Is PM really a profession?
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by Humberto Ramos
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We were trying to communicate to a reluctant department, the importance to join efforts in a wide enterprise endeavor. We identified that their participation was key to the project success. After several intents to communicate our message to them, they understood that we were persistent and were not going to stop pushing the message, then finally One of their executives stated: “We will send one of our PM part time to your project, on the mornings, so he can come back in the afternoon to report to us any decision that we must make”…
…a bad start… It is not difficult to predict that this, so called “PM”, arrived to the project just to absorb as much information as possible, so he could return to his bosses to report and wait for orders. He was a "watch only" PM, with a little extra of making reports and reporting to his hierarchy… Some may say that he was executing two very important PM functions: “Supervision and Reporting”.
Why to invest in costly PMs… If any of us can do it?
Is PM really a profession?. Do not precipitate in answering; is not so obvious. Anyone of us have made a bunch of projects… personal projects… finalizing school, buying a car, organizing a party, etc. If Project management is so pervasive, then it could be like a commodity, with low value, and with no training or specializing required, because… all of us are already a PM… does not we?.. We were born PM. Being a PM is a human innate characteristic.
Do we need to pay good money (much) to a PM for a thing that any of us can do?,
Please comment what you think…
Posted on: January 06, 2016 05:14 PM |
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Comments (8)
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
It all depends what type of organization structure you have in place.
Well, if my understanding is correct, then the subject organization has a Weak Matrix or Functional where the PM is basically a Project Expediter as he is not full time and has no Authority over any decisions, not even a project coordinator.
The pay for a PM doing coordination should definitely not be the same as that performing in a Strong Matrix or Projectorized Structure.
If every one of us is PM and every is able to manage their part well no need for someone to manage outside. If it comes collaborating and coordinating between all these "everyone", who can do it called PM. It is well said on a high level but on ground we need a person, who is trained in doing PM's job.
Gina Abudi
President| Abudi Consulting LLC
Amherst, Nh, United States
I have seen a number of articles regarding whether PMs are a profession over the years. Some argue that only if they hold a PMP they are (though I don't agree with that as a PMP is not an indication of being a competent project manager) and others say project managers would be a profession if they had something akin to certification as an engineer does. It sounds more to me that in this situation you describe the organization doesn't really value project management as it should.
Dave Davis
Senior Project Manager| Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Springboro, Oh., United States
Project Management, as any position that the market recognizes, is a profession, PMP recognizes that you understand a certain framework and a set of practices that allow organization to develop products and services. Any work endeavor requires a set of interfaces and work flows to achieve the outcome. If the organization chooses to have an individual responsible for managing that, then the organization chooses to staff a title as a project manager, if the organization chooses not to staff that title, that doesn't mean the position is not a profession.
I think the question here is if a position that performs project management functions (optimizes the interfaces and workflows without actually conducting all the work) is the best value for the organization. I believe that a PM's combination of business knowledge and application of PM tools and techniques brings a significant business benefit. The question isn't if PMs are costly, the question should be if they bring value to the overall organization.
Sergio Luis Conte
Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Something is recognized as a profession when it has some characteristics:1-full-time occupation,2-a training school, 3-a university school, 4-a local association, 5-a national association, 6-codes of professional ethics, 6-state licensing laws. So, project management is not a profession. That is not the same to say that you are embrasing an activity as a professional. About to pay or not the debate is not in the field of project management. Is in the field of economic theory and more specifi inside the value theory. Nobody will pay for somethig that is not valuable. And to demostrate that project managerment is valuable is a matter of each of us that embrace project management and program management activity as a professional.
Stéphane Parent
Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker
Prince Edward Island, Canada
As far as the scenario you presented, Humberto, I would say: Just because someone is called a project manager, does not mean that person is doing project management.
As for the bigger question. Every project is unique and temporary. Some are small; some are big. Each project will required different depth and breadth of management. Sure, an average person can plan and set up a wedding party and say they managed a project. That doesn't make them a project manager.
A project manager is someone who wishes to be identified as someone who's focus is on managing projects. Not only are they willing to dedicate their efforts and time to this discipline but they are committed to learning and improving in those skills.
Interesting, whether project management is a profession. Technically, it conforms with the generally accepted definition of a living with a set of standards and guidance to ensure conformity, with criteria for interfacing with community.
Kiran Kumar
Transformation Management Office
Viernheim, Germany
In your scenario, you mention the department will send a part time PM to your project, does that mean that the part time PM is running that project or they are just stakeholders. If it is the former, then I believe it is a scary situation for the organization to not understand project management. If it is the latter then I guess there has to be a good stakeholder management in place so as to engage with this department.
Now regarding whether project management is a profession or not....just looked up in the Cambridge dictionary and saw this "any ?type of ?work that ?needs ?special ?training or a ?particular ?skill, often one that is ?respected because it ?involves a high ?level of ?education", and I thought hmm that makes project management a profession. Then I read this "jobs that need ?special ?training and ?skill, such as being a ?doctor or ?lawyer, but not ?work in ?business or ?industry". So I guess it is not, it would be scary if we had part-time doctors/ lawyers or new doctors/ lawyers who have no clue and have to be trained on the job and mentored. just saying :)
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