I am always amazed that so many professionals offer project management services but do not cover all the parts of this profession. For example, managing staff and resources is considered a “complete” project management service for too many people in various industries. And even though resource management is a part of project management, it is not all of it. Project management requires expertise in many areas, including scope development, budgeting and scheduling, quantity management, and risk analysis, among others.
Professional project managers who have been trained in this field and have the appropriate experience can effectively and efficiently execute any project, so I am a big proponent of both training and certification as a requirement for using the designation of “project manager.” Otherwise, the field and its parts get diluted into something more of a project coordinator. For example, many people engaged in project management work, as defined within their internal organizations, cannot and have never prepared a scope, budget, or schedule. They may be able to read them and determine whether the project is staying within the pre-approved baselines, but they are not as knowledgeable as someone who has prepared these parts of a project.
I do not necessarily subscribe to the idea that project managers must be certified. Certification alone or even cursory training will not turn any individual into a great manager; experience is also required. However, I believe that some level of standardization and knowledge is needed for a project manager to perform their work effectively and, therefore, provide the professional services their clients need and deserve. And this is nothing new. In the U.S., for example, doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists, nurses, electricians, etc., need to prove that they know what they are doing, which is achieved by passing state board exams and establishing that they have the requisite experience. Lawyers have the bar exam; nurses are board-certified; engineers have specific licenses, etc.
Another benefit of training and certifying project managers is that they will have the ability to make sound recommendations regarding project management frameworks, such as waterfall or Agile. Additionally, a trained project manager can analyze project concerns, such as risk, procurement (contracting), and stakeholder management, which is something that non-certified professionals do not clearly understand and, therefore, do not include in their management work nor do they identify and find workarounds in the planning stage of a project.
At PM Workshops, all our staff is trained, certified and have the experience to provide consulting and training services to our clients and their teams on how to execute successful projects that are done on time, within budget, and have the safeguards in place from the start to respond to risks, manage changing resources and scopes, and engage staff and other stakeholders to meet key performance indicators. Therefore, if you are planning for a new project or need help with an existing one, don’t hesitate to contact our staff for an initial consultation. We will be happy to assist you.
