Project Management Training - London - Agile vs Standard and which one

[konsultant]

Hi,

Just finished my contract recently.

While looking for a new contract, I plan to utilize my time to do a PM certification. I wanted to understand if PMP or Prince2 is better?

PMP has a more global appeal and is more rigorous while Prince2 is geared towards local UK market.

Also, for either of them - can anyone recommend a good training provider?

Finally, whats the thought on the Agile variant over the traditional certification?

Thanks

[original PM]

PMP or Prince 2 are fine - experience is most important so you just need something to get your foot in the door and get that experience.

Agile is a completely different kettle of fish.

True Agile will make someone with PMP or Prince 2 cry due to the complete lack of gates/budget considerations/signed off/requirements.

I believe there are things out there called Prince2 Agile these are not Agile.

And finally be wary of companies who do 'Agile' but in reality they do waterfall with an Agile board as a way of controlling developers/engineers

The agile board is there for the engineers to show what is being worked on and when things will be done - not for PM's to use as a tool to manage development schedules.

[LondonManc]

For true Agile, you'd need scrum master training rather than project management training.

Horses for courses and all that.

[original PM]

Not all Agile is Scrum.....

Kanban can work too

https://www.cprime.com/2015/02/3-dif...-need-to-know/

the main problem I have with Agile is that not everything can be broken down into a small package that can be done in a few days.....

[konsultant]

Thanks all.

Most of my work so far has been on non Agile projects. I was looking to do the traditional PMP/Prince 2. It was just few friends who suggested I look at Agile.

Does anyone have recommendations for good training providers in London? Or is it better to self learn/ elearning?

Most of them are exhorbitant in pricing ! Are there any funding opporunities for someones who's out of contract?

Thanks

[vetran]

Prince 2 practitioner to Agile was an interesting journey.

I still fail to see how you can use Agile for building an aircraft carrier (with or without planes) or similar where it has to be done to a specific detailed budget with lots of suppliers and competing stakeholders. Maybe I am missing something?

For smallish internal projects where you can hold most of the dependencies in your head e.g. building / modifying individual screens/reports/scripts it does give a nice fast pace that is normally lost with Waterfall. Key thing is everyone has to want the project to succeed properly,on time & budget, the minute you get a Vendor in there filling their boots then I suspect you are lost.

Agile seems to be very popular at present. Apart from scrum master are there other courses?

[LondonManc]

Thanks all.

Most of my work so far has been on non Agile projects. I was looking to do the traditional PMP/Prince 2. It was just few friends who suggested I look at Agile.

Does anyone have recommendations for good training providers in London? Or is it better to self learn/ elearning?

Most of them are exhorbitant in pricing ! Are there any funding opporunities for someones who's out of contract?

Thanks

Your day rate is exorbitant compared to a permie and is designed to include paying for courses, accreditations, etc., just like a plumber would.

[LondonManc]

Not all Agile is Scrum.....

Kanban can work too

https://www.cprime.com/2015/02/3-dif...-need-to-know/

the main problem I have with Agile is that not everything can be broken down into a small package that can be done in a few days.....

I prefer Kanban to Agile - real life issues get in the way of sprints and so much time can be wasted on sprint planning that bears no relationship to what actually goes down in those two weeks. Not only that, but if there's an issue in the first couple of days of the sprint, everyone's on a downer for the rest of the sprint because they know they're not going to meet the deliverables of the sprint. Kanban's the semi-documented JFDI approach that all developers should love.

[konsultant]

Your day rate is exorbitant compared to a permie and is designed to include paying for courses, accreditations, etc., just like a plumber would.

Ooooh now we get into the perm vs contract debate!

Anyways, back to my question please -

Tried and tested recommendations for training providers in the UK ?

Thanks

[LondonManc]

Ooooh now we get into the perm vs contract debate!

Anyways, back to my question please -

Tried and tested recommendations for training providers in the UK ?

Thanks

If you can get training on the job as a contractor, treat it as a bonus.

Learning Tree - https://www.learningtree.co.uk/

I did business analyst and project management training with them years ago, very useful.