Why Certified Program Managers?
A Decade has passed… but world’s leading organization in project management, PMI, is unable to sell the demand for program management professional (PgMP) certification.
Program Management Professional (PgMP) certification launched in 2007, at that time there were already 250,000+ Project Management Professionals (PMP) [1]. Today , we have 825,000+ PMPs and 2100+ PgMPs [2].
There could be many reasons for failure, but still, the core issue is – how to differentiate program versus project.
Unfortunately, when you ask the definition of program, from professionals… especially who earned PMP® certifications, you will get “collection of related projects”, then you ask what does this mean, and you will get another definition may be “to coordinate” or “to produces Benefits”, but beyond that… nothing.
Based on my experience, observation, research, and discussions… one of the key factors for this… the success of programs is still based on classic triple constraints (i.e. scope, time, and cost), which is actually a disaster.
It means that organizations are unable to separate programs versus projects, and are unclear of its purpose.
I bet, if we can articulate the real benefits of program management to C-Suite, then within a couple of years, we will not be seeing the huge difference between PMP® and PgMP® credential holders.
As the world is changing faster than ever, and we are at the beginning of a 4th industrial revolution [3], the organizations need managers… who are capable of realizing the value of initiatives (i.e. projects and programs).
Value is actually the reason; organization initiated the project or program. I have talked to more than 100+ senior executives and CEOs about this issue, and after some probing; they agree that they want to see the value of their initiative, not the initiative itself.
The biggest dilemma is, those who are executing the initiative are seeking the value by doing it, and those who initiated, are seeking the value from the operations of their initiatives.
This is the gap, which to me is a “Value Gap”, which is also one of the reasons 70% organizations don’t achieve their strategic objectives [4].
Tell me what is the benefit of an organization, if their new online banking system, which launched on time, within cost and scope, is not used by more than 30% of their users?
What do you think of a millions dollar hotel launched on time… is unable to host enough guests to sustain their operations?
What is your opinion of a billion-dollar metro system, iconic and elegant… but short on its economic feasibility?
But yes, who built them… earned good reputation and money, as their interest is to get value/benefits by doing it, not by getting the results from their operations.
This is where program management comes in. The Program Manager is the person who is responsible to realize the value of initiatives. For program manager value is the benefit- the very reason, organization authorizes the program. That is the reason program manager role defined as temporary CEO [5].
Organizations have good strategists, good project managers, but they don’t have good program managers, who can realize the value/benefit of completed initiatives.
Now the first question is, does PgMP® certification guarantee that, the credential holder will realize the benefits of organization initiatives? The real answer is, no certification or degree can guarantee that the person who holds it can deliver. What they certify is that the person has knowledge and skills, with related experience to deliver it.
In this scenario the second question is, does PMI standard for program management is enough for program manager? The practical answer is, PMI did a good job to accumulate the concepts. But yes, a person needs to integrate related concepts from other sources to build a strong foundation.
So, the third question, what are related concepts? The logical answer is, no two programs are alike, and program manager job is to assess and deliver program benefits based on many factors… so there is a need to map performance domains [6] (i.e. strategy, benefits, stakeholders, governance, and lifecycle) provided by PMI, with other professional bodies and research work. For this purpose, I have built an integrated program, which utilizes the PMI lifecycle with leading universities research in each area[7].
At the end, I would say, in a hyper-competitive market, and at the dawn of the 4th industrial revolution, organizations are in need of professionals, who can achieve the benefits of their initiatives. Certified project managers from PMI are already creating an impact in the world, and to continue the journey and consistency in the organization, certified program managers from PMI will be an added value for an organization.
References
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-pgmp-pfmp-certification-asad-ullah-chaudhry/
- http://www.pmitoday-digital.com/pmitoday/february_2018?pg=4#pg4
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fourth-Industrial-Revolution-Klaus-Schwab/dp/1944835008
- https://www.insead.edu/executive-education/interviews/strategy/business-strategy-execution
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-project-managers-fit-program-management-asad-ullah-chaudhry/
- https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/program-management/fourth-edition
- http://auc.mykajabi.com/pgmp