With a Project Manager (PM), you can go from absolutely right to horribly wrong. Unfortunately, there are no shades of grey involved in this case. A lot of people underestimate project managers and think they are not smart enough to write good code, or PMs are QAs who was promoted to this position. From a business perspective, the PM position is one of the most critical ones in the company because they are directly responsible for your profit and loss (P&L). Here we try to explain why the project manager is like the horse on a chessboard and what is PMP certification and why project management professional (PMP) certification is important. If you play him right, you will have a higher chance of victory. Here is a short glimpse of the course structure.

Initiation of the Project – This is the part where meetings with stakeholders are held and estimation of tasks is done. The key deliverables are identified during this meeting. The expectations are set and clearly communicated to the stakeholder. During this time, risks are identified but they are only possible to know with experience and strong analytical skills. Estimation is a tricky affair and lets’ face it, giving an exact estimate is difficult. With practice and using the methods mentioned, you will get closer and better at this.

Planning a Project – During this phase, the scope, deliverables, cost management, human resource management, project schedule, communication management, procedure management, change management, quality management, and risk management are all decided and taken care of in this phase. This plan is discussed with the stakeholders and any iterations are made. This helps to keep the stakeholder and the company on the same page with expectations, deliverables, timelines, etc.

Executing – In this phase the human resources are procured and the plan that is created in the previous step is followed. The development team will have to lead. Quality has to be taken care of and any changes have to go through the cycle or cycles that have been discussed. The stakeholders need to be kept in the loop and the relationship between the stakeholder is to be kept as per the management plan. It is all about execution. His module has the maximum weight in the PMP certification exam.

Monitoring and Controlling – The project manager should have the required tools in place to measure the progress of the project. In case the project is deviating from its plan, the code quality is not acceptable, or the tickets (used to allocate issues and bugs) are showing an anomaly, the PM should be able to monitor and take corrective action to minimize the effect on the project. The PM should be able to keep a check on the lessons learned and should always be on the lookout for improvement. The PM should ensure that any procurement complies with the project plan.

Closing – This is when the project is handed over to the original stakeholders and written closures are needed from a financial, legal and an administrative standpoint. A final project report is created and submitted from the project are captured for use in the future for the next projects. Documents are archived, and feedback is taken from the stakeholders in order to evaluate their satisfaction.

As you can see the course covers everything. We have worked with various project managers and would highly recommend having a PMP certification. This ensures that the company, as well as the client, knows that you are capable of handling the project. If you are working towards a PMP certification or have completed the certification and are looking for a full-time opportunity with us, send an email to hello@dignitas.digital