Starting from Scratch

PMO

Monikka Mann Senior Project Manager| Paladin Drones Houston, TX, United States

If you were starting as the PM at a very small (~30 employees) company that did not have any other PMs, nor any PM procedures, tools or policies, what are some of the first things you'd try to accomplish with an initial 30, 60 or 90 day period?

Posted: May 12, 2017 7:25 AM

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Susan Reilly retired Morristown, Tn, United States

Best of Luck in your new role Monikka. New jobs can be fun and challenging.

Posted: May 12, 2017 3:38 PM

Jennifer Colucci Project Manager| 3M HIS San Marcos, Ca, United States

With a company as small as that my first order of business would be to talk to upper management to determine what their strategic vision is.
Monikka it sounds like you have some good first steps planned.
While in an ideal world you would want to follow the PMBOK - for a smaller company you may just need to establish some basic fundamentals.
Good luck on your new endeavor!

Posted: May 12, 2017 5:17 PM

David Henry Implementation Project Manager| ExteNet Systems Las Vegas, Nv, United States

Lots of good suggestions so far. When working for companies that are small, less than 500, I find that it is best to first meet with upper management and get an understanding of their vision; what are the core values, the core focus, and the short and long term goals of the company. If they cannot each tell you these things, and the story remain the same, you will have problems. They can be overcome, but it will take more time if the management team is not on the same page.

Next, meet with everyone in the company one at a time for at least 30 minutes each (you may have to be flexible on the time). Let them know that what they say is confidential as far as the who, but not the what. Ask them what works and what doesn't. Document everything they say. Then analyze what was said in each meeting, you will start to see trends. The pain points will start to rise to the top. This should take at most 1 week,

Then put together a plan as to how you as a PM can help with the pain points. Things that you cannot address as a PM, report to management for addressing. Review any process documentation already in existence, you may find that they don't have everything that they need. Documenting processes is typically a long process in itself.

All this depends on upper management though, it will require their support. Many times companies hire a PM without any ideas as to what they are to do, they just have heard they need one.

Most of all, remember that you can do this! Do not let anyone bring doubt to the table and drop it in your lap. Their doubt is not your responsibility.

Posted: May 12, 2017 6:02 PM

Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina

May 12, 2017 3:25 PM

Replying to Monikka Mann

...

Thanks for all the amazing input. I am starting a new role on Monday and I want to make sure that I am both strategic and effective as I get started.

I think that my first steps are going to be to sit down with the VP of Engineering, CEO and CTO to get an idea of where their pain lies. Then, I want to get a handle on all current projects and their status. My plan is very similar to what Aaron proposed above but I think everyone's feedback is going to inform my plan for the first 90 days or so.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge with me.

Monikka

And as somebody wrote: focus on solve a problem not in implementing project managemet by the book. That is critical to be successful.

Posted: May 13, 2017 9:07 AM

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