What our delegates say

Q. How did you get into training with ESI?

The company I was working with at the time wanted everyone to get formal project management training, and ESI was recommended to me by my boss. I started off just planning to do a Masters Certificate in Project Management, but once I had gotten the certificate I kept coming back because I realised what an important factor training was in my career development.

Q. You have now been training with ESI for 10 years - What keeps attracting you back?

I find the standard of the courses consistently high and I am always very impressed with the instructors. They really strike a good balance between presenting the academic course material from George Washington University and telling us about their own real life experiences – it really brings the course material to life. In the last 10 years, ESI has really expanded their offering. You not only have courses in the area of project management but also programme management, business skills and business analysis. This means that I can pick up more than just the basics – I can start to expand and refine my knowledge. ESI’s PMI® affiliation is also a plus for me – I need PDUs to retain my PMP® certification and with ESI’s courses you get those PDUs as you train.

Q. Do you think formal project management qualifications are important?

Training is a massive advantage in the project management profession, often certification is the only thing setting you apart from the competition. In larger companies you can find barriers to promotion unless you have industry certification. This means that if you come in to do project work as an outside contractor for one of these companies, they require that you are at least qualified to the standard of their own internal project managers – otherwise, you won’t win the contract. I encourage everyone in my team to work towards their PMP® certification – it’s invaluable in this industry.

Q. Why do you think training is so ‘key’ to your development?

Although important, training is about more than just formal qualifications. Sometimes it is easy to get put off best practices by all the lengthily processes and administrative hurdles you can encounter. As a job, project management can be really challenging and you can sometimes lose sight of the main goal. Training really reignites my enthusiasm for project management and reaffirms why we have certain processes in place. After I go on a training course and I get back to the office invigorated and keen to apply what I have learned and keen to make sure all the right procedures are being followed.

Q. How has project management changed in the last decade?

When I started as a project manager, the majority of us were technical specialists implementing system-based solutions. However as project management developed, organisations decided that they needed project managers to be able to articulate the project solution and business case at the organisational level. Now we have almost come full circle – because of all the technology presently being implemented – there is, again, more call for IT and systems-based project managers. However, unlike the early days of project management, project managers now have higher levels of standardised industry certification. This enables us to communicate properly with each other and articulate the business case and overall organisational goals to the rest of the business.

The face of project management has really changed in the past 10 years. It is becoming more regulated and there is definitely an increasing demand for project managers to have formal training and accreditation. Projects definitely have higher success rates now than 10 years ago – but we are still looking at success rates of around only 36%, which is staggering! There is still a lot of work to do within the industry to raise standards.

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Q. Why did you decide to pursue the Advanced Master's Certificate in project management?

I did my first ESI course before the Advanced Master’s Certificate was available. I was already PMP® certified; the first course I did with ESI was Programme Management. I really enjoyed it, I found the instructor of a very high standard and I enjoyed the knowledge sharing, which took place among the group members. Thanks to the good experience on this course, I planned my next move to be ESI’s Master’s Certificate in IT Project management, as I come from a business background and thought improving my knowledge of the specific issues of IT project management would prove useful.

At this time the Advanced Master’s Certificate was created and I judged it to be more suitable to me – the courses were pitched at my level. The Advanced Master’s was more of a stretch. Although I wouldn’t say the courses were difficult – the value comes from meeting the other delegates – learning how they deal with specific issues, and of course the insights from the instructors are invaluable.

Q. What part of the ESI classroom experience did you like best?

Without a doubt it is the ability to meet my peers from other organisations. And the quality of the instructors means I enjoy every course. I’ve been to quite a few courses with other training companies too, but I’ve found ESI’s instructors to be the best in the business. For me, the real advantage comes from how they share their experience to illustrate points. That’s where the real added value comes from.

Q. How have you applied what you’ve learned at ESI to your day-to-day job?

Well, I’ve kept all the notes from the ESI classes I’ve attended – they are useful to refer to on specific points. A large part of my role is working on requirements definition, and the notes from the ‘Requirements Management’ class were useful in approaching this.

I’m now involved in setting up project management master classes within my office. We identified the eight areas of project management that the office was lacking in, and I’ve developed small ‘master classes’ to tackle and improve this. The course content and structure from ESI was very useful in pointing the way in this.

The project management benchmarking questionnaire I picked up on one of ESI’s courses was a useful tool in assessing where my office is now. I will use it again at the end of the year to see how far we’ve come.

Q. What is the biggest challenge that you face on your job?

Stakeholders management. As part of a programme integrating Ulster Bank and First Active to Royal Bank of Scotland Group systems, I am managing the integration of five applications. This involves a diverse group of cross functional stakeholders, who I need to ensure buy into the changes and work with me to deliver changes which impact organisational structure, processes, systems and support and are heavily dependant on effective training and communications.

Q. What are the benefits of having an Advanced Master's Certificate in project management?

Project management is becoming more professional, if you’re a serious project manager you need to have accreditation to demonstrate this. In addition to what I learned when completing the courses, I’ve found my own attitude to training has inspired my team members to take project management more seriously, and pursue formal training themselves. They all now have structured project management development plans.

Q. What are some of the lessons that you have learnt while working on projects?

It is really important to make sure you have captured all the requirements, ensured they are documented to the correct level and that they are traceable.

It is also important to manage the stakeholders and their expectations, as a negative stakeholder can de-rail your project and ultimately, it is your sponsor and stakeholders who judge whether your project has been a success. I’d recommend all project managers to have a stakeholder management plan. It helps ensure all the stakeholders are identified; their positions are fully understood and enable an effective management plan to be put in place.

Q. Would you recommend ESI’s project management programme to others? And why?

I would certainly recommend it. In terms of recommending the Advanced Master’s Certificate, which I completed, you should be an experienced project manager before you embark on this. In the first instance I would recommend the Master’s certificate as an excellent way of getting to PMP® certification.

Q. Why did you decide to become PMP® certified?

I got PMP® certified because it shows you are a professional project manager and it stands out on your CV. Accreditation benchmarks you against others. I’ve seen over my career an increase in project managers being trained and accredited – and I really instil the importance of training into my team members, qualifications themselves are something to aim for and demonstrate you have done the training.

Q. Do you have any further comments you would like to add?

I’ve got an awful lot out of ESI’s courses – I still keep my eye out for any new courses that are introduced that will be relevant for me.

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