TOPIC: Having second thoughts about taking the PMP exam after harsh review

Hey everyone,

I’ve been seriously taking the PMP in line with my work in product development but came across a colleague calling it out as “totally disconnected” from our field. Now I’m hesitating.

For those who’ve taken the PMP: Did it help your career or day-to-day work? Or is it mostly theory with little practical use?

Hello Marjoree

I would think there are a ton of PMP principals that lend themselves to product development for sure. I personally found the PMP to be very beneficial in my own day to day not necessarily because of its principles, but it’s approaches to organization and structuring a project for success.

What I found interesting is that my current corporation was already utilizing a lot of PMP principles without actually naming them after the official terms. Example; we would have daily standup meetings to discuss projects and action items of engineering team. This is essentially a scrum call, but my company didn’t call it that. We would also have bi weekly meetings with the customer to discuss progress. These were not called Stakeholder Review meetings, just customer workshops, but effectively that’s what they were.

I found that the effort lies is connecting the terms and practices to your everyday life. If you do so, you will definitely garner the benefits. Sometimes the connections may not be so blatantly obvious but the more you can try to decode the PMP language with your daily activities, everything you learn becomes universally applicable. For instance , I also am a director of a youth football team and I still utilize the same principles in general to have the organization work in unison towards the end goal of a season. This takes the form of organizing vendors for game day, setting up workout programs for spring and summer, ensuring staffs across age levels are working in a uniform manner.

Good luck on your journey and wishing you nothing but success as you pursue your PMP.

Whether you remain in Project Management or segue into Product Management, I still believe the foundational concepts you learn in the PMP preparation process will stand you in good stead.
I started off with a purely Project Management and am now straddling Product Management as well, and I still apply a lot of the concepts - managing product backlogs, sprint planning - if at all anything, it gives me a better overall perspective on everyone's point of view on the team!

Hi Marjoree,

I hear you. This is a common concern, especially in fast-paced environments like product development, where agile practices often prevail.

Here’s my take, as someone who has been in project and program management for over 20 years and earned the PMP certification long ago: the PMP isn’t disconnected – it’s foundational.
But like any foundation, it’s not the whole house.

What the PMP does offer:
A shared vocabulary and structure across industries (hugely helpful when working cross-functionally)
A rock-solid understanding of project fundamentals – scope, risk, stakeholders, value – that are relevant everywhere, agile or not, and credibility.
Like it or not, the PMP remains one of the most recognized credentials globally.

What it doesn’t do:
It doesn’t teach you how to code, build wireframes, or lead a product discovery sprint
It won’t replace real-world product intuition or market-facing skills

But here’s the magic: if you combine PMP thinking with lean/agile/product mindsets, you get the best of both worlds – structure and speed, governance and innovation.

For me, it’s been invaluable – not because I follow the pmbok like scripture, but because I know when to adapt it to my environment.

So no, PMP isn’t just theory. It’s a toolkit, and the value comes from knowing how and when to use which tool.

Would I recommend it to someone in the product field? Yes – if you’re looking to lead projects at scale, align cross-functional teams, or step into broader delivery or portfolio roles.

Happy to chat more if you’re on the fence.

BR