Lara DollProject Manager, CAPMFort Worth, Tx, United States
Hey guys - I've been in insurance for just a little over a year now, most of which was as a marketing coordinator. Just started a new project here and the sponsor (the COO) told me, "you need to know our underwriting guidelines to be successful at this".
I am a little baffled now, because it sounds like he thinks I should be an expert in all areas that the project touches. Being that this is not just an insurance project, but a huge software development project as well... I need to be an IT/UX/UI expert too?
What are your thoughts? It was my understanding we have SMEs on the team for such occasions... not the PM should know ALL. Saving Changes...
1. There are lots of people who don't really know what a PM does, some of them think a PM can only do his/her job by being an expert in the details. I disagree but I'm conscious of this thinking as it can impact the PM's effectiveness especially if a corollary to this thinking is that the PM is not given access to the people who are the experts.
2. Notwithstanding my comment above, the more topics you can be an expert in the better you can foresee problem areas, even your SMEs won't catch it all and/or remember to bring it to your attention in a timely fashion
3. In the absence of being an expert you do need to rely upon experts to pull out the relevant details, and some SMEs also don't know (well enough, at least) what a PM does, so as a PM in this kind of situation, you need a good approach to pulling this information out - ask lots of questions, digest, ask more, probe until you're confident you have the important bits at least.
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1 reply by Lara Doll
Dec 11, 2018 4:01 PM
Lara Doll
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Thank you, Robert. That's my thought as well. PMs are new here, but SMEs aren't.
Saving Changes...
Laura AllenIT Project Manager| STV Group, IncorporatedReading, Pa, United States
Hi Lara - I am a PM with IT background. Agreed, you should have SME's, the PM can't know it all and in my experience the minute you become a technical resource you begin to lose sight of the big picture, ie, managing the project. Recently reviewing job postings in my area it seems that Project Manager means many different things from business analyst to construction expert. It has been very helpful for me to have a technical background working with technical SME's on projects because I can give more input into the WBS and assessing durations of tasks among other things. It wouldn't hurt to review the underwriting guidelines. When you can speak to industry or company knowledge it only gives you more credibility.
On several new construction and renovation projects I have had to review specifications for systems and almost become an expert in order to understand how they impact the project in the areas of additional tasks for IT and infrastructure requirements. As an example, I have had to become familiar with security cameras, HVAC control systems, lighting control systems and smart gym systems. Being able to talk to the sub contractors in their language is a big plus. I hope this response is helpful.
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1 reply by Lara Doll
Dec 11, 2018 4:03 PM
Lara Doll
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Thank you, Laura. Completely agree with you. Some knowledge is very good, and that's what I'm shooting for. As long as I can encourage the team to share their thoughts and advice, we can work towards the outcome we all desire.
:)
Saving Changes...
Lara DollProject Manager, CAPMFort Worth, Tx, United States
Dec 11, 2018 3:57 PM
Replying to Robert Neil Wood
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Ask 100 people you'll get 100 different answers.
My thoughts:
1. There are lots of people who don't really know what a PM does, some of them think a PM can only do his/her job by being an expert in the details. I disagree but I'm conscious of this thinking as it can impact the PM's effectiveness especially if a corollary to this thinking is that the PM is not given access to the people who are the experts.
2. Notwithstanding my comment above, the more topics you can be an expert in the better you can foresee problem areas, even your SMEs won't catch it all and/or remember to bring it to your attention in a timely fashion
3. In the absence of being an expert you do need to rely upon experts to pull out the relevant details, and some SMEs also don't know (well enough, at least) what a PM does, so as a PM in this kind of situation, you need a good approach to pulling this information out - ask lots of questions, digest, ask more, probe until you're confident you have the important bits at least.
Thank you, Robert. That's my thought as well. PMs are new here, but SMEs aren't. Saving Changes...
Lara DollProject Manager, CAPMFort Worth, Tx, United States
Dec 11, 2018 3:59 PM
Replying to Laura Allen
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Hi Lara - I am a PM with IT background. Agreed, you should have SME's, the PM can't know it all and in my experience the minute you become a technical resource you begin to lose sight of the big picture, ie, managing the project. Recently reviewing job postings in my area it seems that Project Manager means many different things from business analyst to construction expert. It has been very helpful for me to have a technical background working with technical SME's on projects because I can give more input into the WBS and assessing durations of tasks among other things. It wouldn't hurt to review the underwriting guidelines. When you can speak to industry or company knowledge it only gives you more credibility.
On several new construction and renovation projects I have had to review specifications for systems and almost become an expert in order to understand how they impact the project in the areas of additional tasks for IT and infrastructure requirements. As an example, I have had to become familiar with security cameras, HVAC control systems, lighting control systems and smart gym systems. Being able to talk to the sub contractors in their language is a big plus. I hope this response is helpful.
Thank you, Laura. Completely agree with you. Some knowledge is very good, and that's what I'm shooting for. As long as I can encourage the team to share their thoughts and advice, we can work towards the outcome we all desire.
:) Saving Changes...
Edilberto Manlig JrSafety Director and Maintenance Manager| Primex ManufacturingLangley, British Columbia, Canada
It would be great to know it all. But being an excellent PM is what you do and it comes with great responsibilities - you already have a lot to contend with. Choosing the right SME and collaborating with your team is certainly the right wary to go. Saving Changes...
Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
You will never become an efficient PM if you delve too much into the technical details. The best idea as others have mentioned is to get a good Technical resource on your team and just get a high level grasp on the technical landscape of your project. Saving Changes...
I've worked a variety of projects related to engineering, but all across the product life-cycle including mechanical eng., processes, materials development, IT, and training development. Between the range of projects, my teams and I have earned 4 US Patents and I have never once been a technology SME on any of those projects.
Instead I've done enough homework to be familiar with the technology as a whole so that I get a sense of what I should pay attention to, and who to ask to explain what it is we're doing and what people were talking about in the previous meeting until I get up to speed. I sometimes describe my core competency as becoming a temporary expert in things I know nothing about. Just this morning, before I gave a major program milestone review presentation I was making sure I knew what all the acronyms on my charts mean in case somebody asked.
As another reference point, speaking with a personal friend who was working as a PM contractor at Microsoft, his view was that even though companies use their own tools, processes, and have different products, the fundamentals of being a PM still apply wherever you go.
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1 reply by Bala Sripada
Dec 12, 2018 5:40 AM
Bala Sripada
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Excellent Keith. I liked your comments on its entirety!!!
I too worked in Mechanical projects in the area of Petrochemicals and refineries and in IT too.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Lara, I agree with my fellow colleagues as you do not need to be a technical expert and you should have SME's onboard and a team who can handle technical things. A PM does not need to know it all when it comes to technical details but the minimum technical knowledge helps you make sense of the estimates, schedules, progress, changes and so on ! Saving Changes...
Mark StewardDirector| Arrow Zee AustraliaSydney, Nsw, Australia
I agree with the others, specific (IT/underwriting) expertise is not the key prerequisite to PM success and can lead one down a dark rabbit hole if you are trying to plug knowledge gaps. Make sure you have good/the right SME's onboard.
Business managers may assume that you need the domain expertise because having it was crucial for their success. In your case, especially if your COO was an underwriter earlier in their career.
If you want to impress your COO, then I would suggest making sure you have an understanding of why he thinks the underwriting guidelines are crucial to the success of the project. That way you can make sure your experts in the team are across the issue. Saving Changes...
As far as I have seen in IT most employers don't require domain knowledge for PMs however this makes a huge difference.
For starters if you don't have a technical background the technical experts and SMEs would never take you seriously and what's worse they can even make fun of you. A lot of technical experts consider PMs with no technical background as being some sort of administrative assistants.
More importantly those technical experts would be taking crucial decisions that would impact the success of the project and you would not be able to control or influence those decisions.
In order to compensate for the weakness of a so called non-technical PM I have seen that some companies designate a technical expert as the project technical lead and make him/her responsible for managing the project scope. I have a friend who is very annoyed by the fact that he is forced by his company to manage the scope of projects while he is not the PM. He is a technical expert while the PMs he works with are not.
Still you can manage the project but you can never manage or lead the team members. Saving Changes...
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