Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Viewing Posts by Jim De Piante
Sell Yourself
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| As circumstances change, career expectations change. In boom times, you think about self-fulfillment. In lean times, you think about survival. In either case, your best strategy is to create demand for your skills as a project manager. You have to make potential stakeholders aware of who you are and what you can do to help make their projects a success. It makes no difference if you're in a corporate culture or working independently. The very nature of the project business is such that even before you start a project, you know that it will end. Staying alive as a project manager means being known to the people who can keep you alive. As a result, you're constantly selling yourself and your ability to help people with their projects. You can't help them if they don't know you, so you have to take steps to make yourself known. It's not enough for people just to know you, however; they also have to like you. Common sense says people buy from people they like. You're selling. They're buying. You have to network in such a way as to not only be known by others, but also to be liked by them. And one of the best ways to win people over is to ask them sincere questions. Not only does it endear you to people, but it also helps you discover their needs and what you can do to help their projects succeed. |
The Project Manager as Intel Processor
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| The Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor is one heck of a piece of technology. It has six physical cores. Its base clock speed is 3.33 GHz. It supports three channels of DDR3-1066 memory and has 12 threads for your application to work with. It also has 12MB of L3 cache shared across all six cores. I'm not sure I understand all of that but here's something I understand perfectly: To become the proud owner of one of these will set me back US$999. I also understand perfectly that if I were to drop US$999 for one, I will have wasted my money. That processor, out of the box, is utterly useless. Unwrap it and set it on your desk. There it will sit. It will accomplish nothing. In practice, it will be completely indistinguishable from a stone of roughly the same proportions. Let's look at what it will take to get our US$999 worth out of this little jewel. First, it needs to be directly connected to a source of power, something that will bring it to life and keep it alive. It also needs to be connected to and communicate with memory and storage, with a keyboard, a mouse, a display, speakers and a printer. It requires software, too, of course. And even then, it can't really do anything. The real power of that processor can only fully be realized when the computer it runs in is connected to a network of computers. Power. Contacts. Connections. Input. Output. Software. Communications. A network. You, the project manager, are that processor. As necessary and valuable as your technical and project management skills may be, they're not enough to ensure project or career success. It's impossible for you or the stakeholders on your projects and in your career to realize the value you bring unless you are well and fully connected, playing a central role in your stakeholder networks. We increase the value we bring to our stakeholders by increasing the number and quality of our contacts, by developing strong connections, by creating input/output channels and cultivating communication skills, and by being connected to sources of power and influence. To the extent that we can increase our own value proposition, we can make ourselves more valuable to our stakeholders and in the marketplace. |
Unselfish Networking
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| Several years ago a friend "in transition" (a euphemism for "unemployed and looking for a job") asked me to look at his résumé. He figured there must be something wrong with it because it never helped him find a job. The only way he ever found work was by knowing somebody. I'm not surprised. It seems to me the thing to work on is not just tweaking one's résumé, but rather getting to know more "somebodies." The way to do that is through professional networking. I'm a very proactive networker with connections around the world, but that wasn't always the case. In the past I found (my mistaken understanding of) networking to be distasteful. If you'd asked me what I thought of it, I would have said: 1. Networking is self-serving. 2. I want to make it on my own. 3. It's enough to be really good at what you do. Live and learn. Somewhere along the way, I realized no one really makes it on their own. And it isn't enough just to be good at what you do. We are social creatures. We exist as part of the wonderful super-network known as human society, within which we create sub-networks to suit our particular needs. Yes, some "networkers" are self-serving, in the same way that some people are selfish. But one need not be selfish to network. On the contrary, I decided to turn the idea on its head. Rather than network for selfish motives, rather than seek to meet and know people to advance my own agenda, I would network for others. (This was a revolutionary idea for me, but that's because I was ignorant. Good networkers knew this already.) Each of us has gifts and talents, and I'm no exception. What I know and what I can do are valuable, and I would like to use what I know and what I can do to help other people succeed. If, in the end, that contributes to my own success (it will and it does) that is a delightful consequence. It's simple: Know more people, help more people. When I recently found myself "in transition," I appealed earnestly to my network. The response was overwhelming and touching. Ultimately, it helped me succeed. It's very satisfying to have seen the goodness and generosity of my network and to know that so many fine people stood ready to help. You can't achieve that with a résumé, however perfectly crafted. |
The Key to Career Success? Relationships.
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| I heard it over and over again: "Not you! No way. It can't happen to you! Impossible!" It was a nice thought, but the fact of the matter was that it was happening, and it was happening to me. I was one of the most connected and well-known project managers in the company. I had a huge variety of experience and a sterling reputation. I was coming off of a wonderful two-year international assignment and was just getting ready to start back to work in the United States when I was told that my position was being eliminated. While I had been away, my entire management chain had changed and my organization's mission had shifted out from under me. The company was laying people off in droves. A father of five, I was staring unemployment in the face. The first order of business was to try to find another position within the company. It took a mad five-month scramble, but I managed to hang on. During that period, I was very busy. Still, I took the time to reflect--not just on what to do about the situation, but what I might have done differently, and what I might do in the future to prevent it and how to be better prepared if it should happen again. In retrospect, it's easy to recognize this as textbook risk management. I also considered the things I had done well (that in the end made it possible for me to find another position) and reflected on what I might do to ensure that I continued to do those same things in the future--textbook lessons learned. I collected my thoughts, my resolutions, my lessons learned, in a one-page document titled simply, "I wish I had." I review it periodically to keep it at top of mind and I will tell you honestly that often enough, it's painful to re-read it. Some lessons are only learned painfully. I'm happy to say that I have been given the opportunity to put those resolutions into practice, and so I would like to comment on them in this space with the sincere hope that perhaps you might find value in the lessons I've learned. In our business, a certain level of technical prowess is necessary but not sufficient. Beyond technical skills, we need to develop people skills, and the essence of people skills is relationships. As I look over my one-page document, I note that there are some things that I don't see: • I wish I had been better at making Gantt charts. • I wish I had been a better software developer. • I wish I had cultivated deeper skills in earned value analysis. On the contrary, my list is filled with resolutions about relationships. It's about people skills and how I need to further cultivate and employ them to not only ensure continued career success but also appropriate work/life balance. I'm looking forward to sharing more reflections around these career lessons learned--and hearing your thoughts as well. |