Tell us your pm love story! Why do you love project management?
Kristin JonesSocial Media Specialist III| PMINewtown Square, Pa, United States
We want to hear from YOU!
Tell us why you love being a project manager, About a project you loved working on, OR Why you love being part of project management
All posts published between 1 February and 15 February 12:00 am will be considered for a feature in a future ProjectManagement.com publication!
Want to take it up a notch? Send us a video of yourself sharing your love story for project management via the dropbox link below and we’ll share it on our YouTube channel.
Beth SpriggsHome Furnishings AssociationWoodbridge, Va, United States
Peachy about Project Management
I love Project Management because it's like a peach, hard in the middle and sweet and soft on the outside. Hard skills are at the core of the work. Technical knowledge and expertise in a particular field are essential at the center of the work. Surrounding that and making it sweet and appealing are the soft skills. Communication, emotional intelligence, influencing others, and building relationships and trust are soft skills that enable the success of a project manager, and make the work enticing. Take a hard peach pit, the technical skills, give it the right environment and it will grow and multiply into more juicy peaches, more project managers. I love helping others apply soft skills to hard skills and spread the peachy love for project management. Saving Changes...
Cheikh FAYE Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Expert, CEO and owner| Eurêka TechnologiesDakar, Senegal
Because Project Management until now is the only one place from where an individual can learn and be trained on all kind of jobs and professions never mind the race, never mind the religion, never mind where we are from. In our part, we firmly believe that the future of mankind lies there and nowhere else. The enhancement of our potential is fully increased when passion and motivation share the same origin: the strong desire to reach the perfection.
Project Management members in my sense are working hard to do so. Saving Changes...
1.Provides lot of challenges that give motivation.
2.Demands continuous learning.
3.Makes me flexible and adaptable to any situation
4.Gives me the opportunity to recognize team members for their GOOD JOB ,coach them,mentor them to achieve success in their career.
5.Gives an opportunity to be part of organization's growth by successfully delivering the project.
6.Last but not least gives a sense of pride as I am responsible for the success of customer,organization and people.
I agree with you Bala S Duvvuri!
I like to think in delevering results! Saving Changes...
A year ago I was offered a job of a Project Manager hardly knowing the meaning and responsibility of the position. The first reason I agreed was money. The next two reasons that came after it were the feeling of being important, and the desire of developing new skills.
Although I had no skills in project management, especially in an IT sphere, I agreed. New things always pulled me like a magnet. I used to deal with teamwork and other basic things that might be useful at the time, anyway I didn't have enough education for it. That's probably because in my city I couldn't find one.
I don't know how but eventually I went into PM and realized that sometimes decisions made by others put me on the right direction. This decision was one of them.
So from my little experience (if I can call it this way) I can tell what I like about Project Management.
First of all, I like the importance of my position in the company. I feel proud every time one of the team members turns to me with a question regarding the project. Having my input in every small stuff makes me feel satisfied.
Second, I like the interaction with teammates. Teamwork is something I have always been passionate about although I prefer loneliness more sometimes.
Third, I like cooperation. Even if people say that project managers need to make decisions all the time, I can say the opposite that they mostly force making of those decisions. You may not agree with me but that's my opinion.
And finally, I like the continuous educational part of it. No matter how many skills you have, you always have something new to learn when you lead projects and people.
This much from my little experience. Saving Changes...
Project Manager is more like a music conductor, captain of a ship, who corodinates, directs different aspects, people to create music or navigate the ship to the project goal or objective. Saving Changes...
Being part of project management is interesting and exciting as one gets the opportunity to work on something new and deliver a product, service or result and eventually contribute towards the benefit and business value.
Also once has opportunity to generate new capability or outcome and work with uncertainty, risk and learn more. Saving Changes...
Because project is "not a routine operation", but a specific set of operations. It's not a kind of work to tighten screws on boards that pass by. Yes, you might face a lot of challenges, and have to work the long hours to reach your full potential. But you can exert influence over situations and sometimes get the sense of great accomplishment, even if you are working for huge and old school enterprises with legacy environments. You're not just another brick in the wall. Saving Changes...
Andy KaufmanHost| People and Projects PodcastLake Zurich, Il, United States
Couldn't resist the offer to add a video about the love story.... It's been uploaded. Thanks for the fun idea! Saving Changes...
Heidi CookManager, Nuclear Fleet Projects| Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)Summerville, Ga, United States
I love being a project manager because it gives me an opportunity to contribute to the wonderful things my organization, a non-profit hospital, does for our community! Every day is unique and our team is without a doubt the best one at Floyd! Saving Changes...
Anna KeavneyClient Services Manager| Elemental ProjectsNorth Sydney, Nsw, Australia
WHY I LOVE PROJECTS
As I sat across the Senior HR Partner from a big 4 bank in a job interview, he leaned complicity towards me and said, “I can’t tell you what the project is, its top secret, so do you want the job?” From that moment on I was hooked on projects. I had no experience with projects before and no idea what I was in for, but somehow I had managed to land myself a Project Coordinator role in a fast-paced merger and acquisition project. The rest is history.
I recall this story in response to projectmanagement.com’s call out for project love stories. Here I was enamored with projects; but like anyone on their first date I really didn’t know who or what I was inviting into my life; I just knew I wanted more.
My very first exposure to projects was a welcome baptism by fire. Luckily I was working with an amazing Sponsor and Project Manager that I came to idealise as demi-corporate gods with visionary powers. Later I learnt that it was methodology rather than crystal-balling at play.
The project was still in its early conception: the feasibility stage. And depending on how due diligence progressed it could be canned at any moment. Instead it gained momentum. The strategy changed day to day in those early months and we were tasked with massive planning & scoping tasks overnight to determine the impact of the changes and the way forward.
I worked ridiculous hours: early starts; late finishes; lunch on the go; red bull habit; weekend work too. And it was our job to bring order to the chaos. Seemed so much more interesting and important than any other role I had previously had.
So why do I love projects? Quite simply because I love change and being part of something bigger. It makes me feel alive. Organising disorder or bringing the unknown into focus is a compulsion; an itch that must be scratched. Equally I appreciate the discrete and cyclical nature of projects – that is clearly defined objectives in a temporary setting and the fact that tomorrow will be different from today.
However jump back to that first project and it wasn’t long before I realised I was trying to cross the ocean without a map. Madness some would say. I sought out knowledge, experience and a project management qualification, which have all served me well over the last decade.
Project Management has given me an exciting journey across different projects, companies and industries – and the chance to meet many great people and professionals along the way. More over, I have been able to focus on the development of different skills and project management knowledge areas at different times. I have more recently been lucky enough to transition into project management training – giving me the chance to share my love of projects with others. Saving Changes...
