The Hard-Nosed Project Manager

The PMP designation and PM competency

I never believed that holding a PMP designation was proof of a project manager’s competency but I must say I am growing disenchanted with what I see these days on various PM related web sites, LinkedIn groups, and in my professional life.  A few examples:

• PM sticks tasks into his schedules based on duration only.  No attempt at setting the level of effort of individual resources for those tasks.  Wonders why he can’t level his schedule.
• PM does not know what WBS means.
• PM can’t read a schedule.  What is a predecessor or successor, what is started, etc.

We are not talking here of a lack of familiarity with specific tools but rather with basic project management concepts.  These shortcomings could be excused and even understood in the case of an accidental PM but not in the case of someone who, prior to getting tested for the PMP, had to document “Minimum three years/36 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience during which at least 4,500 hours were spent leading and directing project tasks”.  Even worse; the examples listed above do not relate to a single individual.

Something is seriously wrong here…

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.  I am a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION); you can use “Friend” to add me to your network, please mention the blog in your request.

2011 Trends in Project Management

This is an interesting article on currents trends in project management.  I specially like the "book ends" on the list:

• Leadership as the number one trend and success factor.
• The PMP being less relevant than experience.

I have a heavy bias toward leadership as the prime factor in project success so the author had me from the get go.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.  I am a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION); you can use “Friend” to add me to your network, please mention the blog in your request.

Ethics are a funny thing

Well, not really… I had this post bugging me for a long while, triggered by this Mentisor podcast, but I was kind of busy and my mind was somewhere else.  The first topic in the podcast is ethics and asks the question “Is spending $10,000 to save your client $5000 unethical if that client doesn't know better?”.  The Mentisor guys make a number of good points, some I disagree with, on this topic.

Those of us who have had the pleasure of taking the PMP exam and practice tests prior to the exam know that ethics are not black and white; there are cultural as well as moral aspects to them.  Some approaches are fine in some cultures or setting and taboo in others.

Going back to the Mentisor podcast, what if the client “wants” to have the answer even if it costs more to do so than the potential savings?  I think that, in this particular case, if you inform the client and he says to do it anyway there is no ethics question.  I can provide personal examples of this:

• I was involved in a pharmaceutical project that was in its startup phase; the client was asking us to make little changes as problems crept up.  This is a costly way of doing things but, based on my limited experience at the time, I was playing along.  The client was happy and my bosses too because I was charging time to the project.  However, after more than a few changes, I was getting bored and told the client that it would be more efficient to gang the changes together as it saved on paperwork and overall effort.  The client resisted and my PM was less than happy.  Eventually, the client came to see my point because the original approach was a drain on resources and funds.  Note that I’m not claiming that this was an ethical suggestion on my part; I’m not a drone and I don’t like to do the same thing over and over.  These days, with experience and wisdom (???), I would push the client to my way and I would actually refuse to work one fix at a time otherwise I’d feel like I’m stealing from my client.
• Another of my clients will spend almost any sum to account for inventory of an active ingredient prior to writing it off.  One could say that it is a waste of money but not doing so could trigger an audit due to Sarbanes Oxley.  Companies could write off high value materials that have never actually been produced to offset profits and the audit is the big hammer provided by law to make companies comply.  The cost of accounting for inventory pales in comparison to the regulatory impact on the company.
• One area where ethics are clearly involved in safety of people or the environment; if you are asked to do something that could harm either you have to refuse to do the work.  Years ago I was interviewed for a job where the HR guys kept coming back to matter of ethics.  Is tack was that if my higher ups were OK with an approach I should be too.  They offered me the job even after I pushed back; I walked away.  Never regretted it.

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.  I am a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION); you can use “Friend” to add me to your network, please mention the blog in your request.

Abusing the PMP designation

Among other things, I “own” the CanadianPM group on LinkedIn.  Because of that I get requests to join from a number of people and I allow them to join based on a set of criteria.  This means that I do read everyone’s profile.

I have seen an emerging trend lately, which I consider an abuse of the PMP designation.  Some people are documenting their current or previous positions as “PMP at such and such”.  Actually, this happened again this morning.

 

For those who don’t know, the PMP is not a position, it is a designation linked to a certification.  The only reason I can see for using “PMP at such and such” in a LinkedIn profile or in a resume is to get ahead based on search criteria.  Doing this is lame.

 

The PMP should not be a ticket to employment as a project manager.  I know a hell of a lot of PMs that are not PMP and do good work, some are actually awesome.  I also know some PMP that are crap at project management and passed the exam purely because they have a good memory and know how to play the multiple question exam game.

My opinion is this; if the only way you can get a PM job is because you have PMP tagged after your name or because you put “PMP at such and such” in your LinkedIn profile or resume, you might question why you did that and who you want to impress.  Either of you may be jackasses…

 

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.  I am a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION); you can use “Friend” to add me to your network, please mention the blog in your request.

Agile? Me?

I try to continually improve myself.  I know, it’s hard to believe, but it is still possible for me to do so…

So, I’ve been thinking of expanding my project management skills some more but, what do I pick?  I already have the piece of paper that proves that I know something (the PMP) and I work in Manufacturing IT so I could go ITIL, I could go PRINCE2, I could go IPMA.  All of those are PMP look alike certifications with various strong points.  For a comparative review lookup this post from the How to Manage a Camel blog.

I also trained on RUP a few years ago so I could go Agile/Scrum or some other approach.  In my current work environment Agile methods are not really in fashion; my clients typically insist on gate reviews and a waterfall approach. 

That being said I can appreciate that understanding Agile could be useful to me it is like speaking more than one language or knowing more than one culture.  On that level, it appeals to me because, after all, you’d have to be an idiot (I was going to say [20100712 - PR - expletive deleted] but it is not polite to do so…) to think that there is only one good, fits everything approach/language/culture.

So assuming I decide to go Agile, can anyone out there engage in a conversation with me on benefits they have realized from going Agile?  I am not looking for dogma (e.g. waterfall is crap), for preaching on the Agile Manifesto (I hate motherhood statements), for how Agile is better that sliced bread/the 4-hole button/the wheel.  What I am looking for numbers on hard benefits (consistently cheaper, consistently shorter schedule, etc.) or soft benefits (easier to lead the current generation, higher customer satisfaction, etc).

Go ahead, convince me to go Agile.  I’m open-minded about it; I’m just looking for good arguments before I invest my time.  Thanks in advance to those who chime in.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.  I am a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION); you can use “Friend” to add me to your network, please mention the blog in your request.

PMP or CSM?

Here you go; a little TLA (Three Letter Acronym) salad on this sunny Saturday morning.  This serving may me a little spicy for some…

I landed on this PMI Community - Post that compares Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Scrum Master (CSM) roles.  To me they aren’t the same and I agree with the writer of the article.  What she calls a CSM we call a technical lead.  And to us, the technical lead is as important as the project manager, the quality manager, or any other team member.  Different but equal.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.  I am a LinkeIn Open Networker (LION); you can use “Friend” to add me to your network, please mention the blog in your request.