What Does Professional Project Management Look Like? (Part 1)

Linda, good discussion, 1. because we as potential professionals of PM have not yet agreed on what the profession is and 2. because there exists a lot of confusion which inhibits progress (lack of standards, alignment, common language).
If we compare ourselves to established, regulated and accepted professions like lawyers, doctors etc., we can see that they also are quite diverse but they have a common sustainable core, call it the culture, ethics or beliefs, which unifies them as a tribe, but also differentiates them from other professions. This core has been codified and made mandatory.
We can be quite positive, since the PM profession is young compared to others. And it may be the last profession to be created, given the increased speed of change.

BTW, PMI in 1983 defined a profession as having 4 components: body of knowledge, certification, code of ethics and an institute.

Posted: Jun 5, 2016 5:53 AM

Thanks Thomas, Defining the 'sustainable core' is the key - and then getting general agreement.... this will need more than just PMI members to establish a consensus. PMI's 1983 definition of a 'profession' is probably not sufficient on its own - this is discussed in 'Part 2'.

Posted: Jun 5, 2016 6:29 AM

I liked the comparison made by Thomas with other professions. To me , this looks like a key point to consider in going forward .One common element we can notice in these professions is the 'practice' element and how this is woven so well before anybody is considered certified or 'genuine' . As project managers we need to explore this area. While knowledge based certifications have their place as a starting point , we need to focus on certification / accreditation of professionals that can be deemed to deliver and have a track record of actual performance. This will pave the way for having mandatory requirements for large value and public projects to be managed by only certified ( practice oriented ) professionals .

There could be a difficulty in having 'one fit applies to all' for approach for projects when certifying practice based professionals . To consider an example a 3 month project for developing a mobile app for a phone is quite different than a in the aerospace industry in terms of skills and complexity .One solution is to use the current knowledge of classification / complexity of projects as an aid when it comes to certifying individuals based on practice . The lead for this could be possibly taken by PM bodies like PMI /IPMA etc along with SIGs / Industry associations .

Benchmarking with other professions particularly , Chartered / Certified accountants , Architects , Doctors would be useful .

Posted: Jun 10, 2016 7:31 AM

The key question is 'what practice?' defines PM Raju - the practices of an 'Agile team' are very different to the team building a $multi-million power station. Accountants have had 'double entry' bookkeeping since the 14th century (and only account money), Doctors heal the sick and have had the Hippocratic Oath for some 3000 years. There will be some ideas on this in 'Part 2'.......

Posted: Jun 10, 2016 7:59 PM

@ Linda Bourne....well, It is a very nice topic raised by you, Ms. Linda...Thanks for that...

The Key Question you said is "What Practice" ???

We all knew that Practice of managing the different types of Projects are depending on the project complexity, project location, project team members who located centrally or globally....external or internal factors affecting the projects....also it depends on the types of projects handling by the organizations...like...

If one organization is having a common type of projects like installation of Wind Mill...in this case, they can apply a common practice of handling the projects....

But in case of if any organization is having different types of projects then, the PM who is responsible for delivery of the project has to freeze the common practice for handling the entire projects till the delivery completion.

As you said in your post...Agile team is having different practice...than the team is using waterfall approach...right !!!

So, I think the selection of right practice totally depends on the types of projects, project duration, organization culture, external & internal factors....market condition...etc...

So...Thanks for the nice topic raised and thank you, Mr. Thomas & Mr. Raju, for describing the topics beautifully...


Posted: Jun 14, 2016 3:52 AM

If you are correct Hitesh, there is no such thing as 'project management' there are dozens of different type of project management for all of the different types of project. I don't believe this is correct and have suggested some core elements of professional practice in Part 2 of this series published today.

Lynda.

Posted: Jun 14, 2016 6:49 AM

Well, I have been gone through the Part-2....I respect your study on Project Management....

In my view...Project Management is driven by different - different methodologies....
like Agile, Prince2, PMBOK, etc....

These methodologies are not any kind of magic....that you can use that in your project and your project will get succeed overnight...All these methods are there to guide us...how to move forward in different - different project situations...

Still it depends on us...how we can modify the method according to project situation or nature....

In my view, Whatever you have suggested in Part-2 are elements of Project Management even you can have a look of PMBOK, Prince2, Agile, etc...

So there are differences in thinking only....we can also say...those factors you have mentioned in Part-2 as core elements of professional practice....

Thanks for your guidance....Ms. Lynda



Posted: Jun 14, 2016 7:48 AM

Hitesh,
Some doctors are surgeons, some are anesthetists and they all apply different processes and methodologies, but every doctor understands the core tenets of being a doctor. If project management cannot define the core tenets of being a project manager, it will never be a profession. If as you are suggesting Agile is so different to PRINCE2 then there are 'agilists and PRINCE2ers and neither are project managers because there are no common functions in the middle that apply to all. I think you are wrong and I think the short term commercial imperatives driving consultants to continually come up with 'new and completely different' methodologies for commercial gain is destructive to the development of the 'project management profession'.
Lynda.

Posted: Jun 14, 2016 7:35 PM

Thank you for your post. Frankly speaking I don't get it fully. In my opinion, there is no such a thing to define clear role or functionality to be a project manager. When I studied project management with PMBOK Guide for PMP Exam, I liked to use concept of "iterative" or "incremental" in outputs of relevant processes to apply to evolution of this profession. We can't clearly define our functionalities for far future endeavor which may require to be an effective project manager. And this may apply to all professions not only to project managers. There might be general rules or roles for each profession which might be acknowledged as good practices in certain current timeframes but not for good. We study generally acknowledged practices which might be introduced or structured in many standards like in PMBOK guide but it is hard to foresee how much change will occur in those standards in the next 20 years or more. We just can do whatever we can on an iterative or incremental manner for the evolution of our profession.

However I like your post because it initiates something different way to think of my understanding to this profession.

Thanks a lot.

Park

Posted: Jun 15, 2016 3:53 PM

Methodologies used by a professional and the profession are two completely different things - The Hippocratic Oath and has been in place for more than 2000 years, the methodologies and sub-disciplines within the medical profession have changed many times and continue to change. I suggest you read Part 2 of these posts Sungjoon.

Posted: Jun 15, 2016 5:32 PM

Good Article! Do you think that acceptance of PM as a profession will change public perception. I do not want to be rude. But I would definitely like to quote some people who say " Project Management! Anybody can be a project manager by clearing an examination/test after a month of training/reading a few chapters from a book". This clearly shows their ignorance, but many a times, they are part of upper management wielding decision-making power and authority.

Posted: Jun 16, 2016 4:22 PM

Difficult question to answer Rajinder. If the managers you refer to appoint PMs on the basis they suggest is adequate (and pay accordingly) they will never see a professional PM working to the benefit of the organisation and will be proved correct in their minds. Other more mature organisations that make effective use of skilled professionals will, of course, be more successful. I start looking at this in Part 2

Posted: Jun 16, 2016 5:33 PM

@ Lynda Bourne...thank you very much for your comment...I am not agree with your statement....you have to create different streategy against different kinds of project....there may not any profession available where you will find the specific rule...

So you may be correct for your kind of job...but is may not apply on others....

Thanks for the wonderful topic raised....

Posted: Jun 22, 2016 8:42 AM

Hi Lynda. Hi Hitesh.

I go with Lynda - there is a common ground regardless if you go traditional (I like that more than "waterfall", since there is seldom real waterfall except in some special regulated areas - and even not there, if you look closer) or agile. It does not depend on strategies to do a project. If you look upon house building - there are also different methodologies / stragegies depending if you use wood, stone or concrete or even mud for building a house. So we have to look more abstract on the common ground. I think Thomas Walenta summarized it perfectly in a comment to part 2. Maybe common ground can be broadend, widening that summary.
Also the Hypocratic Oath is a very high abstraction if that would be the only common ground for doctors - but there's more, isn't it.


Posted: Jun 30, 2016 4:42 AM

Hi Linda et al......
I did my PhD researching the question "IS project management a profession and if not, what is it" http://www.build-project-management-competency.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/P.Giammalvo_PHDthesis_2008.pdf

My work was a follow on piece of research which CONFIRMED and VALIDATED previous work by Bill Zwerman and Janice Thomas which concluded "project management is not now, nor is it likely eve be a profession". While Zwerman, Thomas et al used a QUALITATIVE approach, and used teaching and medicine as the case studies, in my research, I took a QUANTITATIVE approach and looked at commercial aircraft pilots and construction project managers.

From my research, we find there are not only 4 but some 22 intrinsic and extrinsic attributes which go into any occupation EARNING sufficient respect to be known as a "profession" and project management only scores about 34% ot of a possible score of 100%.

The "KILLERS" preventing project management from ever becoming a "profession" are:
1) first and foremost, project management is a PROCESS and that process is very much context or application specific. That is, the PROCESSES of project management already are built into every existing profession and trade, which makes it impossible to parse the PROCESS from the APPLICATION of those processes. (Except at the very highest conceptual level, the process to fly a plane from City A to City B are totally different from the processes to design and construct a bridge or removed an inflamed appendix.

2) In order for the body of knowledge to count it must be somehow "unique" or "controllable" which is why law and medicine use Latin or Greek terminology. Explained another way, if everybody has access to the "common knowledge" and is able to "speak the lingo" and apply the tools and techniques then three is no way to control who is able to apply the processes.

3) In order for an occupation to become a profession, the practitioner MUST be able to apply his/her professional judgement to make decisions which are INDEPENDENT and are in the best interests not of the Boss or Client but of the CONSUMING PUBLIC. Definitely project managers in most OWNER companies don't have this level of AUTONOMY in decision making, however, in many CONTRACTOR organizations, project managers do have near total P&L responsibility and the authority that goes with it.

4) The flip side of autonomy in decision making is the legal and financial accountability which goes with making "poor" decisions which cause or result in damages.

There are some 18 additional attributes but these are the top 4.

This anecdote sums up the semantic trap we have created for ourselves:

Tiger Woods is unquestionably a talented golfer. One would be very hard-put
to dispute the obvious, which that he is very competent at what he does,
perhaps one of the best ever.

Therefore he meets the first test of being a
professional (n)  skill and competence.

In fact, he is sufficiently competent
that he makes a very handsome living performing for pay what most of us
consider a hobby; hence, applying the second criterion, he meets the
earnings test to be considered a professional (n). He is not an amateur.

Having met both tests (highly competent and earning a living at what most do
for a hobby) entitles him to be termed a professional (adj.) golfer.

However, just because Tiger Woods meets the criteria to be called both a
professional (n) and a professional (adj) golfer, golf does not qualify as a
profession, although Woods might call it his profession (his paid job).

It is no wonder that many in the community of practice of project management
confuse what is means to belong to a profession. There is the tendency to make the
connection that if they are in fact professional (extremely competent) in the way they
work, then what they do must, by association, be considered a profession. This is
false logic and a semantic trap easily fallen into.

Bottom line on this, given that not one but two credible published papers have refuted c;aims that project management is a profession and given that at least in the USA the Federal Trade Commission Act requires that advertising must meet 3 criteriaUnder the Federal Trade Commission Act https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/advertising-faqs-guide-small-business

Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive;
Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and
Advertisements cannot be unfair.

I cannot understand why the "member/owners" of PMI or any other organization trying to claim project management is a profession are willing to violate their code of ethics by allowing the professional organizations who represent them to make what are clearly false and misleading claims.

BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta, Indonesia

Posted: Aug 11, 2016 6:38 AM

Paul, you have outlined a perfect description of the 18th century model of professions - one of the questions posted in this and the second (Part 2) article is 'does the 18th century model of a 'profession' still apply?'. For example, professional medical bodies no longer determine the body of knowledge for their 'profession' - the FDA and a range of other government entities have far more weight.

Posted: Aug 12, 2016 5:51 PM

Linda, you've hit on a rather sore point about the government agencies in general and the US FDA in particular which serves to illustrate exactly why the current trend towards government intervention is wrong and determining what occupations have earned the right to be recognized as professions is one that should be left up to the end user- the consuming public....

My wife was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, meaning she probably had less than a year to live. What did we do? We researched options and found out that in China, they have been offering "state of the art" minimally invasive treatment for over 5 years now that the US FDA still is in clinical trials with and won't be done and issue their "approval" for another 4-5 years. We opted for what in the USA is "not approved" and it has worked and worked well. So what's the point? That GOVERNMENT AGENCIES (i.e. UK's Privy Council) should NOT be the ones making decisions about what is and what is NOT a profession. That decision, like which medical treatments a person feels they need or want, should be left up to the CONSUMING PUBLIC to decide and not the government, based on lobbying by professional organizations to decide. (Eliot Friedson noted that "professions differ from trade unions only in their sanctimoniousness")

And while this Dilbert cartoon may be funny, http://dilbert.com/strip/2011-11-22 it points out EXACTLY how the "consuming public" views project management.

You may also find these HBR articles to be of some interest, having been published after the work of Zwerman et al in 2004 and my own dissertation in early 2008.
Khuranna and Nhoria (2008) https://hbr.org/2008/10/its-time-to-make-management-a-true-profession
Barker (2010) https://hbr.org/2010/07/the-big-idea-no-management-is-not-a-profession
Jeffrey Pfeffer (2011) https://hbr.org/2011/09/management-a-profession-wheres-the-proof

I mean if MANAGEMENT is not a profession then how can anyone rationally claim that project management is a profession?

Bottom line- I can only suggest that you take a look at my research and look at all 22 attributes, in particular the 3 INTRINSIC attributes associated with an occupation being accepted as a profession- "Cruciiality", "Denoument" and "Mystique" and instead of trying to get professional organizations like PMI or APM to lobby governments to declare project management to be a profession why not let the consuming public decide?

BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta, Indonesia



Posted: Aug 12, 2016 8:05 PM

PS Linda et al, you still didn't address the question of how to parse the PROCESSES of project management (Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control and Close) from the context or application of those processes, which are already embedded in all existing professions as well as the trades.

Are you trying to argue that a commercial pilot would now need to get two licenses or credentials? One that validates his/her ability to actually fly the plane and a second one that attests to his/her ability to "Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control an Close the flight plan?

Surely the absurdity of this should be patently obvious?

Explained another way, my PROFESSION is Civil Engineering and I use or apply the project management processes as the DELIVERY METHOD OF CHOICE to produce what my clients need or want. And this same analogy applies to every other profession be it medicine, commercial aircraft piloting or teaching..... You cannot "professioalize" the process alone without looking at the CONTEXT or APPLICATION of those processes...

BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta, Indonesia



Posted: Aug 12, 2016 8:15 PM