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Project Management
Qualifications - your views
By
Lindsay Scott, Senior Consultant Arras People
In early March 2004 we
kicked off the most comprehensive survey ever
created in relation to project management qualifications.
Our original article (Issue
3) looked at different reasons why employers
look for qualifications and accreditations in
prospective employees. As ever, there's a right
to reply - so we asked you "Why is
it important to you to have a qualification like
this?"
This survey gives a great
insight into what your peers and "competitors"
think about the many qualifications out there
and could also help you select the right accreditation
in the future.
As competition increases
in the marketplace, more and more project management
practitioners and support personnel are looking
for that extra something that gives them a competitive
edge. Experience in a particular vertical market,
blue-chip organisation or high profile programme
to name but a few approaches. Our research has
shown that employers also look at qualifications
and accreditations as a differentiator when choosing
their next employees or contractors. In our latest
survey, over 100 programme, project and project
management support practitioners told us what
qualifications they had chosen and more importantly
why. The feedback shows that the project managers
and project office support personnel are certainly
equipped to meet the needs of employers in 2004.
Over 68% of professionals
have gained qualifications and accreditations
in their chosen field, PRINCE2 being the resounding
choice for the project management professional,
in both the Foundation (41%) and the Practitioner
(39%) accreditations. Deciding to choose PRINCE2
over other accreditations may seem an easy choice
considering over 50% of newly advertised role
specify that PRINCE2 qualifications are a must!
Other reasons include;
- Requirement of the company
- PRINCE2 is the methodology used
- More courses available
for PRINCE2 than any other
- Fairly easy to gain
PRINCE2 accreditations - paid course and exam
- Worked within a project
already using PRINCE2 - easy move to take the
exam
- A definite requirement
for public sector project manager roles
The motivations of going
that extra mile to gain qualifications are not
all about hard cash and impressing prospective
employers, over 27% believe the main motivator
is personal development - it allows a good blend
of therotical and practical experience which allows
development in your career and improves your project
management abilities.
Unfortunately a third of
respondents are unsure as to whether having an
accreditation brings them any benefits at all
but for others, "...immediately been able
to introduce many areas of PRINCE2 to my job",
"adds credibility to my role" and "it
has helped me use a common language with other
PM's" are just some of the perceived benefits.
PRINCE2 may be the accreditation
of choice today, but hot on the heels are both
the PMI (14%) and APM (15%) accreditations. Again
more people opt for the APM in the UK , PMI being
predominantly more US based, but both based on
the Body of Knowledge. People opting for one of
those accreditations are driven more towards a
need to gain core project management skills rather
than a prescribed framework or methodology.
While there seems to be
abundance of choice for projects managers, the
project office support professionals out there
have to settle for a more limited choice. The
ISEB PPSO foundation and advanced accreditations
are the only ones available for project support
people at the moment, but increasingly people
are turning to PRINCE2 to supplement their career
development.
View our article on "Are
chartered professionals the way forward?"
for further information about where next for project
management and qualifications
Survey Results
in Full
1. What role do you
currently perform:
Programme Manager - 16%
Project Manager - 52%
Project Support - 30%
Other roles - 2%
2. Do you currently
have any programme / project management or project
support qualifications?
Yes - 68%
No - 32%
3. What qualifications
do you have?
APM- APMP - 15%
APM - APMP Pract - 1%
APM - CPM - 0%
ISEB Cert PM for IS - 5%
ISEB Dip PM for IS - 0%
ISEB PPSO Foundation - 7%
ISEB PPSO Advanced - 2%
PRINCE2 Foundation - 41%
PRINCE2 Practitioner - 39%
PMI CAPM - 0%
PMI PMP - 14%
Other qualifications included;
PRINCE, AMA Project Management, MBA, OGC Managing
Successful Programmes, Open University Project
Management, ITIL Service Management
4. Main motivators for
choosing these qualifications over any of the
other choices? The most popular answers:
Company Policy/Company
Choice - 30%
Most Recognisable Qualification (PRINCE2) - 28%
Most requested in job advertisements (PRINCE2)
- 10%
Most recognised in the US (PMI/PMP) - 10%
No choice (no other qualifications in PPSO) -
5%
5. Please pick the statement
that closely matches your motivation for taking
a qualification?
Gives me an advantage when
applying for new roles - 17%
Shows a commitment to my career choice - 18%
Demonstrates that I possess a good foundation
of experience and training-27%
Shows that I am a fully competent PM Professional
- 20%
Because everyone is doing it and I must remain
competitive - 6%
6.Has the qualification
been beneficial to you in any tangible way?
Yes - 22%
No - 11%
Unsure - 31%
For the respondents saying
yes to this question, the most popular answer
was "it has added credibility and professionalism
in my role" and "without it I would
not have been able to secure contracts or roles"
7. What has been the
main motivator in NOT gaining qualifications?
Time - 34%
Cost - 24%
Perceived Value - 21%
8. Do you intend to
gain a qualification?
Yes - 51%
No - 13%
9. Do you think you
have ever missed out on an opportunity or promotion
etc by not having the right or any qualifications
in project management?
Yes - 45%
No - 54%
In future issues of Project
Management Tip-Offs we continue to look at some
of the answers given in the survey - especially
the reasons why you think you have missed out
on promotions and opportunities at work.
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Are
chartered professionals the way forward?
By Ian
McKenzie, Senior Consultant Arras Services
Recent
news reports from the government on IT project
management is full of bad news;
"Fewer
than one in five of all IT projects in the
UK can be considered truly successful leading
to billions of pounds being wasted every
year on IT systems" and "Projects
are often poorly defined, codes of practice
are frequently ignored and there is a woeful
inability to learn from past experience",
are just some of the quotes from recent
articles entitled "Report
exposes failure of IT project management"
and "Billions
of pounds wasted every year on IT systems
in the UK" from Computer Weekly.
Even
MP's are adding to the debate about the
way forward for government IT projects,
and adding ammunition to the debate is another
recent
report - this time from the RAoE (Royal
Academy of Engineering) and BCS (British
Computer Society) on the challenges of complex
IT projects. This has paved the way for
the BCS to announce their new Chartered
IT Professional membership, a recommended
award that people managing complex projects
and programmes for the government should
have.
Our
research from the recent qualification survey
showed that many project managers gained
PRINCE2 accreditations because its the most
recognisable in the market place today and
surprisingly a smaller number (7%) because
it enabled them to both gain employment
in and operate within the public sector.
So
does this mean the project manager may have
to shift their focus from PRINCE2 and associated
accreditations to that of a chartered professional,
or is it just another hoop to jump through
to get more work within the public sector?
How do you feel about shelling out more
money out of your pocket to gaining new
accreditations and training?
The
new Chartered IT Professional may even be
a welcomed move, a new grade that will distinguish
the "PRINCE2 tick-in-the-box"
project managers from the hardcore professionals?
Arras
People will be talking to our public sector
clients over the coming months to see if
this new award really will make an impact
within local and central government funded
IT projects.
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Is
it black or white?
By Chris Wood,
Diabolo
The skills
involved in configuring and applying a plan is
always a balancing act of what should be done
and what has to be done. The former is generally
driven by the rules and regulations of the company,
client or government, and comprises their own
interpretation of best practise and local culture.
The application
of this part of any plan is a clever combination
of skill and luck. From the inside, it makes perfect
sense and is a very clear way to predict requirements
and measure progress. From the outside it is a
black box process that has little meaning and
can only be sensed by some tangible changes in
its area of impact. The other side of the balance
is what effort is put into bridging the gaps between
all the interested parties.
A mix of
skills including politician, dictator, and used-car
salesman are required to keep all the stakeholders
on-board and working with you rather than against.
It is the management of these intangible white
spaces around the tangible plans that determine
success or failure.
So which
way do you lean? Black box or white space? Process
or people focus? Where do you apply your grey
matter?
About
Diabolo
Diabolo
promotes an innovative dynamic approach enabling
change in organisations by connecting hard-headed
business skills with the human spirit and values.
Combining our collective knowledge and experience,
we have created some powerful frameworks for business
thinking. We call these Diabolo Journeys. We
use a highly visual technique to guide clients
through complex processes with clarity of thought.
By combining tried and tested coaching and consulting
practice with graphics, we have developed a suite
of Diabolo Journeys covering many business issues.”
Chris
Wood is a Director of Diabolo
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Careers
Careers
- qualifications edition
So
you're thinking about taking a exam....
One of
the main issues for people considering taking
new qualifications or training courses is the
associated costs involved, especially if you have
to dig deep into your own pocket. So you have
to make sure that the choices you make will be
beneficial to you or you may just as well throw
that money at any course provider passing.
Most people
are aware of how to maintain your own career development
plans; identify your needs, create the plan, execute
your plan and record your progress. Simple! But
what if you're unsure of what your needs actually
are. A couple of options are open to you, each
approach not costing the earth.
1. Take
each area of project management in turn (consult
the PMBoK for example) and assess truthfully which
areas you know you're lacking skills in.
2. A
less painful approach - use a skills framework
or skills gap analysis to help you focus on the
areas you're lacking in and also determine where
you want to be (the OGC site has a lot of information
in this area - see the links)
Arras People
also have a skills framework which has been put
together over the years of working within the
project management arena, this may provide you
with a good starting place when beginning to think
about your career development needs > arras
people skill framework <
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