Project management certification has substantially grown in popularity in recent years, and some form of it or another is increasingly encouraged or required for many jobs in project management. The Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Project Management Institute in the United States—and similar credentials from other professional project management societies around the globe—is not too difficult to attain, especially for those with project management experience. For many project managers, it is often a case of “it can’t hurt and it may help” with your career. For those early in their careers, or looking to make a move into project management, or seeking a type of job where certification is mandatory, pursuing certification is not a difficult decision.
For those project managers who are in fields where certifications and credentials are not presently seen as having much relevance, the cost and effort of getting certified in project management may not be worthwhile. For some, investing in education in a discipline such as engineering or business could be a better choice, and for others certification in a job-specific specialty will make a bigger career difference. Even for jobs where project management certification is not presently much of a factor, though, there may be trends in that direction. A decade ago, few IT project management openings required certification of any kind; today for many it’s mandatory, and similar trends are visible in other fields.
There are different reasons behind people not wanting to do a project management course; these include uncertainty about whether they want to be a project manager, the costs or time involved, or doubts about the cost to benefit ratio. However the experience and skills a course can give will never damage a career, so if the opportunity arises to take part in such a course then it needs to be taken. Fortunately, the more forward thinking employers are using Project Managers correctly so the risk that you will merely become an admin and scheduling assistant is becoming progressively lower.
The variety of environments in which project management skills are needed is surprising; for example even in a small retail shop a team may still need leading while a sole trader can benefit from skills aimed at increasing productivity.
Breadth. Project managers possess an end to end understanding of a project. You are likely the only person on your project team to have a complete picture of your project. Every other project member has the knowledge on his/her specific focus area that goes a mile deep. Project managers have an inch depth of expertise but a mile breadth of knowledge. Project Management gives you the unique opportunity to learn every aspect of the business. You interact with every key touch point to make the project successful. You learn what business problem you are solving, what does it take to fix, how to manage expectations of your sponsors etc. If there are sections of the business that you are not familiar with, Project Management provides exactly that.
Execution. Ideas are easy to come by. But execution of those ideas are not. A good friend of mine used to say “all you need for an idea is couple of beers”. As a project manager you will master the execution skills over time. For any idea to materialise, a slew of activities and an army of people need to come together to make it work. Project managers sift through the details, dependencies, risks and lead the army to achieve the business goals. Over time you will gain expertise to precisely execute a project. This skill is absolutely necessary no matter if it is a small project or executing a larger strategy.
Navigation. Project managers are the GPS of any organisation. In order for you to deliver a project successfully, you will quickly learn how to navigate through the processes and systems. Larger the organisation is, more complex the internal procedures and processes are. You will need to know who does what and how things get done. This is an important skill to have, as you move up in your career ladder. For example, let’s say you work to launch a new product, you will have to work with Legal, Marketing, Customer Service, Policy, IT, QA, Development, Operations, Product Management etc. You get the idea. Needless to say you build relationships over time.
Efficiency. By sheer nature of the role, project managers get bombarded with a million requests during the course of the project. You will learn to ruthlessly prioritise which ones are important and which ones are not. You do this not only to individual tasks but also to business goals. Prioritisation, Efficiency and Productivity becomes second nature to you.
Communication. You become the team’s spokesperson. Communicating to all levels of stakeholders is very vital to projects of any size. You will get to hone your written and verbal skills and be able to adjust it to your audience. It is not only about what to say, but also how to say and when to say. Above all, you will get to learn how to deliver bad news during times of crisis in a non-threatening way.
To close out, there is a general misconception that Project Manager’s role is about scheduling meetings, taking notes and chasing action items etc. Project management is not just that. Their role is to lead the project to successful execution. What does that mean? To highlight a few it means
* Anticipating what risks your project will face
* Mitigating risks through remediation plans
* Preventing risks from not turning into issues
Key Features of a Project Management Certification
If you have the opportunity to attend a course of this type, you will learn about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which are important in most jobs. You will also learn about the risks associated with a project, which is key for recognising how to tackle certain tasks. Scheduling and milestones are included in the syllabus too; a quality project manager will not only need to stick to and communicate deadlines and create milestones, but recognising the important milestones on project planning is something to be learnt.
There are also sections dedicated to learning about the project management role and the roles of others within a team; if everyone learns the same definitions of these roles the chances of confusion or ‘blurred lines’ within a team are reduced. Identifying any issues within a team is also an important skill that the syllabus covers. One of the most important skills taught in the syllabus is communication; this is one key example of a topic that is important in all roles in every job not just within project management.
If you think that any of the above skills are important to your role then do not be put off by the course title – there are still valuable things to learn even if you do not want to be a “project manager”. Most projects will fail because the wrong requirements have been addressed from the brief, the implementation is poor, or the outcome is impossible, something changes along the way and has gone unnoticed, or the team loses sight of the aims and benefits. Employers will know that with a project management certificate you will be in a decent position to recognise these problems and rectify them or avoid them in the first place.
A project management course certificate is important in your professional life as on paper an employer will know what academic skills you possess – although, of course, these skills still need to be demonstrated and backed up.
If the course has been taken whilst in employment it may well mean more responsibility is coming your way. Niche courses such as this show your interest and dedication to your career; they show that you want to do well and that you are serious about doing well. Project management is definitely not for everybody as not everyone can just be taught to lead but learning about communication, KPIs and other important parts of business management are useful for all employees.
