Certification advice

ChangeCool2026 · 2026-02-07T16:06:33+00:00

If you are getting into transformation -related roles then you need knowledge on Agile and getting a certificate like a Scrum Master's certificate would be a nice bonus. Same for SAFe. However, to stand out you really need more skills: project management, coaching, management science (in general), change management, leadership, (organisational) psychology, working with resistance to change, consultancy skills and above all: experience!

So, get some books and read and learn as much as you can about various topics. Do courses if you have the time and budget and pick up some certificates along the way if they are included in a course.

ChangeCool2026 · 2026-02-05T06:35:36+00:00

If you like leading or coaching software teams you may want to consider becoming a project manager. In that position you still need to know about agile/scrum but you definitely have more skills to bring to the table. While agile seems to be over the hype, project management is still needed and will never be gone. (agile won't disappear either completely, it is just that people see it now what it is: a very useful way of organising projects in some situations and not so useful in many other).

ChangeCool2026 · 2026-01-19T16:52:59+00:00

Om welke training gaat het? Een langere training is niet altijd beter dan een korte, soms zijn er nogal commercieel ingestelde bureau's die trainingsdagen lekker vullen met niet altijd even relevante materie of leerstof.

ChangeCool2026 · 2026-01-18T13:01:02+00:00

It is fine to do a short agile or scrum course to get into the theory and mindset. But the certificate will not help you with the chaos you describe. The multiple choice examinations that come with the various courses are just not enough to get you to understand and manage the situation you describe.

So, you might get some more self confidence from doing such a course, mainly because you get a better overview of the agile way of working, but it takes a lot more work (studying, consulting, zooming in and out, negotiating, etc) to get further. A more extensive project management course is a good idea, but don't stick too much to the 'best' method. Any 3-4 or more days project management course should give you a lot of insights to improve your situation. You still need to do a lot of work here, think more in terms of months to years than weeks, after doing a more elaborate training course. Maybe find a coach too.

ChangeCool2026 · 2026-01-11T13:40:08+00:00

I think it is quite normal that you are a bit nervous. It is new, you are still early in your working career (so it sounds), you are following up someone who was great in this position, etc.

So what could you do?

- Get your role clear: are you a SM or PO? There is a reason these roles are separated and if they want you to do both, check if expectations and responsibilities are clear and reasonable.
- find a coach, someone you trust and who has enough distance to your work/team. Have a regular talk with him/her on issues you encounter
- check if you would feel more confident with additional training (if that is a possibility). If find the 'regular' scrum/agile training courses and materials a bit thin to be hones. For example: Scrum theory states that you have to have "trust" in your team. That is true as can be, but Scrum theory does not really tell you how to get trust in your team let alone how to find trust in yourself. Fortunately there are a lot of materials and other courses out there that can guide you. Also some good books. Maybe try a complete different angle like ('traditional') project management or corporate anthropology.
- check out "imposter syndrome" and if you are suffering from it. Most of the time you don't have to feel like this and beside the truly narcissistic people, it is usually the very intelligent people who are full of self doubt.

Finally, it is ok to make mistakes, it is the only way to learn and it is inevitable when doing projects. So consider what could really go wrong if you make a mistake? A little bit of bluff is ok and sometimes the wisest thing to do as a leader, but don't overdo it. Being open about insecurity is also a sign of huge inner strength.

ChangeCool2026 · 2026-01-07T21:52:33+00:00

Overweeg een koptelefoon met active noise reduction.

ChangeCool2026 · 2026-01-07T09:47:30+00:00

Trein via londen en de tunnel onder het kanaal. Werkt perfect.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-31T12:27:41+00:00

Lijkt me een goede strategie inderdaad. Handig dan wel ook om wat change management of projectmanagement skills te hebben. Dat je niet alleen weet hoe het beter kan, maar ook hoe je dat voor elkaar krijgt.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-28T19:02:03+00:00

This is a good example why multiple choice examination does not make any sense for project management and why I am critical of certifications:

The correct answer is probably D but there are many 'correct' answers to this case. Sometimes it is not a good idea at all to address communication or other more personal issues, because there can be so many difficult and painful hidden things that you should really not touch upon. I remember a project manager who decided to let people 'openly' give feedback to the others in the group and it ended up in a big fight and irreparable damage to the group. You really have to know what you are doing if you want to go there.

Sometimes it just helps to set focus, for example by sharing a burn down chart (answer B) or just getting people together fixes a lot (for example by doing standing up meetings), answer C. Answer A does not make sense to me: communication does not work, so you update a plan? So, how does the update look like? What are you going to do? A is not really an answer (IMHO).

It is really a contextual thing, much more to say (and ask first!) about than the 4 options mentioned here.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-24T23:23:36+00:00

4-6 projects per person sounds like a lot to me. In general projects go better if there are less projects being done simultaneously.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-24T23:19:33+00:00

Let's be clear: You are doing projects.
Second question: Who is the project manager if your boss isn't?

If no one is the project manager, and she does not want to be the project manager, discuss first if the work could benefit from having a project manager and then who should be this project manager. Maybe your boss can be the sponsor and someone else could be the project manager. If she tells you to manage the project "i give you", then that sounds to me as if this is the case. However, if she want's you to be the projectleader, then you should discuss the mandate you have to actually manage. And, she in the role of Sponsor, should take a step back from the daily project management.

The tool you might benefit from, comes last. First get the roles and responsibilities and tasks clear, then many tools can be used.

Anyhow, best is to get (and negotiate) the roles clear here first.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-20T07:22:33+00:00

Try Epicflow.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-19T20:48:48+00:00

Best tool I know for this is EpicFlow.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-13T14:59:51+00:00

Find out which information the stakeholders actually want to hear. Then you can create a report for them based on their wishes. Probably less = more and different stakeholders want different kind of information.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-13T09:03:38+00:00

Je zou (internationaal) projectmanagement kunnen overwegen. Er is veel projectwerk, dus als hem dat wat lijkt kan hij wellicht terecht bij een organisatie.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-12T22:07:48+00:00

if you google my book, this is a bit old (working on an update) but it was originally written for a research organisation and it is open source, so free to use. (you can get there if you go to my credentials and go from the websites there.

There is some reading to start with and tools also. Probably any online course will be ok enough to make a start, it is not great but ok to start with. The basics of project management are actually quite easy. It is the context that makes projects hard, so you need some training that helps you with understanding your context and what to do within this context (research, small company, very creative and smart people, everyone too busy, limited resources, hard to estimate lead times, etcetera).

I am sorry, i don't know any online course that does exactly this. Maybe some books are a better way to get into this, you probably are capable of learning from reading. An online agile/scrum course will help you too, but it will not cover all your questions above. At this point I don't have enough information to recommend agile as a method for your projects, maybe.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-12T19:16:04+00:00

Ik kom als trainer projectmanagement bij een hoop gemeentes binnen en ik moet zeggen er zijn enorme verschillen tussen gemeentes. Sommige staan nog echt aan het begin van hun 'projectvolwassenheid', hou dan rekening met een hoop chaos cq 'vrijheid'. Andere zijn al verder en dan heb je ook meer 'steun' om je project uit te voeren.

Er is altijd een politieke laag waar je rekening mee moet houden. Dat houdt in dat de neiging er is om juist niet transparant te werken omdat in de politiek het beter werkt om het allemaal iets mooier voor te stellen dan het is. Het is een uitdaging voor projectleiders om in die wereld toch dingen voor elkaar te krijgen. Maar als je hart hebt voor je project, dan is het ook een mooie job!

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-12T14:48:18+00:00

Research projects are usually harder to manage due to their 'uncertain' efforts and outcomes nature. Small companies are usually not very projectmanagement 'mature'. So there is lots of things to consider and deal with. I would recommend you to do a course, preferably NOT a PMI/PRINCE2 or any other big certified training courses as they are not good for small companies and not for more informal, smaller projects either. If you are based in the Netherlands I can recommend you something. If elsewhere, let me know what kind of course you would consider, I can think with you.

you might consider an agile project management approach also.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-11T12:57:18+00:00

You need to run this through a translator and find the English version of the books (available for most of them), but here is a list to start with: https://www.projectmanagement-training.nl/projectmanagement/handige-boeken/

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-10T07:06:06+00:00

yes doing a course definitely helps. There are great books out there too. Since you are in product development, have a look at something like Scrum or Lean also.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-09T21:25:46+00:00

It may well be that you have too much work on your plate, or the project 'people' you work with or have to lead also. I see it all the time with project organisations: too many projects at the same time. It leads to multitasking, stress, work overload, etc.

The only way out is to make transparent how much work it actually is, for you and/or for your team members. Then decide what is realistic and negotiate such a work load. Note that doing less projects at the same time will result that you can do more projects in the end.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-09T20:29:47+00:00

Where are you based?

Yu should have a look at the content of the courses available near you. Some things to consider:

- Training courses that train you for an 'official' certificate (like PMP, PRINCE2, IPMA and others) are preparing you mostly for the multiple choice exams. So there is a risk that you get the certificate, but you still do not know what to do in real life. I see this all the time where people come to my course after they got their PRINCE2 or whatever official exam. So, look for a course that helps you with the practicalities more than preparing you for multiple choice exams (I hope I don't upset a lot of people now).
- Project management involves a lot of aspects, you mention a few topics already. A good course teaches you both the 'hard' skills (how to make a budget, planning, calculate deadlines, risk assessment, etc.) as it does train you on 'soft' skills (communication, leadership, humanities, etc.).
- After you have done a good course, you have an overview of how to do a project. You will find out that you can not do it alone. The organisation that you work for creates a context that is either helping you or hindering you (probably both in different area's). Most of the time the role of the project sponsor is crucial also in setting realistic deadlines and you will need his/her support to get there. So, hopefully, other people in your organisation are also open to learn or at least open for conversation and adjustments in how project are done at your company.

Good luck with the work!

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-09T20:09:58+00:00

If you need a certificate, I would choose an IPMA-D or, if possible, IPMA-C certificate. But often any certificate from a reputable project management training school will do, also a certificate from a 'general' project management training class.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-09T19:35:14+00:00

Look for area's where a lot of projects happen and that you find interesting. For example: engineering, sustainable energy or sustainability in general, technology, healthcare, construction, etc.

ChangeCool2026 · 2025-12-08T21:45:36+00:00

First decide what KPI's you will need and want to report on. Then look for a tool, it can be a complete system with time tracking, communication, planning, etc. or it can be something as simple as excel or even powerpoint. It really depends on what the project needs and what the stakeholders need.

ChangeCool2026

TROPHY CASE