy picture does not apply to real life. Project managers have to change their mindset to that of PMI’s in order to pass their exam.

When I said that the PMI doesn’t care less about the skills, I meant that PMI is acting like a business, trying to increase paying members as much as they can. Which is fine, but there is no real background check done on these people, even PMI admits that the audit is random, while again, anyone in our profession knows that there are several signs that may represent a red flag and should be investigated. I didn’t say that PMI is intentionally causing project failure (whether directly or indirectly), and I didn’t say that PMI claims that a PMP is capable of managing an project (but again, PMP means Project Manager “Professional”, and this is why hiring managers think that a PMP = Better Project Manager).

Now about advancing project management, PMI knows that the PMBOK describes a pure and rigid waterfall methodology, where all the proper requirements are gathered upfront, which is almost never the case in software projects. Did PMI (as the current leader in the project management world) address this very important problem? Not to my knowledge.

I have spent significant time over the last five years with PMI leadership and with the volunteers that develop the standards. My experience, without exception, is that PMI is interested in advancing the abilities of Project Manager’s and the value of the PMP that their constituents have earned. This issue, the perception that a PMP is ready to run a major project without supervision, is one that PMI does not endorse.

Can you show me where PMI promotes the PMP as being a project manager capable of delivering on any project?What evidence do you have that PMI doesn’t “care less if the person has really the necessary project management experience or not.” I agree with the premise that hiring managers don’t have a clear understanding of the value of the PMP. I disagree that this dilutes the value of the PMP or that PMI is intentionally acting in a way that leads to failed projects.

Dennis

Dennis Stevens

A lot of the interview conversation needs to start around the specifics of past projects and success. Details are crucial!

I agree with Dennis in his comparison of the PMP to a recent college graduate or medical resident. There is a difference between the skill of passing an exam and the wisdom of managing a project or inspiring people.

When so many interviews start with a keyword search instead of the question about delivering value, I think it’s going to be an uphill battle to convince people that the PMP is a baseline.

If the audit process was more thorough or if PMI was not a “for-profit” organization, perhaps I wouldn’t be leaving this comment. But, that is the reality.

I think the problem is that PMI is becoming a just-for-profit organization that wouldn’t care less if the person has really the necessary project management experience or not. They rarely (I mean very rarely) audit PMP applications, and they say they do it at random, when they should be checking for red flags in the application (applicant managing projects immediately after graduating, etc…).

The problem is not restricted to PMI though, the problem is that a lot of companies now give a lot of weight to this certification, and quite a few are requiring a PMP certification in order to quality for a job, rather than thoroughly examining the project management skills of the individual.

Quite a few experienced project managers fail at the PMP, and quite a few non-experience pass the exam.

I think PMI need to rethink their strategy in order to maintain their worthiness and the value of the PMP certification.

Note: My opinion does not represent Richard’s opinion.

I think it is faulty reasoning to blame PMI and the PMP for project failure. Can you show me where PMI promotes the PMP as being a project manager capable of delivering on any project? From my experience, a PMP is like a recent college grade, a medical resident, or a 16-year old who just got their license. They have some situational awareness from having participated in projects, have been educated in the fundamentals and share a common language. But they are not prepared to be CEO of a business, an emergency room surgeon, or a cross country truck driver.

The PMP indicates that someone has a basic level of experience on projects, not project managers. It indicates they cared enough about project management to make a career decision to focus on learning the fundamentals and a common language. It most certainly doesn’t indicate that they are prepared to run a major project unsupervised.

The objective is for us to communicate to hiring managers and business executives to hire for experience. The PMP is an excellent baseline for an entry level project manager. PMI provides a nice community for gaining additional knowledge and networking. A more likely common cause of project failure is that organization’s continue to be silo based organizations, with management focused on maintaining the status quo, where change is hard. The problem does not rest with the base level project manager certification.

1) PMI needs to do a better job auditing the applications for the experience hours.
2) Recruiters and such need to do a better job and understanding how to interview and screen out someone that has been on a project vs. someone that has led one.
3) Business leaders need to stop reducing PMs to tracking tasks and making status charts. They need to understand Project Management better and allow the PMs to leverage the full skillset and techniques of the discipline. Giv them right level of authority, provide the support across the org they need, etc.
4) PMs need to execute.

There is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. 550,000 people were intelligent enough to pass a certification exam. How many of those are wise enough to manage a successful project?

Best Regards,
Derek Huether, PMP
http://thecriticalpath.info
http://pmprepflashcards.com