2010 PIPMG - 'Pharmaceutical Industry Project Management Group'

Project Managers in Pharma and Biotech - are we qualified for the job?

For many, the traditional route into project management in Pharma has been that an expert – scientific, clinical or commercial – is identified as possessing natural people and project working skills, and is encouraged to assume a cross-functional PM role. The situation in smaller Biotech has been even more diffuse, with staff often being asked to take on PM roles for which they may not have been prepared.

However the situation is changing, with Pharma and Biotech taking a more formal approach to the development of PM competence often in parallel with development of a Project Office and the integrated management of Projects, Programmes, Portfolios and Alliances.

In other industries such as Oil & Gas, IT, and Construction, it has long been the norm to have a formalised approach to PM competence development – with strategic intent to establish standards, recognised qualifications and, more recently, accreditation of PM professionals.

Should this progression to qualification and accreditation apply to Pharma and Biotech?

Dr Thomas Docker, Director CITI, was delighted to share his insights on this subject to the PIPMG - 'Pharmaceutical Industry Project Management Group' at their annual Autumn meeting.

In his session ‘How to spot a good one for you’ he discussed:

The initiative by the Association for Project Management (APM) to become a chartered institute reinforces the desire to professionalise project management.

APM is not the only organisation that sees projects and their management as an area of focus. There are increasing numbers of accreditations and qualifications available and the pace of introduction seems to be accelerating so discrimination between them is essential. Using KASE – knowledge, attitudes, skills and experience – as one organiser, the presentation explores options available so you can answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”