What's your opinion?  Are professional certifications worth it?  I need opinions here, so please respond.  I'll take responses to this post, or you can take the anonymous survey on my website here.

I'm fairly opininated here.  I'm all for getting your project management professional (PMP) certification through PMI, but I also feel that HR departments and hiring managers are lazy and are using it as an easy weed-out requirement, thus excluding qualified and experienced PMs who can manage circles around most PMP candidates.

That said, I also know that there are certifications out there that are essential to your profession.  I'm assuming most networking specialists aren't going to find a job without the proper certification.  Accountants need a CPA to be taken seriously.  Etc., etc.

Let me know about your certifications or lack of.  How you feel about them.  Have they helped your career or do you think they would if you had them?  Which ones are absolutely necessary and which ones are a joke?

Everything is anonymous, but I'll be using this information and possibly anonymous quotes in an upcoming article for Network World.  Thanks in advance!
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Here are the hard numbers from the October PM survey on PM frustrations.  As always, they will be permanently posted in the "Past Survey Results" section of this site as well...


October 2010 PM Survey - PM Frustrations

1. What is your #1 frustration as a project manager?

Lack of management support - 26%
Poor communication in the organization - 21%
Lack of PM authority and decision-making ability - 13%
Lack of planning time allowed - 12%
Lack of funding - 6%
Lack of available tools/processes - 4%
The customer - 2%
Other - 17%

2. Other?

Answers included responses such as...
- too many processes 
- 3rd party vendors
- poor reliability among team members
- bad Sales to PM hand-off

3. Do you routinely network with other PMs to share knowledge, lessons learned, and good/bad feedback?

Sometimes, but no formal or regular process - 63%
Yes - 29%
No - 9%

4. Why do you think most projects fail?

Bad or incomplete requirements - 38%
Poor communication - 19%
Poor planning by delivery team - 12%
Lack of customer involvement - 10%
Budget issues - 5%
Funding goes away - 2%
Other - 14%

5. Other?

Answers included responses such as...
- indecision
- poor management
- lack of stakeholder involvement
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The October PM survey is finally up at...

http://www.bradegeland.com/october-2010-survey.html


This month I'm look for answers on what the top frustrations are for project managers as well as what they feel are the top reasons for project failures.  All feedback is appreciated, but please only take the survey once.  I'll leave it active for a couple of weeks - check back for news here, on PM Tips, and on Twitter @begeland for updates and results.  Thanks!
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The August project management survey has been up for some time and has had good response - but we need as many responses as possible.  I'll leave the survey up through Monday, 8/30, but please take the five minutes or less that it will take for you to complete already done so.  The more responses I get, the better and more meaningful the data will be.

The survey is available at:
http://www.bradegeland.com/august-2010-survey.html

And don't forget to check PM Tips at http://www.pmtips.net/ on or after 8/31/10 for an analysis article and as always you can check http://www.bradegeland.com/past-survey-results.html for the detailed results of this and all past surveys.


Thank you!
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As part of what I'm unofficially calling "PMO Effectiveness" month, I'm conducting this month's (April) survey on the topic of PMO effectiveness. 

Go to the "April Survey" section to complete the survey.

If you've ever worked in a project management office (PMO) or you currently are - I'd appreciate hearing from you.  And please re-take the survey for each PMO you've worked in - it's completely confidential so please respond appropriately.  I don't request your name or any personal information - all I get are the results.  Later in April, be sure to check back here in the blog for a recap and in the "Past Survey Results" section of my site for full results.

Thanks!
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