This week, we thought it would be useful to spread some of the joy regarding the development of the new PMI Portfolio Management Professional certification (PfMP), which will add a portfolio level to the PMI’s suite of qualifications.
“What is portfolio management?” I hear you say. Well, the official definition from the PMI is “a component collection of programs, projects or operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives.” The APMG define it as “the totality of an organisation’s investments (or segment thereof) in the changes required to achieve its strategic objectives.” Basically, making sure you are doing as much of the right stuff as you can – and demonstrating that you are doing it.
To put it in simpler terms, consider a car. You have a nice bright shiny new car. It is of no use to you unless you have the skills to drive it…that is your project management layer – or the ability to maintain it or have it maintained…the operations layer. That enables you to get from A to B.
But what is B? Where are you going? If you are taking three kids to school, it is no good having a sports car. If you are moving furniture around, it’s no good having a little four seat saloon car. So the vehicle is programme management layer – it’s no good being a really good driver (the project management layer) with really good skills as a car mechanic (the operations layer) if you don’t know where you’re going.
The final part of the picture is how you are going to get there – if you like, the SatNav bit. How can you most efficiently get to where you are going without sitting in traffic for hours on end, or running out of petrol. Conceptually – the world of portfolio management! It’s all about saving money, getting more value out of what you are doing – more bang for your buck. If you consider programme management as “doing the thing right”… portfolio management is doing the right thing.
So the PMI is in the final stages of producing a certification to demonstrate someone’s ability and experience at the portfolio layer. What’s the point? Well, portfolio management is being adopted more and more – across industries and across the globe. So, there is a corresponding demand for more knowledge, resources and professional recognition. The PfMP credential is intended to validate and demonstrate a practitioner’s knowledge and experience. It will also differentiate practitioners from their non-credentialed peers, and, because it is transferable among methodologies and industries, it helps make them more marketable. It will complement existing qualifications such as the MoP and provide the first globally-accepted credential for the role of a portfolio manager.
We’ve written before about PfMP, including a useful set of FAQs about how to attain the certification.
So why is there yet another “agile” course, and what is the point of it? Well, in just the 12 months from mid-2010, the number of PMI members using agile practices rose from 12% to a staggering 27% (according to a PMI survey of its membership). In response to this increase, PMI assembled a working group of industry thought leaders and authors (not just PMI folks) to study how and if PMI should respond.
During the first few meetings, only one of the group felt that the PMI should have a certification, and over the months it became clear that there wasn’t a common understanding across organisations of what agile means anyway. In some organisations, agile simply meant Scrum, in others it was XP, in others it was Scrum with a bit of XP or with kanban thrown in. It was clear that a certification was needed that clarified the core of what agile means and created a common language and understanding of principles across organisations. The PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner) was developed.
There are other agile certifications of course, such as DSDM, plus all of the specific certifications for agile developers, such as Certified Scrum Master etc. Where the PMI-ACP differs is that it demonstrates to colleagues, organisations or even potential employers an awareness of all aspects of agile – not just in, for example, Scrum. It is a globally recognised certification that demonstrates that practitioners are able to use agile techniques and most crucially apply them in the correct circumstances – at the time of writing it is also the fastest growing PMI certification out there.
The PM-Partners course is intended for teams and project managers at varying stages of agile adoption who need an immersion session in the how to manage an agile project. It explores a wide range of agile techniques while also preparing the participants to sit for the PMI-ACP exam. Certified practitioners will then be able to demonstrate to their organisations and colleagues when and how best to use agile techniques, and not just focus on Scrum in all circumstances.
“What is portfolio management? I hear you say…Basically, making sure you are doing as much of the right stuff as you can – and demonstrating that you are doing it.” – Steve Butler
Project portfolio management is an emerging practice which most people acknowledge is going to be a key topic throughout 2014 and beyond. The PMI’s Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) qualification is now live, and with nearly 1,000 people already going through the application process it is already proving popular – so for this session we thought we would give a bit more explanation as to how and why to apply, and what the process is.
ELIGIBILITY
The requirements for even being able to apply for the PfMP are strict – and necessarily so, since portfolio management is focussed on the more advanced concepts of aligning the investment in PPM and operational activity with a corporate (or in some cases departmental) strategy. So you need to know what you’re doing and be able to show you know what you’re doing! The credential is aimed at the seasoned practitioner, so applicants need to possess four to seven years of CONCURRENT project portfolio management experience, and at least eight to ten years of general business experience.
– Establishing a governance model; – Defining and/or modifying portfolio processes, and; – Procedures to ensure effective governance, or; – Maybe even where you have determined portfolio management standards, protocols, policies, rules, and best practices in order to establish consistent portfolio management practices.
* – Years of concurrent project portfolio management experience means just that: years managing portfolios. means, as an example: if you managed a portfolio for two years, and then managed a different portfolio for three years but the final year of the first portfolio and the first year of the second portfolio overlap – that means you have four years concurrent experience rather than five).
THE MECHANICS OF THE APPLICATION
The whole process is involved, and lays out in two stages. First is an evaluation of the application, followed by a formal exam, as follows:
ALSO: ALL applicants must have a minimum of 8 years (96 months) of professional business experience.
The application form is complicated, and you will be required to list your experience (both portfolio management and business, separately), so it will take you a while. In detailing your portfolio management experience, it is vital you give specific examples of what you have done and how you have done it and who you have done it to, under the five headings for each of the five domains of portfolio management as follows:
Strategic Alignment – This is an analysis of your experience in aligning a portfolio to specific strategic goals. You should focus on such things as identify prioritization criteria, rank strategic priorities, identifying various portfolio scenarios by reviewing documentation (business cases/proposals, using business planning analysis techniques – and so on).
Governance– This is where you list your experience in ensuring a portfolio is effectively managed, or in securing authorisation for executing a portfolio. Think about areas such as:
What’s more, perhaps you have experience of creating a portfolio management plan to ensure effective and efficient portfolio management. There is a lot to it.
Performance Management – Managing the performance of a portfolio to ensure it runs as efficiently as possible is another domain that you will need to show evidence of your experience in. Here, the panel will be looking for details such as evidence of you collecting and consolidating key performance metrics, or maybe in managing portfolio changes using change management techniques. Perhaps you’ve analysed and conducted the allocation/reallocation of resources (e.g., people, tools, materials, technology, facilities and financials), or monitored the performance of a portfolio’s performance on an ongoing basic. All with specific examples, of course.
Risk– Always crucial. Here, the panel will be looking for evidence of specific portfolio level risk management (not programme and not project level – there is a big difference!). Think about your experience in things like determining the acceptable level of risk for a portfolio, or maybe performing a dependency analysis. Perhaps you have developed a portfolio-level risk register or had to create a common understanding and stakeholder ownership of portfolio risks (often a challenge!).
Communications– last but not least, you will need to describe your experience in engaging with stakeholders to make sure there expectations are met, or developing the communications strategy for a portfolio. Engage stakeholders, through oral and written communication, to ensure awareness and foster support for the success of the portfolio roadmap. Think about how you maintained your communication strategy and plan, or how you made sure what you were telling your stakeholders was accurate, consistent, and complete….again with specific examples.
Remember: you could very well be audited on this information, so don’t tell porkies as you’ll be wasting your time and that of others. Also: your application will be reviewed by a panel of experts so try not to bluff; you’ll be found out. If you have not got the relevant experience, you will fall short at the final step, as you’ll fail the exam anyway. It is that tough. You will need to sit the exam before the date you are given when you complete the application and it is accepted by the panel. From that point forward, you usually have a year. Do know that you won’t have to pay a fee until after you have successfully applied.
Good luck – go for it! This blog post was originally published at the PM-Partners blog, 23rd January 2014.
