APMP and PRINCE2 - the numeracy and literacy of project management?

It is not exactly a new to say that achieving PRINCE2 Practitioner on its own does not make you a fully-rounded project manager. You only have to get a few battle hardened project managers in a room comparing their war wounds to hear the difficulties of Prince2 Practitioner being perceived on its own as the sole panacea to all project management ills.

This isnt an old tribal bias. Practitioners say much the same about those with APMP; how can you become a project manager with only five days training?

This view has created a false distinction between PRINCE2 qualifications and APMP. Youre either one or youre the other. But at a recent Project round table on qualifications Adrian Dooley of APM Group put it quite beautifully when he said that this was like choosing to do literacy rather than numeracy.

Both APM and the Office of Government Commerce have been increasingly vocal in recent months about the symbiotic relationship between APMP and PRINCE2. I made the case in an article in Project earlier in the year. The OGCs White Paper echoed the sentiments and a TSO book by Graham Williams APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners has the support of both parties.

This bow wave of interest saw that a long desired concept could actually become a reality the possibility of creating a tangible relationship between PRINCE2 and APMP, clarifying once and for all that the decision is not either/or, but both / and.

So the idea of developing a new route into APMP was born, one for those who have gained prior learning with PRINCE2 Practitioner. The interest in the idea has been intense; finally there is an opportunity to marry the methodological knowledge offered by PRINCE2 with the wider project management knowledge offered through APMP, without having to cover the crossover twice.

So where are we with the plan? Well, we have developed a concept syllabus based on Graham Williams book and run four pilot examinations. The feedback from this will be evaluated in the middle of May with a view to preparing its release in early-June.

Because of the interest in the idea, we will be launching the new route in phases.

A soft launch to a small number of training providers will happen in July with courses likely to be available in the autumn 2010. We anticipate that all training providers holding dual accreditation for APMP and PRINCE2 will be able to run exams from early 2011 with new accreditations being available later in the year.

At the moment the idea remains in concept, but early indications suggest that the pilot has been successful and we should be in a position to make the syllabus and exam structure available in early summer. When we start rolling out the full launch in September, we anticipate a significant interest as project professionals gain the opportunity to become both literate and numerate in project management. Its an important development in our profession. Watch this space for more details.