Teachable Moments: The Reluctant BA/PM

Ruffin Veal III, M.S., PMP, Principal of Ruffin Veal & Associates, Inc. has been an information technology and management professional for over three decades. His management and leadership related articles can be seen in the Project Management Institute's (PMI) Virtual Library as well as in national and international publications. He is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science and an M.S. degree in Project Management.

  Career Development   Leadership   New Practitioners  

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.

During the 1980s, I was a computer programmer for a St. Paul, Minnesota manufacturing company. I had been in the position for about two months when our group was assigned a software development and implementation project.

During an overview meeting of the project, it became obvious that gathering user requirements and heavy user interaction would be involved. However, I found it curious that, when queried by management, no one volunteered to be the point person for the project. The group included others who had more experience in the company’s culture and more professional experience than I did at the time. Yet, no one stepped up to assume a leadership role.

As the group manager continued to speak about what would be involved, those around the conference table continued to stare at their paperwork, heads bowed in an obvious effort to avoid eye contact with the speaker.

The lack of eagerness to step up by those more experienced than me should have given me cause to reconsider my actions. However,…

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