Ken VaughnPartner| Industrial Fabrication Consultants LLPCharleston, Sc, United States
Hello to everyone. I've been lurking here for some time and I thought it was time to step from the shadows and introduce myself. Probably much of my being shy (I'm not a shy person normally but...) is the fact that I cannot call myself a PM Professional as I understand the term. As with other things having had the official title, formal training and certification means you can rightfully call yourself a "pro". And as with other fields of endeavor having the aforementioned credentials does NOT mean many other things which I won't mention, I'm sure you get my drift.
I do have formal training in Quality Management, SPC, Quality Auditing and I've had Quality Coordinator and Internal ISO Auditor titles which are all worth about as much by themselves as those mentioned in paragraph #1. All this verbal fidgeting is about the fact that I hope I can interact and ask questions, which I'm sure I'll be able to do, but whether or not anyone takes pity on the clueless noob will remain to be seen.
While I've never participated in PM formally I've been all around it in both corporate and production settings and from these perspectives I'm sure I've seen examples of how not to be successful with this process. And one big difference is that the PM I'm seeking to educate myself does not have to do with the IT Industry, it has to do with process creation and modification in what I'd call "heavy industry", building systems using fabrication services such as metal working, welding, shop services etc. What I've found since I started searching the net for information resources is that much of the PM discussion has to do with IT settings and the closest I've come to finding common ground and terms is the construction industry.
Of course there are many concepts that apply in any "project" setting.
Here comes the hard part. Having seen many projects in industry both good and bad (vague terms I know but bare with me) it seems that much of the theory I've read and studied is not practical in the "real world", especially when that world has blue collars rather than white.
It's not my goal to find and focus on the differences or find ways for these theories not to work, it is to find way to make PM viable and realistic in "my world", the dirty, dusty, hot, cold, greasy environments where things rust, overheat and wear out. And there is no denying that it is a much different world than the world of software development and IT in general.
Is there a place for me here? Is it worth my time? Blunt questions I know but again, I've had much experience seeing that the best practices and theories are worthless if they are impossible to implement. I'd really like to find a way to make it work though, because I'm sure it's the right way to make process improvements through project work.
I promised to ask a question so here it is, are the terms "Scope Creep", "Project Creep" and "Budget Creep" synonymous? I can see where one would cause the other such as Scope Creep causing budget creep but are there differences that would separate one from the other in any way?
Thanks for your time and patience. I hope you will indulge me with your input. And, I hope I get a better response than I did the time I joined an Audiophile forum and made the mistake of admitting I like Lynyrd Skynyrd.... :o)
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
Hello Ken
While it's true that a lot of us here have IT experience, there are a lot of people with PM experience outside that arena too. PMI has a number of communities of practice, have you come across them? You can see the list here. They include oil and gas, pharma, utilities and transport (amongst others), so the non-IT project management community is well represented. Having said that, Gantthead is a fun community with a lot of members, and we are very willing to help 'clueless noobs' as you call yourself! So hang out with us as well, you'd be very welcome. Saving Changes...
