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Viewing Posts by Jim De Piante
Project Managers in the C-Suite
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| I've seen some articles and heard some commentary lately that lament the fact that there doesn't seem to be a clear career path that leads from project management to the so-called C-suite, also known as the "executive suite." Where I work, there is no direct path that leads from project management to the executive ranks. Occasionally, a person who has worked as a project manager becomes an executive, but it's certainly not the norm. From my own point of view, this isn't a problem -- on the contrary. Had I wanted to be a "line" executive, I would have stayed in line management. I chose project management because I saw it as a means to manage the kind of work that I really enjoy most: the realization of ideas. For me, career growth means managing projects that are more important, more valuable, more interesting or just more fun. Often, this can mean bigger teams and bigger budgets, but for me, that doesn't necessarily translate into bigger thrills. Career growth does not mean at all that I need to become an executive to feel fulfilled. I see project management and executive management as complementary, but very different, skills. To me, that means that the two fields will appeal to two very different kinds of people, depending on individual temperament. Project management is very tactically focused. It's all about defining the job and getting it done. It seems reasonable to me that the kind of person who manages projects is also tactically focused, and temperamentally oriented toward the realization of ideas. On the other hand, I see executive management as more strategically focused, more about defining a strategic vision and deciding which projects to undertake to realize that vision. It seems reasonable to me that the kind of person who becomes an executive is also strategically focused, and temperamentally oriented toward defining strategy and how to achieve it. What do you think? Are project managers under-represented in the executive ranks? If this is true, do you see this as a problem, generally speaking? Personally speaking? Do you have aspirations to become an executive? If so, do you see being a project manager as an obstacle to those aspirations? Do you believe that project managers are temperamentally different than line managers? Why or why not? Read more posts from Jim De Piante. Read more posts about improving your career. |
Reinventing the Project Management Career
| In my previous post, I said, "I can't be sure but I have a feeling that the nature of the project management game is changing." I'm becoming more certain of that all the time -- especially in terms of what that means for my career. Recall that I articulated three trends that "give me pause:"
• Project management jobs are following other IT jobs to emerging markets Each of these injects a fair amount of uncertainty into my career plans. In a project context, uncertainty is interesting in that it has the potential to positively or negatively affect project objectives. The same is true of career objectives, which makes those three trends very interesting to me. So what are my career objectives? Simple:
1. Continue to manage projects To what extent might the aforementioned trends affect those objectives? It depends on the timeframe. Thinking about the state of the profession over the next four or five years, two questions come to mind: • Within that time, what is the likelihood that one or more of the three trends I outline will have an impact (positive or negative) on my two career objectives? • What might that impact be? You tell me. What are your overall goals for the next five years, and how will the shifts we see in project management affect those goals? |
Project Management Is Shifting Dramatically. What's Next?
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| I have a feeling the nature of project management -- which has sustained my career for more than 20 years -- is changing radically. Two tectonic shifts in the business world made project management an obvious career choice for me back in the late 1980s: 1. Just as I was about to enter middle management, 25 percent of such jobs were eliminated from the economy. 2. Around that same time, organizations began to reorient their thinking and started to define and organize themselves as project-based businesses. Explicitly in response to these two phenomena, I consciously made the decision to leave line management and enter project management. The writing on the wall is certainly clear in retrospect. And honestly, it was pretty clear at the time as well. Now, I see three things happening that give me pause. They're clearly things I need to react to, but unlike last time, I don't know how. 1. Lower-level IT jobs continue to go to emerging markets. As the people who took these jobs 10 years ago mature in their roles, more of them are becoming project managers. They're close to their teams and to the work -- even if the sponsors are elsewhere. 2. The way project work gets done, particularly in the IT industry, seems to be undergoing an important shift. I really don't know what's underneath it, but I do know that PMI has embraced Agile development, even offering an Agile certification. Is this the direction in which IT is headed? 3. As we emerge from the economic crisis, every indication is that the way the global economy will function in the future will be very different. We keep hearing of a "new normal." To me, these three things spell change, and it seems to me I ought to be making some changes as well, but I'm not sure what they are yet. I'd be interested to hear and learn from you. What are your observations? What are your plans? Editor's note: In Project Management Circa 2025, published in 2009, editors David I. Cleland, PhD, PMI Fellow, Bopaya Bidanda, PhD, and 39 experts from around the world share their insights on the future of the project management profession. |
Mutual Trust: Achieving Success With Your Sponsor
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| Projects can be very complex -- a bit of a jumble of various considerations. As Wendy Mason's comment on my last post suggested, reducing project success to achieving scope, schedule and budget objectives is overly simplistic. Success on a project has to be measured in many dimensions and according to changing circumstances. As Sergio Flores commented, there is risk inherent in every project. There are things beyond the control of the project manager and in some cases project managers simply make mistakes. When a project manager takes on a project, he or she enters into a partnership with the sponsor. The sponsor depends on the project manager's ability to bring the project to fruition, and the project manager depends on the soundness of the sponsor's ideas. They share in each other's potential success and each must be willing to face the risk of failure. It's human nature to inherently push ourselves beyond our limits. The willingness of a sponsor and project manager to enter into a partnership knowing that there are risks is a testimony to this spirit. I believe that the very possibility of failure makes success all the more exhilarating. And because we're social creatures, I believe the possibility of mutual failure makes mutual success all the more exhilarating. Is it a disservice to the sponsor for a project manager to enter into a partnership when there is a distinct possibility of failure? I think not. In fact, I think it would be a grave disservice to decline to do so for fear of failure. At a personal level, I rather like the idea of my sponsor and I betting on each other to succeed. We could lose, sure. But the fact that we could lose, together, makes the possibility of winning together all the more compelling. What do you think about mutual success and failure with your sponsor? |
Should Failure Be Part of Your Career Plan?
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| Failure is a hard word. But we really can't know our limits if we don't sometimes test them. So how do we reconcile the fact that we may "fail" sometimes and still be successful practitioners? I can't say that every project I've ever managed has been a complete success. Not all of them have been delivered to full scope, on time and within budget. Nevertheless, I'm happy with my career and believe I'm a successful project manager. Clearly, there's more to career success than simply stringing together a run of successful projects. I don't know anyone who has done so. (And if I did, I would wonder if they might consider taking on a more challenging project next time.) There's a component of success that has to do with achievement and pushing ourselves beyond personal limitations. Not everyone is so forgiving of our project failures, but we must see the failures in the context of personal growth and our overall career. Career success is in the eye of the beholder. Whether or not we consider ourselves successful has to do in part with how we react when our projects fall short of complete success. If we emerge from project failure smarter, wiser, stronger, better -- or just humbler from the experience -- we are prepared to achieve a greater level of success. It's scary, but I think in the end we will judge ourselves more harshly if we don't explore and extend our limits than if we stay comfortably within them. Net: Fail to succeed. What do you think? Can failure eventually lend itself to career success? |