Archive for March 2008
Certifiably mistaken: two wrong reasons for pursuing project management certification
Project management certifications are booming. However, it seems to me that the main beneficiaries of the certification gold rush are the certifiers, not the certified. There are a lot of articles aimed convincing people of the value of certifications. Here I take a different, and possibly contrary approach: I’ll give you two common, but (in my opinion) wrong, reasons for pursuing PM certification.
My motivation for writing this post is a recent conversation I had with a colleague. It went like this:
“Do you think a PM certification is worth the effort?”
“Depends on what you want out of it,” I replied.
“Well I reckon it will make me a better project manager and help me stand out from the crowd .”
Now I don’t remember what I said in reply, but he’s wrong on both counts. Here’s why:
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To become a competent project manager: A cert does not a PM make. Preparing for a certification will teach you formal project management processes as decreed by a particular certifying authority. These processes are easy to learn by reading a book or two. The “hard bits” of project management – negotiation, people skills, crisis management, conflict resolution, prioritisation, stakeholder management (I could go on and on but I’m sure you get my point) – are not, and cannot be, learnt through certification.
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To stand out from the crowd: The fallacy here is easy to see: certifying authorities push their credentials like there’s no tomorrow, hence the number of people gaining certs is growing rapidly. That being so, the “stand out from the crowd” factor is getting smaller and smaller every day.
Before I conclude, I should come clean and admit that I have a cert or two. My main reason for getting certified was (is!) that it is a good way to learn about commonly used project management processes and the associated terminology. The certs don’t make me a better project manager, and they won’t help me get that dream job either. However, they do help me recognise jargon-laden bulldust when I hear it (which, unfortunately, is quite often).
In the end, formal knowledge is always useful. So, gaining a cert won’t hurt, but be sure you aren’t doing it for the wrong reasons.
RE: A Corporate IT tragedy in five limericks
A manager’s response to A corporate IT tragedy in five limericks:
I see you have taken offence.
But axing your job made good sense.
You had to go
to save us some dough,
and that’s why you are in past tense.
It broke our hearts to do it,
but it’s because of the market.
Our bottom line
has to climb
a long way to make us a profit.
Let me say this just between us:
For savings, on me was the onus.
And it’s better to see
you gone, than me.
It may even earn me a bonus.
I know you will soon secure
another big fat sinecure.
Where you’ll do no work,
and continue to shirk,
while gaining promotions galore.
And so I bid you adieu;
and many good wishes to you.
See, writing bad verse
may feel good at first,
but later just may get sued.
A Corporate IT tragedy in five limericks
They tell me my job’s on the line
They say it’s for real this time.
The bosses, they say,
“It’s going away,
it’s heading for sunnier climes.”
This time they’ve gone really far.
I reckon they’ve been reading Carr.
Who tells us that IT,
is a mere utility.
Strategic it isn’t, oh darn!
Consequences of centralization –
servers in another nation.
Miles from here;
too far, we fear.
And what of the implications?
Every little bit and byte
traverses a long and thin pipe.
All the way to our users
who’ve become snoozers,
waiting for docs from last night.
Perhaps the circle will turn,
but not before users get burned
by rotten support –
they’ll see it’s a rort.
Then bring the whole darn thing back home.
Eight to Late 