Interview with BUB's Chris Kindermans, MSc PMP

Boston University’s own Chris Kindermans sat down with us recently to discuss the Project Management Institute’s PMP®, Project Management Professional exam and integration into the curriculum at BUB. He will be leading the two-day pre-exam course hosted by BUB on March 30th and 31st from 08:00 to 17:00hrs.

 

What value do you feel Project Management training has to today's professional?

Project Management is the discipline of planning, organizing, allocating, and managing the scarce resources of a company or an organization, in order to achieve its specific goals and objectives. This type of training let acquire all students, wanting to work and to develop a career in any kind of organization or government body, a vital skill or competency that makes them stand and perform in line with the organizational requirements and expectations in this times of Globalization. Acquiring Project Management knowledge should be given the same consideration as learning how to read and how to write.

How has the class at BUB been created to meet the needs of the students?

In line with the exponential growth of the number of certified Project Managers in the world and with the explosive demand from the national and international markets, for trained Project Managers, BUB has decided in 2006 to create 4 Project Management training modules, in line with those modules, offered by the main campus. These 4 modules haven proven to cover all needs of the students.

Have you found a good response so far?

Right from the beginning Project Management classes belong to the top classes of BUB, in fact they belong to the top tier from a participants point of view.

How do you see Project Management contributing to the development of a leader?

In order to become a good project manager, someone has also to develop a set of interpersonal and leadership skills. To name some: We expect a Project Manager to be Ethical, Professional, Respectful, Fair, and Honest. He/She should be a good communicator and inspire a shared vision for the project team. She/He should be competent, empathic, and enthusiast. We also require from a project manager a good capability of finding sustainable solutions, solving problems, negotiating, motivating people,  and conflict handling. We train the students in all those areas, which all belong to the skills set of a great leader.

Is there a place for Project Management in International Relations?

When we go back to all of the above, it goes without saying that project management skills, competences and knowledge belong to the key attributes of a successful Manager, working in International Relations. Knowledge of cultural differences is yet another competency, to be acquired by project managers. Globalization thrives on competent project managers and proper resources allocation.

Do you see a difference in the approach to Project Management internationally as opposed to the US?

Except for dealing with some cultural aspects, there is no difference between the US approach  and approaches in other parts of the world. Courses at BUB are largely inspired by the PMBoK, the Project Management Body of Knowledge, an ANSI standard, issued by PMI. PMI, the Project Management Institute, with currently more than 550.000 members worldwide, has issued only one global standard for project management and everywhere in the world, people who want to be certified have to study the same PMBoK and they have to pass the same type of exam. Worldwide, there are now more than 600.000 PMP's, certified Project Managers from PMI. A proof that the profession of Project Manager is really global, and the courses at BUB are aligned in the same way.