The Practicing IT Project Manager

New project management articles published on the web during the week of January 24 – 30, 2011.  We read all of this stuff so you don’t have to!  Recommended:

• Joel Bancroft-Connors and his invisible gorilla, Hogarth, contemplate the nature of corporate culture, in the face of “outsourcing” and “streamlinings.”
• The UK-based CBT Training blog has a brief article on the metamorphosis of IT, and the impact it’s had on which industry certifications are in demand.
• Andrew Makar offers five reasons to migrate to Microsoft Project 2010.  For me, the coolest new feature is the Timeline View – your mileage may vary.
• Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts offers some suggestions for us “old folks” in communicating with the Tweet-and-Texting generation via Email.
• For the face-to-face encounters, Chris LeCompte writes about running more effective project meetings.
• Derek Heuther explores the continuum between communication and manipulation, with two examples: buying a vehicle, and negotiating salary for a new job.
• Curt Finch writes about managing projects on a global scale.
• Samad Aidane posted his podcast interview with Patricia Garofano on how to smoothly replace a business process outsourcing vendor who is not working out.  Best line: “Knowledge is no longer in house … You need to think about how you’re going to handle that.”  That wasn’t in the brochure, was it?  She covers everything from the RFP process to contract provisions to managing two simultaneous providers, and the potential for “vendor flight.”  Well worth the 50 minutes.
• John Challenger, CEO of recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, discusses job transitions for project managers who are building or advancing their careers.
• Todd Williams watches his baby granddaughter learn, and asks, “Is your failure rate high enough?”  Best line: “Take a lesson from the professionals—children that relentlessly take chances in order to try something new.”  Wayne and Nancy, no pressure on the grandchildren thing.  None at all.
• Cindy Vandersleen writes about managing manager expectations in the transition to Agile methods.
• Madison, also known as “Mister Manager,” returns after a long absence with a list of the 25 Best Project Management Blogs You Aren’t Reading Yet.  Hey, look at who’s number 21 on the list!

Enjoy!

Some years ago, I attended a presentation by Patricia Fripp (for you King Crimson fans, she’s Robert’s sister), where she talked about the concept of “relentless self-promotion.”  This was back in the early days of “personal branding” for ordinary people.  Nowadays, of course, we have YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and all the other myriad ways for people to get visibility.  Today, Facebook has over 500 million users, Twitter around 200 million, LinkedIn around 90 million, and people now watch two billion YouTube videos every day.  It seems the idea has caught on, big-time.  So with all this relentless self-promotion going on, maybe we need to ask a few questions.

• Who are we promoting ourselves to?
• What do they think they need (that we have to offer)?
• Why do they think they need it?

I bring all this up because Miles Jennings, CEO of iMediaVentures, recently initiated a poll on LinkedIn, “Is PMP certification becoming more or less important for project managers?”  The question drew 2,771 votes and 248 comments.  A full 57 percent thought it was becoming more important, but the comments showed an interesting divergence: those who thought it was becoming less important stressed the number of PMP holders they knew who were not effective.  One even wrote, “PMI and PMP is a racket.”  Another commented on the scope of the testing, “Unfortunately, the PMP does not measure the art or social skills that a PM [possesses] …”

Meanwhile, while those who felt it was becoming more important stressed the market value of the credential.  “It’s been my experience that all employers weigh PMP certification as a plus and many require it.”  Others wrote about perceptions in the workplace, “There is something about having the PMP to back me up when making decisions that have an economic or resource impact.”  The opinions expressed largely diverged along the lines of those who considered the value of the PMP credential to themselves, and those who considered the value of the PMP to their target market.  Clearly, these folks have a larger view of “self-promotion” than simply maintaining a LinkedIn page, and they’ve thought about who they are promoting themselves to , and what they have to offer.  But for the PMP credential, it is largely up to PMI to drive why that target market thinks they need it.

If you go to the PMI website nowadays, you’ll see their tag line, “Making project management indispensable for business results.”  Some are a bit shocked at the idea that a professional organization should try to manage the public’s perception of the profession and its practice.  Once upon a time, PMI’s mission was about expanding the knowledge base and publishing it in the PMBOK and other documents, identifying and promulgating best practices, and making resources available to the practitioner.  Of course, they still do all these things, but now the mission of growing PMI has been placed front and center.

And they’ve been successful – over the last eight years, the number of PMP credential holders has about quadrupled, as has the number of PMI members.  They’ve also added four other credentials to the original PMP.  And PMI is now making the Certified Associate in Project Manager (CAPM) credential easier to pursue – they’re going to allow applicants to complete the required 23 hours of education prior to sitting for the exam, rather than prior to submitting the application.  They’ve also expanded the number of Prometric test sites to about 5,000.  I expect similar small steps in making the PMP and PgMP credentials more accessible, as Mark Langley settles in to his new role as President and CEO of PMI.

Naturally, this makes a lot of long-time members queasy about diluting the value of the credentials by making the club appear to be less exclusive.  But in a large market, marketing requires more than relentless self-promotion – it requires alignment with established brands that are actively working to be successful.  And in order for a brand like PMI to be successful, it requires the support of those who have bought in to their vision, in the form of membership, gentle advocacy, and mentoring of beginners.  And, ultimately, it requires growth in order to dominate the market. So, whatever you might think about PMI’s mission, or the value of the PMP credential, I’m going to simply say that I’d rather hire an experienced project manager who has demonstrated their ability to understand and perform to a specified standard, than one who believes that self-certification to a personal, undefined standard is preferable.  Your mileage may vary.

If you’ve been looking at the links on my weekly summaries of project management articles posted on the web, you’ve seen Samad Aidane’s name over a dozen times.  Samad blogs at Guerilla Project Management, and publishes the podcasts of his interviews with some of the most influential educators and practitioners in the project management community.  Now, he’s called on a number of his past interview subjects to assemble an on-line conference, the Project Management Telesummit. This will be a live, online “virtual” event where you will gain valuable insights from fifteen of today’s dynamic and engaging thought leaders in Project Management from the comfort of your home, office, or anywhere in between.  The event will be held on March 8-10, 2011, and registration is now open.

The theme for this first edition of the Telesummit is “Thrive”. The focus is on the insights you need to stay ahead and thrive despite today’s challenging and turbulent business climate. You will learn winning strategies for delivering successful projects, expand your skill set, and network with other project management professionals, practitioners, and thought leaders.

Here’s a glimpse at some of the Telesummit speakers and topics:

• Rick Morris: Stop Playing Games! A Project Manager’s Guide to Successfully Navigating Organizational Politics
• Dana Brownlee: The Secrets to Running Project Status Meetings that WORK!!
• Jason Fair: Agile in large Enterprise System Integration projects
• Todd Williams: Improving Project Inception
• Traci Duez: Change is Impossible Unless You Change Your Mind
• Dr. Steven Flannes: Recognizing and Resolving Project Conflict
• Steve Martin: Consulting Secrets for Project Managers
• Geoff Crane: The Soft Skill Salsa: An Examination of Destructive Behaviors in Project Managers
• Peter Taylor: The Art of Productive Laziness
• Tres Roeder: A Sixth Sense for Project Management
• Richard B. Sheridan: Agile and the Business Value of Joy
• Patricia Garofano: Look before you Leap: Managing the Successful Vendor Transition Project
• Bernardo Tirado: How Does Understanding Human Behavior Increase Your Project Success Rate?
• Brian Munroe: On rescuing troubled projects
• Dr. Margery Mayer: Global Communications; what does it means in today’s business?

Once you register for Project Management Telesummit, you can attend from virtually any location in the world that has an Internet connection and a computer with a Web browser. This is an ideal opportunity to get a conference experience without all the cost and hassle of travel (no hotel, rental car, or wasted time).  Even better, all Telesummit presentations will be recorded. If you are unable to attend the live sessions as they happen, you can watch the recording when it is most convenient to you.

Register online here, or click here to get information on Registration, Speakers, and Agenda.