“Certified Project Executive” Anyone?

By Ammar W. Mango

I was reading earlier an article in the PM Network issue this month, that quotes Mr Mark Langley, Project Management Institute – PMI President, challenging audience to become “Project Executives” not only Project Managers. This really clicked for me and I think he hit the need right on. We need a level of project management competency that ensures leadership at the BUSINESS level of the project. This is how I understood Langley’s comments and this is the need that I see on the ground.
If one looks at what the organizations consider as the best project managers, they are are those who:

1. Understand the Project Management Knowledge
2. Know how it is applied
3. And most importantly know how to masterfully apply it or lead a project management team that applies it in a business setup.

I think the PMP certification can shed light on the first two points, but might fall short from guaranteeing the third. It is one thing to be a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) (All rights reserved to the Project Management Institute – PMI http://www.pmi.org), but it is another thing to be a competent project manager. I am a proponent of certification and believe that the PMP certification has served the industry and the project management professionals very well, myself included. However, many companies are seeing the need to differentiate between someone who has 3 years experience in project management and passes the PMP exam, and someone who can really lead the business of the project.

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