Good morning, I'm Lao Yuan.
Fans who are familiar with me know that I usually like to visit Zhihu, so this is a topic that I have paid attention to
Regarding this question, Lao Yuan, my answer is of course, it is useful.
After all, no one will be confident that they can only do product design, demand analysis, drawing prototypes, etc. as a product manager. This can only be regarded as a low-level product manager in the market.
But now the major BAT manufacturers require project management as their ability requirement for product managers.
Why take the test? Based on whether you have mastered project management knowledge, if not, it is recommended to research, this is the fastest and most systematic way for you to acquire knowledge.
I have worked on products for 4+ years and projects for 6+ years, so I should have a say in this issue.
Why I think it is useful, I will talk about it in 2 parts:
1. The inextricable relationship between the product manager and the PMP
2. Why is it useful?
1. The product manager and the PMP are constantly cutting, and the reasoning is still chaotic
To clarify this issue, we must first clarify the relationship between product managers and project management.
01 What does a product manager do?
With the maturity and development of the industry, the market's ability requirements for product managers are not limited to user research and interaction design, but also project management. The specific ability model will be expanded in detail later.
Although the product manager is responsible for the entire life cycle of the product, it is not difficult to find that project management is also a part of the entire life cycle of the product.
The professional requirement of a product manager is to be responsible for results. The success of your work depends on the results in the end.
02 What is PMP?
I won’t say much about the official introduction. If you are interested, you can read the popular science article I shared before ( click to read ).
(1) The role of PMPs
To put it simply, PMP mainly teaches you how to manage people and projects. Product managers can review it. Have you touched the content of communication and project management?
Not surprisingly, most product managers have been in contact with it. So although both are PMs, don't forget that in the process of making products, you need to communicate with the project manager, and you also need to involve a small part of project management.
Moreover, in most companies now, the functions and responsibilities of the two are not clearly divided, and there are not a few people who are responsible for both projects and products at the same time. This is why it is recommended that product managers must pass the PMP exam.
(2) The value of PMP
We consider whether a certificate is valuable, one is to see its market, and the other is to see whether it will become obsolete.
Regarding the market and gold content, I wrote another article in great detail ( click to read ), and here I mainly talk about the factor of "outdated".
The content of PMP is updated every 4 years. From the rigid "process" at the beginning, it now pays more attention to people-oriented and market, and has greatly improved the content of agile management. This part is compatible with the current "agile development".
Every change is to better adapt to the development of the times, so you can also feel the development trend of the industry during the learning process.
And update and iteration, I think the greatest value of this certificate.
03Project Manager & Product Manager
Although there are differences between the two, they are more about collaboration. Many of my students are also product managers. In actual work scenarios, a lot of project management knowledge is needed. Many of them are PMs of large factories, and they emphasize project management. In the growth system of product managers, project management capabilities are very important.
For companies with project managers, the two PMs need to actively communicate and cooperate in terms of progress and products;
For a company without a project manager, the product manager also assumes the responsibility of the project manager, and this ability is even more needed. Otherwise, even if you are exhausted, you will not be able to achieve the results you want.
2. Why PMP is useful for product managers
01 No product manager who does not understand project management is innocent
Many product managers think that as long as the product is done well, project management should be handed over to the project manager or R&D. This idea is too one-sided...
The knowledge system of project management is consistent with the career development of product managers.
And our abilities and skills must be constantly iterated and updated in the market changes and needs, and we will fall behind if we are not careful...
For an excellent product manager, if he wants to achieve career advancement, the job content should be able to directly affect the organizational strategy, rather than just being a tool person who draws prototypes.
As for the influence of organizational strategy, project management knowledge is the only way to grow, and it cannot be circumvented, and why should it be circumvented? A tool that can solve a problem is a good tool.
(1) Industry/occupational growth system development requirements
Before becoming an excellent person, you must first find a good benchmark. In the industry, the leader is the BAT manufacturer. The following is the product manager capability model of Tencent and Baidu. No product manager who does not understand project management is innocent.
Tencent's:
Baidu's:
From these two pictures, we can see that project management ability is a must-have skill among the ability requirements of large manufacturers for product managers, and the requirements are different at each level. The higher the level, the more management awareness is required.
Do you still think that the product manager only needs to do a good job in the product?
(2) When bidding, Party A requires PMP certificate
In addition to the requirements of large manufacturers, some companies will find that Party A has certain requirements for the number of PMP certificates of the bidding company when bidding, and this is the rigid requirement of the company.
At this time, the PMP certificate is inevitable. At this time, the company will basically reimburse you at public expense for you to take the exam.
02 Universality, basicity and effectiveness of PMP
I myself took the PMP certificate when I was a product manager. The starting point at that time was to supplement my project management knowledge and broaden my future development and career path.
Although it did not bring me a direct promotion and salary increase, it did improve my thinking and handling methods a lot.
In addition, I have always used PMP as a dictionary and used its guidelines to find solutions in practice. This method has been tried and tested.
3. Write at the end
Whether PMP is useful or not is only a question, and we will encounter many multiple-choice questions and judgment questions in life. To do them well, there is only one way:
The more possibilities you allow, the more opportunities you have.
• Communicate more with market participants, get close to them in multiple dimensions, and get a clear picture of the industry and market;
• Keep thinking, don't copy what others say;
• Consult with top figures in the industry to see how they view the problem
For a product manager who wants to systematically improve his project management knowledge in a short period of time and keep updating it, obtaining a PMP certificate is undoubtedly the best solution.
Regardless of the knowledge of project management or product manager, as long as it can be promoted to serve the organizational strategy, it is a good skill, and a good skill is worth paying for.
Investing in yourself is always the best investment.
Avoid superficiality and impetuosity, other people's opinions are not so important, what is important is whether this matter is useful to you, and do it if it is useful.
Finally share a story ending:
"A group of people fought for a piece of gold. When they were fighting for a piece of gold, someone picked up a piece of diamond and left. The people who robbed the gold were not incapable of robbing the diamond, but from the beginning to the end, no one told them that there is something more valuable than gold. value for money”
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I am Lao Yuan, welcome to follow my official account [ Project Manager Lao Yuan], every day there will be dry goods sharing of project management cases .