{"id":24483,"date":"2015-10-20T14:45:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T14:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T14:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T14:39:24","slug":"to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/zh-hans\/blogs\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\/","title":{"rendered":"To Be or Not To Be (a PMP)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been a project manager and have taught project management workshops for Kepner-Tregoe for years, but have never pursued Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. I\u2019ve never been totally sure what value was to have the letters \u201cPMP\u201d after my name. Upon learning that I had been selected by KT as a candidate to become PMP certified, I had a decision to make \u2013 \u201cDo I really want to go through the effort to become PMP certified?\u201d For me, it would need to be more about gaining knowledge that I can use both personally and to help others.<\/p>\n<p>Before pursuing my PMP, I had only limited exposure to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). On initial review it seems to take the basics of project management and break them down into individual elements categorizing them into \u201cKnowledge Areas\u201d and \u201cProcess Groups\u201d. It feels like the PMBOK is focused on explaining \u201cwhat\u201d the tools used to manage projects are as compared to \u201cwhy\u201d they are important and \u201chow\u201d you can combine and use them to manage a project effectively.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been a little surprised that some of the tools in the PMBOK chart a different direction than some methods I\u2019ve previously learned and found to be quite effective; especially on the small to medium-sized projects most of us deal with on a daily basis. But still, it is an opportunity to expand my knowledge, and be in a better position to help the project managers and teams I work with.<\/p>\n<p>As I see it, the value in pursuing a PMP certification includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Expanding my understanding of project management concepts (especially in areas where I have limited experience)<\/li>\n<li>Qualifying me for additional project management assignments<\/li>\n<li>Gaining recognition within my organization as an expert in project management<\/li>\n<li>Increasing my network of local project management contacts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Overall, it seems the benefits of PMP certification certainly outweigh any negatives.<\/p>\n<p>So far, I have joined PMI and downloaded a copy of the \u201cGuide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge\u201d and read it cover to Annex\/Appendix, signed up for a local, 12-week PMP Prep course, and attended the first session. It\u2019s encouraging to find the material less difficult than I expected. Also, I have found ways to improve my use and instruction of project management processes, so I am gaining value already.<\/p>\n<p>So far, so good!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been a project manager and have taught project management workshops for Kepner-Tregoe for years, but have never pursued Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. I\u2019ve never been totally sure what value was to have the letters \u201cPMP\u201d after my name. Upon learning that I had been selected by KT as a candidate to become PMP [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[163],"class_list":["post-24483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>To Be or Not To Be (a PMP) - Kepner-Tregoe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One man\u2019s journey to join the ranks of certified Project Management Professionals (PMI)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/zh-hans\/blogs\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Be or Not To Be (a PMP)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One man\u2019s journey to join the ranks of certified Project Management Professionals (PMI)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/zh-hans\/blogs\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kepner-Tregoe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-20T14:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T14:39:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Project-Manager.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Sza\u0142kiewicz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"To Be or Not To Be (a PMP)\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-20T14:45:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-10T14:39:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":403,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Project-Manager.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Other\"],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-CN\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/zh-hans\\\/blogs\\\/to-be-or-not-to-be-a-pmp\\\/\",\"name\":\"To Be or Not To Be (a PMP) - 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