I recently had the pleasure of completing my Project DPro Practitioner certification. It was a time-consuming and intense, yet incredibly rewarding experience. The concept of performing different sets of activities to become a practitioner is great and exactly what is needed to make this experience meaningful and sustainable. Combining mini-courses on technical and soft-skill topics with informal learning activities like attending webinars and reading books and articles is state of the art. Adding dedicated activities where you are required to share your knowledge with your community, like writing articles or giving training to your peers, is innovation. I have never seen anything like it, and I am happy to have had the chance to experience these rewarding exercises.
The described combination of activities and the recurring ask to showcase how I apply my project management knowledge and skills, made me reflect deeply on my practice as project manager. And that is exactly what sets it apart from other certification processes. You don’t binge learn and forget, no, you again and again reflect on your work and how you apply what you learned in the first place, here the first place being the knowledge you acquired via the Project DPro Guide and Project DPro Foundation examination.
I can only recommend any project manager to embark on this journey. It will lead to acquiring new as well as refining your current skills and competencies via a constant and thorough reflection process on your practice and therefore will inevitably make you a better project manager. I can only thank the team behind Project DPro for this experience whilst looking forward to the activities required for my re-certification in the years to come.
Dennis Michael Mehlau is an independent consultant, Project DPro Practitioner certified, with expertise in Organizational Restructure, Strategy Development, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Project Management.