After Certification Comes Reality: Where Do We Go From Here?

Mark Mullaly is president of Interthink Consulting Incorporated, an organizational development and change firm specializing in the creation of effective organizational project management solutions. Since 1990, it has worked with companies throughout North America to develop, enhance and implement effective project management tools, processes, structures and capabilities. Mark was most recently co-lead investigator of the Value of Project Management research project sponsored by PMI. You can read more of his writing at markmullaly.com.

  Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)  

The last few months of this column have been devoted to an exploration of certification options available to project managers. One of the greatest distinctions that I have drawn between what current certifications such as the PMP offer and what should be expected by the marketplace is competence--the empirically demonstrated ability to manage projects well, rather than simply the demonstrated knowledge of the project management function.

In its current form, the PMP is an evaluation of knowledge only. While many who have written in response to these columns have asserted that the experience requirements of the PMP certification process should suffice with respect to competence, the reality is that no where does the application ask how well the projects we were involved with were managed, whether the project delivered on their intended results or even if a recognized process was adhered to.

The comments I did receive, however, made me start to ask some questions. Once we have attained our certifications, how many of us actually manage projects according to a process that would be recognizably compliant with the PMBOK?

How many of us adhere to any process at all? Do we actually develop a work breakdown structure and from there build a bottom-up estimate, or do we instead develop an activity schedule that theoretically delivers to the …

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