Identity Crisis

 

"I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man." said Chuang Tzu more than two millennia ago.

Well, it seems like Chuang Tzu was struggling with an identity crisis back then. As a project manager, we often find ourselves asking this very trifling question – “Am I a project manager attempting to assume the role of a subject matter expert or am I a subject matter expert trying very hard to be a project manager?” I hope you are not doing this every morning when you look at yourself in the mirror.

There is a long debate on this chronic struggle in the industry. Most arguments brought forward are either industry-specific or too sentimental. If we look at this from another perspective, keeping the focus on the project itself, the fundamental question that we should be asking will then become – “Between project management skills and domain knowledge, which of these two is more important to the success of a project?” Again, this is not an easy question to be dealt with. Most purists would argue that project managers should stick with what they do best, that is to manage project, and leave the domain knowledge problems to the subject matter experts. Yet, there are others who would challenge whether a project manager could do a good job if he or she does not have the required domain knowledge.

For the same reason, most employers find themselves stuck with this dilemma – “Should I hire a subject matter expert or should I get a project manager?” This is very similar to the experience of buying a smartphone. Would you go for a Samsung or an Apple? For the Apple lovers and die-hard fans, this is straight forward. They will only go for an iPhone regardless of how much the competitor’s technologies had surpassed those of the empire that Steve Jobs had left behind. No matter how much they love the bigger screen or drool over the sexy user interface of Samsung phones, they will still stick to iPhones like the rats following the pied piper. Call that brand loyalty if you wish. It is either iPhone or no phone.

Majority of the employers are like the Apple die-hard fans. On one hand, they have been trying very hard to convince themselves that they need a strong project manager to take good care of their projects; on the other hand, they are more than ready to trade in good project management skills for domain knowledge and experience. In other words, priority will always be given to the subject matter experts. Sounds ironical huh? However, this seems to be the current recruitment trend especially in those niche industries like banking and information and communications technology. That is why we often see interesting names like ‘Banking Project Manager’ and ‘Technical Project Manager’ appearing in job postings where the emphasis is on domain knowledge more than project management skills. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against such whimsical ways of transmuting job titles. It is the vagueness of the job scope and the inconsistent expectations of the employers that I am more concerned with. While this may sound trivial to many people, setting right expectations is a crucial step to avoid unnecessary confusion and disappointment down the road.

Now, what should you call yourself in your next job?

What about ‘Business blah blah blah, Operation whatever whatever whatever, Techno- so on and so forth Project Manager’?