GovernmentExecutive.com

A shortage of information technology project managers remains one of the biggest challenges the federal government faces, according to a report released Thursday by the Chief Information Officers Council.

The number of employees who identify themselves as project managers has decreased by 3.4 percent since 2004, according to the council's Information Technology Workforce Capability Assessment report. Despite the drop, the CIO Council reported "no large gaps for personnel performing IT project management functions."

But the council did report that issues involving "significant competencies" in IT project management were of concern.

The council concluded that the government should improve training for employees in cost-benefit analysis, capital planning and investment analysis. The report also noted a lack of competency in project management software, knowledge of federal enterprise architecture and earned value management.

The shortage of skills in these areas at lower levels could present problems for the federal government as project managers retire. About a quarter of employees who said they spent most of their time working as project managers are eligible to retire within the next three years, and about half of those said they would do so. About 19 percent of federal employees who said they spen a moderate amount of time working as project managers are eligible to retire in the next three years, with 12 percent saying they plan to retire during that time period.

The workforce assessment is based on two-year-old data collected from the 2006 federal IT workforce survey. In the survey, more than 30,000 federal IT employees responded to questions about their positions, backgrounds, skills, training and responsibilities. They found that the average federal IT employee was between the ages of 51 and 55, was a GS-12 grade or equivalent, and eligible for retirement in 11 to 20 years.

COMMENTS

• I have a PMP; the test does not reflect hands-on and you basically have to train yourself to deal with the idea of what a perfect "waterfall" approach to solutions would be to pass the test (that and the bland, similar wording and acronyms that you have to memorize so you don't confuse them). But do realize you have to have a defensible write-up of your PM experience to get certified as well, so it is not just passing a test. I would suggest anyone interested in project management realities read Reinventing Project Management. Paul Posted June 11, 2008 2:28 PM
• The problem is that no one at any agency I've worked at is interested in actually applying the principals of project management. Most ideas get green lighted for political reasons and any use of methods to evaluate their appropriateness or cost effectiveness are purely for show. If I hear another senior manager mindlessly chant "Enterprise Solution" again, I'll go nuts. As for PMPs “certification , I could train a monkey to earn a PMP – it’s a multiple choice test you only need a “D” to pass. Not one of the harder certifications I possess. Jim Posted March 17, 2008 1:18 PM
• This is a surprise??? What do you expect when a gov't agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has to go through an A-76 study that forced our IT employees to spend two years writing their job descriptions and competing to keep their jobs in-house, only to have our agency win the in-house bid and then to find out an outside non-gov't company is coming in, taking our contract computers (Dell) and switching them out for HP's and taking over the mgt of IT. How did "in-house" get changed to "contracted out?!" The majority of our IT employees quit for other non-gov't jobs; they saw the handwriting on the wall. So help us if when I need computer assistance that when I call I get someone who barely speaks English! Bonnie E. Posted March 17, 2008 11:49 AM