When people will see project management as science ?
saurabh mahajanPMP, ITIL, PRINCE2| vodafonePune, Maharashtra, India
Lately I came across job postings for Project Managers. However most of the ads mentioned project manager should have technical skills.
1) Should know
2) Must have good experience working in
3) Must have hands on experience working on
Along with this only 1-2 job posting made mandatory PMP certification plus required project management skills. Rest none of the post required or mentioned any project management skills in project manager. That was strange for me. They were only looking for technical stuff.
Does that mean people don't see and recognize project management as SKILL or SCIENCE ? and still people / organization think technical person can handle management stuff. I am not against it but just want respect for project management skills. Saving Changes...
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Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Unfortunately, Saurabh, that is the sad situation in many industries. I find engineering and manufacturing firms particularly bad at requesting "project managers" with no project management skills, let alone certifications.
http://dilbert.com/strip/2011-11-22 Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
It is not a skill nor a science. Remember that project management (in accordance to the PMI) is about to apply knwoledge, skills, tools and techniques and some of those belongs to science. On the other side, consider it a science, does it matter? Not at all. Just one comment (personal feeling): In my case, consider something like project management a science anoying me because my background in epistemology. Saving Changes...
I see project management as both science and art...
Science - You gotta KNOW...
Art - You gotta DO, apply what you know to make your particular project situation successful Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Science is when given a starting point and a followed method, you are certain of the outcome, both in terms of quantity and quality.
I'm not sure we're even close to that in project management. Saving Changes...
John Caron, MBA, PMP, CSMVP - Technology Project Solutions Consultant| Bank of AmericaJacksonville, Fl, United States
Now the question is how do we define technical skills? Should a licensed plumber or electrician also be a "science"? It defines the three bullets in your question.
1) Should know
2) Must have good experience working in
3) Must have hands on experience working on
Ste'phane, keep the Dilberts coming...very funny. Saving Changes...
Meteorology is a science. Weather Forecasting is not. Similarly with Project Management. Saving Changes...
Frank DietersTransitionist | Manager | Team Rallier | Momentum Manager| Frankdieters.ComSelfkant, Germany
It reminds me of the old debate whether or not management in general could be considered a science. A science is a systematic body of knowledge. One can say that (project)management fills that bill, but it is a hybrid at that. Management itself should be considered mostly to be a behavioural science as it deals with human behaviour. As we all know, the same approach can produce very different results even if the setting is the same. It is the beauty of human nature, but it is this uncertainty that makes some–especially those in “exact science” like mathematics, biology, etc.- argue it is not a science in the classical sense of the word. No matter, what side of the fence you’re on, one has to agree that social science is science and that management is deeply rooted in that. Saving Changes...
