Hi I am wondering if anyone has some insight into how to proceed with the “dilemma” I am in. I have been with a consulting firm that hired me in March to work as a PM within their company. It’s been about 7 months now and I haven’t really gotten any contracted work. There is however a potential need for an internal PM and I have been working internally creating a dashboard to show planned vs. actual budget and resource utilization. My issue so to speak is that I feel like the initial interest of me doing this internal project was expeessed but as the weeks have gone on I feel from upper management that there is not much interest or lack of engagement as I develop the dashboard and ask for input/suggestions. My approach so far has been to stay mindful of management responsibilities within their own role when scheduling overview meetings or suggesting next steps in order to make the dashboard fully functional. However, given that I haven’t been contracted to a client as part of my original role and feeling under utilized with the value I could bring internally, I wonder if anyone had any tips for me. Should I continue on best I can with trying to establish value with what I can offer internally (which given that I’ve also been part of leading the integration project of the company with another company they acquired that started earlier this year) I’d like to continue moving toward the route of potentially being an internal PM for the company given they don’t have one and there seems to be a need. Additionally, how would I go about addressing engagement? Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Danyelle
My fellow colleagues provided sound advise. With the current inflation and possible recession, many project are being put on hold so you never know what is happening on a higher level with the management.
However, the fact that they haven't cut jobs, at least yours given you haven't been contracted, means that they value you so I suggest you setup a meeting with higher management, explain to the how an internal PM to the organization can help streamline things, provide Pros and Cons, and try to obtain their buy-in. This is the first step I would advise you to do.
Good Luck.
RK
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1 reply by Danyelle B
Oct 19, 2022 7:15 PM
Danyelle B
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Thank you Rami, this is true and I hope to try and understand internal needs and use that to my advantage.
As for whether the contracted work is more important than the internal PM activities, from a financials standpoint I would say yes.
Contracted work is revenue generating. Working on internal governance is not. It is also "non-value added". While sometimes people get offended at that term perceiving it as meaning unimportant or wasteful work, it means your customer isn't going to pay more for you to have an effective dashboard. They're paying for the project deliverables.
If it is necessary to reduce costs such as from an economic downturn, the contracted work generally continues, and the discretionary work is first to get cut. Non-value added work is likely to get cut before discretionary that generates future revenue, e.g. PD.
There is an old saying that labor goes straight to the bottom line. That makes it the quickest way to adjust the balance sheet so you are most at risk during downsizing if you're working internal projects, even if they may provide a future cost savings.
At the start of covid quarantines, I had to cancel or pause my entire portfolio of product improvement projects and find a new job for that reason. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Oct 19, 2022 8:20 AM
Replying to Danyelle B
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Hi Stephane, I haven’t even thought of quantifying the value. I know that the director of Our project management department asked me to do the dashboard because I created some working models that I shared with him in a meeting with him. He seemed impressed and that how I ended up working on a potential company wide tracking. The plan is for it to help not only with monitoring team performance on projects as far as resource utilization and budget but also help with future contracts when estimating budgets and hours. This could potentially lead to them having more accurate Estimates and less contract edits with projects going over budget or needing more hours. Personally I feel that there may be a lack in organization with some internal processes that could benefit from having an internal PM. Do you think company-wide recognition and creating internal standards are more important than generating revenue through a client?
"Do you think company-wide recognition and creating internal standards are more important than generating revenue through a client?"
It depends on the value you create. If you save multiple times your contract rate, then you are creating more value than if you were contracted out.
From a purely career development point of view, getting in your senior management's good grace is better than getting in a client's good grace. Saving Changes...
you ask about importance and I think it depends on whom you ask, as they have different targets. A manager paid for signings or revenues will try exactly to make them. A manager paid for looking after processes will look after them (and I wonder how he is paid).
The PM director seems to call the shots, who gets which project as PM and he is interested in dashboard/visibility. Which in my view is kind of PMO work.
In any case, working on stakeholder engagement for both (and maybe more, up the hierarchy) is a good idea. Learn about them in social media, meet them for non-task talk (coffee, lunch), understand their pains and think about ways to help them.
Thank you Thomas. I agree with your points and will definitely be working with trying to understand how I can navigate the benefits the company could see with having an internal PM. Saving Changes...
My fellow colleagues provided sound advise. With the current inflation and possible recession, many project are being put on hold so you never know what is happening on a higher level with the management.
However, the fact that they haven't cut jobs, at least yours given you haven't been contracted, means that they value you so I suggest you setup a meeting with higher management, explain to the how an internal PM to the organization can help streamline things, provide Pros and Cons, and try to obtain their buy-in. This is the first step I would advise you to do.
Good Luck.
RK
Thank you Rami, this is true and I hope to try and understand internal needs and use that to my advantage. Saving Changes...
Latha Thamma reddiSr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC TechnologyMckinney, Tx, United States
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