Agile, APM, Prince2, Scrum - What & Who should I go with?

[J B L]

Hello all, looking for some pointers as to which training to get on with.

Bit of background: I have always worked for large capital equipment manufacturers (agri, construction, ports material handling) and have now reached the point where handling the multitude of projects and forever changing environments requires me to get a bit better with my project management-foo!

I have been scouring the web for the above-mentioned methods but:

a) I am wondering which is better for someone like me: business school, middle management, not technical, export trained
b) which training body to get in touch with? Can you recommend some serious, widely acknowledged ones. We're talking qualifications recognised by FTSE, CAC, NYSE etc companies.

Google brings so much results up that I am feeling unable to split the snake-oil merchants from the reputable companies awarding solid, recognised qualifications in Agile, Scrum etc...

Thanks for the clarifications.

JB

[CoupeKid]

Without knowing what sort of field you’re in it’s a bit difficult.

Scrum and Agile are software development methods.

APM and PRINCE2 are project management methodologies.

PRINCE2 is bks really. I did it at evening classes because I needed it on my CV but have never managed a proper project before or since. It came out of Government so their answer to anything going wrong is for the manager to go to the project sponsor and get more resources.

I think APM is actually respected by real world Project Managers.

[Pieman68]

CoupeKid said:

Without knowing what sort of field you’re in it’s a bit difficult.

Scrum and Agile are software development methods.

APM and PRINCE2 are project management methodologies.

PRINCE2 is bks really. I did it at evening classes because I needed it on my CV but have never managed a proper project before or since. It came out of Government so their answer to anything going wrong is for the manager to go to the project sponsor and get more resources.

I think APM is actually respected by real world Project Managers.

Prince2 gives you the basic principles of how to manage a project. In the world of IT project delivery I've found it comes in helpful in giving us that foundation of what we need in place but then we have our own procedures from there

Agree with the above, Agile is more appropriate to Dev projects - Sharepoint Dev, DevOps and the like in our sphere where sprints are more prevalent form of delivery

[omniflow]

Prince 2 is a very easy qualification to obtain. Book a last-minute course with someone like Learning Tree and you get a week's training, "free" lunch, the book and the exams for little more than the cost of the exams.

If you can't pass the exam after a week-long training course - have a re-think about your career choices.

However, as it's so easy to pass, it's not valued to the same extent as something like APM which has a much higher barrier to entry as you need "sponsorship"

Also - the only point in doing Prince 2 is to have it on your CV so it will get past the keyword filter - it doesn't actually teach you very much.

[McAndy]

For traditional, "waterfall" and stage-gated project management, the Project Management Institute have the Project Management Professional certification.

PMI PMP.

This is globally recognised. The PMI also offer courses to train in Agile etc. methods.

From what I have read, APM is held in similarly high regard, although I'm not sure whether it is more UK/Europe-centric?

PRINCE2 is a recognised brand, but perhaps less well regarded as a qualification.

I hope this helps!

[brman]

Agree with what the others have said. Prince2, agile/scrum etc are methodologies which may or may not suit your needs but that very much depends on the specifics of the sort of projects you manage. I don't see much point in paying for training on any of them unless you have already identified that they are a real necessity which doesn't sound likely at the moment given how general the question is.

If it is a general need to get more "rounded" and something that is recognisable to employers then I also agree that APM or PMI would be good bodies to approach. Just being able to say you are an associate member will show employers you are serious about project management. Also APM (and probably PMI?) have a mentoring scheme for members. That should help you get information and guidance tailored to you needs.

[Venisonpie]

I've passed Prince 2 foundation this morning and have the practitioner tomorrow. The hardest part was downloading the peoplecert software to enable the remote exam to be monitored. That should have a qualification in itself. The rest is more an English literature exercise than anything else.

[Venisonpie]

Passed the practitioner exam yesterday, it's a nonsense. All about unravelling the silly language used in the questions.