The Importance of Training Project Managers

In the current business environment, the demand for project managers is ever growing. In short, project management is a provisional project constrained by time, cost and scope (A guide to the project management body of knowledge, 2013). Between the immense organization, optimization, and communication assets skilled project management brings to a project, it is easy to see why project management is a booming field of study. Furthermore, project management can be both financially and personally rewarding when long term milestones and goals come to fruition.

Gray, C. F. & Larson, E. W. (2008). _Project Management: The Managerial Process_. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hills Companies, Inc.

The majority of project management positions require a bachelor’s degree in a business management related field, as well as a professional certification and management experience. Many project manager professionals elect to obtain a master’s degree or advanced postgraduate certification in project management, analytics, or business management. The Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the most recognized certificate for project managers. According to the Project Management Institute, “As a PMP, you can work in virtually any industry, with any methodology and in any location, and earn on average 20% more than without a PMP.” (pmi.org) Education is highly valued in project management; however, important skills such as, good communication and the ability to execute are developed with experience.

The future of project management will require a shift from a low indecision, low vagueness approach to a high attentiveness, high decisiveness approach where change is the standard and decisions have to be made quickly and decisively. Projects are becoming global with scattered multi-cultural teams being the standard. Earning a PMI certification demonstrates an understanding of complex project management concepts, an ability to lead and manage multi-functional teams and enters you in a global community of professionals and experts.

PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) credential is the most important industry-recognized certification for project managers. Globally recognized and demanded, the PMP® demonstrates that you have the experience, education and competency to lead and direct projects.

IT project managers face multiple challenges and issues in today’s unpredictable and global economy. To stay competitive in the demanding IT market, project managers are frequently adopting the latest cutting edge technologies to improve efficiency, products, and increase returns on investments. This increased technology/resource initiative has generated extraordinary demand for highly talented and skilled project managers capable of leading, organizing, and implementing critical projects activities with grace and professionalism. This report will focus on four key areas where project managers face the most challenges, while also providing strategies to mitigate/reduce the issues from occurring in the future.

PMP (project Management Professional) is a prestigious and internationally acclaimed credential that is essentially beneficial for the project managers across industries. Today, many companies across the globe are giving preference to hire the project managers with PMP certification. Therefore, most of the project managers are acquiring this professional credential for their progression.

“Project+ certification is considered to be a quality certification for project managers who have yet to meet the requirements of the PMP certification. This certification would exhibit to potential employers that you have the basic project management knowledge which you can use as a stepping stone for your next project management oriented certification.” (Myitstudy)

The most valuable and sought-after certification is that of the Project Management Professional (PMP). This certification communicates the person who has earned it has shown competency and insight in project management from a pragmatic and

In the past the project manager (PM) mostly focused on standard procedures, but the growth of project dimension and complexity have requested new skills and approaches for delivering successful

PMP or Project Management Professional Certification is one of the prime credentials in the project management domain; and as such constitutes one of the popular discussion topics for professionals worldwide.

My employer, Gulfstream Aerospace, offers project management training over six courses which I easily swept through two years ago. Their third-party courseware taught by certified instructors supposedly prepares you to take the PMP Certification. After reviewing the PMBOK Guide and subsequent test requirements, I felt an academic approach would be better in the long run for me by learning not just "how?", but "why?" various project management practices are followed at work but not others. I have experience creating work breakdown structures (WBS) for my projects (separate from routine, ongoing work), yet there was no connection or insight into the cost accounting delivered by the work packages. Likewise, while I create Gantt charts (typically for six month projects), no one ever trained me to produce a risk assessment that factored the probability of possible contigency situations or how to determine a math-based response when the need arises to reduce schedule duration.

There are many different types of project management certification, but the certification I’m interesting in pursuing is PMP. PMP certification is one of the leading project management certifications, and one third of certified project managers obtained PMP. Unlike the other project management certification, PMP doesn’t focus on only one particular geography or domain; instead PMP certification is global (PMI, 2017). Individuals who are PMP certified have the option to work in any industry with methodology and any location (PMI, 2917). In addition, organizations that have PMP certified project manager, meet their projects original goals, and they complete their project on time and on budget (PMI, 2015).

(Partington, 1996) States that with the rapid transformation from bureaucratic and hierarchical structures to more flexible, organic and matrix organizations conferences, seminars and organizations proliferated on how to manage projects. The PMI (Project Management Institute) was founded in 1969 as a nonprofit organization with the sole objective to “foster recognition of the need for professionalism in project management; provide a forum for the free exchange of project management problems, solutions and applications; coordinate industrial and academic research efforts; develop common terminology and techniques to improve communications; provide interface between users and suppliers of hardware and software systems; and to provide guidelines for instruction and career development in the field of project management” (Healy, 1997).

Project Management has become increasingly important for any corporation, organization, government agency, and even small businesses in the last couple of decades. Project Management, as defined in the text, is the application of knowledge, skills, and techniques to accomplish projects successfully and proficiently. It is a tool utilized to keep projects and its tasks organized, but if not used correctly, can bring down the entire project operation. I have witnessed, first hand, a Project Manager (PM) accomplishing his goals and tasks successfully for a particular project. Everything was running like a well oiled machine, when what I can only explain as “a god complex” intervened and halted the project three