A Rebuttal: Has the PMP fad peaked? Good or bad?

In my previous post titled “Is the PMP at the tail end of the hype cycle?”, I never claim my data points prove anything, but the conjecture I think is still a legitimate conclusion that in terms of the “faddish” growth factor of the PMP that it is starting to peak.  I probably should have titled the article and post “Is the fad of the PMP at the tail end of the cycle” or something similar and people would not be so focused on it being an attack on the PMP which it never was.  I post this response as a rebuttal to many of the responses I received on sites like LinkedIn and PMZilla.

From this fad perspective, my concern and annoyance is that you have PMP trainers, advocates and project managers who hold sacred their hard earned PMP designations to position it as THE indicator of project management competency, skills and knowledge when that’s really not the case.   On the other end of the spectrum, you have a plethora of PMP boot camps that promote the idea of going through a memory pump and dump scheme that guarantees you to pass the exam or your money back.  These courses will typically promote the idea to “suspend” your real world experience of the project management and just follow the “PMBOK” or “PMI” way and use memory tips and tricks to pass the exam.  But once you pass you are out of the gate and can append the PMP designation to your name and make much higher salaries.  I don’t think this sets a good precedent.

In my view, what this has created is the situation at hand where these two contradictory yet misinformed and inflated claims to rise to a fever pitch.  What it has created is a situation in the PM community that is bereft of original ideas and deep knowledge of PM principles and practices that the PMP is suppose to exemplify.

So has the “faddishness” of the PMP peaked? Good or bad?

This entry was posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Project Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.