Not recommending Method123 or MPMM any longer
photo by lenifuzhead via Flickr
Some of you may have noticed that I used to have a link for Method123 and MPMM above the comment box on each post. I’ve removed them and am no longer recommending them.
I have heard good things about them which is why I chose to put the links up in the first place. They may have good products too, as I said I’ve heard good things about them. My reason for not promoting them is that I’ve been hassled lately by their marketing staff…I think they may have been upset that I wasn’t promoting the products on the home page or in a more obvious fashion.
At any rate, I would like to have some kind of similar recommended resource for people who are looking for project management templates and methodology artifacts. Anyone have a recommendation?
If you are selling it, don’t bother….I’m only looking for recommendations from people who have personal experience with the product as a customer and recommend it.
Apr 24th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Hi Josh,
Yes, I would certainly love to see you featuring GAPPS. (Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards) http://www.globalpmstandards.org
We have created COMPETENCY standards for Project Managers http://www.globalpmstandards.org/listing/project-manager-standards/ and have put them into the “public domain” under “open source” or “creative commons” licensing, (see page 2 for the actual license) and are working on the Program Manager Competency Standards http://www.globalpmstandards.org/program-manager-standards/general/program-manager-standards/ which we hope will be ready for “soft launch” after out next meeting on May 29 – 31, Cranfield University.
FWIW,I am currently on the Board of Directors, and Bill Duncan, also an active participant in this forum, was also one of the founders and a past BoD members of GAPPS.
Very quickly, the Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards, is
• A not-for-profit organisation based on performance standards developed in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom but is independent from any other standard or methodology
• Intended to provide a framework for assessment and development of project management skills in the belief that knowledge-based credentials fall short in delivering better project managers
GAPPS performance based standards
• Give clear visibility of a Global framework
• Provide an unbiased and independent benchmark
• Provide a framework for transportability and mutual recognition of project management qualifications no matter where in the world you work
• Are competency based
• Can be customized to support existing project management cultures, processes, tools and models.
Are supported by mapping of other standards against GAPPSGAPPS has put the standards into the “public domain” under “open source” or “creative commons” licensing. This provides Standards that are:
o Free of any costs
o Are easily modified to fit the culture and needs of your home base, and
o Support the evolution, adoption and sustainability of these standards.
Many thanks for your support on this, Josh…..
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
http://www.getpmcertified.com
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Josh Nankivel Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I will definitely check it out. Is there a set of templates or anything like that?
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Apr 24th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I looked at Method123 sometime ago and found it a mixed bag: some good stuff, some not so good stuff. My guess is that you are getting hassled because everyone is hurting with the financial crisis. Vendors who made sales without half-trying are probably now desperate for every nickel.
Duncan
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Apr 24th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Hi Josh
There are no “templates” per se. What there is are the standards themselves.
To actually do the assessment, we (GAPPS) have yet to put up any templates but speaking pragmatically, I (PDG) just use an Excel spreadsheet and apply Bloom’s Taxonomy to evaluate their evidence. http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/bloomtax.htm or another favorite, http://www.skagitwatershed.org/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
IF templates are specifically what you are looking for, there are no shortage of complete template packages avaialable on the internet.
My favorites:
WBS- http://www.omniclass.org
General PM Templates
http://www.businessballs.com/project%20management%20templates.pdf
http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/themes/project_management/project_management/resources#templates
http://www.berr.gov.uk/aboutus/corporate/projectcentre/pm-templates/page12526.html
http://www.cvr-it.com/PM_Templates/ (Free for Not for Profit Use)
http://pmcrunch.com/project_management__templates/list-of-leading-project-management-template-providers/
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/Projects_and_initiatives/Onq_project_management_methodology/Templates/
Basically, Google on Project Management Templates and .gov will give you more templates than a person could possibly need in a lifetime, and while some are better than others, what my advice would be is to pick an integrated package.
Hope this has been somewhat helpful?
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
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Apr 25th, 2009 at 3:20 am
Josh and Paul –
Looks like we might be comparing apples and peach pits (apples and oranges really have more similarities than differences).
Method123/MPMM (not to be confused with my training course called MMPM) is a set of tools and templates to be used by project managers when managing a project. The GAPPS standard is a set of performance criteria to be used to assess whether or not a project manager can demonstrate competence. The former is focused on process; the latter on results.
One of the (very) cool things about the GAPPS standard is that it is 100% FREE of any methodological bias: you can use PRINCE2, PMBOK Guide, Agile, BS 6079, MPMM, or your own home grown approach.
One of the other even cooler things about the GAPPS standard is that it is FREE. We are currently using it within asapm to perform our certification assessments (see article by me elsewhere on pmstudent), and both the candidates and the assessors absolutely love it. One fairly senior guy that we recently assessed said, “This was really great. I actually learned something in the process!”
Duncan
William R. Duncan, Project Management Partners
Primary author of the original version of “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge”
Board Chair, PMCert, the independent certification body of asapm
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Apr 25th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Hi Josh,
A colleague of mine has recommended Project Connections. They have a number of templates and guides for project managers. The ones he has showed me look quite good.
http://www.projectconnections.com/
Alec
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Jun 25th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Hi,
I may be a bit late into this, but I’d recently read your post when looking for information about M123 and just came across PM Pathway whilst looking for alternatives (I’m not in to supporting pushy salesmen either, especially those that call at dinner time!).
Anyway, I though that you’d be interested (www.pmpathway.com).
Cheers,
Mark
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