Is PgMP Certification Overrated?

Project Professionals have been upgrading themselves and for the past two decades, PMP Certified Project Managers have contributed a lot to the Project Management Industry. Whereas we certainly are able to notice the rise in the Demand of the Program Managers and PgMP Certified Aspirants. PgMP certification is certainly a newer course and has been introduced globally almost by a little more than a decade. As per the survey conducted in 2018, the count derived to be 1 Project manager present per 10,000 Project Managers globally. This ratio was significant and the course outline of the Certification was enough to prove and segregate its hierarchy in the Project Management Community.

To justify the importance and significance of PgMP, it is necessary to understand about the PgMP and all the aspects it covers under its umbrella. Project Management Institute (PMI) almost over a decade ago introduced Program Management for Professionals (PgMP) Certification for all those aspirants who are into the higher stages of Project Management and are indulged in coordinating as well engaging with various multiple projects. It is a belief by Project Management Institute that, all the professionals who are mastering their skills and settling themselves even being under the engagement of multiple projects are also needed to be trained and to be provided a certain path or methodology which they could follow and overcome their tasks effectively. Being highly Qualitative in nature along with the mastered Management techniques were introduced by PMI in the PgMP Certification outline. Through this, the Project Managers coordinating various projects would gain a Global accreditation by the Big time Project Players.

As the name suggests, Program Management for Professionals (PgMP) being drafted for all the Program Managers and for all those who handle various projects in one go are being provided with some special skill sets which are not just limited to achieve the quantitative targets. The Course is designed in such a way that apart from just being quantitively ahead, it allows and trains the project Managers to engage with various teams, indulges in leading various levels of hierarchy together, etc. It helps the project manager to gain quality over all the tasks he undertakes by being open to all challenges and opportunities. The task of a Program manager is not just restricted to one, but with the advent in the Global networking and management, it becomes necessary for all the program managers to procure a managerial skillset which helps them handle, engage, lead as well as maneuver the Project as per the scenario and hence move ahead towards the accomplishment of the project.

Now the question arises that Is it Overrated?

Generally, Project Management for Professionals (PMP) certification is a world-renowned accreditation and the number of PMP certified aspirants is increasing at an exponential rate. Whereas the PgMP can be still considered to be at the initial growth stage where more people are either not thoroughly clean behind the idea of PgMP or are unable to understand its requirement.

PgMP aims to provide a broader mindset for all the professionals and help them to work by opting for various pathways at a time as well as also helps them gain the competency over Project managers. Project managers on the other hand are hired to work and gain a particular project target. Project Managers are being streamlined on a predefined path to overcome the hurdles and hail towards accomplishment. Project Managers typically are very focused on the objectives of what a project is going to do. They always do not translate the output or in very few cases the project manager is focused on creating business value through the outcome of the objectives. So, the project manager skill set is more or less kind of very myopic. Whereas the program manager is more focused on whether he/she can realize the benefits of the program is going to deliver to the organization okay so he/she is more of a business-savvy individual. They understand what value this program is going to achieve which will enhance the strategy of the organization. A Program Manager thus can be considered as a very farsighted professional in comparison to the Project Manager. Program Manager is typical of higher in the hierarchy as he doesn’t have authority like a project manager to achieve the objective and that’s the challenge he needs to play with his soft skills, interact as well as engage with different people in the hierarchy to get his things done. Project Manager likes to have control over his things so that he achieves the objective whereas Program Manager is more of a delegate and influence people to work towards the outcome creating value for the program so a project manager is more technical than a program manager who is more business savvy who understands the business in much bigger depth than a Project Manager.  Project Manager is said to be more reliable when it comes to the ability to deliver at all costs whereas a program manager is more flexible about how changes can be accommodated to achieve the best value to the strategy of the organization, the strategy of the business. So these are the basic things which differ between the project and the program manager.

With the Advent in the pace of the Project industry, various tasks, teams, agencies, etc needs to be handled from across the geography. This has increased the demand for PgMP Aspirants as they always perform keeping in mind the big picture. From all these, we can distinctly identify the basic difference and advantages of PgMP over PMP. Definitely PgMP cannot ever be considered underrated. It clearly states that the PMI-PgMP Certification holds a hierarchically better output when multiple teams or projects are taken into account. For more details and clarification or in case of any query, You can always reach PROTHOUGHTS HELP DESK where you’ll be guided in person with more details.