The Talent Triangle

One of the new focus areas for the new yet to be released PMBOK is the Talent triangle. The key idea behind the talent triangle is that great project managers need to be more than just good technical project managers.  They also need Strategic and Business Management skills and Leadership Skills. Technical project management refers to your competence in the 10 Knowledge Areas and 5 Process Groups of the PMBOK. In technical project management, your tasks include tracking the limited resources assigned to the project, and allocating these resources appropriately to complete the project’s objectives. Strategic and Business management skills will ask the project manager to understand how your project fits within the larger strategic goals of your organization. Without a clear understanding, you may misinterpret the scope or misled your team.  A great project manager is someone with a strong strategic vision, and can contribute new ideas to the organization. You will be paid more because you will add more to the organization’s bottom line. Leadership has also been one of the skills mentioned in the PMBOK.  It is just getting more of a focus with the talent triangle. To manage others, you need to be both a psychologist and maybe a psychiatrist. Understanding how to motivate and give appropriate awards and punishments are all parts of great leadership. These three skill areas are a new focus area on the PMBOK 6^th edition. Will they show up as direct questions?  Will the concepts be embedded in situation questions? The new PMP test goes into effect approximately April 2018. It will be several months later before we understand how the talent triangle will be tested.