Well, I’m on sabbatical for awhile and noticed that many of the positions for project managers, etc. all ask for a PM certification. Now not one to focus on any certification that there’s prep. classes that guarantee passing the test, this one is interesting. Lots of prep sites also have pre-tests. Have taken every one I could find and without studying, the worst scored in the mid 80’s.
Bottom line, if you need PMP certification and have experience, read a book and take the test. ;^)
Part of the problem is that the managers simply want to keep their jobs. The statements about the latest round of boardroom and upper management scandals also include recognition of a certain amoun t of incestuous inbreeding. There is a certain group think that evident within many businesses which means everyone lock steps behind the boss right above them even if they’re all headed off a cliff.
Did you notice the statements from the Walmart executive that was fired in December 2006? She was apparently hired about a year previously as a change agent for the giant retailer. Apparently management KNOWS things should change but the reality is that as long as the group think is alive, nothing will really change…. and this makes it dangerous to be a project manager in many corporate environments.
SCOPE is the start and end points of a project. Assume that you have a project working on a customer service issue like long call hold times. One possible reason for long hold times is that the telephone tech needs to look up something in the finance department database. Now this database is so messed up that we’re lucky to get anything out of it at all.
So the problem is: Should fixing the potential “root cause” of the problem (the finance database) be part of the changes to deal with the customer service issue above or not? That is SCOPE!
How far out of the direct problem area do we go to address the issue and problem identified? Cross functional issues are much more complex and complicated that those within a single business unit or group. At issue is how successful any project will be with a scope that’s simply to large.
To large a scope and the risk of doing the project increases due to the potential for change in corporate or management focus during the lengthy project effort. The best opportunity for success of any project is one that has a definite beginning and end scope. A clearly identifiable list of out of scope issues goes a long way in keeping a project on track, on time and on budget.