Which is better, PMI-ACP® or PMI-PMP®?
If you’re based outside of Europe, the UK, Australia or New Zealand, you might be considering the merits of The Project Management Institute (PMI) qualifications.
The PMI offers both the Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP)® and the Project Management Professional (PMP)® qualifications to aid project managers excel in their careers.
While both qualifications are related to project management, PMP® certification leans more towards traditional project management methods, while an ACP® certification has a larger focus on agile methods.
They are similar in some ways, but different enough that it’s worth talking about how each approach the issue of project management.
We’ll start with some general questions you might have regarding career aspirations and certifications, before moving on to the real differences between the PMI-PMP® and PMI-ACP® before wrapping up with where you can expect to take your career with either an ACP® or PMP® qualification.
We offer both PMI-PMP® and PMI-ACP® training courses. If you’d like to know more information regarding costs, bookings and exams, click the relevant links.
Career aspirations
One deciding factor is likely to be your future career aspirations, as your choice in certification may dictate where you eventually progress. For example, a team leader who wants to move into a project management role may choose to take the a PMP® exam, while a developer who wants to become a scrum-master may choose the agile-oriented ACP® certification.
This of course assumes that you don’t choose both qualifications (which is entirely viable, some might even say it’s recommended). Keep in mind that choice of one over another won’t close any doors, it will simply show potential employers that your knowledge in leadership and management is more suitable to either traditional or agile management roles.
Organization needs
If you’re currently employed and want to obtain a project management qualification to increase your chances of promotion, or if you want to secure a role at a specific business or organization, you’ll need to consider current organization needs.
This is fairly self-explanatory: If your business operates according to agile principles, you’ll need an agile qualification to match (e.g. ACP®). If your business follows more traditional project management methodology, then you would be better off with a PMP® certification.
Again, we must stress that choosing one over another won’t close any doors as both are recognized and respected qualifications, but you need to be aware of what recruiters are looking for and ensuring you make yourself as marketable as possible.
Breadth of understanding
Your choice of qualification will also depend on your personal understanding of project management. While both qualifications require several hundred hours of project management experience, there are a lot of roles and tasks accepted as ‘project management experience’ that don’t necessarily provide understanding in every aspect of project management.
PMP® training covers every dimension of project management, from initiation to personnel management, to risk management, to closing a project. ACP® training however forgoes a lot of these basic concepts in favour of focusing on agile concepts.
So, if you think your knowledge of project management is incomplete, it may be wiser to take a more comprehensive PMP® course. But, if you’re confident that your CV demonstrates competence in the core areas of project management, perhaps you might choose to expand your horizons and learn something new by enrolling in an ACP® course.
Mind-set and strategy
Traditional project management and agile aren’t just different ways of working, they are different mind-sets.
Traditional project managers act as ‘coaches.’ They educate and take a re-active stance to problem solving (at least in comparison to agile). In short, they control projects through formal procedure and other governance methods.
Agile roles act as ‘servant-leaders.’ They too help educate teams but adopt a pro-active stance to problem solving. They help create teams that can solve their own problems and then take a back seat as development commences. In short, they have very little say in the control of projects, their role is most relevant to the planning of projects and otherwise have relatively little say in how people go about completing tasks.
There’s no ‘better’ or ‘worse’ strategy here. Both are completely viable approaches to take. Your choice of qualification to a large degree depends upon the kind of environment you intend to work in.
