Member of the Month: Meet Bruce Harpham

 

We are super excited to reveal the first of a series of monthly posts recognizing our most active community members. Each month we’ll be posting an interview with a community member who has gone above and beyond contributing to and bettering the community on ProjectManagement.com.

Our very first Member of the Month is Bruce Harpham, PMP®. Bruce recently received his PMP® (congrats). I’m sure you’ve seen Bruce around the community – whether he’s answering questions, writing in his blog, or conducting a webinar, Bruce has been a major contributor. We recently sat down with Bruce to find out what led him to the project management community.

1.      How did you get involved in project management?

I became involved in project management for a few reasons. I had some projects assigned to me over the years and found that work highly satisfying. In 2014, I worked on a taxation project with a project manager with a PMP® – his disciplined approach made an impact on me. Finally, I started interviewing project managers and exploring the field on my website at ProjectManagementHacks.com.

2.      How do you stay inspired to be the best project manager you can be?

I seek inspiration and instruction from several sources. I believe in the power of professional associations - a topic I explore on my website and presentations. In addition, I make continuing education a priority (e.g. self-study, evening courses and PMI® Chapter events).

3.      What is one thing you wished you'd known when you first started out in project management?

Ah, where to begin? I would have to choose stakeholder management. It is an area that can make or break project success. For example, the stakeholder identification and analysis techniques explained in the PMBOK Guide® have been valuable. Absent that process and discipline, it is easy to miss important stakeholders.

4.      It's Friday at 4 pm and your boss just told you that you've been assigned to work on a project - on a different continent! You leave at 9 am tomorrow. What are the next five (5) things that you do?

Wow! Thankfully, this has never happened to me. Here are the some of the ideas that come to mind.

1.      Communicate with my family. I share as much detail as I can and think through how this assignment will impact family plans and responsibilities. If I will only need to travel for a week, that would be manageable. Longer travel requirements would require more analysis and negotiation.

2.      Start information gathering. Specifically, I would seek high level answers on the following point: project purpose, project budget, project duration and prior relationships. If I know other people involved in the project, I get in touch with them.

3.      Complete travel preparations. I would check with my organization’s travel provider to obtain the best flight and accommodation possible under the circumstances.

4.      Evaluate impact on my current context. How does departing for a new continent impact my family? How does it impact my colleagues? In all likelihood, I would start to delegate work to other people so that I can focus on the new assignment.

5.      Get an early night. It’s a simple practice that makes the difference.

5.      You’ve come to the realization that an important project you are currently managing is going to be a massive failure. Somehow, every red flag has been missed or ignored and it’s far too late in the game to turn things around. Maybe you inherited the mess, maybe you’re the cause of the failure, or maybe it’s just the way things turned out. Either way, there’s nothing you could have done to prevent it. What types of things do you do, mentally, physically, or even spiritually, to cope until the project is over?

This is a challenging and frustrating situation to be in.

Here are a few of the practices I would use in this context:

1)      Discuss the status with the project sponsor. If the project is truly beyond recovery, then it makes sense to discuss options with the sponsor (e.g. project cancellation, significantly adjust deadlines or scope)

2)      Maintain my Weekly Review practice: If my personal management system falls apart, the crisis will only get worse.

3)      Reach out to my network: There is great value in getting an outside perspective, when feasible.

4)      Proactively manage stress: Remind myself to continue exercise and healthy eating. In fact, I would increase my physical activity if I could (e.g. go for a walk during lunch each day).

5)      Ask for support from the project team. As project manager, I rely on the project team. I may ask the project team for their suggestions and ideas on recovering the project before making a decision.

Please introduce yourself to Bruce below in the comments and add him to your network. To connect with Bruce outside of the community, you can find him on Twitter at @PMPHacks and on LinkedIn.

Is there a community member who you think deserves some recognition for their contributions to the community? Let us know! Email the member’s name and a brief explanation as to why you think he/she should be featured in our Member of the Month to [email protected].