The launch by the Association for Project Management of a new professional standard for project managers of the most complex projects plugs a significant gap in the development road map for project managers. The requirements for these new standards are exacting and include:
- A demonstration of competence to manage complex projects against the APM competence framework.
- A record of continuous professional development
- A personal statement portfolio which demonstrated a capability to deliver complex projects
Assessment is by a portfolio of evidence and a professional interview.
APM's Registered Project Professional qualifications are attempting to take out the confidentiality and blow the lid off of the path to project management development.
This new gold standard makes the start of a transformation of project management into a true profession to stand along side the other professional bodies such as the civil engineers and accountants. It is about time we recognized that successful project management requires a combination of technical, behavioral and contextual competence’s and that demonstrating these requires a more significant assessment than a short examination.
How will this new standard change the development of project managers?
For many years organisations such as NASA have realized that the development of project managers requires a much more holistic development road map including aspects of a person’s ability to lead, attitude to project delivery and people, assignments they have completed and alliances they are able to build. i.e. they recognize the need to develop the whole person by using a project management Academy. Critical to the operation of an Academy was the evaluation of project managers at different stages of development. Until now these academies where the preserve of larger organisations however with the APM RPP standard the academy approach is open to all.
Implementing project management academies in smaller organisations
Very few organisations have the scope and scale of NASA to develop a project management academy but by adopting the APM qualifications structure as a backbone and joining a community of practice even individual project managers can follow a development road map from the foundation levels to the ability to deliver the most complex projects.
What would a project academy look like for a individual or small organisations?
Designed to meet the needs of individuals and organisations of any size an academy can support the development of your capability to deliver project ranging from the most simple to those which are highly complex. It combines APM certification training with other recommended continuous professional development activities and in-house bespoke training and coaching. The aim is to improve your capability to deliver successful projects for your customers and stakeholders.
A typical small academy based on the APM qualification would include:
- APM Introductory Certificate in Project Management which is ideal for project team members or those just starting out in project management. This highly practical course covers the main language, processes and behaviors of project management
- APMP which is ideal for project mangers early in their career as it established the core fundamental principles of project management. With you can take this course in a number of ways including:
- APMP Distance Learning course which includes a detailed study guide, on-line e-learning, pod casts and on-line tutor support.
- APMP 3-day fast-track for experienced project managers who want to acquire the APMP qualification with the minimum of disruption to the workplace using the distance learning material as a pre-course package.
- APMP 5-day training which also includes a full pre-course distance learning package.
- APM Practitioner which is a three day assessment center for managers of non complex projects. Prior to the APM PQ we strongly recommend you receive coaching on the assessment process.
- APM Registered Project Professional (RPP) workshops and coaching. This is a standard for managers of the most complex projects.
In this way even an individual can follow a road map leading the capability to deliver the most complex projects.
If the qualification is about being a project professional and not about being a project manager why do you have to complete the project manager training in order to become a project professional. This means that perfectly competent project professionals such a project office staff who are deemed competent by dint of being assessed against the competency framework and have spent as much time on projects as the project managers are excluded. Please can APM have a rethink on this to confirm how PMO people may also apply for this qualification. Sorry Paul this is not a rant at you, but more at the premise behind the qualification which if it could expand it’s remit to PMO people I would happily support.
Twitter: projectmgmt
As you probably guessed Stuart; I’m with you on this!
Twitter: mich
Seen from the perspective of HR people, there is a confusing collection of PM certifications available for PM folks. I’ve been asked repeatedly by some HR folks which one is best to support in their environment. Finally, after answering this question informally many times, I’ve put together a little article summarizing my thoughts. Your readers might find it liberating:
“Seven Benefits of Local PM Certification: Why Pursuing Locally-Relevant PM Skills Makes More Sense Than Buying Generic, External PM Certifications” http://michaelgreer.biz/?p=2460
Thanks for all you do!
This article explains why it makes more sense for an HR or training department to create a unique, organization-specific PM (project management) certification program instead of adopting an external PM certification such as those sold by PMI, PRINCE2, etc.
The APM Registered Project Professional (RPP) standard is not about being a project manager. It is about being a project professional.
Candidates must be able to produce evidence to meet the standard. It is pan-sector in that a project professional working in IT, construction, engineering, entertainment, or aerospace can all become RPPs, and they don’t necessarily have to be managing a project.
Successful candidates must, through a portfolio of evidence and a professional review (interview), be able to demonstrate, that they “are able to demonstrate the capabilities of a responsible leader, have the ability to manage a complex project and use appropriate tools, processes and techniques”. This does not mean that they must be project managers, although being a successful, senior project manager makes it easier for most.
In Paul Naybour’s discussion above, what is being discussed is a proposed pathway for an aspiring project manager to pursue, and in particular using the services of his organisation to do it, in this case using APM’s qualifications to provide a structure. Stuart Dixon’s assertion about project office staff (PMO staff) and those of a similar ilk being excluded is erroneous. However, being perfectly competent may still be insufficient to be successful as an RPP.
RPP Assessors are looking for evidence, initially based on APM’s Competence Framework of candidates “successfully satisfying the competence through the management of others”, so success is about satisfying the standard, not a particular position or job role.
During the pilot for RPP, there were approximately 120 candidate participants from a wide variety of industries, sectors and sizes of companies. Overall, there was a success rate of about 65%, and of those there were about 11 candidates that had involvement or interaction with PMOs, while there were about a dozen who had roles relating to PMO management and / or setup.
To apply, there are no specific qualification or education requirements; however, experience of managing others for the RPP core competences and being able to produce sufficient and appropriate evidence within the ‘currency of activity’ requirements is paramount to success.
Further information and guidance can be obtained from APM’s web site (www.apm.org.uk/rpp). There is also an RPP Community on APM’s web site where questions and discussions take place.
John Zachar, FAPM
Product Development Manager for
APM Registered Project Professional
Twitter: parallelproject
Thanks John for answering the questions in an authorative way. As you rightly point out RPP is not a qualification it’s recognition of the competence to practice and as such is not dependant of prior qualifications, although I expect some qualifications along the way would help people develop into full rounded project managers.
I think the PMO profession is quite a different skill set from project managers and as such they are already developing their own development road map with the P3O certification from the APMG. I think a gap still exists for planners, as they fall between the AcostE and the APM. I am not sure how this gap will be closed.
Michael you are right that in many organisations a tailored course targeted at specific issues can be very helpful and these would normally be part of an Academy blend. However the APM approach and RPP in particular give external validity to the benchmarks established in any project academy. The APM structure at lease has the benefit of recognising that behaviours and competence are more important than pure knowledge.
Twitter: ejroden
A couple of points.
The RPP is relevant for individuals capable of managing any complex project – not just ‘the most’ complex projects. The APM provide guidance on what constitutes a ‘complex’ project and there are a wide variety of factors including stakeholders, organisation structure, risk etc. Don’t be put off just because your project budget is not in the multi millions.
Picking up on applicability to the PMO community, I would argue that experienced PMO practitioners can undoubtably achieve the RPP. They often have a wider knowledge base than the programme managers and project managers they support, coach and mentor and their role often provides the opportunity to manage significant aspects of complex projects. This is reinforced by some work I am doing for a large client at the moment – their senior programme managers, project managers and project control managers are all undertaking the same development as it is expected that the project control managers can undertake the role of project and programme managers if required. Although their day to day accountabilities may differ on a day to day basis, it is routed in the same competence set.
Thanks for all your comments above, especially for John from your first hand experience of the RPP standard. I think I am still hung up on the demonstrate the ‘ability to manage a complex project’ part of the statement. As a PMO, I have not managed any project, although I have on occasion deputised for a programme director. So I think I am stuck on how I would demonstrate ability without being able to give you an example of what I have done on the day job. In my role as Portfolio Office Manager, I would have no involvement in the day to day running of a project or programme (complex or not), yet would still consider myself to be a project professional. Again I would find it difficult to demonstrate how I have the ability.
The other issue I have particularly from a PMO perspective is the competency framework from the APM as it is split into Knowledge and Experience. As PMO I was able to score quite highly on Knowledge (in fact this week I am re-writing the Project Management Standards for the company along with representatives from the Project Manager and Quality Manager communities). However as I am not ‘managing’ any projects then I scored quite low on the Experience side. At the PMOSIG event a couple of years ago when the entire conference did the competency framework the average score was D-Project Support, which doesn’t sound a high enough score to get through the standard.
Perhaps I am just a doubter, and will only be convinced when I see a PMO professional, who has not been a project/programme manager get the standard. I know this is early days for this standard, and I don’t want John to name names, but I would like reassurance that someone who has chosen PMO as a profession, could get recognition that they are also a RPP.
I will go and read the APM site to find out more. Perhaps that will allay my fears.
Stuart
Twitter: parallelproject
Interesting I have just watched the video from the APM and a wide range of job description seem to be coming forward as RPP including change managers and business development directors. So maybe the criteria are slightly wider than we original interpreted.