The Advantages of the Hybrid Project Manager
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Peter Tarhanidis, Conrado Morlan, Jen Skrabak, Mario Trentim, Christian Bisson, Yasmina Khelifi, Sree Rao, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, David Wakeman, Ramiro Rodrigues, Wanda Curlee, Lenka Pincot, cyndee miller, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, Marat Oyvetsky
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By Conrado Morlan
“Hybrid” is commonly used in biology to designate the offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties. For example, a mule is the hybrid of a donkey and a horse.
But the word has also been adopted in different contexts. Perhaps when you hear “hybrid,” the first thought that comes to your mind is a hybrid vehicle, which relies on two or more distinct types of power to stay in motion.
The world of project management has its own hybrids. New delivery approaches, frameworks and skills can come together in a hybrid form to create something different and valuable.
In different project management forums, I’ve recently participated in discussions about the hybrid project manager. Some proponents were concerned with the technical side of project management, focusing on which method or approach—such as waterfall (predictive) or agile—is better. Others interpreted hybrid as bringing together the best of two worlds to provide results for the organization.
Here are my takeaways from those discussions.
Technical Approach
Some project management practitioners think about the profession in purely technical terms. They have devoted themselves to learning new methods, best practices and frameworks that they consider innovative, trendy and useful to support the needs of the projects in their organization.
But some project managers who approach their work in this way tend to think that the method, best practice or framework they most recently mastered is a "silver bullet," pushing previous knowledge they acquired into obsolescence.
Holistic Approach
Just like any other profession, project management is evolving. There is no escaping the fact that today, many organizations see portfolio, program and project management as the way to link projects with their overall strategy.
Therefore, project practitioners need to consider the heterogeneous elements from the business side of the house to better understand the inextricable link between strategy and execution—regardless of the method, practice or framework. This is how they will deliver unparalleled value to the organization.
This type of practitioner is paying more attention to the PMI Talent Triangle® to identify the skills they will need to be a successful hybrid project manager.
The Hybrid Advantage
Organizations with the right mix of hybrid project managers will:
- Deliver dramatically higher efficiency in project execution
- Identify candidates who can be assigned to temporary assignments that will support the achievements of strategic goals
- Establish a better competitive advantage when the outcome of projects positively impacts the achievement of strategic goals
Do you consider yourself a hybrid project manager? If not, would you accept the challenge of becoming one?
Posted
by
Conrado Morlan
on: August 21, 2018 04:06 PM |
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Comments (21)
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Drew Craig
Sr. Agile & Product Coach| Vanguard
Philadelphia, Pa, United States
Good points, Conrado. There are various aspects in determining an appropriate approach for a project. As the landscape in our organizations expand, it's a professional responsibility to intelligently and pragmatically make the decision based on the needs of the particular initiative, team skills and expertise, and business climate - e.g. be able to understand the needs of the customer, reach into our toolkit and grab the most appropriate tool for the given job.
I consider myself as a [modern] project manager with the ability to adapt as needed - like a buoy in the ocean.
RAJESH K L
Project Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, India
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Alok Priyadarshi
Project Manager| Tata Consulting Engineers Limited
Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India
I agree with Andrew. Project manager approach should be flexible enough to steer the project dynamics.
Nice article and great insights.
Thanks a lot Conrado !!
I consider myself as a Hybrid Project Manager. The challenge I normally face is that I would be the odd one out. Most importantly, it is only being Hybrid can the project manager steer the projects. IMHO, there is always a place for hybrid project manager in the PMO but not in the transactional projects.
What do you think?
I'm a Hybrid Project Manager. I even take it further to Hybrid-Plus. It's all about flexibility to customize the way you will manage a project.
Good article Conrado!
Good article and thanks for sharing
Farouq Zaabab
Researcher, Coach, Trainer, Consultant| Freelancer
Sohar, Oman
Good article Conrado! The Hybrid approach will be the trend of years to come I suppose.
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Interesting point of view Conrado. I believe in the current world we live in, being hybrid is a big plus. I think everyone does things in a hybrid way but some might not be aware of the fact. I personally acceoted the challenge a while back to become hybrid and now I consider myself one and frankly speaking, it did add value in many ways.
Interesting!!! I think I would consider myself as a hybrid Project Manager.
I believe it is the only way to go.
Jessi Manoharan
PMO | Global Resource Management| Siemens Tech & Service Pvt. Ltd.
Chennai - 97, Tamil Nadu, India
Nice article! Thanks for sharing the valuable points..
Aurelien MANGANO
Executive Leadership Advisor| DevelUpLeaders
Houston, Tx, United States
Very good article on a very critical topic
Hybrid PM's must be the way to go in the future. Able to provide the required technical feedback for Boardroom consumption while being able to adapt at a moments notice on the ground. Very good assesment.
Lisa Trumble
Project Management Administrator| Skidmore College
Latham, Ny, United States
I've been a Hybrid PM from the start, both in the way you describe, and also by role. Given resource constraints, I've been a BA-PM mule as well as a BPA-PM mule. When you mix in some Quality, you end up with the ability to mix and match based on client and company needs. Beyond the hybrid mule is the land of the chameleon.
Great article, a different and very true visión, I'm agree, it's not just about technical knowledge
Good thoughts, Conrado!
Hybrid assumes there are two entities, which come together for a benefit or at least a new result.
The entity of project management as a discipline and profession evolves and changes, new approaches are included as they become used in practise (think about earned value, critical chain, cyclical life cycles).
Project management in my view is already including agile approaches, starting to deal with AI, re-focusing on human interfaces and so on.
I see it as the profession that lowers uncertainty by stakeholders.
Project management for me rather presents the species of equus than only the sub-species of horses.
Alvaro Pozo
PM Director| AssureSoft
Cercado, Cochabamba, Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
I'm a hybrid Project Manager. It's more like "different strokes for different folks." The PM ought to be able to adapt to different challenges with the right set of tools for each task. Great insights!
I'm a hybrid Project Manager. It's more like "different strokes for different folks." The PM ought to be able to adapt to different challenges with the right set of tools for each task. Great insights!
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