5 Reasons To Become a Certified Project Manager

You may be an aspiring or existing project manager. If you are new to this profession you are perhaps considering certification to become a professional project manager. If you are an existing Project Management Professional (PMP), you may be in doubt about your on-going training requirements. This article should give you clarity about the purpose and motivation for becoming a certified project manager and the benefits for staying certified. In this context certification refers to the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Project Management Professional

To be Certified or not

Project management certifications matter. Especially given the current unpredictable market in which companies must operate and succeed.  Project management certification makes for better project managers and reduces risk of project failure in an organisation.

After the first best practice project management standard was founded, it became apparent that following best practice and hiring certified project managers are crucial to successful project management and, hence, business success.

5 Reasons to become a Certified Project Mangager

1.       Research is showing that today’s marketplace is demanding an increase in project management certification. Holding a certification and having the letters PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-RMP or PMI-SP behind your name gives candidates access to greater job prospects and thereby places them in a higher salary bracket.

2.       Project management, however, still remains a business skill that is acquired through experience combined with an internationally recognised project management certification, such as Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute. (PMI). The PMI certification currently has the largest footprint and is represented in 238 countries.

3.       The Standish Group International, publisher of the CHAOS Report says that two-thirds of CIOs surveyed regard a PMI certification as valuable and the number of CIOs who require their project managers to be certified grew from 21% in 2005 to 31% by 2009.

4.       Certifications such as the PMP and Prince 2 help unify teams as each member speaks the same language and uses identical processes when executing projects.  This contributes to greater project performance.

5.       Project management certification is also important from a governance perspective as certified members sign a code of professional conduct.  This automatically provides the employer with confidence that the certified professional acts with integrity and executes tasks with soundness of judgment. This minimises risk within an organisation and enhances the chance of project success.

What comes after certification?

Project management certification is an on-going process and every three years certified professionals must recertify and maintain their professional status through on-going development and enhancing the project management profession by attending conferences, writing- and presenting papers, as well as transferring their skills. This on-going learning means that certified project managers stay informed about latest project, programme and portfolio management best practices earning professional development units (PDUs).

Project management professionals stay up-to-date, through the use of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), which assists project managers globally to apply certain standards in project management in order to meet business goals and business intent.

PMBOK

The PMBOK Guide presents a set of standard terminology, guidelines and tools and techniques for project management. It is non-industry specific and provides project managers with a basis from which to work and can be tweaked to suit each project manager’s project. Now in its fourth edition, it was first published by the PMI in 1987 as a white paper to document and standardise generally accepted project management information and practices.

Conclusion

It is important to remember that although a certified professional has dedicated thousands of hours and numerous years to pass the exam, exceptional project managers are those who combine that knowledge with passion and strong leadership abilities. The real test for being an excellent project manager, is in the constant application and enhancement of this knowledge.

Resources to consider for aspiring and existing project managers:
Want to do the PMP exam and become certified, I recommend the PM Prepcast, the best resource to help you succeed in the PMP exam. 

For an existing PMP who need PDU’s, I recommend the PDU Podcast, an affordable and convenient subscription to earn PDU’s in your own time:

A Project Manager Is As Good As His Last Project

Surely you have all heard the phrase: “a project manager is as good as his/her last project. Today I want to share a story with you that will also illustrate this point.

project manager is remembered by his last projectIn December (our summer holiday time) we went to a beautiful beach town where many people enjoyed their yearly leave. In this small town there are many small traders who sell things from the side of the road, on the pavement. It ranges from jewellary, sunglasses, souverniers, clothes, etc. A lady who use to sell handmade dolls, walked across the road to give a doll to the daughter of a friend of her. When she crossed the street again to walk back to her stall, she was hit by a car and she died in hospital a few hours later from head injuries.

The following day there was a photo of the lady in the local newspaper with a picture of the 5 year old girl holding the doll that was given to her by this lady. She would always be remembered not only by her beautiful handmade dolls, but also by her last act of kindness, giving one of her precious dolls to a friend…

As a project manager I know this holds true for projects as well. People will remember you from your last successful project. For this reason it is very important to treat every project as if it is your last. It may be your last project for that specific company, or for that specific customer or with that specific team.

A project manager should not only look after his/her reputation, but also the perception of the project he/she is responsible for.  You should be doing the right things, but also doing things the right way in the eyes of your customer. Work with your team to please the customer.

Sometimes the customer requires small things, like providing refreshments at a Steering Committee meeting for senior managers, to keep him happy. Your team requires your support, your guidance and leadership, and consistent communication regarding project related work. If team members are treated with respect and much is expected of them for delivery, they will live up to your expectations.

Creating a culture of collaboration where team members provide feedback and discuss problems openly, will contribute to a successful project. Building good relationships with your team as well as your customer, is an essential ingredient for making your current project worthwhile to remember. When coupled with on budget, on-time delivery you will be remembered as a good project manager, but even if you don’t achieve the triple constraint (on time,within budget and with quality), but through good communication practices you managed to keep your team motivated and the customer happy, you have hit the target to execute a successful project – one people will remember you by!

By the way, being called back by customers for additional projects, is one of the best recommendations (and compliments) that a project manager can hope to receive.

Please comment and share if you have had good experiences with ‘last’ projects.