The 'P' In PMP: Are We Really A Profession?

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.

 

There are some interesting discussions afoot about project management these days. Possibly the one I find most intriguing, and that seems to engage the most passionate opinions for and against, is whether project management is really a profession.

The Project Management Institute has long used the tag line "Building professionalism in project management." Not an unworthy goal, considering that "professional" behavior is a quality most of us look for in those doing work for us. An interesting allusion to the more concrete types of projects if you read the word "building" in a certain way, but certainly not a statement to take much exception with.

Last year saw the 35th anniversary of PMI, along with the claim of "35 Years Advocating The Profession." This latest slug implies an interesting shift--with the loss of a vowel and a consonant, we've made the leap from doing project management in a "conscientious and generally businesslike manner in the workplace" (to quote one take on professional, as described by Merriam-Webster) to an implication of "conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession."

All of this begs a number of questions: Are we a profession, really? When did this happen? And do we know and accept the implications of what being a profession really means?

At this point you might be asking yourself what the point of this debate is. Does …

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