Member of the Month: Meet Beth Spriggs

 

Beth Spriggs,PMP is the Vice President of Technology for Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE). She's contributed some amazing webinars to the community and will be speaking at our virtual Information Systems Technology Symposium on 30 September 2015!

1.  How did you get involved in project management?

I was working for a very small nonprofit association as a one-woman IT department. During that time I got a lot of tech exposure including managing servers, the website, databases, hardware, budget, vendors, events, and marketing. Amongst that was a lot of IT project management. I then realized I could take my career in one of two directions, either systems administration or project management. I really enjoyed and had a skill for planning, communications, user adoption, and the personal factor of project management so I was naturally drawn in that direction and focused my career on IT project management.

2.  Who or what inspires you to be the best project manager you can be?

My team inspires me. They are an amazing group to work with, and I encourage all of them to develop their project management skills. I do my best to lead by example, so they are my source of inspiration.

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

I wish I had an appreciation for the value of humor and having fun while doing the work. When I first started I think I took myself too seriously and was missing the fun part of project management. In truth, it stifled my creativity and ability to think outside the box when problem solving. Now I try to have lots of laughs while working hard.

4.  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 and there’s nothing you could have done to prevent it. What 3 types of things will you do, mentally, physically, or even spiritually, to cope until the project is over?

1. Laugh – find humor anywhere I can
2. Empathize with others sharing in my struggle
3. Update my resume (personal risk management

Please introduce yourself to Beth below in the comments and add her to your network. 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].