A Measure of Success

Don Wynes is an experienced project manager and professional services leader recognized for his ability to help new customer onboarding and similar implementation projects finish better, cheaper and sooner.

  Talent Management  

Thinking way back to my first project (never mind how long ago that was!), I can clearly recall my overwhelming sense of panic as I struggled to manage multiple streams of activity, in several disciplines, at the same time. Put in the role with zero training or preparation, I was befriended by some experienced PMs who, fortunately, coached me through the rough spots. With practice, formal training and more coaching, I managed to gain enough knowledge and confidence to consider myself an effective project manager.

Many years and a couple employers later, I was responsible for bringing new PMs into a steadily growing organization. We had a solid training program; this was a priority for us because the new folks would be responsible for our two most important resources: our consultants and our clients. While we were proud of the program we put together, which balanced classroom and self-paced learning with ongoing support from experienced mentors, we didn’t have a good way to measure their progress.

Our Problem
We felt a new PM typically took about six months to become fully functional in their role, but that was based on our collective judgment, not measured. New PMs started with six weeks of formal training, followed by a series of progressively more challenging client assignments, with close support from their assigned mentor.

We could directly observe their …

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