Would you hire an experienced project manager for a regular operations role in an organization?
Serena AghaHR Transformation Program Manager| Sidra medicineLahore, Not Specified, Qatar
Although I believe operations can be chunked and taken up as seperate projects that need to be managed and delivered, however, the principles underlying project delivery and operations perhaps are incongruent. Thoughts? Saving Changes...
Warren HarrisCommercial Operations Manager| Associated Electric Cooperative IncPleasant Hill, Ca, United States
Yes, and they might do an excellent job - for a while. If they had the required operational knowledge of the process, or were able to learn it quickly, they would add value to your process by using Agile, Lean, and PM practices to streamline operations. However they may get bored with the same old same old after a while. Personally, I almost took a job in a bottle cap manufacturing plant, but after reflection, the thought of millions upon millions of bottle caps parading though my dreams at night made me decide against it. Some operations jobs are very repetitive like that, and may not be a good fit for a PM over the long run. Saving Changes...
It will definitely add value, I just want to clear it out, nowadays operation management is not like in the past just routine it has evolved and there is continuous improvement there are many projects integrated with operation like upgrade obsolescence or making more Lean production reduce waste doing six sigma project, RCA FMEA and 7QC all can be used in operation, maintenance and reliability of assets management
...
1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Jul 04, 2018 2:28 AM
Adrian Carlogea
...
That's true but these "improvements" are projects and not operations. For instance running a railway can be done only as operations work. Also the scheduled maintenance is most likely still operations. However when an upgrade to the network or the rolling stock is needed or any other kind of improvement the work is almost always done in projects.
The difference between operations and projects many times is given by the budget. If you want to do a work and you have enough operational budget you just do it if not you allocate a budget to a project that would deliver the work. Many times the same people that are doing operational work would also be doing the work on the project. For them there is no much difference between operations and projects.
In conclusion project managers are not needed in operations work. Projects are probably always integrated with operations since what they deliver needs to be maintained by operations. For instance if a project delivers a railway or a section of a railway once the project is over the railway would be operated as part of BAU with potentially new projects for upgrades and improvements.
Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
In my view hiring a experienced project manager for operations role doesn't make sense. Probably the experienced Project manager wants to change his job due to various reasons including non-performance or change of job etc.. But the question is in what way the company gets benefitted? Pay package will be one of the factors Saving Changes...
It will definitely add value, I just want to clear it out, nowadays operation management is not like in the past just routine it has evolved and there is continuous improvement there are many projects integrated with operation like upgrade obsolescence or making more Lean production reduce waste doing six sigma project, RCA FMEA and 7QC all can be used in operation, maintenance and reliability of assets management
That's true but these "improvements" are projects and not operations. For instance running a railway can be done only as operations work. Also the scheduled maintenance is most likely still operations. However when an upgrade to the network or the rolling stock is needed or any other kind of improvement the work is almost always done in projects.
The difference between operations and projects many times is given by the budget. If you want to do a work and you have enough operational budget you just do it if not you allocate a budget to a project that would deliver the work. Many times the same people that are doing operational work would also be doing the work on the project. For them there is no much difference between operations and projects.
In conclusion project managers are not needed in operations work. Projects are probably always integrated with operations since what they deliver needs to be maintained by operations. For instance if a project delivers a railway or a section of a railway once the project is over the railway would be operated as part of BAU with potentially new projects for upgrades and improvements. Saving Changes...
All the more reason to include some PM's in operations in some capacity, to assist in the identification of project needs, to assess if something warrants a project or left in ops, or as an expert in the product of the project as they possess intimate knowledge of the previous project and its product that went into production. For large companies that constantly turnover projects that feed into and come out of ops, I see it is a smart move to hedge bets. Saving Changes...
