How Our Project Management Education And Recruitment Creates Stiffs When We Need Gumby's

Just for the record I have no problems with Project Management methods. Prince 2, PMBoK, SCRUM, Latest Lean Hype. They are all fine by me.

Photography by Tiarescott.

I have a problem however with picking one way of doing projects, and stating that this is the only way to do projects.
It itches when new Project Managers are drilled in one method.
I get all red in the face when they are told that "this is PM, and nothing else."
I get furious when "this way of doing project management" neglects the social part of the work, the "soft skills" (hate that term), the part that tells them how to lead, how to motivate. You know, the part that makes up 95% of your work. You know, the part that determines 95% of your success.

"Soft Skills" is not an add-on. It's the basis!

The world is changing. The world is throwing all kinds of different situations towards us. We need to adapt. We need to adapt fast! Project Managers don't need to be flexible, they need to be FREAKIN' GUMBY'S!

And what do we do? We are teaching Project Management as if nothing has changed in 50 years. Heck, you even get a nice badge when you pass certification, when you have managed to learn large checklists.

And than comes The Great Twist:

“If you don't have such a certification, you cannot be a proper Project Manager…”

And to make sure this works, we reinforce this by recruiting only PM's with a stamp of approval. That this stamp originates from colonial times doesn't seem to bother.

Time to stop ranting I feel more relaxed now.

The following postings provide background material on this topic.

Project Management Is Dead
The Long Tail In Software Projects
Project Management 3.0
How Male Machismo Shaped Project Management
Why Agile Popped Up on the Radar When it Did
Finding work as a PM: Value of certification debatable
Project Management From The Medina
Complexity of Management
Bottoms Up: Leadership Style For A Better World
Project Management Code: Why Do You Do What You Do?
Balancing Agility And Discipline