Somewhere in my drawer there is a copy of the code of ethics one agrees to in order to become a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI). I tend not to look at it much, but come across it from time to time as I rearrange my drawer.
As I looked at it again this morning, I began to wonder why PMPs sign up to “doing what is right and honorable”, but create such a competitive and poor professional environment for PMP colleagues? Goodness knows, I have never met a friendlier bunch than when sitting at a round dinner table during the monthly chapter meeting, but put the same group into a client situation, and it seems the gloves come off just in time to lecture on the proper PMI process or the appropriate documentation approach.
Now, this is all such generalization, and (albeit quietly) I will admit to having been guilty of the behavior myself, it seems to be prevalent in the PMP community. Is it just that PMPs are competitive by nature? A-type personalities?
Either way, it seems to me that the professional courtesy (or common good behavior) needs to begin to prevail within projects and organizations employing PMPs.
So what about a scoring system? Not for bad behavior… that would be somewhat negative, open to misuse, and potentially perpetuate existing actions (i.e. you make me angry, so I will report your bad behavior). But what about a star-rating system? A personal testament tracker, to the best PMPs? It could function much as LinkedIn, and as you come into choices about projects and jobs, you could see which PMPs you will be surrounded by and whether you really want to work with them. The system could be used by employers to verify the ultimate – behavior – of PMPs, not just skill sets.
Regardless of system, or approach, I hope that we will discover some way to hold ourselves to higher standards and to begin living the code of “doing what is right and honorable” not just for projects, but for our fellow PMPs.