Project Management

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Is Project Management a true

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Don Kim PROJECT-TO-PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT EXPERT| Seeking opportunities Sacramento, CA, United States
A quite heated discussion got spawned on a Yahoo group and I noticed a thread on this site also discussed this heatedly. I think project management is a "growing" about to be profession and that the PMP certification is the best first step towards this.



Below is an excerpt from the discussion:




--- In [email protected], "Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo, PMP, CCE" wrote:
This hypothesis was born out by my own PhD dissertaion, which followed up on research done by Bill Zwerman, Janet Thomas et al, and funded in part by PMI. In Zwerman's research (which was published by PMI) they concluded "Project management is not now, nor is it likely in the near future, to qualify as
a profession".




Though I think the above statement is a bit too strong, you do definitely bring up some valid points. In the final analysis, if I were pressed to provide a more valid definition of project management, I guess I'd say its not a "profession" in the strict sense as doctor, lawyer, or engineer is, but is more a discipline that is a sub discipline of the overall profession we know as "Management".



For example, I have recently seen the increase of project management as a specialization of certain MBA programs, and MBA programs are generally known for developing individuals who will go on to work in the profession of business management. And in general, it is widely held notion that a person who has acquired the general knowledge of business administration and management taught in MBA programs, would be able to apply this knowledge to any industry, since the general practices have been proven to be valid irrespective of the industry to which it is applied to (e.g., marketing, accounting, finance, etc. would be readily applicable whether the business is selling hamburgers or silicon chips).



In addition, though I am no historian in this subject, my feeling is that prior to the acceptance of these principles, that most people who were promoted into a general management position, usually proved themselves highly capable in some technical area, got promoted to start managing people in that particular technical area, and moved higher up till they became what we would typically know as executive managers.



I would imagine that a couple things happened, 1) people throughout industries found that what managers were doing, were similar throughout industries, and 2) the way they were applying them were erratic and unsystematic. No doubt college and universities caught on to this, and developed programs to teach a unified approach to the profession of management.



Likewise, a similar event is occurring in the project management (still developing) profession or discipline to be more strict to modern definitions. ;) Any project management text will tell you in the introduction that the field as we know it started probably during the development of the "Manhattan Project" and later grew from the defense field to engineering and construction.



But I would say it was the last 10-15 years that the trajectory for the growth of project management has really come to fruition. It was the rise of Information Technology and the need to manage projects to set up IT infrastructure and departmental projects that has really given prominence to the importance of managing projects well.



And when you look at the parallels to how general management techniques developed, it is quite striking. Most everyone who are project managers were people who displayed high technical competence, and once they reach the peak of their technical abilities (which is typically pretty fast in IT/software), they were usually promoted to the role of "project manager".



Likewise, because of this some pretty big problems occurred: 1) Project Mangers were not applying well know principles and methodologies (if they apply any at all) to their projects; 2) Just because someone exhibits excellent technical skills, does not automatically translate to good management skills; 3) Finally, the demand for training in project management best practices and methodologies were born and is growing.



To me, the PMI and the PMP certification process is currently the most widely accepted and most unified development into turning project management into a "profession" or discipline that I've seen to date.



Will project management ever reach the status of a true profession? I think it might, and developments such as PMI's PMP to me is a good first step.



This does not mean it is without problems. All the issues this thread has pointed out are all valid, and in addition, to me, the PMBOK is still mired in the old serial, command and control linear movement assumption of managing more traditional engineering and construction projects, and is not agile enough for the kinds of fast moving high tech products and services being built today (On this note, the PMBOK does acknowledge that not requirements are know up front and do emphasize progressive elaboration or "rolling wave" planning. A aspect the Agile/Scrum evangelist always miss when bashing PMBOK).



Thus I welcome anything that helps with the development of project management which I'm engaged with on a daily basis, to be one day held in regard to a "profession" in the strict sense of the term.



What do you all think?



-Don Kim

www.donkim.info
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Don Kim PROJECT-TO-PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT EXPERT| Seeking opportunities Sacramento, CA, United States
Sorry, the title got truncated. The title of the post is



"Is Project Management a true 'Profession'?"



Thanks.



-Don Kim

www.donkim.info
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Dave Garrett
PMI Team Member
Senior Advisor to the CEO| PMI Sterling, Va, United States
I think offically the only thing its missing is the licensing requirement (or option, depending on who you talk to) - at least according to the Wikipedia definition.


A profession is an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science is applied.[1] It is usually applied to occupations that involve prolonged academic training and a formal qualification. It is axiomatic that "professional activity involves systematic knowledge and proficiency."[2] Professions are usually regulated by professional bodies that may set examinations of competence, act as an licensing authority for practitioners, and enforce adherence to an ethical code of practice.


I also think that its important to understand how people treat it. The vast majority of people consider it a role they play as part of their job. Then you have consultants and career project managers who look at it as their "profession". So some consider themselves project management professionals, but most do not.

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Don Kim PROJECT-TO-PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT EXPERT| Seeking opportunities Sacramento, CA, United States
Dave Garrett wrote:

I also think that its important to understand how people treat it. The vast majority of people consider it a role they play as part of their job. Then you have consultants and career project managers who look at it as their "profession". So some consider themselves project management professionals, but most do not.

This is an excellent point and is something other more well regarded professions such as doctors and lawyers don't encounter. As most would not treat being a medical doctor as just a "role" they do as part of their jobs with no need for a licensing requirement least they desire going to prison!



Its unlikely that project management would ever be able to obtain such a level of professional status, unless it was for a specific, highly regulated industry perhaps? For example, some licensing requirement to manage projects that build life critical medical devices, or something like that.



-Don Kim

www.donkim.info
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George Jucan Managing Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers Network Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Well, I do not think that we’re so far away from Project Management to be recognized as a profession. Yes, PM is taught as a concentration in some MBA programs, but there are also MSc and PhD programs in Project Management that demonstrate a clear understanding in the academia that this is something different than general management. If we look back, even IT/IS started as Computer Science under Mathematics and as Software Engineering under Electrical Engineering.

Not to sing praise to PMI, but (beside PMP) the Code of Ethics is also a very significant step forward to be recognized as a profession – it’s only missing real enforceability. There are also significant efforts in the community to standardize project management roles definition, another significant step toward universal recognition across industries.

One last food for thought: ISO is in the process of creating an international standard in Project Management, having between participants United States, Great Britain and Australia – the traditional “power houses” in project management. So we could soon see an “ISO xxxxx” certification in project management – and from there to acceptance as a profession I would say the path is clear.

To conclude in an optimistic note: I probably still have about 15-20 years in my working life, and I certainly have great hope to retire a “professional”!
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Selva Saravana Puvananthiran Delivery Lead Senior Manager| Accenture Solutions Private Limited Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

The real question should be whether or not Project Management is a profession; it should be a question of whether the so called "professionals" pursue and treat project management as a profession. Let me ask you a question: Is "Movie Direction" a profession? I would say yes. Could he be an expert in all aspects of a directing movie? Mostly not. He is the one who brings a musician, story writer, camera crew, casting people together to bring about a good movie. In that sense, a Project Manager is pretty much a person responsible for bringing different talents together and execute a project successfully.


I believe why are we asking this is partly because of various people out there trying to become a project manager and prepare for certifications like PMP, CAPM etc., and market themselves as project managers. I remember that one time, I met a person who is attending a bootcamp for PMP exam. After talking for a while, I came to know that he does not even know the expansion for PMP. As long as we treat this PMP certification as any other technical certifications, the value of project manager would be questioned.


IMHO, I would call anyone a professional (in turn everything that we do as a profession) if they pursue anything with REAL PASSION. Passion holds the key always.


My two cents...


Thanks,
Magesh.
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Donald Hennington New York, Ny, United States
Magesh raises a valid point. When we act professionally, are we participants in a profession? IMHO I believe project management is a discipline. We learn management - project management is a subset of those more general activities.

For those who remember the earlier years of management - we were all asked to perform project management - we were given tasks, schedules, budgets, etc. We were expected to manage them. Many times quite successfully. Project Management as a discipline is the codification of those generally accepted management activities that consistently produce successful delivery.
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George Jucan Managing Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers Network Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Don brought up an interesting idea regarding when a profession is really accepted as such by the community (not only by practitioners that consider themselves professionals): having to be licensed to practice a profession. Maybe if that was the case we would have more successful projects! It is true that projects are more and more complex, facing significantly increased challenged now than even 5-10 years ago, but it is also true that many are assigned to manage projects without having the knowledge, skills and experience to do so.


While we all practice medicine at home when applying a BandAid over a small cut or we take a kid’s temperature and give an Advil or Tylenol, I certainly enjoy the idea that the person I go to if the fever keeps up is a licensed medical doctor. Why would be different with project management? Anybody can do (and does) “home” project management with personal tasks and small “projects”, but when it’s serious it should be done by professionals – licensed as project managers – to make sure it is done right.


This opens a whole new can of worms, regarding the licensing body. While PMI is probably the largest as membership and global spread, it is not unquestionably recognized by all project managers even within North America. Plus that the regulatory aspect implies governmental involvement, which normally does not react unless it’s a clear and direct impact on large numbers of taxpayers/voters so it may take some time to get them involved.
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George Jucan Managing Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers Network Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Sorry, actually Dave was the first one on this discussion raising the licensing issue.
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Anonymous
I think Project Management IS a career. I am a Project Manager but I don't have the PMP certification... however, I DO have five PMPs working as project leads but reporting to ME because they don't have the foggiest notion how to manage a project. So then, what is the 'worth' of the certification? Not much. I think the Six Sigma Blackbelt certifications are worth a lot more, at least they teach you statistical analysis!
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Dave Garrett
PMI Team Member
Senior Advisor to the CEO| PMI Sterling, Va, United States
Of course it's a career for those people like you, who consider it the focus of what they do. In my earlier post I was just outlining the technical definition of "profession" and identifying a gap. I think that the PMP exams certify you in the PMI way of managing projects. I also think that PMI is working hard toward a general agreement that this (some form of the PMBOK approach) is the way that ALL projects should be managed. If they can get enough general agreement and some form of government involvement (I think that George was thinking of the way that States have a "Board of Medical Examiners" that license doctors, etc.) that you can have licensing.


Right now PMI is working on "getting organizations to attribute their success" to project management. That's a step in the right direction, but also shows where we are in the evolution of the discipline. It has to be viewed as important enough to license before its an official profession. At the same time, we are all engaged in a conversation about approaches and what people would be tested on, etc.


I don't think that any of this is a bad thing, BTW. The most important measure for you or any PM, is success on projects - not some certification. Maybe we should all be happy that PM has not yet evolved into commodity work which tends to devalue any individual's efforts in favor of standardization and consistency.

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