Several organizations in our local area are moving away from dedicated project managers. Instead, they are developing project management discipline in existing staff and using the PMO to coach and to provide some standardization. They admit that they initially had an outflow of those who see themselves as career projects managers. However, they feel that the transition has been very successful and have no plans to return to career project managers. For very large projects, a person with project management responsibility may have to fill that role full-time. However, for most projects the dual role seems to work for them. At first, I was shocked as it seemed to suggest that project management skills were regarded as simply another tool in the business person’s tool-kit. However, thinking about it further, many of us fell into project management from some other path to begin with. Your thoughts? Saving Changes...
Audumbar DhuriSenior Project Manager| Bentley Systems Dombivali, Maharashtra, India
A very valid question and equally great responses.
In my local area it is still that the technical guys are preferred as PMs rather than specialists and they get good opportunities in getting heard, advancement in career, good raises than the traditional PMs. Saving Changes...
Rich:
Organizations have recognized much of the work they do is a project and are doing more with less. Also, it make sense from an organizational pipeline and succession planning purpose. Today PMOs can lead and teach. Teaching staff PM techniques, use of tools and tips to learn to manage projects is beneficial to the botton line. However, PM is an art and science. Organizations will still need practitioners, Project, and Program Managers to coach, mentor, and lead projects of varying sizes and complexitiies. Saving Changes...
Renee GalligherIT Project Manager 3, PMP, ICP| Idaho State Board of EducationMeridian, Id, United States
You fell into PM from some other career path but expanded on that newfound knowledge by learning more about it and certifying. Yes, those willing to serve this role can be trained, but in no way should this discount the value of a qualified PMP, which comes with experience acquired over time. It's good to see that for large projects, a person with PM responsibility would fill that role full-time. Perhaps, as is common, the true value of a project manager and/or PMP is not understood. One tool that I learned to communicate this is the SOAR tool - Situation, Obstacle, Action, and Results. Ask yourself what was a particular Situation and resulting Obstacle you had? What was the Action you took and what were the Results? I bet that when you really examine this for yourself, that PM knowledge directly led to your success. Saving Changes...
Shoaib AhmedProgram Manager| Eagle Technology GroupWellington, New Zealand
Interesting perspective Rich. The question is how much technical background do you need for your project managers. Some amount of technical knowledge can be advantageous. At the same time it can risk the PM becoming too involved in day to day tasks, rather than managing the project. I wrote a post on it some time ago ... http://prince2msp.com/2011/07/17/do-projec...al-background/. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Thanks for all of the great responses. Although I certainly admire and respect those organizations that are considering or have implemented this direction, I’m not so sure it is for all situations. I look at it this way. At one time, I spent a lot of time in a league playing baseball. We were able to win many games. So that makes me a baseball player, right? A different league of players just concluded the College World Series of baseball in my city. I would not be at all qualified to participate in that league. So it is the level of talent, skill, discipline, training, dedication, knowledge and experience that make a big difference, i.e. it depends on what league you are playing in and who you are competing against. This is one of the reasons that I like the power of the Scrum approach in which you have a Scrum Master that is great at facilitating, organizing, and coaching who knows the process well, combined with a Product Owner that thoroughly knows the business aspects of the project. By making the Product Owner also assume the role of project manager, you diminish the value of both roles. So the answer, as always, boils down to “It Depends”. Saving Changes...
