How did the corporate career development program and succession planning program impact your project? This questionnaire will allow you to analyze these processes, develop conclusions and make recommendations.
The average project manager has a challenge, and a large one at that. Most of us don’t have a career development plan. In fact, most of us didn’t necessarily pick this as a career--it picked us. But now that we’re here, the challenge is to figure out exactly where we go with it. To understand how our careers progress, it helps to have a model with which we can associate. Find out what important trio awaits inside...
There are two key parts to employee evaluations: How they're doing, and where they're going. This template will help you with both the "now" of the performance appraisal and the "future" of that employees career path and development.
Developing effective project management skills can be a challenge in the best of times. The range of topics and disciplines on the project management field is broad, and it can be difficult to know where to best focus our energies and efforts. In the fields of information technology and telecommunications (IT&T), the project management challenge grows ever greater. Effective project management means that our skills sets need to integrate proficiencies from the disciplines of project management, general management and the underlying technical disciplines our projects are rooted in. In the IT&T space, this means a broad range of skills, functions and capabilities. This assessment helps you gauge where your skills are currently in order to help guide your future career development efforts.
As achievers, we all want to know how we’re progressing toward career goals, advancement and greater financial rewards. A simple career development matrix is a helpful tool to prepare for future success and put practical steps into action.
Career development and training go hand in hand with mentoring. If you can find a few good mentors in your career, you’ll be much better off than having to experience the pitfalls of the work world all alone. This writer has been fortunate to have several formal and informal mentors help him along the way, and here he shares the top five bits of career advice that he still keeps fresh in his mind.
This form is designed to assist the project manager with managing workforce performance beyond the traditional training plan, as substandard performance can be caused by many factors other than inadequate training.
Is there a "best" way to start a career in project management? Assuming that you have started a career in an organization already, how should you focus on it? If the "by accident" approach isn't for you, there are two very distinct planned paths.
Three-way partnership with American University, Management Concepts and MCR provides training program for federal agencies and government contractors.
Whether you believe their value to be intrinsic or monetary, PM-related credentials can open doors for both young and senior-level professionals. In fact, earning more than one may allow you increased mobility and security, and mitigate risks found in unforeseen situations such as changing jobs.
There very well could be a goldmine buried inside your career history. By unearthing it, you can find relevant experiences that will help you open up new career opportunities and achieve future goals.
Just in case you are not satisfied with a thankless workforce, there are ways you can use PMO influence to directly improve their daily work lives--and get their support for all your PMO efforts.
Project-driven organizations can benefit in many ways from creating a career framework that gives employees the opportunity to grow — and share — their knowledge and skills by moving across job roles or business units. In the process, they align company values and culture, optimize resources and increase client satisfaction. Here’s an overview of IBM’s approach.
A key to sustaining employment and professional growth is finding ways to use the same skills in different jobs, and that requires looking at your skills in a broader way.
The head of the PMO has a significant responsibility to the project managers to act as career coaches and mentors. Are you taking that role seriously?
Many organizations have not developed human resource management practices and policies to support projects. A new book from PMI seeks to address the need.
One employer estimates that a top worker generates as much as 200 times the value of an average-performing worker.
You’ve come up with a schedule for your software development project. Now how do you get your clients or even your own corporate higher-ups to accept it? If you compress your schedule too much, you won’t meet anyone’s expectations of functionality, cost and timeframe, and your project might fail—right along with your project management career!
So you want a career in project management? What will it take to be successful, and what about earning potential? This article will explore the pursuit of a career in project management, including looks at characteristics of successful PMs, what employers are looking for and salaries.
You’re smart, so why not share it with the world? In an effort to learn more about the ABCs of a project management career and your professional development, we want you to share your certification and educational goals with the gantthead community! Please take a few minutes to answer our quick and easy Professional Development Planning Survey. Not only will it help your fellow project managers, but you could win a free year of gantthead premium membership!
Many project managers that are more advanced in their careers no longer see PMI as offering the kind of training, development and career advancement opportunities that they are looking for. So where do we go from here?
Every job hunter fumbles parts of the tedious job-landing process, but one expert notes that four mistakes can add months to an already frustrating pursuit.
When leaving your job--voluntarily or otherwise—you need to be prepared. Here's some help to make your getaway go off without a hitch.
Project management in practice struggles to evolve, and we consistently fail to take the actions we know we should. Human inertia is too strong an influence to ignore if we want the future of PM to be that much different than it is today. If it were to be different, however, where might it go? There are two overall directions that appear to be emerging, and each has advocates and detractors. Whether (or indeed if) one attains dominance will depend upon the intersection of many forces.
Much of the ScrumMaster's role has been focused on the individual effort of leading a single team through the successful completion of a Scrum project. At some point, a person who has successfully established themselves in an organization will be looked on to take on more responsibilities. What would these responsibilities be? What kind of career roadmap would be best suited for a person who is an established ScrumMaster?
There are many different ways to launch a successful career in project management, but depending on your particular background and goals, your path will vary. Here are four common scenarios and appropriate advice for individuals who are trying to get into project management from different backgrounds.
Just as we always look out for the good of our projects, we must also look out for the good of our career. We can never assure that they will continue to advance and grow, but there are some factors we can look to that might optimize our chances. Taken by themselves, none of these factors will assure a smooth and rewarding career progression. But leveraging several of these factors can help maximize success.
A Training Plan is to a Performance Plan as a turtle is to a cheetah. Increase your workforce management aptitude by learning how to maximize performance through more robust project planning. In this installment: Individual development.
Employers often look only at their own industry when hiring, because not every PM can make the jump--and if they can’t, things can get very bad very quickly. So what should employers look for--and by extension, what should PMs demonstrate that they are capable of doing? Does industry matter in your career? How transferable is the project management skill set?
Many organizations understand the need to build and mature a business analysis center of excellence but are scratching their collective heads over how. Where do you start? What does it look like? Who owns it? How does it evolve? Here is some step-by-step guidance.
A lot is riding on your project plan, such as the success of project itself, not to mention your career! Wouldn't it be nice to check to make sure it contains the basics from which to run your project?
A project management knowledge portal can play an integral role in how an organization successfully executes initiatives, serving as a dynamic, collaborative space where project leaders and teams draw on the accumulated lessons learned, experiences and wisdom of their peers and mentors.
What’s the best training for a project manager who already has the basics? Here's what you need to keep in mind when trying to advance your knowledge--and your career.
Trainer and author Barbara Carkenord joins RMC to lead newly formed business analysis training practice.
Here are some practical ways to help you determine when to move on to the next job.
Many project managers are expanding the scope of their skills into program management, which offers career advancement and new opportunities in a competitive job market. Here, a certified PMP explains how he has benefited from a U.K.-based program management credential, and why he chose it instead of the PgMP certification offered by PMI.
Survey examines compensation for business analysts based on education, experience, location, company size, certifications and related factors.
Answer: All of the above! That's right, you can't put your finger on one common denominator for staffing start-up companies. But you can be assured that you will encounter lots of ups and downs, heartaches, heartbreaks and most of all falling in love with your perfect candidate. If you are a hiring manager and you are going to be an intregal part of staffing a start-up firm, then come on in! I am going to share with you how to recruit industry professionals to start-up firms. I think you'll be surprised at the answer and find yourself wondering once again why you need that HR department at all.
Organizations keep evolving and changing their direction--tough times make this even more of a necessity. Because of this, a company’s dynamic business operation can result in the creation of important action items for employees, creating new career opportunities in the process.
What advice has helped you survive this crazy profession? One writer weighs in on some valuable tips of the trade.
Project control is not about the minutiae, it’s about the big picture. Here we provide some guidelines on how to move from micro-level project management to a more macro-level control phase.
Nothing takes the place of solid work experience. So one PM decided to reach out to her colleagues and gather their everyday thoughts and insights into what they have learned over the years in working with different leadership styles. These important questions and answers continue that valuable research.
Runaway costs are pretty easy to spot--but reducing them is another story. In this review, a book with a number of components that make it a reference or every IT manager is examined.
Are you considered a sunk cost? Is it challenging to speak clearly about your value as a business analyst? Here are some suggestions for bringing ROI into the conversation with four concrete ways that BAs reduce project costs.
Nothing takes the place of solid work experience. So one PM decided to reach out to her colleagues and gather their everyday thoughts and insights into what they have learned over the years in working with different leadership styles.
Management Concepts will kickoff its PowerTrac training program in Atlanta in June, focusing on methodology, business analysis, earned value and risk, among other topics.
There’s no excuse not to continuously improve your skills--are you always learning? Here, we explore the need for continuously improving your skills and the various options available that will allow that to happen within the confines of our busy careers and lives.
There is a cost to project management; it is not free, and it does not happen by magic. When this writer looks at where he got into trouble as a project manager as he was developing his career, he can point to very specific failures--ones that inexorably led to fundamental problems on the projects that he was responsible for. Trace back from those problems, and some concrete and specific themes emerge.
LinkedIn has been ranked the best social networking tool for career builders, and potential employers are keeping a watchful eye on the site. Are you on board?
Is project management a profession? If not, should it be? And what would differentiate a professional PM from all the others managing projects? In this article, we explore what constitutes a profession, and whether project management should be considered one.
