PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION

Transcription

1 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: STRATEGY, SYSTEMS, AND TECHNOLOGIES PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION Nancy Blumenstalk Mingus INSIDE Concept Review; Evolution of the Field; Project Management Institute; Project Management Professional Certification; Project Management Processes and Skill Areas CONCEPT REVIEW Before considering project management as a profession, one needs to answer two key questions: What is a project? and What is project management? A project is a series of activities performed to achieve a specific, unique goal. It is this concept of uniqueness that separates projects from operations and makes the former more difficult to manage. Once one figures out how to perform an operation, one can just repeat the steps; but because every project is unique, the steps vary. The good news is that in most industries, while the specific steps vary in every project, the types of steps are consistent and are generally repeatable. This is what makes a corporate project management process vital to any organization. When one can predict and repeat steps, one can also refine and improve them and enhance the organization s overall project effectiveness. So, what then is project management? Traditionally, project management was viewed as the planning, scheduling, and controlling of a project to meet the project s goals. While this is still a valid definition, keep in mind that it does not include the critical human relations and project evaluation components that are generally performed after a project is complete. The Project Management Institute, described more fully below, now uses the following definition for project management: The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project. PAYOFF IDEA A recognition of the complexities involved in managing projects is leading more and more organizations to implement formal project management procedures and to require that their project managers to have formal project management training and certification. This, in turn, is encouraging more information systems professionals to consider project management as a profession. This article explores the knowledge, experience, and certification requirements for becoming a certified project manager. Auerbach Publications 2001 CRC Press LLC

2 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: STRATEGY, SYSTEMS, AND TECHNOLOGIES EVOLUTION OF THE FIELD While there have been project managers for centuries, the recognition of project management as a profession is more recent. During the early industrial age, project managers were the most technically qualified people in their organizations, and the role of project manager was a stepping-stone to a job as a functional manager. However, in the 1970s, individuals and organizations began to recognize that project managers needed different skill sets than functional managers. By the end of the 1990s, then, project management was generally recognized as a profession, at least by practitioners, especially in large corporations and in corporations specializing in information technology, construction, architecture, and engineering. In information technology, there are several levels of project-management-related roles that are being recognized as a separate professional development track. In a large systems integration company, for example, the project management track begins with the role of project coordinator, who is responsible for the administrative tasks of project management such as creating and maintaining project schedules, taking and publishing minutes from project meetings, etc. The next step up is to project manager, a role that manages one to four projects for multiple clients. To be promoted to project manager in this company, or to be hired as a project manager, an individual must have a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification (described below). Several project managers in this organization report to program managers, which is a role that oversees management of multiple project managers in one application area. Program managers in this organization must also have their PMP certifications. The information technology (IT) division in a large insurance company is working on similar project management paths. In that company, the path starts with a team leader and then leads to a project manager. While this company does not require certification at this time, it is encouraging certification by paying for certification training and testing. Many IT organizations are also creating a special area called the Project Office or Project Management Office (PMO). These special IT areas are then responsible for collecting and distributing corporate best practices for project management, including selecting and maintaining project methodologies, templates, and software packages. Many companies require that their PMO staff also hold the PMP certification. In several organizations, what has started as an IT PMO has grown to a PMO for all projects within the company. This is the case with one large airline software vendor, for example. PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE Much of this increased recognition of project management as a profession can be traced back to the Project Management Institute (PMI), an interna-

3 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION tional trade organization for project managers. Formed in 1969, the PMI spent the first few decades of its life as a relatively small group of project managers primarily in the engineering and construction fields. By the mid-1990s, membership had grown to 12,000; while by the end of 2000, membership had exploded to more than 70,000 worldwide. Much of the growth during these years has been the influx of IT project managers. One of the first steps in turning a job into a profession is the establishing of standards for practice. Just as architects gained professional status in the early 1900s by developing their own standards through the American Institute of Architects, the PMI has increased not just the visibility but the standards of practice for project managers. The PMI has accomplished this in two ways. First, it distilled the wealth of information on project management and produced a slender volume entitled Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, generally abbreviated as the PMBOK Guide. The first widely recognized guide, released in 1987, identified the generally accepted practices in project management and organized them by project functional areas. In 1996, this guide was updated and expanded, and, in 2000, the guide was updated yet again. In addition to the revisions to the guide, the PMI continues to develop standards for several of the typical project management processes, including the creation of work breakdown structures. PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION The second way in which the PMI has promoted the professional status of project managers is through certification. Although the success of the Certified Data Processor (CDP) and the Certified Systems Professional (CSP) in IT, and certifications in other fields as well, has been spotty at best, certification in project management found recognition, albeit slowly. In the first years of certification, few PMP certifications were issued; yet as of year end 2000, there were more than 27,000 holders of the PMP certification. PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES AND SKILL AREAS In the PMBOK Guide, the PMI identifies five project management processes and nine skill areas for project managers. The five processes are initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. The processes make up a project management life cycle, used as is by some organizations and customized in others. Initiating activities involve both the starting of a project as well as the starting of other phases within the project. Planning activities include the creation of the project plan, work breakdown structure, and initial schedule. Executing activities are the activities in which the actual project work is done. In information systems, this would be where software packages are analyzed, designed, developed, and tested. In construction, this

4 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: STRATEGY, SYSTEMS, AND TECHNOLOGIES would be where concrete foundations are poured, walls are erected, and fixtures are installed. Controlling activities measure and monitor the executing activities, and help the project manager evaluate project progress in terms of cost, time, and quality. Closing activities include closing projects, as well as the all-important lessons learned, which help improve the effectiveness of future projects. The nine skill sets that help a project manager perform the project management processes include integration management, scope management, time management, procurement management, human resource management, communication management, quality management, risk management, and cost management. In the PMBOK Guide, the PMI refers to these nine skill sets as knowledge areas. Each knowledge area is briefly described below. 1. Integration management, as the name implies, is the skill with which the project manager integrates the other core skills. The primary focus of integration management is the creation of a cohesive, comprehensive, well-designed project plan and the execution of that project plan. Another component of this skill is overseeing the change control process, both as it is developed in the plan and as it is executed throughout the life of the project. 2. Scope management is the skill that project managers use to define the work that needs to be done on any given project. This entails both making sure that all the work required is included and that no unneeded work is added. It includes formal project and phase initiations; developing the written scope statement, with scope exclusions; and listing major and intermediary project deliverables. It also includes the formal agreement by major players to the scope as defined, and scope change control, the ongoing process of evaluating project changes. This portion of project management is vital, especially in the planning stages, because it sets the team s expectations for the entire project. 3. Time management is the skill that most people associate with project management because it is the skill concerned with keeping on schedule. It includes creating or refining the project work breakdown structure, determining dependency relationships among the project tasks, estimating the effort and duration of the tasks, and creating a project schedule. It also includes the control component of monitoring and updating the project progress, and making changes to estimates and schedules. A commonly misunderstood facet of project management is that estimates and schedules will change by the very nature of projects. As long as the project manager stays on top of these changes, it should not affect the final target completion date. 4. Procurement management, also known as contract management, involves the development, execution, and monitoring of contracts with

5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION service and product vendors. It also includes deciding what must be procured, soliciting bids for the products or services, selecting the appropriate vendor, and closing the contract once the project has been completed. This area is especially relevant to most IT project managers because, in most IT organizations, projects include the purchase of hardware or software and, in many cases, the purchase of contractor services as well. 5. Human resource management addresses the people involved in a project. It includes such planning components as determining which skills are needed to perform the various project tasks, defining the participants roles and responsibilities, and selecting potential candidates for those tasks. It also includes acquiring the appropriate resources, either internally, from external departments, or even from external companies; and any professional development that the team members may need to improve their project performance. 6. Communication management is the often-neglected, yet perhaps most important, component of project management. It includes deciding who needs which information, to which level of detail, and in which media and time frames. These needs are documented in the communication plan subsection of the project plan so that parties can review and then follow them. The communication plan may also include which specific format will be used for each communication, as well as turnaround times for each communication. Once the plan is approved, project managers can then use their communication management skills to make sure the information is gathered and distributed according to the plan. 7. Quality management has three subsets, generally referred to as quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control. In quality planning, a project manager defines what represents quality and how quality will be measured. In quality assurance, the project manager watches the overall quality of a project to see that standards will be met. In quality control, the project manager examines actual project outputs to evaluate their conformance to the standards set in the plan. Quality management is critical to the success of IT projects today. Today s sophisticated clients no longer tolerate system downtime, multiple system bugs, and the like, the way they used to. 8. Cost management includes determining what the project cost categories will be, estimating the use of each resource in each category, budgeting for that estimated cost and getting it approved, and then controlling the cost as the project progresses. Both fixed costs (e.g., equipment and software purchases) and variable costs (e.g., team member time) are included in the planning and estimating and are then monitored and controlled. 9. Risk management starts with identifying the potential risks to a project and then determines the likelihood of each risk happening

6 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: STRATEGY, SYSTEMS, AND TECHNOLOGIES and how that risk would impact the project if it occurred. From this list and ranking, contingencies are developed for the highest risks and, as the project is executed, these contingencies can be used to regain control of a project if a potential risk does occur. Risk management is critical to large IT projects, especially those that are visible to clients, such as accounting software changes, Web site updates, etc. By understanding and applying the knowledge in each of these knowledge areas, a project manager can maximize the potential for a successful completion of any project. Many critics of the PMP certification process note that passing a test covering these nine areas does not mean that the applicant has the appropriate skills just the appropriate knowledge. While this is true, another requirement of the PMP certification is that a candidate have documented project management experience equal to at least three years of full-time work. Holders of the PMP certification are also required to continue their development by recertifying every three years. As the need for project managers continues to grow, the field will continue to evolve. Becoming active in that evolution can help IT project managers grow their own careers, as well as contribute to the growth of the profession. For more information on the Project Management Institute and its PMP certification program, visit the PMI Web site at This site also provides information on the local chapters worldwide. Nancy Blumenstalk Mingus is president of Mingus Associates, Inc., a Buffalo-based firm specializing in project management writing, training, and consulting. She has more than 20 years of project management experience, and received her PMP certification in She is a founding member of the Buffalo chapter of the PMI and also serves on its board of directors.