Agile Project Management Vs PMP

Agile Project Management Vs PMP

Learning Mudra, Category - PMP

Insight of Agile Project Management and PMP

Project Management Professional, better known as PMP, is a certification provided by Project Management Institute, PMI in the field of project management. PMP is not industry specific and the frameworks and guidelines learned during PMP education are applicable in all industries for project management. This is the reason why PMP has the gold status among all project management certifications. Moreover, PMP also leads to higher salary and better employment opportunities. According to a survey conducted by PMI, the median salary of people having PMP certification is 25% higher than people without PMP certification. The PMP certification proves the competence and knowledge of the person in the field of project management. It provides assurance to employers, stakeholders and peers that the person knows what he is doing in the project.

Agile Project Management, better known as APM, is an iterative method of delivering a project throughout its life cycle. These project life cycles are made up of several incremental steps which lead to the completion of the project. These approaches promote velocity and adaptability. The benefit of Agile is that it is not a linear process and hence, can account for changes to be made in the various steps of the project’s life cycle. The aim of this approach is to release benefit throughout the project instead of providing benefits only at the end. Agile projects are successful if they show values of trust, empowerment, flexibility and collaboration. Some common examples of Agile Project Management are Scrum, eXtreme Programming, Feature Driven Development etcetera.

PMP Vs APM

For a long time PMP certification had held an undisputable advantage over all other certifications in project management. But now the industry is changing and because of its success, Agile technologies have gained popularity and momentum. Most of the projects in the IT sector now follow the Agile Technologies for project development. Moreover, a myth has also existed that the frameworks and processes taught in PMP follow the waterfall method. In such a situation it would seem that Agile Project Management is the best option. But there are two counter points to this notion

Firstly, the PMP follows the PMBOK Guide

The PMBOK Guide has evolved with time and although at the start the processes and frameworks described in it seemed to resemble the Waterfall model but with time PMBOK has evolved. The processes and frameworks have been explained in more detail. Now, it is up to the readers interpretation whether the processes are Waterfall or Agile. This gives the project manager flexibility in decision making for choosing the model that suits best for his or her project.

Secondly, the PMP is not industry specific

This means that the frameworks and processes described in PMBOK are applicable for all industries. To explain it further, software industry and information technology industry use mostly Agile Technologies in their projects nowadays so both Agile Project Management and PMP is applicable in these industries. But, in industries such as Construction management, most of the projects follow the waterfall method. In this industry, the Agile Project Management processes will not be applicable but the frameworks and processes of PMP will be applicable. Hence, PMP gives greater freedom to a person to switch industries or prepares them for all kinds of projects in different industries

Evolution of PMP

Although, PMP is not industry specific, PMI has changed the PMP exam in 2021 and a new PMBOK Guide, that is, PMBOK Guide 7th Edition is being released in 2021. The PMP exam now has shown special emphasis on agile philosophy and 50% of the exam is based on Agile and hybrid processes. The PMBOK Guide would also put some extra emphasis towards the learning of agile philosophy. The reason is that agile is touted to be the future and many industries are adopting to agile and by integrating agile philosophy in the PMBOK, PMI is making sure that people having PMP certification are capable of working in any project in any industry but that does not mean that they are jack of all traits and master of none and are able to use agile philosophy as well if a project requires it.

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Eligibility for PMP and APM

Now let us compare the eligibility criteria for PMP and APM

For PMP

Either the person should have a four-year degree along with 36 months of project management experience and thirty-five hours of PMP education from a reputed institute such as Learning Mudra or the person should have a high school diploma (or Associate’s Degree or the global equivalent) along with sixty months of project management experience and thirty-five hours of PMP education from a reputed institute such as Learning Mudra.

For APM

The person should have a secondary degree or associate’s degree or global equivalent along with 12 months of general project management experience in last 5 years and 8 months of experience working on agile project teams in last 3 years and 21 contact hours of training in agile practices.

Conclusion to the Topic: Agile Project Management Vs PMP

To conclude, we can say that both PMP and APM are useful in today’s world although PMP holds a slight edge because of the flexibility it provides and it is important to get a good PMP education from the best PMP Training Institute, Learning Mudra, so that you are ready when you go for the exam.