We’re currently living in Normandy, France, a region that houses a lot of British ex-patriates. As such, the British community commonly gets together to celebrate British special occasions, and Shrove Tuesday is one of those days. For Shrove Tuesday the group got together in a well-known park and had a Pancake Day celebration. The highlight of the day was the series of pancake races. In a pancake race, contestants line up along the starting line with a frying pan in hand, a cooked pancake inside of it. When the race starts the contestants must race from the starting line to the finish line, all the while flipping the pancake up into the air and catching it in the frying pan. If you dropped your pancake you had to pick it up and keep running. It was a fun and crazy race!

Afterward the group congregated at a nearby pub and had pancakes (or crêpes) with powdered sugar and lemon on top, as well as buttered scones with jam and hot tea. In all it was a very British afternoon, which was a fun cultural experience for me and my family.

One thing that haven’t noticed much of is project management information on Pinterest. Searching for “project management”, “PMI” or “PMP” reveals very few pins and very few boards. It appears (just by browsing the site) that, as of February of 2012, the majority of users on Pinterest are women, and that the majority of posts are about clothes, fashion, food and education. So far it has been difficult to find project managers or other professionals interested in PMI or Agile methodologies on the service.

As such, I’ve set up a PMP Certification Pinterest board that I hope can become a collaborative board to share information about Project Management Professional certification, the PMP exam, and other PMI-related information of interest to project managers. I’m not sure how to advertise boards (I’m relatively new to the service) but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find like-minded project managers who are interested in sharing information about project management online.

If you’re a project manager and you’re already sharing project management research, blog posts or other information on Pinterest, please let me know! I’d be glad to link up with you and help forward the profession on Pinterest.

• Technically, she was not a “project manager”; however, her job did comprise functions that project managers regularly perform: risk analysis, work scheduling, monitoring and controlling development, team management, and cost control, among others.
• She was unaware of other engineers at her company who had previously taken and passed the PMP exam.
• She did not want to oversell herself or misrepresent the PMP credential by becoming certified without being an actual project manager.
• Due to the above points, she was worried that her PMP application would ultimately be rejected by PMI.

I should point out that this lady had already taken a few PMP practice exams and had scored within a passing range on these exams. So it was not the knowledge she was concerned about; rather, that she was concerned that she was technically serving as an engineer and not as a salaried project manager.

This lady engineer also mentioned something alarming. She told me that she had spoken to one PMP certified project manager about her desire to become certified herself. This PMP was offended that someone who was not a “real PM” would attempt to become a PMP. This of course concerned her greatly that she was in effect “posing” as a project manager in her desire to become PMP certified.

Can an engineer rightfully become PMP certified?

One of the biggest questions around this lady’s desire to become PMP certified was, “is it ethical?” Can she (or any other technical workers not officially labeled as project managers) rightfully become a Project Management Professional?

Some may disagree with me, but I do believe that it is ethically correct for this lady to become PMP certified as long as she can rightfully claim in her PMP application that she has amassed the required hours of project management experience and education. Although this lady does not have the title of project manager, when looking over her work experience it is apparent that she does have the proper project management experience to get PMP certified. She has also studied project management extensively and has the knowledge and experience required to pass the PMP examination (by looking at her practice test scores).

I mentioned to this engineer (as I mention to everyone who asks me advice about preparing for a potential PMI audit) that, when filling out the PMP exam application, she should carefully document her project management work experience and education as accurately and truthfully as possible. Next, she should show her managers the experience that she has documented and explain to them that there is a chance that PMI will audit her work experience, and if they were to do that, would her managers verify that the information that she has provided on the application is correct? If they will do that, then she has ethically provided proof that she has the project management experience required to sit the PMP examination.

Remember that while you will need experience from all of the different PMI process groups in order to qualify to sit the PMP exam, you do not have to have spent your time equally distributed between those PMI process groups. You may have spent quite a few of your project hours in the project execution phase of a project. On some projects you may only have been involved in the initiating and planning phases of a project; for other projects you may have appeared on the project in the monitoring and controlling phase of the project, near project closing. It doesn’t matter – you can rightfully count the work spent on these projects in your PMP application as long as during your career you have amassed experience in all of the PMI process groups.

PMP certification for engineers and software developers

In my opinion it’s a good thing for engineers, software developers, business analysts, quality assurance engineers and other technical workers to become PMP certified. Having a strong technical background is very helpful when managing projects. I myself spent several years designing and developing software on multiple platforms and find that having this background is very beneficial. Not only do I find I have a greater understanding of the technical work being performed on a project, but the technical background also gives me some “street cred” when working with software developers, network administrators and other highly technical people. Being a PMP certified engineer can also help you to get jobs in the future. Being both technically adept and an expert in project management makes for a highly desirable employee.

As for the fellow who was offended that an engineer would want to become a PMP, I feel that he was way off base. As a PMP myself I was impressed and encouraged by someone showing such interest in the field of project management – so much so that she would like to dedicate a considerable amount of time and effort to becoming a PMP certified project manager. As a PMP I feel that it is my duty to encourage others to understand the importance of project management and to help others learn more about how to properly manage projects. Many projects fail spectacularly – it can only be a good thing to have more people out there who understand why projects fail and how to properly guide projects to success. Project management best practices are not practices that we should hide from others and guard close to our chests… they are practices that we should want to share, to debate, to discuss, to improve, and to implement wherever they can be of benefit.

And that being said, I’m always up for a good discussion about project management – please feel free to comment!

We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

Kent Beck   James Grenning   Robert C. Martin
Mike Beedle   Jim Highsmith    Steve Mellor
Arie van Bennekum    Andrew Hunt   Ken Schwaber
Alistair Cockburn   Ron Jeffries   Jeff Sutherland
Ward Cunningham   Jon Kern   Dave Thom
Martin Fowler   Brian Marick

© 2001, the above authors
this declaration may be freely copied in any form,
but only in its entirety through this notice.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

While processes and tools are great, a lot of development outfits tend to overemphasize the processes and tools. Put your development into the hands of individuals and allow them to interact to get the software done. Ask your development team what they think of the project in question, how they should get it done, and how much they believe they will be able to get completed in bite-sized chunks (sprints). Then, allow them to use the processes and tools that they find most effective to completing the job.

Working software over comprehensive documentation

A lot of companies tend to over-document before even touching a line of code. The Agile Manifesto indicates that it’s better to create working prototypes of software rather than to over-document before hand. In this manner the needs of the user will come out over time – before the code base of a project has been developed to such an extent that it is too late to make changes to the infrastructure.

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Instead of having an us-versus-them process of negotiating the finer points of a wordy contract, a development effort should be a collaborative effort between the developing organization and the client. Agile favors the discovery of the “final needs” over time, by developing working prototypes of software programs, over demanding that the client has a complete 100% understanding of their needs before a line of code is written. The customer and the developers should work together to come up with the right software to meet the client’s needs.

Responding to change over following a plan

Microsoft Project is a great tool for creating huge, complicated waterfall project schedules. However, Project may not be the best tool to use in an Agile Development software project. Agile projects need to be able to adapt to change, and therefore should not be planned out to the letter months in advance in a waterfall-like schedule. With such schedules changes tend to be feared and protested; in Agile Development, changes should be expected, welcomed and understood.

Using the Agile Manifesto

The Agile Manifesto is more than snappy prose; it indicates a way of thinking when developing software. If you’re an Agile shop, regardless of your methodologies and how you adapt them to your needs, when subjecting your development team to a change in process or even your corporate culture you should ask yourself: Does this change line up with the Agile Manifesto? Are we adding too much documentation – or even too much process – to our practices?

Claiming PDUs under Category F

Under PMI‘s new PDU category structure, introduced in March of 2011, PMP and other PMI certification holders can “earn PDUs for working as a project manager (project risk management professional, project scheduling professional or program manager)” (quoted from PMI’s web site). How many PDUs you can claim in one three-year credential renewal cycle depends on which certification you possess:

• PMP (Project Management Professional) and PgMP (Program Management Professional) credential holders may claim 15 PDUs per cycle
• PMI-SP (Scheduling Professional) and/or PMI-RMP (Risk Management Professional) credential holders may claim 7.5 PDUs per cycle.

Meanwhile, there is a restriction on how many PDUs you can claim per year within the three year cycle:

• PMP and PgMP credential holders can claim 5 PDUs per 12-month period
• PMI-SP and PMI-RMP credential holders can claim 2.5 PDUs per 12-month period.

You can earn these PDUs only if you work in your respective field for a minimum of six months during the twelve month period. So for example, when I claimed my own PDUs, I claimed 5 PDUs (as a PMP) for the entire 2010 calendar year (January through to December), and also claimed 5 PDUs for half of the 2011 calendar year (January through to June), for a total of 10 PDUs claimed under Category F. I will also be claiming 5 PDUs for my work as a project manager from July of 2011 up until the end of the first half of 2012.

The maximum PDUs allowed in Categories D, E and F

The PDUs you earn for working in the field of project management count toward Category F, which is one of three Giving Back to the Profession categories that also include Categories D and E. In one three-year cycle you are only allowed to claim:

• 45 PDUs total for PMP and PgMP credential holder
• 20 PDUs total for PMI-SP and PMI-RMP credential holders.

This clause means that you will need to earn at least 15 PDUs of your required PDUs per three-year cycle within Categories A, B and C: undergoing continuing education, participating in self-directed learning, or taking courses from third party providers (for example, from PMI REPs).

So go manage some projects!

The moral of this story is: if you hold one of PMI’s credentials, and if you are working in the field of project, program, risk or scheduling management, you would be daft not to claim the maximum allowed PDUs for your efforts to put toward achieving your total 60 PDUs for the cycle. So go out and manage some projects – and claim those PDUs!

In this post I’ll walk you through some of the pros and cons of PMP certification. Please note that these pros and cons are only my opinions (though most are based on facts); many other project managers have their own recommendations on whether or not PMP certification is worth attaining, and they may be different from my own. I welcome any input that other project managers reading this post might have.

PMP certification pros and cons

The pros of PMP certification

PMP certification looks great on a resume

PMP certification can beef up a resume, and can make the difference between getting a job as a project manager and being passed over in favor of someone else (likely someone who is PMP certified). What’s more, many employers require PMP certification of their project managers, and will not hire non-certified project managers. Having the credential will certainly make it easier to find a job as a project or program manager.

During the application process for one particular job I was chastised by a professional recruiter, someone who goes through hundreds of resumes each week, for not having “PMP” beside my name at the very top of my resume (I had it listed further down, under “Professional Certifications”). She felt it crucial to indicate up front that I was PMP certified. And by the way, I did end up getting the job.

PMP certification proves that you have experience as a project manager

In order to apply to take the PMP exam you are required to have attained a certain amount of project experience: 60 months (7,500 hours) of experience if you have an associate’s degree, and 36 months (4,500 hours) of experience if you have a bachelor’s degree. PMI (the Project Management Institute) has an audit process to help ensure that potential PMPs are being truthful about their project history (though admittedly it is not a watertight process).

As I personally deal with clients on a daily basis, I include “PMP” after my name in my email signature. This gives me some initial credibility when meeting new contacts (though only those who already know what PMP stands for).

PMP project managers make more money than non-PMP project managers

Having PMP certification can score you a higher salary compared to those project managers who are not certified. What’s more, one survey indicates that the PMP is the highest paid IT certification (at least as of 2008). More good news: a second survey indicates that PMP salaries are continuing to increase.

Online you’ll find plenty of sources indicating that PMPs make $6,000 to 10,000 USD per year more than non PMPs; others will boast that PMPs make 10-15% more money than those who are not certified. According to the 2010 PMI Salary Survey PMP-certified project managers in six major countries reported a $10,000 USD salary advantage over non-PMP-certified project managers.

Being a PMP can lead to networking opportunities and potential job opportunities

Being a PMP links you to all of the other PMPs in the world, and there are plenty of those. According to the August 2011 issue of PMI’s publication PMI Today there are 357,770 PMI members across the globe – and this number is growing. PMI stages frequent PMI meetings in most major metropolitan centers, where PMI members (many, but not all of whom are PMPs) get together to network and learn about project management theory. These meetings can also earn PMPs valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs) that are needed to renew their certification every three years.

During PMI meetings you can often find out about fresh career opportunities from members who appreciate the importance of PMP certification; these meetings often have time alloted for people to stand up and share any job opportunities that are available at their organizations. And there are plenty of other communities, both online and off, where PMPs can interact with other project managers, build their professional networks and investigate potential career opportunities.

PMP certification indicates that you have a commitment to the profession of project management

PMP project managers have spent time and effort leading up to and attaining PMP certification, which means that they are at least to some extent committed to project management as a profession. Even if they don’t plan to serve as project managers for their entire lives, they do understand the importance of PMP certification as a step forward in their careers, and that in itself tells an important story. As a project management professional I am a champion of project management as a profession, and want to ensure that it is recognized as a valid doctrine, and that co-workers working on the projects I manage understand and respect its importance.

The cons of PMP certification

PMP certification is expensive

In order to become PMP certified you need to throw down some cash… it costs money to take project management courses (in order to apply for the PMP exam you need to have taken 35 hours of formal project management education) and it currently costs several hundred dollars ($405 for PMI members and $555 for non-PMI members) to apply to sit the PMP exam at a formal testing center.

I should note here that most project managers join PMI before applying to take the exam, which costs $129 USD to join, and $119 USD to renew each year. PMI membership offers certain benefits, such as access to various PMI resources that can help you prepare for the exam and free copies of all of the PMI standards; in particular, the PMBOK.

The good news is that if you’re already working as a project manager there’s a good chance that your company will pay for you to attend project management classes and take the PMP exam. Many organizations are starting to see the value of certifying their project managers as Project Management Professionals. It can’t hurt to ask!

Preparing for the PMP examination is time consuming

More off-putting (at least in my opinion) than the cost of getting PMP certified is the time it takes to apply and study for the PMP exam itself. PMI requires applicants to document all of the project management education and experience that they have attained; experience must be documented down to the process level – for example, on a particular project, how many hours did you spend creating a work breakdown structure? How many hours did you spend executing project tasks?

I spent several hours using an Excel spreadsheet of my own design to try to recall and then indicate what tasks I did for what project and approximately how long it took me to do them. It was tedious work. When I was done I passed the hours by my former managers and asked them, if I were to get audited by PMI, would they indicate that the hours that I had put down in my spreadsheet were approximately correct? They agreed, and so I submitted those hours with my application. This is an important step – make sure to prepare for the event that your application is audited by PMI (PMI randomly selects a percentage of applications for a thorough audit).

Another important part of preparing for the PMP examination is the study time it takes to learn the PMI processes. The Product Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is the most important resource of information that will be on the PMP exam, but it is not the only resource – it is well known that there are certain topics (ethics is one) that will be featured on the PMP exam that are only glossed over in the PMBOK. There are plenty of study guides, some better than others, that you will also need in order to prepare for the PMP exam. The best known of these guides is likely PMP Exam Prep by the late Rita Mulcahy. It features detailed information about the various PMP processes and difficult questions that are representative of those found on the actual exam.

Some people take PMP preparation courses (that do cost money) in order to prepare for the PMP exam. I personally did not take such a course – I found that the PMBOK and other PMP study guides were sufficient to give me the knowledge I needed to pass the exam.

PMP certification is time consuming (and potentially costly) to keep active

To keep your PMP certification active, you need to amass 60 PDUs over a period of three years. These can be earned in a variety of different categories. It can be cheap to earn these PDUs (there are also ways to earn them for free, such as volunteering or self-study) but for the most part it will take time and money to amass the necessary PDUs to maintain your credential.

PMI’s methodology is one methodology among many

Passing the PMP exam doesn’t necessarily mean you’re an expert in all facets of project management – it means that you have passed a test about one single methodology: PMI’s own project management methodology. This methodology is based on a single publication, the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge). Other popular methodologies of today – for example, Agile, Prince2, and ITIL – are not covered by PMI’s methodology.

In fact, it is my opinion that PMI’s methodology is a bit dated. PMI’s processes seem to align best with projects using the waterfall method of development, which is not as popular these days at it has been in the past. Iterative development is catching on quickly, and I find that Agile development using Scrum is a sound methodology that helps to keep projects on track. With some tweaking you can align PMI’s processes with Agile processes, but they haven’t really been designed with iterative development in mind.

Just because PMPs have project experience, it doesn’t mean that they are good project managers

Passing the PMP exam means that you’ve indicated that you have a certain amount of project management experience and education, and that you’ve passed a difficult test based on PMI’s project management methodology – that’s all. It doesn’t mean that you’re a good project manager, or that the projects that you’ve managed have been successful. In fact, you could be the worst project manager in the country with not a single successful project to your credit, and you can still get PMP certified.

That being said, I tend to think that PMP certified project managers are better project managers than non-certified project managers on the whole due to the fact that PMP certified project managers understand the importance of the credential and have spent time and effort to attain the credential. I liken it to someone who has attained a university degree – the very fact that the person has gone through the trouble of attaining the degree says something about their character.

Is PMP certification worth getting?

So now that I’ve outlined the pros and cons of getting PMP certified, the question remains… do I personally feel that it is worth getting the credential?

I do believe it is worth it. Getting PMP certified has certainly helped me to get hired for project management jobs, and will continue to do so throughout my career, whether or not I choose to continue to work as a project manager. I’ve met many great people interested in the field of project management by involving myself with PMI activities and events, and have enjoyed learning more about the doctrine of project management. Putting PMP after my name in my email signature has given me some extra credibility when dealing with clients, and has also sparked discussions about project management with my peers. And looking back, I am proud of the time and effort that I spent preparing for and passing the PMP examination.

Please let me know if you have any other questions about the PMP examination or about whether or not it would be right for you. I’d be glad to help out!

If you’re like me, packing for such a trip may be a bit of an ordeal – I have certain necessities that I like to have with me at all times; my iPhone, my mp3 player, and my Kindle, for example – not to mention changes of underwear! And without fresh contact lenses I can’t see two feet in front of my face.

A packing checklist spreadsheet

To help me pack my suitcase and travel bag for such business trips, I created an Excel spreadsheet with a checklist of my personal packing essentials. I’ve found it extremely useful when packing for trips! And as I’m all about sharing what’s useful, I’ve made it available for free download, here:

Tips for successful packing

Here are some tips for using the packing list successfully:

• Use this packing checklist as a template and make it your own. Remove those items that you don’t need from my version of the list (if you don’t wear contact lenses, for example, you’re not going to want that item on your list) and add those items that are important to you.
• Make sure you only check off each item as you put it in your suitcase. I speak from experience here… for a recent trip to London I put my medication in a “staging area” and checked it off as being packed, but then forgot to load the medication from the staging area to my suitcase. As such I had to have my wife scan and email my French prescriptions to me in England, find a British doctor (on a Sunday no less) to write me new prescriptions for my medication, and then fill those prescriptions at a London pharmacy. A lot of work considering my packing list was supposed to help me avoid such situations!
• If you’re printing paper copies of the checklist to use when packing, print out two copies of the checklist for each trip; one for the trip there and one for the return voyage, so that you won’t leave anything essential (like your phone charger) in the hotel.
• If anything you’re packing is made of glass, you’ll want to wrap it up snug in a shirt or sweater in the middle of your suitcase. Better yet, don’t pack anything made of glass – suitcase handlers at airports won’t tend to be gentle with your luggage.
• Don’t forget to leave a little room in your suitcase for souvenirs! It’s always fun to bring a little something home from the places you visit.
• Let me know, via comment, if I’ve left anything essential off my packing list, and I’d be glad to add it to the packing list template.

And that’s all there is to it! Wherever you’re off to, I hope you have a safe and pleasant trip.

Throughout all of this extra administration and communication I’ve stumbled upon a “lesson learned” from managing international projects that I wanted to share here, which is this: don’t forget the project management!

So much administration, so little time

When managing difficult projects, all too often project and program managers get mired in all of the stuff that you have to do while working. I’ve created lots of PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets to demonstrate to various steering committees what’s been going on with the project, and have also been involved with many technical discussions regarding the functionality we’ve been building. I spend a lot of time responding to questions or resolving issues via email. But while doing this I’ve found that many of the actual project management tasks – the planning, the executing, and the monitoring and controlling, as per the PMI processes – have been getting harder to spend time performing. In a lot of ways the administration has been taking a front seat while the project management itself is in danger of falling by the wayside.

The project manager’s key role

As a project manager it’s always crucial to know what you are doing and when it’s going to be done, and then to track to that schedule. If you can’t do that, then you’re not managing projects… perhaps you’re serving as a project coordinator, but without knowing the what and when of your projects you really don’t have any control over them. While studying for the PMP certification exam I don’t recall reading much about “administrative processes” – those are things that project managers need to do by necessity, but shouldn’t constitute the entire role of the project manager. When they start to take over, it’s time to step back and ensure that while you’re performing these tasks, you’re also fulfilling your key role as a project manager.

Tips for sticking to the project management

Here are a few quick tips to help ensure that you stick to the project management:

• Plan your time effectively… make sure to slot time in between the meetings you’re attending to keep track of your schedule. I personally make meeting requests with myself to ensure that certain important project management tasks are accomplished at specific times.
• Meet with your team members, face to face or over the phone, and ensure that they are on track, or if any impediments are standing in their way.
• If the administrative tasks are starting to take over, push back a little – make sure you’re fulfilling the role of the project manager and aren’t starting to take on other roles that may belong to someone else!
  ]]> http://entangled.com/dont-forget-the-project-management/feed/ 4 http://entangled.com/how-to-manage-your-project-mail-folders/ http://entangled.com/how-to-manage-your-project-mail-folders/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:40:05 +0000 Brian Crawford http://entangled.com/?p=1779 I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of email. It’s not unusual for me to come back to my computer after a few hours away and have fifty new messages in my inbox, much of it important (though much of it not). And the messages can concern a variety of different topics – client needs, in-company administration, meeting requests, personal chat… if you’re a project manager or business consultant, I’m sure you’ve been there.

  The most important emails of all are the ones that concern the work being done for client projects, as it’s the clients we most wish to keep happy! If you use Microsoft Outlook like I do I’m sure you’re already sticking your messages into a folder hierarchy of your own design. I myself organize my email for each client project in a particular manner, and here is how:

  • Clients
    • Client name
      • Internal
      • Outstanding
      • Travel

  Folder descriptions

  Here’s what I put in each of the folders I’ve listed:

  Clients
  This folder contains information about client projects that I may not happen to be working on – potential new clients, interactions with clients outside of my own sphere, and any others. I don’t tend to access it much after I’ve moved mail into it, but those messages are there if I ever need them.

  Client name
  This folder contains the bulk of project-related messages (from the client, from coworkers or from other consultants involved with the project) that I receive. I find it’s best not to break down the project activity hierarchy too much for search reasons; it’s much easier to search for mail in this folder when it’s all in one place! I tend to search for messages a lot, mostly by author or subject, and such searches occur quite often within this folder.

  Internal
  This folder doesn’t get used too much, for the reasons I explained above. However, occasionally you will encounter email messages of high internal importance (usually involving budgets, change requests or conflicts) that you might want to separate into a special section – and this is that section.

  Outstanding
  Microsoft Outlook lets you stick a little red flag beside important messages or those that require action, and I tend to have an inbox full of those. The messages I found difficult to manage with this system were those messages where it’s someone else charged with the important action, but you as a project or program manager don’t want to lose track of that item. Those messages I put into my Outstanding email folder, and every now and then I go through that folder to follow up with those people who were tasked with the actions. I find it gets clutter out of my mailbox (the messages in my inbox with little red flags are my messages with little red flags) and also gives me an opportunity to go through follow-up items all at once for each project, whenever I care to.

  Travel
  Project managers often tend to travel to client sites, and this folder is where I put my travel-related messages: travel plans, hotel confirmations, train or airline itineraries, and that sort of thing. The messages here also serve as references for when I expense trips.

  Happy archiving!

  Even with a decent folder structure, email is hard to manage! So I wish you the best of luck with your own email infrastructure. If you have any good ideas about how to improve upon my own structure, please be sure to let me know!

  ]]> http://entangled.com/how-to-manage-your-project-mail-folders/feed/ 2 http://entangled.com/at-the-european-street-market/ http://entangled.com/at-the-european-street-market/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:10:40 +0000 Brian Crawford http://entangled.com/?p=1736 The other month I wrote about visiting a night market in Asia; in Penang, Malaysia to be specific. Today I’m going to talk about a different market, this one in Europe.

  Europe is famous for its local street markets – a lot of commerce goes on in the streets in the various countries of the continent. Some of the more popular markets include fruit and vegetable markets of France (oh – and there’s cheese, too!), the leather markets of Italy, or the antique markets of England. They can be a lot of fun to visit, and sometimes you can find some good deals at these markets – if you’re sharp, and get to them early enough in the day.

  The market we went to was in Montfermeil, a commune somewhat east of Paris, in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis (93), just northeast of the town of Gagny. From what I understand the market takes place twice a year in early and late summer. The local police closed off one of the streets in town (Avenue Jean Jaurès) and vendors came from all over to set up stalls along the grass on either side of the road. Further down the street they set up a little fair, with rides for the kids and different kinds of carnival food in stalls along the side of the road.

  Generally in these French street markets, people will sell “n’importe quoi” – whatever they can! Imagine a community garage sale, where you can bring the junk from your garage or basement to the street market in a big white van, open up the back, sprawl the contents all over the grass or on some rickety card tables, and then barter with whomever passes by to try to sell it. Now imagine hundreds of people doing this! That’s what the Montfermeil street market was like; a large flea market where anyone can participate.

  

  My eight-year-old son and I roamed the market up and down for a while, and had a great time looking at all of the different things you could find. Old rotary phones from the 80s. Lots of CDs and DVDs (not sure about the quality of these – I myself would never buy used CDs or DVDs). Old shoes and lots of clothes. Plenty of electronics. Something that looked like a barber chair. Books, toys and appliances. And lots more…

  In the end I ended up with a few like-new BDs (bandes dessinées, quality Franco-Belgian comic books) and my son went home with a tomato plant for his garden. I didn’t get anything else – not much else at the market appealed to me. Mostly the fun of the market was being there, eating some street food, seeing all the people, and roaming the stalls.

  Here are some pictures from the day:

  
  Avenue Jean Juarès, full of people perusing the market. It was a rainy day – I was glad I brought my umbrella! – but the rain didn’t deter people from coming to the bi-annual market.
  
  My son and his new tomato plant. He loves to garden!
  
  Vendors put only one shoe out on the tables, presumably to deter thieves who would want to steal both shoes. Like people are going to want to steal grubby old used shoes… boggle.
  
  Some old junk at the Montfermeil market. On the left – seriously, what is that, a barber’s chair? And on the right, some old electronics – various cables and cords, used DVDs, and some analog phones from the 70s and 80s. Not sure if anyone will buy this stuff, but I guess it’s worth a shot…?
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