Best Scrum Project Management Tools

After testing the top software with scrum management tools, they found monday.com to have the best range of features and customization options for scrum teams, including Agile project templates.

More so than any other competitor, monday.com can do a little bit of everything, and do it really well — whether that's setting up your project smoothly, visualizing data, managing complex workflows, or compiling and implementing post-project feedback. Plus, it has a free plan and 14-day free trial for you to test out, so you can easily decide if it's right for you without spending a cent.

At Tech.co, they put all of the products, services, and providers they write about through rigorous testing processes. Their team of researchers works in tandem with their writers to provide reviews and product ratings that are arrived at using carefully selected metrics and scoring criteria.

Just underneath this paragraph, we've created a table listing their top project management software providers and the scrum management tools they provide (don't worry — they discuss these all in detail too — just scroll on down).

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A great task management system due to strong customizability and support team, with a generous free trial.

A management tool with a complex functionality.

Slick, simple software with a powerful core, plus a genuinely usable free tier for individuals, and great value plans for teams.

A solid project management solution with an attractive free tier for small teams, as well as great automations that can help speed up workflows

All-around great software, thanks to ease of use and a scalable pricing scheme.

The providers we’ve chosen to include in this article were chosen because they performed extremely well when they tested them, as well as the fact they have all the right features to facilitate projects being carried out by scrum teams. These include:

There is software out there that provides an entirely scrum-specific experience, but the downside to these kinds of programs is that they offer a more limited remit of features. And with providers like Zoho Projects available for such low prices, it’s difficult to see what advantage dedicated scrum software has.

On top of this, because Agile methodologies (including scrum) are now so common across a variety of industries, cutting-edge project management software is now specifically designed to facilitate teams working within these frameworks.

Plus, there might be projects in the future that you’d like to organize around a different management methodology — or you may have teams within your business that want to use different frameworks at the same time. Investing in project management software now means you'll have a one-stop shop whether you want to manage scrum teams, run projects using a waterfall framework, or simply organize a little better!

Scrum tools on Free Plan? YesBest for? Collaboration and customization

Pros

Cons

Overall, monday.com is the best project management software we've reviewed — it has all the bells and whistles you could possibly need to manage a team utilizing a scrum framework, as well as other Agile methodologies like Waterfall.

monday.com is great for highly communicative teams that like to collaborate and is packed full of features to make this process as smooth as possible. The customization options are more numerous than almost all its competitors offer.

monday.com's main advantage is that there isn't really any area of project management that it struggles with or lags behind on — whether it's setting up your project or compiling post-project feedback once it is completed. A jack of all trades — and one that's easy to use too — it'll be difficult to end up disappointed with monday.com.

monday.com doesn't have a very expansive free offering — which is perhaps its only downside. However, it does have a 14-day free trial so you'll be able to take its fully-featured packages for a spin before you hand over any hard-earned cash. This will let you try out all the scrum management tools included in the software too.

With monday.com, it's really easy to plan in sprints and the provider offers a number of Agile project templates, which illustrates how well designed it is for scrum management. monday.com's project progress tracking tools will allow you to keep track of how individual team members are getting on with their project duties, monitor your product backlog, and focus on Kaizen (continuous improvement), which is one of the key principles of scrum — something progress data is essential for.

Quite importantly, monday.com also facilitates customer collaboration and feedback and has a read-only feature that project stakeholders could easily use to view your project. You'll also have the ability to report and track bugs in the product, which is a particularly useful feature for software development teams for which Agile methodologies were originally designed.

monday.com has a limited plan that won't cost you anything. You'll be able to plan a perfectly good project with it (there are Kanban boards, widget builders, custom fields, and more) but there's a maximum of two users allowed, which makes it unsuitable for most scrum teams working on software or other projects. You'll also be able to access agile project templates on the free plan.

monday.com's Basic Plan is available for $9/user/month (billed annually). This plan doesn't set any user limits, so the collaboration tools really come into a world of their own and are incredibly useful if you're a highly communicative scrum team that likes to regularly update each other on project progress. You'll also get 10 times the storage you'll have available on the free plan (500MB) if you go for the Basic Plan (5GB).

Next up is the Standard Plan, available for ($12/user/month, billed annually) Included is absolutely everything you'll get on the Basic Plan, but with some nice extra add-ons. Guest Access, for instance, will allow you to bring in other people who aren't necessarily part of the core team but have a stake in the project nonetheless. This is the first plan Gantt charts are available on, so if you want software with Gantt charts for your scrum team, then this is the plan to go for. There's also the Pro plan ($20 user/month, billed annually), which has resource management tools, features you can use to manage budgets, and a custom chart builder.

monday.com does provide Enterprise Plans as an option for large businesses with hundreds or even thousands of employees, with enlarged storage space and onboarding assistance. Apart from that, it's much the same as the Pro Plan.

Scrum tools on Free Plan? YesBest for? Project templates & Scrum board

Pros

Cons

Wrike is one of the project management programs in this article that advertises itself as a specifically Agile project management program — so it has dedicated features you'll find useful if you're working within or leading a scrum team.

Wrike is packed full of useful task management features, including Gantt Charts and Kanban boards, as well as a useful spreadsheet-type view that simplifies the process of making changes to projects. This is particularly effective in the context of task reallocation because it cuts out a lot of menu diving that other competitors often require.

Just like monday.com, Wrike has Agile project templates available on its free plan, as well as all of its paid plans (bar the marketing teams plans), including one of the best scrum boards available in the project management space. With 400+ tools to integrate with too, you'll save time during sprints.

There's also a variety of task management tools to use to organize your project, and custom charts and widgets to display data and track the progress of the current sprint. Wrike has a good number of preset options available for you to use instead if you prefer (and this is slightly easier).

On Wrike's paid plans, you'll get access to resource management features that can help you understand what and when you should assign things based on the availability and skills of each team member.

The mixture of guest access is available on all plans and collaboration features such as dashboards and automatic status reports will ensure project stakeholders are always kept in the loop. This is also useful for scrum masters who like to have the most updated project progress info readily available for all the team.

First off, Wrike has two plans targeted at professional sales and marketing teams respectively, but as these do not include Agile project templates. we'll leave them alone for now. Both plans will require you to contact Wrike for a pricing quote.

Wrike has a free plan that doesn't set any project or user limits, which is quite unusual (in a good way) — and the storage space (2GB) is the same as the Professional Plan, Wrike's cheapest paid plan. However, the free plan doesn't offer key features such as a Gantt chart and task dependencies (which let you link tasks together so one can't be started before another is finished).

The Professional Plan ($9.80 user/month) has both of these, as well as dashboards, custom widgets, and preset widgets. The Business Plan ($24.80 user/month), on the other hand, offers custom fields and custom workflows, lets you imprint your own brand on the workspace, and has other useful features including time-tracking, timesheets, user groups and permissions, file and video proofing.

There are also Enterprise and Pinnacle packages that are geared towards very large businesses, but both of these plans will require you to contact Wrike. They have increased storage, two-factor authentication options, and the capacity to create more automations (1,000 and 1,500 per user/month respectively) than any of Wrike's other plans.

Scrum Tools on Free Plan? YesBest for? Preset Charts for visualizing data

Pros

Cons

If being able to get help with troubleshooting is important to you, Teamwork is a fantastic option as it has live chat support available on all its plans, as well as the ability to phone or email Teamwork — something providers like monday.com and ClickUp don't provide.

Strangely, Teamwork didn't previously provide the capacity to create automation — but now, it's available on all its plans, including the free plan. All in all, Teamwork's free plan is pretty good compared to other free offerings from other project management software providers.

Teamwork, like monday.com & ClickUp, has scrum tools available. There are, for instance, Agile project templates allowed on every plan that Teamwork offers. There are dedicated templates for different scrum teams too, such as event planning templates, software implementation templates, and product launch templates, which other providers on this list don't offer.

There are also resource management features that Scrum teams will find handy when managing a product backlog (available on free plan but limited), although these are limited on Teamwork's Free and Deliver plans. There's also Time tracking available on all plans, something Wrike doesn't offer on its free or first paid plan.

Teamwork has excellent collaboration features, but it'll definitely lose marks from Scrum teams for not having a great mechanism for compiling post-project feedback. As you can tell, however, it does have other features Scrum teams will like, such as burndown charts.

Although Teamwork has a free plan, it's quite limited. There's a maximum project limit of just two, a user limit of five, and a storage capacity of just 100MB. However, if you're only completing one project with a small team — and you don't need access to things like a team messenger app and billing & invoicing features, it represents a strong option.

Teamwork also offers four paid plans — Starter Deliver, Grow, and Scale. the Starter plan ($5.99 per user, per month) will allow you to create 10 projects and has an automation limit of 500 actions per month. The storage is ramped up to 50GB as well, and there are more customer support options, including phone support.

Deliver ($9.99 per user, per month) has a project limit of 300 and there's no limit to how many users you can have working on the same project. You'll have 100GB of storage to play with and a Guest access function (so stakeholders will be able to view the project). The Grow Plan ($17.99 per user, per month) offers burndown charts — one of the key components of the methodologies like Scrum — as well as integration with Hubspot CRM and budget management features.

Scale is Teamwork's final plan, and you'll need to contact them for a quote on prices (much like Wrike and monday.com's enterprise plans). This plan sets no limit to how many projects you can make (the Gow package allows up to 600) and is only really appropriate for extremely large businesses that will be running multiple projects all at the same time. 

Scrum tools on Free Plan? YesBest for? Fully featured Free Plan

Pros

Cons

ClickUp is a solid project management software choice if you're looking for a provider that has a wide variety of features that can accommodate scrum teams. Although there's a five-project limit on ClickUp's free plan – it's still one of the best free plans on offer for scrum management.

ClickUp does limit how many times you can ‘use' certain features, but these are often features that aren't included on other free plans. monday.com doesn't offer resource management features on its free plan, whereas ClickUp does (but you can only use it 100 times). The same can be said or Wrike's free plan and project dashboards, which are available with ClickUp and you won't have to pay anything.

However, ClickUp's Unlimited plan – which removes those few limits placed on features on the free plan – is just $7 per user, per month so undercuts most other paid project management software, including all of monday.com's paid plans.

Another big plus in ClickUp's favor is minimal menu-diving. As project management software goes, setting up is pretty speedy — so if you want your scrum team off and flying as quickly as possible, ClickUp's a good shout.  ClickUp unfortunately doesn't have any budget management features or feasible workarounds, whereas other providers like Teamwork do offer these features (albeit on the most expensive plans).

ClickUp has all the contemporary scrum management tools you'll need to properly organize and track the progress of your scrum team. For instance, Agile project templates will mean you won't have to shoehorn your project framework into a non-Agile template.

ClickUp has a list of additional features you can ‘add' to your project management space called Clickapps. One of these is a Clickapp called Sprints, which is available for obtain in all places and will allow you to create springs as Lists to track the progress of your production cycle. Additionally, Sprint Automations and Sprint Dashboard Widgets are available on the Business Plan and upwards.

ClickUp does lose marks in the context of scrum management for having loads of useful features on its free plan, but no burndown charts are available — You'll have to go for one of ClickUp's paid plans if you'd like to track project progress like a true scrum master.

ClickUp's Free plan offers round-the-clock customer support, although as was mentioned above, this comes with some limitations on features like Gantt Charts and Dashboards. The Unlimited Plan ($7 per user, per month)  is the initial paid plan that has no ceiling on the amount of time you can use certain features (as well as those handy burndown charts that aren't listed on the free plan).

ClickUp's pricier offerings include the Business Plan ($12 per user, per month), which has dashboard functionality you don't get on the Unlimited plan plus the increased capacity to create automations (10,000 compared to 1,000) on the Unlimited plan. None of ClickUp's plans have any storage limits so the typical increase here you may find with others isn't present.

The Enterprise will only really suit the largest of businesses — it's effectively the Business Plus plan but with additional onboarding assistance so you won't run into any issues whilst setting up.

Scrum tools on Free Plan? NoBest for? Value for money

Pros

Cons

Zoho's suite of business software is an excellent collection of programs to become acquainted with because they've got one for almost everything. There's a Zoho service for CRM, invoices, email,  recruitment software, and much, much more.

Zoho Projects is usually the program we'd recommend for project management, but Zoho now has a dedicated scrum team management platform called Zoho Sprints — and you can't say many other competitors have dedicated software for a specific project management methodology.

Zoho Projects will be best suited to businesses that want to deploy waterfall methodologies or just want a general organizing program for their projects. Zoho sprints, on the other hand, would be more suited to scrum teams because it's built for the short, iterative bursts of work that scrum teams perform.

Although Zoho Projects can't easily be used to facilitate the Scrum framework, it's got a lot of additional features that are helpful for managing projects of all kinds. It's got two really useful automation builders and a good range of collaboration features, as well as a dedicated budgeting feature that other providers do not offer.

Zoho Sprints has basically everything you need for managing a scrum team. This includes backlog management, release management, scrum board, Work in Progress (WIP) limits, Agile reports, features that facilitate scrum meetings, a project and sprint dashboard, client and vendor portal, custom roles and profiles, and various other useful features.

Zoho Projects has a great free plan — and a number of useful collaboration features that aren't hard to get to grips with. However, as with most free plans, it is quite limited — in the sense that you won't be able to work on a project with any more than three people.

The Premium package ($5 per user, per month) ups the user limit to 50, so this will be suitable for most teams. Guest access is available on this plan (but it will cost you extra per guest) so stakeholders and other parties involved can view the project progress. The Enterprise package ($10 per user, per month) is the final Zoho Projects plan and offers much the same as the Premium package but with no user limit and custom fields.

Zoho Sprints is $5 per user per month for any company looking to purchase up to 100 seats. 101-300 users will bring that price per user down to $4.17, whereas 301-400 will bring it down to just $3.34. For larger businesses of 401-500 employees, it drops to just $2.50 each. Companies with more than 500 employees that need access to Zoho's Sprint software will have to contact Zoho directly for a customized quote.

Scrum tools on Free Plan? YesBest for? Large business & enterprises

Pros

Cons

Jira is a software program created by Atlassian, and there are few companies that understand Agile methods of managing workflows more than they do. To take one example, ‘tasks' are called ‘issues' — a nod to how Jira can — and is often — used for bug tracking.

Teams deploying the scrum framework will be right at home here, but Jira can also be applied to lots of other different types of teams, since it's quite an intuitive, flexible piece of software that doesn't exactly take long to use and subsequently master.

Although Jira doesn't necessarily excel in specific areas, it's more of an all-rounder that is particularly well suited to scrum teams. it'll be ideal for large businesses with a large number of ‘tasks' (or issues) to complete.

Jira was built with bug tracking in mind, so you can already see how useful it would be to a software development team working in sprints to produce updates. Once you create a Jira account, you'll be asked to select a template from the library — and there is a Scrum template located here for you to use. You can also choose a kanban board at this stage if you're deploying Scrumban over Kanban.

You can then create sprints in Jira, organize a sprint planning meeting, and set your scrum team off to do their work. Jira has a handy left-hand menu with sections for active sprints, backlog, reports, releases, and a scrum board.

One of Jira's big strengths in the context of Scrum is its Agile Coach page (on the Atlassian website) — it'll take you through every single basic and advanced aspect of scrums, from the first sprint planning meeting to using epics (Jira's version of what is called milestones in other project management software) in your backlog.

Jira has a pretty stellar free with useful charts and Widgets, however,  you've only got 2GB of storage to work with — although project limits are absent (unlike Zoho Projects). Jira's Standard plan doesn't have a whole load more to sing and dance about. However, it has much, much more storage — over 100 times as much storage, in fact — this is ideal if you're planning to upload a significant number of files and documents relating to the development of products or software.

Jira's premium plan unlocks resource management tools for you, which is great for managing the product backlog. This plan also allows you to create a lot of automations — 1,000 actions per user per month, to be exact. The Enterprise plan, on the other hand, has slightly better support options, including live chat and the ability to phone Atlassian for help. There are no limits set on storage or projects on this plan,

Project Management Software can Help

There are a variety of different ways organizing your team around scrum can help you save both time and subsequently money by improving efficiency and getting jobs done faster. It's an Agile framework, which effectively means it's designed to boost production without losing quality.

The whole point of the scrum methodology is to break tasks up into smaller iterations and enforce short time periods (called sprints) within which to complete them. The time-boxing element of scrum ensures maximum focus is given to a single task, and iterative planning means it is completed and rolled out before the next one starts.

As tasks are ordered by how much value they will bring to clients/customers/users, this ensures the most important aspects of a given project are prioritized. The result? Time is used as efficiently as it can be, and monetary investments are used to create maximum value immediately.

We take their impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations.

After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established tools in the market, they put them through their paces with hands-on testing to see their real strengths and weaknesses. In this case, they put 14 project management systems to the test across 51 areas of investigation.

Based on years of market and user needs research, we've established a project management testing methodology that scores each product in five main categories and nine subcategories.

Usability — They assess a platform's user experience when completing basic project management tasks. They test how each project management tool fares when it comes to common tasks, such as resource and budget management, and get a feel for how easy it is to set up a project by navigating the various parts of the user interface.

Pricing — Affordability and value are essential factors to understanding whether you should invest in any software. They look at the various plans and base costs for each project management platform and dissect exactly what is offered at each level. For example, does a plan place certain limits on user accounts, features, projects, or other aspects of the software? Providers offering lots of features for lower costs will have better pricing scores than those that lock them away on higher-tier plans.

Customer Support — Because life isn't all smooth sailing, they assess the ways you can contact your project management software provider if something goes wrong. Providers offering 24/7 live support, as well as phone-based support and onboarding assistance, get the best scores. However, points are also awarded for useful knowledge bases that prove helpful for DIY troubleshooting.

Features — They assess the full feature set that each product provides, including 4 key subcategories of investigation which are:

Customer Score — Finally, they assess customer review scores to reflect the satisfaction of current users of each project management tool. An average rating is arrived at by combining users' exams from a variety of sources.

When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as they know some aspects matter more to their readers than others. For example, certain features are fundamental to a product's usability, while others are "nice to have." After hundreds of hours of testing, their process is complete, and the results should ensure you can find the best solution for your needs.

At Tech.co, they have a number of full time in-house researchers, who re-run this testing process regularly, to ensure their results remain reflective of the present day.

Learn more about their research.

Best Project Management Certifications

Project management certifications have claimed a place in every top IT certification list for years. That’s because project managers are important to IT operations of all kinds. Whether you are interested in becoming an IT project manager or just want to add project management to your list of soft skills, these five leading certifications will help you add to or boost those skills and, in turn, increase your value.

If there’s a single set of soft skills that’s been fixed on the IT radar for the past decade or so, to the point where it’s become almost as sought after and every bit as valuable as top-level credentials, it must be project management. Thanks in large part to the immensely popular and widely pursued Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI), this area has become an incredibly valuable merit badge for IT professionals of all stripes. That’s because it enhances and expands on the value of just about any other kind of technical credential.

Project management has everything to do with planning, scheduling, budgeting for, and then executing and reporting on projects of all shapes and sizes. In fact, anything and everything that IT does can be understood or handled as a project of some kind. It applies to one-of-a-kind activities that happen only once or very seldom (think hardware or OS upgrades or migrating from older to newer platforms or infrastructures). Ditto for a recurring series of activities that repeat regularly (think security patches, software updates or other regular maintenance tasks). Thus, project management is incredibly important and valuable to IT operations across the board.

According to PMI’s Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey, 10th Edition [pdf], IT professionals who hold a PMP report median base annual salaries in the U.S. of almost $116,000. The top 25 percent of survey respondents report base salaries of at least $139,000. Depending on such factors as complexity and size of projects, location, fields of expertise (e.g., IT, construction or healthcare), and experience, salaries for some PMP credential holders can be much higher still.

Robert Half’s Technology & IT 2019 Salary Guide lists project management as a hot certification, with salaries varying slightly by technology area. It cites a salary range of $93,000 to $157,500 for project managers in application development environments. Project managers engaged in consulting and system integration roles can expect to earn $96,250 to $163,500 nationwide. This explains nicely why PMP appears in nearly every top 10 list of popular, targeted or most desirable certifications since the early 2000s. It’s no surprise that Robert Half also lists the PMP credential, along with Agile and Scrum certifications, as “highly valued technology certifications” trending up in the IT industry.

To give you an idea of which project management credentials employers look for in prospective candidates, they conducted a quick survey on some popular job boards. Clearly, the PMP is the overall favorite and remains their No. 1 pick for must-have project management certifications. PMI’s entry-level project management credential, the CAPM, also made their top five. The CSM from Scrum Alliance, along with ASQ’s Certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt credentials, round out those picks. It’s also worth noting that job postings for project managers increased by 20 percent from 2018 across all project management certifications.

The same organization behind the more senior Project Management Professional (PMP) credential also backs the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). In fact, the CAPM is properly considered a steppingstone credential for those who wish to attain PMP status by stages, rather than in a single giant leap. That’s why PMI describes the CAPM as a “valuable entry-level certification for project practitioners” that is “designed for those with little or no project experience.”

The PMP requires three to five years of documented on-the-job project management experience, depending on the educational background of each applicant. On the other hand, the CAPM requires only a high school diploma and either 1,500 hours of documented on-the-job experience (about nine months of full-time work) or 23 hours of project management classroom training prior to taking the exam. The education prerequisite can be met by completing PMI’s Project Management Basics online course which costs $350 for PMI members and $400 for non-members.

Nor does the CAPM require continuing education (which PMI calls PDUs, or professional development units) as does the PMP (60 PDUs every three years) to maintain this credential. To recertify, CAPM holders must retake the test once every five years.

The CAPM is one of a small set of entry-level project management certifications (including the CompTIA Project+) that IT professionals interested in project management might choose to pursue. Remember, though, that it is just a steppingstone to the PMP.

Unless you work in a large organization where a project management team is in place that includes junior as well as senior positions, the CAPM by itself is unlikely to provide a ticket to a project management job. However, it’s ideal for IT professionals for whom project management is a part-time job role or who want to grow into full-time project management.

Certification valid for five years; candidates must retake test to maintain credential.

PMI member: $225 (retake $150)

Nonmember: $300 (retake $200)

Exam available in online proctored or center-based test (CBT) formats.

Exam administered by Pearson VUE.

Numerous books are available, including:

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition; Sept. 22, 2017; Project Management Institute; ISBN-10: 1628251840; ISBN-13: 978-1628251845 (available for free obtain to PMI members)

CAPM test Prep, Third Edition, by Rita Mulcahy, Sept. 2013, RMC Publications, ISBN-10: 1932735720, ISBN-13: 978-1932735727

CAPM/PMP Project Management Certification All-in-One test Guide, Fourth Edition, by Joseph Phillips; April 23, 2018; McGraw-Hill Education; ISBN-10: 1259861627; ISBN-13: 978-1259861628

As companies seek to deliver more for less, many adopt Agile methodologies to streamline processes, build quality into products and ensure that final builds meet customer requirements. As Agile methodologies have become more popular, it’s no surprise that they see increased demand for IT practitioners qualified to manage projects in Agile environments.

While different Scrum master certifications are available, their pick is the Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) from the Scrum Alliance. This nonprofit encourages adoption of Scrum and Agile practices, promotes user groups and learning events, and provides resources for professional development. The organization boasts more than 500,000 certified practitioners worldwide.

The Scrum Alliance provides a support system for Scrum practitioners, including Scrum Gatherings, user groups, virtual communications, coaching, online training and much more. In addition to community and advocacy activities, the Scrum Alliance offers numerous Scrum-related certifications at the foundation, advanced, professional, elevated (guide) and leadership levels. Scrum Alliance certifications are designed for team members engaged in Scrum master, product owners and developer roles. The Scrum master and product owner tracks offer credentials at the foundation, advanced and professional levels which the developer track only offers a foundation and professional level cert.

For project managers getting started as Scrum practitioners, the CSM makes an excellent entry-level credential. Not only must candidates demonstrate an understanding of Scrum principles and values, but they’ll learn how to implement and apply Scrum in practice. The Scrum Alliance provides CSMs with multiple resources, plus checklists and information about the servant-leader role of the Scrum master.

Globally recognized, ASQ certifications attest to candidate expertise, mastery of industry and regulation standards, and mastery of the ASQ Body of Knowledge. Currently, ASQ offers 18 credentials, three of which specifically target project management: the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) (expert level), the Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) (professional level) and the Six Sigma Yellow Belt (CSSYB) (entry level).

The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt is ASQ’s highest Six Sigma credential. The CSSBB aims at experienced practitioners who understand Six Sigma methodologies (including the DMAIC model), tools, systems and philosophies. CSSBBs can lead teams or manage team dynamics, roles and responsibilities.

The path to CSSBB certification is rigorous. In addition to passing a comprehensive exam, candidates must complete two projects that employ Six Sigma tools and processes, resulting in project improvement and a positive financial project impact. An affidavit is also required to attest to the veracity of the project. Alternatively, candidates with at least three years of experience in one or more of the Six Sigma Body of Knowledge areas need only complete one Black Belt project.

CSSBB candidates are expected to demonstrate mastery of the ASQ Black Belt Body of Knowledge, called standards:

The CSSBB is valid for three years. To recertify, candidates must earn 18 recertification units or retake the exam.

Exams administered by Prometric.

The Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) by ASQ is a professional-level credential targeting experienced Six Sigma practitioners. Often, a CSSGB works under the direction of the more senior CSSBB or as an assistant. CSSGBs identify issues and drive quality and process improvements in projects.

To earn the credential, candidates should have at least three years of experience working with Six Sigma processes, systems and tools. The work experience must have been full time and compensated; an unpaid internship, for example, doesn’t count. In addition, work performed must have been in at least one of the Six Sigma Green Belt Body of Knowledge competency areas.

In addition to work experience, candidates must pass an test that tests their knowledge of the Six Sigma Green Belt Body of Knowledge. Currently, the Green Belt Body of Knowledge includes six competency areas:

Overall, this is an excellent credential for those who have some experience but are not quite ready to take on the roles and responsibilities of a Black Belt.

Experience must be a full-time paid position (internships do not meet the experience requirement)

Exams administered by Prometric.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) not only stands behind its Project Management Professional certification, it works with academia and training companies to ensure proper coverage and currency in the various curricula that support this and other PMI credentials. Boasting more than 500,000 global members and 750,000 PMP certified professionals around the world, PMI’s PMP remains one of the most prestigious project management credentials available. (Note: The PMP’s precursor, the CAPM, is covered in an earlier section of this article.)

That’s why you can obtain college- and university-based PMP training from so many institutions. It’s also why you may sometimes find PMP coverage integrated into certain degree programs (often at the master’s degree level).

The PMP credential is coveted by employers seeking the most highly skilled project management professionals. Developed by project managers, the PMP certification is the highest level offered in PMI certifications. It is designed to ensure that credential-holders possess the skills and qualifications necessary to successfully manage all phases of a project, including initiating, planning, scheduling, controlling and monitoring, and closing out the project.

PMP certified projects managers are also well versed and skilled in managing all aspects of the triple constraints – time, cost and scope. Employers depend on the skills of PMP professionals to manage budgets, track costs, manage scope creep, identify how changes to the triple constraints may introduce risk into the project, and minimize such risk to protect the project investment.

The standards for PMP certification are rigorous. Beyond passing a comprehensive exam, credential holders must first demonstrate and certify that they have the skills and education necessary to succeed in the project management field. Credential seekers should be ready to provide documentation for items such as education, projects worked on and hours spent in each of the five project management stages – initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing out the project.

While it’s difficult to achieve, the rewards for PMP credential holders can be significant. According to PMI’s Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey, 10th Edition, PMPs in the U.S. earn an average of 23 percent more than their non-credentialed counterparts. The survey reports median salaries of PMPs in the United States at $115,000, as opposed to $92,000 for non-PMP certified project managers.

For those interested in program management or wishing to specialize in a project management area, PMI offers several interesting additional credentials:

The PMP remains a nonpareil certification for IT and other professionals whose responsibilities encompass project management. It is the standard against which all other project management credentials are judged.

It should be noted that, after meeting the prerequisites, candidates are also required to pass a rigorous exam. Candidates must obtain an eligibility ID from PMI before they can register for the exam.

Prerequisite skills: Four-year degree, 4,500 hours in leading and directing projects, and 35 hours of project management education

OR

Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or equivalent), 7,500 hours leading and directing projects, and 35 hours of project management education

Note: Credential holders must earn 60 professional development units (PDUs) per each three-year cycle to maintain certification.

PMI member: $405 (retake $275)

Nonmember: $555 (retake $375)

*Paper-based test only available if candidates lives more than 150 miles from testing center or if testing center is not available in the country of residence and travel would provide an undue burden.

Exam administered by Prometric. Eligibility ID from PMI required to register.

Numerous books are available, including:

Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition; Sept. 22, 2017; Project Management Institute; ISBN-10: 1628251840; ISBN-13: 978-1628251845 (available for free obtain to PMI members)

PMP test Prep: Accelerated Learning to Pass the Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam, Ninth Edition, by Rita Mulcahy; Feb. 1, 2018; RMC Publications Inc.; ISBN-10: 1943704040; ISBN-13: 978-143704040

CAPM/PMP Project Management Certification All-in-One test Guide, Fourth Edition, by Joseph Phillips; April 23, 2018; McGraw-Hill Education; ISBN-10: 1259861627; ISBN-13: 978-1259861628

Practice exams: PMP test practice questions and Study Guide, Ninth Edition, by J. LeRoy Ward and Ginger Levin; June 28, 2018; Auerbach Publications, ISBN-10: 1138440299; ISBN-13: 978-1138440299

Project management is truly a white-hot area for both certification seekers and employers. Several other project management certifications are available, for general IT project management as well as software development project management.

Honorable mention goes to the Global Association for Quality Management (GAQM) project management certifications, such as the Professional in Project Management, Associate in Project Management and Certified Project Director. The Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner qualifications (featured in the 2017 top-five list) are also excellent credentials and worth honorable mention.

The CompTIA Project+ credential (featured in the 2017 top-five list and honorable mention in 2018) remains a well-known entry-level project management certification for those starting their project management careers. ASQ’s Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt (CSSYB) is another entry-level credential worth exploring, particularly if you’re interested in eventually moving up to the more senior Green and Black Belt credentials.

Most graduate business, management and management information systems (MIS) programs offer project management training to students, and some offer certificate programs outside the project management organizations as well.

You’ll also find training and occasional certification around various project management tool sets. For example, some Microsoft Learning Partners offer courses on Microsoft Project, and you can find a dizzying array of project management packages on Wikipedia’s comparison of project management software page.

The CAPM and Project+ remain the best-known entry-level project management certifications, with the PMP as the primary professional target and capstone for would-be professional IT project managers. Don’t forget to consider PMI’s related certifications as well. For project managers seeking entry into the realm of Scrum, the CSM is the best entry-level cert for Scrum practitioners.

3 questions you'll definitely be asked at a tech interview

No one loves a job interview: looking for a new job is so stressful it has given rise to what's known as job hunting anxiety. A survey by background check company JDP found that 93% of people have experienced anxiety over job interviews.

Interviews are, for most candidates, a high stakes activity. The pressure and anticipation can lead to nerves and anxiety. One reason is because it's not an easy process to get a new job, Forbes finding that on average, 118 people will apply for a single job.

Experts also say it can take up to 10 applications for 47% of job seekers to receive an invitation to one or two job interviews. And there are also 38.3% of applicants who don't get invited to an interview at all – even after 10 attempts. No wonder job hunters are stressed.

Most tech and knowledge workers will be aware of – and will likely have participated in – at least one recruiter screening call or interview in the course of their career. It is easy to assume that this is an informal check-in, but for a recruiter or hiring manager, it is the first step of the whole process and it needs to be taken seriously by candidates.

Your performance on this call can significantly impact your chances of getting a second interview.

Happily, there are things you can do to help move things forward. One of these is to anticipate the kind of questions you'll be asked, which allows you to prep and practice your answers in advance. A accurate report has highlighted three key things tech candidates should be asked at a screening interview. The first is that old chestnut, "tell me about yourself."

This question has the potential to tie interviewees up in knots – should they talk about their hobbies or their personal life – but what the interviewer actually wants from you here is a succinct summation of your career to date, as it relates to the job you are going for. You can leave out your college bar job, but definitely include all and any professional experience that will make you stand out.

Secondly, your interviewer will want to get a sense of whether you've got the right skills for the role. Review the job description and make sure that your answer tallies with what the company is looking for. Highlight the skills you use most often, as opposed to ones you may be rusty on.

And lastly, to help your interviewer understand that you'll be a good culture fit, if you are asked what your career goals are, your answer matters. You might want this job so that you can progress your own skill set, build a long-term career path or make a move towards a less technical route into management.

It's good to let your interviewer know that you see the role as a long-term prospect; if they think this is just a stepping stone for you, your candidacy may not be quite as attractive.

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As a Software Development Engineer, you enjoy working across the full stack and with multiple technologies. You will also provide APIs for all of AiM's integrated services. You'll write and deliver functional products in a full stack (frontend, API/service, and backend) development environment, will define the roadmap for the team by working closely with product and/or technology partners, and have the ability to create, design, code, and unit test technical solutions using best practices and standards.

You will also design a platform framework that can be reused by other AiM products/services.To apply, you'll need seven to 10 years' of software engineering experience, demonstrable experience with Agile processes (Kanban, Scrum, Scrumban), experience with Microservices/APIs, as well as hands-on experience in developing ASP.NET Core/ ASP .NET MVC applications. Find out more here.

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You will establish and manage a view, and necessary reporting, of the ICS portfolio of demand across work archetypes, providing key insights on the flow of work through intake and demand, resource and capacity, and dependencies and risks. You should have a Bachelor's degree in a related field plus seven years' of project management experience. See the full list of requirements.

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