7 Ways to Make a Good First PM Impression

Lonnie Pacelli is an Accenture/Microsoft veteran with four decades of learnings under his belt. He frequently writes and speaks on leadership, project management, work/life balance, and disability inclusion. Reach him at [email protected] and see more at ProjectManagementAdvisor.com.

  Communications Management   Leadership  

Shane was a hot-shot project manager with a large consulting firm. His management typically brought him into problem projects. His disciplined approach and honest assessments of where things were at helped to right the ship on a number of projects while minimizing adverse cost/schedule/scope impact.

He was very confident in his abilities, and started boasting more and more about his track record. He made a great impression with both his clients and management.

Until one project came along.

Shane was brought in to help with chronic schedule shifts. This project was the first one his consulting firm was doing with the client, and the firm desperately wanted to demonstrate their value-add to better position them for future projects. Shane met with Marge, the fair but no-nonsense project sponsor.

To say Shane was unprepared was an understatement. He kept referring to Marge as Mary. He hadn't read the project brief, so he fumbled when she asked a basic scope question. He referenced a deliverable that had already been cut from the project two weeks earlier.

The meeting lasted 11 minutes, with Marge making an excuse to end it early. After Shane left, Marge called Shane’s manager and told her Shane wasn’t a good fit. Shane was never allowed back at the client, and his reputation took a hit with his management due to the negative impression he made.

You…

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.