They do with doctors, builders, accountants, financial traders, lawyers and the list goes on. There are 100's of professions that are government regulated. Will project management go the same way? Saving Changes...
Doesn't the military, and some government organizations, already regulate internal and contracted project managers?
Outside of the military and government, PMs work in fields that have to adhere to government regulations, such as energy, but the regulations that apply to PMs in those fields do not apply outside of those fields.
For the rest of us, I don't think so. Project Management is a management function. Not everyone that performs project management tasks has the title of PM. The government would have to take over the private sector in order to regulate the profession, but maybe I'm thinking too broad. Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
Obviously we are talking different governments here. But how would you see them regulating Project Management? This is an interesting concept. Let's discuss further.
In simplistic terms:
- With doctors the regulation is to ensure people do not die or their health is negatively impacted.
- With builders, the regulations are that they follow a code so that what they built will not fall down.
- With lawyers the regulations are to protect the client from improper legislation that may send them to jail for a crime they did not commit.
Most of these regulations are to protect people.
So how would the government regulate a "profession" that spans multiple industries? And for what goal? Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
I doubt it. The professions you listed all have outputs that can be objectively assessed; a doctor's patient lives or dies, an accountant's books total accurately or not, a lawyer follows the written law or doesn't, etc. Project management is a very unique profession because it is extremely subjective. There's no way to objectively assess it, so it can't be easily regulated like other industries; any regulation a government tried to impose on project management would necessarily have to be so vague as to be pointless. For example, the government might create a regulation stating that “All Project Managers must create all the project plans specified in the PMBOK for every project.” However, the Human Resources plan you create for your three-year, 10 million dollar project construction project will be completely different than the one I create for my one-week project involving just myself and another resource, and everyone will have a different opinion whether the plans should contain more or less information. Saving Changes...
Richard TrentmanDirector Operations; Program Manager| Polaris Alpha, LLCColorado Springs, Co, United States
As a PM supporting/managing government project, I am guided and regulated by the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and Defense FAR. This regulation is more over the contracts we leverage for our projects, but do drive requirements for reporting. In addition, in this arena, we have contract specific deliverables within the project management area (CDRLs). This is not regulation of our profession, but certainly dictate and drive our day to day project/program management.
- Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) also surveils our processes on larger contracts Saving Changes...
Outside of specific practices which are governed by regulations or policies, I don't see regulation being the answer to improve project outcomes.
Even though traditional professions are regulated the focus tends to be on "what" is done and the majority of a PM's effectiveness relates to "how" they do it.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Arief PrasetyoPrincipal in Project Management| SLBKabupaten Bogor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
In Indonesia, there is a local project managers association that issue a certification. This certification is accredited and is recognized by the National Board of Certification. However up until now, to the best of my knowledge it is not a mandatory requirement to have this certification (i.e. other similar professional credentials are still recognized).
I think regulation is good only to the extent that it makes sure that all project managers have the right qualification and experience; and companies who do otherwise need to be penalized. But I hope the government does not favor towards a specific credential from a certain organization. Saving Changes...
Enrique CavalittoRetired| RetiredLa Plata Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
What would be the advantages of having project management outside the scope of projects in the public service regulated by governments? Saving Changes...
I'm in favor of a global standard accreditation for PMs, but to turn it into a regulated profession I believe it would need to be segmented by industry to be of any value beyond what PMI already covers in its Code of Ethics...
It should be one global standard for accrediation without all of these sub who think that they are unique to the world. Everyday I meet unqualified people in high project management positions in public sector and even private and all what they know is how to talk the talk and waste time, money, resources. All the blame always for the high cost of labour .. Lol not really The lack of one international standard and accreditation system is leading the industry to a mess. I was reading a post for a job asking for agile certified pm, and once you read the discribtion it is all about waterfall and they are naming it "waterfall and predictive".. I should stop here.. I think our industry is highly toxicated with unqualified top management and people in general.. But every government claims that they have their own way ...... messy messy messy .. over budget behind schedule and messy deliverables ...
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1 reply by Enrique Cavalitto
Apr 13, 2018 11:51 AM
Enrique Cavalitto
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Hi Kevin,
I believe that someone trying to impose a one global standard would fall into your definition of "one... who think that they are unique to the world."
In practice governments are unable to agree on issues that are a lot simpler than this one.
I believe governments are right to request a certain qualification for PMs engaged in public projects, but would be out of place regulating projects agreed among private companies.
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