Project Management framework cuts across domains. Yet project managers are likely to face challenges when the projects belong to an altogether different industry or domain from project manager's own technical expertise. How should the project managers overcome such challenges? To minimize risk around project success, is it then advisable for the project manager stick to managing projects in his own domain/industry Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The first activity when you are hired as project manager is elicitation. Elicitation is taking all data from all related to solution and transform it into information to define all related to project. First thing to do is "prepare for elicitation". You can find process to do that but the process I followed from years is the CMU SEI process. To prepare for elicitation the PM must: 1-Take knowledge about the domain (you can use Zachman framework row 1 as a tool), 2-Take knowledge about the environment where the business is running (you can sue PESTLE analysis and Porter Five forces as a tool), 3-Take knowledge about the common problems other business in the same domain are facing (you can your PIECES Analysis as a tool), 4-Take knolwedge about the concerns key stakeholders inside other business in the same domain are facing (you can use SPIN selling as a tool). With that on hand you can manage any project into any domain. Saving Changes...
MOHAMED ANSARI M AIndependent Consultant| FreelanceKozhikode, Kerala, India
My personal view is that "Project manager can behave exceptionally if work in a familiar domain" Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
My opinion and my personal experience is that a great project manager has to have experience from multiple domains. The core domain of a project manager can be considered to be the human domain, leadership, listening, influencing, team building. This becomes more important with faster changes in our environment. If a domain sees disruption, it needs leaders with a new mind set, culture and behavior.
While it is certainly easier to manage projects where the PM is very knowledgeable about the domain, it is certainly not a requirement. I will say that not all PMs are well suited to take on projects far outside their current domain knowledge. For very complex projects involving many different technical and non-technical domains, it is a core requirement to success because nobody can be an expert in everything.
What Sergio described is one of the key elements of the formal technical domain of Systems Engineering, which in essence is how to break down a problem into logical and manageable views such as what does it do, how does it work, and the qualities that distinguish good from bad. To be very competent working across domains, a PM needs 2 important skills: 1) The ability to rapidly learn about the new domain. You don't need the detail designer level knowledge, but you need an understanding of how solutions are developed, and the qualities of a good solution. 2) Knowledge of a problem solving framework. The same frameworks can be used on a wide variety of project domains if you understand how. While there are new methods all the time, the ability to fit a specific problem into a generic framework will greatly speed up the process.
The second major factor I believe is necessary for a PM to be very effective cross-domain is their mindset when dealing with significant change. I don't remember the study but people fit into the following categories when dealing with change: * 1/3 who are comfortable once they have achieved competence. * 1/3 who are comfortable once the wider community has adopted the change * 1/3 who are comfortable once they are achieving results regardless of the other 2.
The first 2 groups take on average 2 years to fully adapt to a major change. The 3rd averages 3 to 4 months. To jump into a new type of problem and effectively lead involves significant change and, the PM can't take 2 years to gain comfort. They need to quickly get results, and so maintaining the results-oriented perspective is critical.
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1 reply by Dr. Deepa Bhide
Dec 26, 2018 1:58 AM
Dr. Deepa Bhide
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Thanks Keith. That was very insightful. I like the way you have categorized people from their approach standpoint. Managing by outcomes is largely a good move to ensure a balanced monitoring of the benefits that the project.
To me, personally, cross-pollination of ideas into other domain help create a win-win situation for both, projects and project managers. Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
While it is certainly easier to manage projects where the PM is very knowledgeable about the domain, it is certainly not a requirement. I will say that not all PMs are well suited to take on projects far outside their current domain knowledge. For very complex projects involving many different technical and non-technical domains, it is a core requirement to success because nobody can be an expert in everything.
What Sergio described is one of the key elements of the formal technical domain of Systems Engineering, which in essence is how to break down a problem into logical and manageable views such as what does it do, how does it work, and the qualities that distinguish good from bad. To be very competent working across domains, a PM needs 2 important skills: 1) The ability to rapidly learn about the new domain. You don't need the detail designer level knowledge, but you need an understanding of how solutions are developed, and the qualities of a good solution. 2) Knowledge of a problem solving framework. The same frameworks can be used on a wide variety of project domains if you understand how. While there are new methods all the time, the ability to fit a specific problem into a generic framework will greatly speed up the process.
The second major factor I believe is necessary for a PM to be very effective cross-domain is their mindset when dealing with significant change. I don't remember the study but people fit into the following categories when dealing with change: * 1/3 who are comfortable once they have achieved competence. * 1/3 who are comfortable once the wider community has adopted the change * 1/3 who are comfortable once they are achieving results regardless of the other 2.
The first 2 groups take on average 2 years to fully adapt to a major change. The 3rd averages 3 to 4 months. To jump into a new type of problem and effectively lead involves significant change and, the PM can't take 2 years to gain comfort. They need to quickly get results, and so maintaining the results-oriented perspective is critical.
Thanks Keith. That was very insightful. I like the way you have categorized people from their approach standpoint. Managing by outcomes is largely a good move to ensure a balanced monitoring of the benefits that the project. Saving Changes...
Need to understand the environment first, the people, systems and processes. This will soften the blow of an unfamiliar domain. After all, if you have a grip on the environment, people, systems and processes, the specific domain doesn't really matter as you should have access to internal (and perhaps external) SME's and expert judgement. Saving Changes...
Some companies hire fresh graduates or students as project management interns and after their internship they can get hired as project managers. These people would never get technical expertise in any domain but they are expected to "manage" projects.
These so called PMs would learn in time some basic things about the domain but would never acquire enough experience to manage and lead the project team or take real decisions on their own.
In order to succeed these PMs must first accept the idea that the lack of domain knowledge would not allow them to really control the project and they should focus more on process and facilitation. They should act more like Scrum Masters, they can't take decisions on their own but they can help others take the right decisions for completing the project.
These PMs are useful and do play an important role but their ability to determine the success of the project is more limited compared to PMs that do have domain knowledge. Saving Changes...
My opinion and my personal experience is that a great project manager has to have experience from multiple domains. The core domain of a project manager can be considered to be the human domain, leadership, listening, influencing, team building. This becomes more important with faster changes in our environment. If a domain sees disruption, it needs leaders with a new mind set, culture and behavior.
Thank you Thomas. Agree with you. Saving Changes...
