Melissa LipinskiSoftware Developer/AnalystTannum Sands, Australia
I am applying for a Master of Systems Development degree majoring in project management. The degree is a combination of university subjects and industry certifications. My current role is as a software developer/analyst, but I am a project manager of a large project. I find I do more project management than software development. The degree contains the following certifications:
PMI® Project Management Professional, ITIL® Fundamentals Foundation, ITIL® Practitioner in Release and Control or ITIL® Practitioner in Support and Restore.
I have already completed a Diploma of Project Management in 2005, and looking to further my qualifications. I am new to ITIL. Is it worth studying ITIL and can I use it in project management?
George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Melissa, ITIL/ITSM deals mostly with the operational activities and less with projects, unless they are projects to implement ITIL/ITSM for an organization. I would say that you have to make a choice in which side you would like to be, getting new things implemented or “keeping the lights on”.
Personally, I found useful to get only my ITIL Foundations certification, to demonstrate my understanding of the operational concepts and open up the market of managing releases of system upgrades (treated as projects by most organizations). For brand new systems development I did not find much applicability.
Saving Changes...
Melissa - after you've spent time in the implementation of new things wars - running what you've delivered should be simple. If you understand the "what" of the projects, keeping the lights on shouldn't be a challenge. Besides - once you've been in trench warfare - HQ is boring. Saving Changes...
Bipin Lekshmanan PMPProject Manager| Wipro TechnologiesEdison, Nj, United States
education is never a waste. You can always tailor the frameworks to your situations and awareness of multiple models would only help- if your current life situation permits it. Saving Changes...
ITIL is moderately interesting. I for one only decided to do the foundation cert just to solidify some knowledge I had. The test was a joke, took me 8 mins and I scored a 100% on it.
Have you thought about just doing an MBA program at a local university and taking the certifications on your own? Saving Changes...
I recommend learning ITIL, especially at Practitioner level, because the processes give guidance on evaluating the risk of changes to the IT environment, release management and how to support the product once it's live. In some ways, ITIL has a 'cult' status, that is, organistions that have adopted it will highly favour your certifications. For those who haven't, well at least you know of some processes that can assist, especially where immature support processes may already exist. Having an understanding of good support processes will compliment your PM certs.
There is also ITIL Managers level certification but I'd only recommend that if you plan to implement ITIL/ITSM.
Saving Changes...
Owen WernerIT Service Manager| Vector LimitedAuckland, New Zealand
ITIL is very good to know, as it helps when defineing the operations team requirements (especially in process mature organisations). PMI and Prince2 show you PM methods and tools, however I have found them weak on transition to production and on going support needs. This is where ITIL comes in. The key items in ITIL that should be incorporated into projects are Service level management, capacity, change and replease management, in addition to the normal 'helpdesk' procedures. Most of these items are considered non functional requirements but are most often than not just given a brief consideration. At a minimum I would suggest ITIL foundation certification if you want to have a career in project management. Saving Changes...
You guys are putting entirely to much faith into ITIL in regards to project management. The statement 'needing' ITIL background or certifications in order to have a career in project management is completely false. ITIL is a framework for IT service and delivery. If you are not doing any IT related projects then there's no purpose to study ITIL. Even working in IT projects you will hardly ever call upon knowledge of a service desk to work through a project... unless of course your project is to implement something under the ITIL framework. I don't want to see Melissa put getting her PMP on the side to work on her Red Badge and expect to improve on her PM skills. Saving Changes...
Justin, I did not say Melissa 'must study ITIL' nor did I post 'needs do study ITIL', I said ITIL would compliment her PM knowledge and experience. If you review her original post, she is working in IT so gaining some knowledge of ITIL would be beneficial.
In her post, I do not see any reference to Melissa asking to choose between PMP or ITIL. She just asks about ITIL.
Specifically she asked 'Is it worth studying ITIL and can I use it in project management?' Everyone pretty much agreed that any education is beneficial and it always helps. George hit it on the head with his post and I was backing that up. She did basically ask if it was worth studying for... and I would say if you want to do PM work and you do not have your PMP then no it's not worth studying for and she should knock out her PMP prior to bothering with ITIL. Saving Changes...
Melissa LipinskiSoftware Developer/AnalystTannum Sands, Australia
Thanks for all of the replies and advice. I will study the ITIL to the Practitioner level to gain knowledge, but my main focus will be the project management certifications and subjects.
