By Linky van der Merwe
Project management as a profession has evolved over the years. Many practitioners who have chosen to become professionals did the Project Management Professional certification exam or PMP, offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI).
PMI Exam
For project management practitioners who are considering doing the PMP exams this year, there was an important announcement by PMI that the PMP exam will change and that June 30th 2020, is the last date you can take the exam in it’s current format. It is to accommodate the evolving nature of the profession. The exam is based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge or find out more about the current PMBOK here: PMBOK.
Every 3 – 5 years, the PMI conducts research to understand how the profession has progressed, the impact of emerging trends, and how the responsibilities of project managers have changed. The last research was conducted in 2015 and resulted in the current PMP® Exam Content Outline .
The changes on the future exam will focus on three new domains:
- PEOPLE – emphasizing the skills and activities associated with effectively leading a project team
- PROCESS – reinforcing the technical aspects of managing a project
- BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT – highlighting the connection between projects and organization strategy
Content that spans the value spectrum, including predictive, agile and hybrid approaches, will be included across the three exam domains. The best way to understand what is included in the exam is to review the updated Exam Content Outline.
Something important that is highlight in the Exam outline:
Where the current PMBOK versions used to be very process based, but aligned to the PMI Talent Triangle – find previous announcement here – the latest outline is more people focused with tasks supporting that. Here you will find the 2020 PMP Exam Content Crossover Map to show where new content is added.
New PMBOK Guide
The current, 6th Edition of the PMBOK Guide has been released 2 year ago: September 2017. We expect that the 7th Edition will reflect some of the changes to the PMP exam that we’ll see from 16 December 2019.
PMI has named Mike Griffiths as co-lead for the 7th Edition of the PMBOK Guide. Mike was involved in the creation of the Agile method, DSDM, and has over 20 years of experience in Agile methods. He’s an Agilist through and through. It seems that the 7th Edition will be a BIG change from recent editions. That is confirmed by this short article on his website. In his own words:
“This will not be just an update, instead a radical departure from all previous editions aligned with PMI’s new digital transformation strategy.
Mike Griffiths
One of the 12 Core Development Team members, Nader Rad, has written about his perspective of the new PMBOK as a shift to a principles based approach.
Reason for PMP exam change
PMI has a commitment to a world class standard of certification. The implication of that is they must base their examinations on a formal Role Delineation Study (RDS) or Job Task Analysis (JTA).
PMI carried out a survey of the trends in our profession that the current PMP exam fails to address. These then fed into their Job Task Analysis to produce a more relevant PMP exam for the coming period. Here, ‘relevant’ means the things project managers do in their real work settings. We all know that the work of project management professionals has been changing; therefore, the PMP exam must change to reflect this.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the changes are reflecting the current PM trends and seem to be addressing some gaps in existing certifications around Team Leadership, Governance and soft skills.
Here is another PMI announcement summary of the changes: Certification changes overview.
One of the Training Partners, OSP International, headed by Cornelius Fichtner, who I recommend as an affiliate, had the following comments on the coming changes:
““As a PMP® trainer, I have always focused not only on teaching my students how to pass their exam but also on how to become better project managers. That is why I think the change in the ECO is a step in the right direction.
With this change, PMI is moving away from the five current and somewhat ‘technical’ domains and shifts the focus of the exam to test a candidate’s knowledge of, and experience, in the skills necessary to actually lead and manage a project.Cornelius Fichtner
This is not to say that the knowledge of project management methods, concepts, and techniques, is any less important, but a candidate will now also need to show that they truly know how to lead a project and how to bring it to successful completion.”
It is positive to see that PMI seems to have their members and associated professional PM practitioners’ best interests at heart in making these changes to ensure that people are equipped for the challenging and changing business world we are finding ourselves in.