Insights On The Evolution Of A PM

Cinda Voegtli at ProjectConnections.com has an interesting article called Evolution of a Project Manager. It outlines her thoughts on project management and how her definition of a PMs role has changed over time. Here are a few of the thoughts discussed, as Cinda gained experience, expanded horizons and adjusted her view of what a project manager is/does in working in different environments and organizations:

• PM = keeper of the schedules and reporter to the feared Customer.
• PM = integrator of the schedule puzzle and sync-meister of a very complex set of stuff going on all over the place.
• PM = just part of the management job to get things out the door.
• PM = someone who makes us fill out paper we don't think we need.
• PM = creative facilitator and solver of complex interdependencies through good working relationships with people.
• PM = split personality: someone execs wanted to trust, someone workers didn't naturally trust.
• PM = just overhead without value add?
• PM = flexible enabler working with lots of individuals to get things done in spite of often hairy problems.
• PM = facilitator of a team of people just trying to do their best towards an important project goal, creatively making PM tools work for very particular people and projects and their unique goals.
• a PM is not just someone who makes us fill out all that paper in the dreaded "Big Process Binder.
• PM = leader, and effective methodology-user, to help the team meet the business goals.
• PM = goal champion and communication framework provider, no micro-management required or desired.

As you can see, quite a ride and the article isn't finished. It's good stuff. I really like the way Cinda writes, straightforward and insightful, and found a lot of interesting info in the article. It's an interesting story about her path down the road to project managment success and the thoughts, opinions and experiences shared are fabulous. Here's a bit from the summary:

To summarize a few personal conclusions from the path of my "PM perception evolution," that I think matter for all our careers:

• Beware the perception of PM as paper-pusher. Schedules, status, coordination, all matter. But if this is what people think our job is, forget about being highly valued. Paper is a tool for, and can help with, analyzing, summarizing, communicating, and identifying goals, work, problems, etc. But the paper part of our jobs can't get us all the way to solutions for complex problems-and focusing too much on that aspect can turn people off. If that happens, they may never see the highest value we do have to offer.
• Being genuine with people, treating them as the customer of whatever you as PM are doing, matters a huge amount. Do not spout the party line on what the PM job is. Ask questions, listen, demonstrate flexibility, and be willing to help people get their work done in a myriad of ways.
• Even the scariest-sounding executives really just want a credible partner in getting things done, someone with the moxie and courage and persistence to tell it like it is and help wrestle problems to the ground. There is huge career value hiding here.

This seems very clear to me now! But I don't even like to think about how long I took to develop these perceptions. Don't we owe our new PMs a faster and more consistent understanding of what it means to be a great PM so they can pursue it from the beginning? How many different ideas about this are we fostering in different companies, or even different groups in the same company?

Read more here: http://www.projectconnections.com/articles/010808-cvoegtli.html

Sooo.. go read this article for some interesting thoughts on the PM dicipline. Also, as usual, the comments following the article are worth reading.