Teachable Moments: You’re Never Too Small for Project Management

Jesse L. Santana, Jr. draws from his broad professional experiences in leading projects and programs, as well as deploying PMO teams that have helped a variety of organizations mature their project environments. His career stops range from Fortune 200 global banks to start-up companies and also include organizations such as the pioneer of Internet banking--USAA, the US Federal Reserve Bank and a variety of mid-size and small enterprises, including YouTube’s former hosting provider Peer1 Hosting. Prior to his corporate and leadership experiences, he proudly served in the U.S. Air Force.

 

Teachable moments are formed when you have done something--regardless of the outcome--and learned from the experience. Learning makes us better at what we do and provides a great opportunity to develop others and sharpen skills. We’ve compiled our best Teachable Moments from our community members for you to learn from and share with other project managers.

Several years back, I had an opportunity to design, build and manage an emerging project office. I was charged with directing the team that was accountable for the execution of the organization’s largest portfolio of projects.

What I’ve learned over the years is that while big organizations “get it”, small and medium-sized enterprises often lag behind and dismiss project management as too complex for their operations. I frequently hear, “We are lean and don’t want to get bogged down with process.” However, it is my experience that small to mid-size organizations are great fits for process standardization and can reap huge benefits from implementing even the most basics of project management in their change portfolio.

Basic project processes can help eliminate wasteful activities--and in some cases even improve the communication bloodlines. If you have been asked to lead a maturing PMO, here are some important considerations and tips to think about as you step into…

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