Speaking at AgileDC 2011

I'm happy to announce that I will be speaking at AgileDC 2011.  My session, When PMI Introduced the Elephant in the Room, will be part of the Enterprise Agile track. Last October I entered the Gaylord National with a little trepidation.  The PMI North American Congress was taking place and I found out that several people I admire in the Agile space were going to be attending and speaking.  Leading up to the major PMI event, I was hearing a lot of chatter about these "heretics" who were going to be presenting.  In Washington DC, the PMP was king and few in the Federal space wanted to hear anything about adaptive planning, continuous elaboration, or focusing on delivering value to the customer.  Project Managers were expected to predict the future, define process and then make damn sure you followed it, regardless if anything ever got delivered.  So, I was very much surprised as I walked through the Gaylord and noticed poster after poster, display after display.  "Are you Agile?"

Every Agile session I attended, PMI Vice President of Information Technology, Frank Schettini introduced the speaker and told the audience that he leads the team that is responsible for delivering value to PMI’s members, volunteer leaders, certification holders and staff through innovative and reliable technology solutions. He said that he was a strong supporter of the Agile Community and so was PMI.

Though the audience at one of the first Agile sessions was almost hostile towards the presenters, by the time Michele Sliger gave the final session on the final day of the conference, there was buzz in the halls of the Gaylord about how "this Agile thing" had taken the conference by storm.

Agile was about to cross the chasm and PMI was going to make sure we made it to the other side.

But first, introductions were in order.

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I will talk about the current state of Agile and how I see the landscape changing, with the introduction of the new PMI Agile certification.  I will compare and contrast the PMI-ACP^sm to the PMP® as well make some predictions for things to come.

Now, don't come to just hear me talk!  This year, the keynote speakers will be Agile luminaries Ken Schwaber and Sanjiv Augustine.  It should a great conference.  If you're interested in 15% discount, please contact me directly.

New Chapter

Just yesterday I was complaining about my first day as a technical advisor for a contract source selection committee.  What can I say?  The PMO asked me to do it and it's important that it gets done correctly.  But being asked to sit in a room for the next 6 weeks, with no access to Internet or phone was going to be very painful.  I understand that I can't be connected 100% of the time.  I understand there needs to be balance and I can't tweet what is going on in my life 24x7.  But using modern forms of communications makes me feel informed and connected.  If I have a question about something, I feel I can reach out to half a dozen people in a moments notice to get an answer.

So, as I began my second day with the committee, I just sat there for about 10 minutes and stared at the binder sitting on the table in front of me.  How the hell was I going to survive this?

Well, I have an answer.  I got an offer to go work with someone else.  Long story short, I was offered a position with LitheSpeed and I accepted.  LitheSpeed offers premium Agile software development training, team coaching & management consulting services. They blend Agile methods like Scrum and XP with Lean process expertise to speed value delivery and drive enterprise evolution.

I'm very excited about my future with them.

I've been working with a federal PMO managing a multi-year, multi-phased, multi-million dollar program for a few years now.  I don't think anyone in the PMO knew what Agile was before I arrived.  Rest assured, I'm not turning my back on my project management roots.  I'm still very much a supporter of PMI and the PMP.  But even PMI couldn't ignore Agile forever.  It's time for me to help others to speed value delivery and drive enterprise evolution.  It's time for me to turn the page and start a new chapter.

Drawing by Pictofigo

HT: LitheSpeed

Net PMI Numbers Are Up

I cracked open my May edition of PMI Today to review the monthly statistics.  Remember, the statistics are always a month behind.  I was impressed to see PMI added 11,681 new members in March, up from 9,750 new members in February.  Upon adding the numbers to my spreadsheets, March numbers looked better than the February, in respect to net PMI membership.  Though PMI added 11,681 new members, they also lost 6,857 (down from 8,076 lost members in February). I realized the net gain was 4,824 (up from 1,674 PMI members the previous month.  So, did the PMI do anything to increase their retention rates?  Time will tell. March 2011 Totals: Active PMPs: 423,515 PMI Members: 346,730 CAPM: 13,969 PMI-RMP: 741 PgMP: 553 PMI-SP: 440

Source: PMI Today

Getting PMI Agile PDUs Early

Let's say you're interested in the upcoming Agile Project Professional (APP) certification from PMI.  You look to see the eligibility requirements and notice you'll need 21 hours of Agile Project Management Training.  If you're determined to get the PMI APP and looking to do this on the cheap, start watching webinars now. I can guarantee there will be a lot of training opportunities in the near future.  Check out a future location to find upcoming Agile PDUs. Once it is fully rolled out, it should be an excellent resource to find PDUs to meet your PMI needs. So back to the intent of getting the training.  After I read (and recently reread) Dan Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, it made me stop and question why people wanted to get the PMP or APP.  Are we trying to discover better ways to deliver value to customers or just trying to get a piece of paper and a few extra letters after our names?  Dan breaks it down to pursuing the mastery of performance-based objectives versus learning-based objectives (ie. getting a passing score on a certification exam versus learning new approaches to deliver value to customers).

Regardless, information is information and I want to do what I can to help people discover it.

One of the approaches I really enjoy using is Kanban.  Today I stumbled upon a free Kanban webinar.  Though you do have to enter some contact information, it's free.  You have the option of downloading it or viewing a playback.  So, regardless if you're looking to bank those PMI Agile PDUs or not, enjoy 1 free hour of training.  By the way, I am in no way affiliated with the provider.   I just like free webinars.

HT: ASPE Events HT: Agile PDUs

Link to Drive is an Amazon affiliate link Drawing by Pictofigo

8076 Less PMI Members

I cracked open my April edition of PMI Today to review the monthly statistics.  I was impressed to see PMI added 9,750 new members in February.  Upon adding the numbers to my spreadsheets, February was suddenly in like a lion and out like a lamb.  Though PMI added 9,750 new members, they also lost 8,076 members.  That's in one month!  I realized the net gain was only 1,674 PMI members, in comparison to 3,127 PMPs.  If your project had retention rates like this, don't you think someone would try to do something about it?  Shouldn't the PMI see this low retention rate as being an issue that should be addressed?

February 2011 Totals: Active PMPs: 420,602 PMI Members: 341,906 CAPM: 13,678 PMI-RMP: 677 PgMP: 530 PMI-SP: 426

Source: PMI Today

PMI Stats for Jan 2011

The January 2011 Project Management Institute (PMI) statistics are in.  The PMI now has over 417,475 active Project Management Professionals (PMPs) and 340,232 members. So, what's new? We have a new certification announcement! In the event you were living in a cave for the last week, PMI announced the introduction of the Agile Project Professional (APP) certification.

With the announcement of the APP, I empathize with those people out there with PMI certifications other than PMPs.  I feel like they've kind of been left in the lurch.  If you sum all of the "non-PMP" certifications for the month of January, there were only 246 recieved.

I added the APP to the chart, merely as a placeholder.  But, I do not doubt that it's going to be PMI's new shining star, as soon as they make it available.

January 2011 Totals: Active PMPs: 417,475 PMI Members: 340,232 CAPM: 13,464 PMI-RMP: 622 PgMP: 521 PMI-SP: 418

Source: PMI Today

What is in a Name

This weekend, I took the first step of rebranding myself. Some know me as Derek Huether the "PMP"; some as Derek Huether the "CSM"; some even refer to me as The Critical Path blogger or Zombie PM. With the real risk of the Federal Government shutting down this next week, I'd be an idiot if I didn't eat my own dogfood and have some kind of Risk Management strategy.  Though I may have to "accept" the risk, I will do what I can to mitigate it.

Because I am NOT a government employee, if there is a shutdown, I will NOT get paid.  When I heard about a possible shutdown, I remembered the similarities between grief and risk.  So, what needs to get done?  I need to get my resume and social links updated.  Wherever my name is, I need to make sure the message I'm sending reflects my current frame of mind.

When I look at LinkedIn profiles, it appears some people really love adding initials after their names.  I saw one fellow had no less than 6 acronyms after his name.  Though people in the industry may understand this alphabet soup, I think many are just annoyed by it.  I did a search on him and he really had nothing to say (publicly).  So, who is this guy?  What I see happening is he'll be loaded into a database with everyone else and he'll become nothing more than a keyword search.

Though I admit, that could happen to me as well.  I'll do what I can not to pander to it.  I think people should be hired because of their personalities or because they are good culture fits.  I wouldn't want to be hired because a hiring manager needed a body with a PMP or CSM.

I'm not going to turn my back on what I've learned over the years.  I will still champion the baseline information the pursuit of these certifications or accreditations exposed me to.  But, I'm not going to continue using them in my name.  It's just not who I am.

Zombie Elephant

I read a REALLY compelling post by Philippe Kruchten, who among others, was at the 10 years agile celebration meeting in Snowbird, UT, organized by Alistair Cockburn on February 12. Philippe stated on his blog post, after covering the walls with a couple of hundred issues cards, David Anderson noted that there was “an elephant in the room”. [read Philippe's post to find out what it was]  ...A small group identified a few other such “elephants in the room”, i.e., other topics that the agile community is not really willing to tackle for a variety of reasons. They ended up with a long list of about 12 such “undiscussable” topics (or at least not discussable in the open).

The elephant that jumped out at me was number eleven.

11. Certification (the “zombie elephant”) This massive elephant was reported dead a few times, but seems to reappear…

Now, I don't want to beat this proverbial dead horse but I do think it's important to talk about this.  The idea of "Agile" Project Management certification seems to drive some people super crazy.  There are arguments against certifications (in general), saying they are just a way to make money; that they don't offer any real value.  Like it or not, certifications ARE out there and they ARE here to stay.  This argument is not unique to the Agile Community.  There are almost daily debates in the blogosphere on the subject of certification value.  There is a distinct difference between wisdom and knowledge and I think the Agile community has a lot of wisdom to offer the "traditional" project management community.  If you don't have the wisdom, you need some basic foundation of education in order to help projects (and people) reach their goals.

The ongoing problem I see is some people outside our project teams perceive those with certifications as experts.  It's either that or the Hiring Managers are so damn lazy that they go looking for certifications rather than actual people who will make good culture fits.  Either way, we have the same results.  People who don't know the first thing about project management or leadership, with certifications, get hired.  This is not an issue with the certification itself.  It's a marketing issue.  The message is being controlled by the wrong people.  The communities as a whole need to be more vocal and shape the correct message.

In my post for Agile Scout, about the State of Agile, I called it mastery-based learning and the paradox of the certification.  What is the goal?  Are we trying to discover better ways to deliver value to our customers or are we just trying to get a piece of paper and a few extra letters after our names?  Some only care about getting a passing score on a certification exam versus being a good manager or leader.  I would argue that certifications do offer some value but we may need to do away with terms like "Master" or "Professional", in order to help control the message.

So, why certification and not traditional higher education?  In preparation for writing another blog post, I was reading a University of Maryland textbook on Systems Analysis. The section on Agile & Scrum were flat out wrong!  In addition, this college textbook used Wikipedia as its reference source.

I would argue, the respective communities introduce themselves to the elephant in the room and get to work on better ways to educate people and measure proficiency.  You better do it soon, before that elephant becomes an 800 pound gorilla.

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