I have 7 years experience in Oil & Gas industry as a geologist and have spent a few years in leading some projects. As a technical person by background with PMP certificate, how do I make a smooth transfer to project management roles without being negatively affected by my SME experience,i.e any strategies to take the advantage of the SME for landing the project management role? Saving Changes...
The risk I have seen materialize is that if the PM is the SME, delegation becomes harder as it is anyhow, second opinions/options tend to get fewer, and in critical situations, the PM/SME gets overloaded as he focuses on SME tasks. The project is suffering and eventually a real PM is coming in. Seen that many times.
Thomas, thanks for the view. I guess as a PM with SME the key is to have the ability to set the SEM aside and focus on people. There may be a chance for me to step in but not always. Developing the wisdom to tell when needed is critical. From this point, may be stepping out of my industry into a different one won't be a bad option.
...
1 reply by Thomas Walenta
Feb 19, 2018 9:46 AM
Thomas Walenta
...
Jiulin, yes, setting the SME capability aside is not so easy, as you might still be the better SME on the project, from history perceived as such by the client or team members and often pushed into the SME role and if a crisis comes up, you will be tempted to solve it by yourself.
You should focus on 3 other areas instead making up a project manager: 1. people/leadership 2. running the project itself (plan, staff, control, meetings...) 3. having the business value of the project in mind.
The PMBoK ed 6 Appendix X6 shows that 2 tools and techniques are used the most:
1. expert judgement (this is when the PM brings in SMEs to whatever task )
2. meetings
Look at your domain expertise as a strength rather than a weakness. As you may not have a lot of pure PM experience, you might want to start with finding projects within your SME domain that are not overly complex.
And I'd definitely echo Andrew's caveat - make sure the company you are joining isn't expecting you to be both a PM and a SME simultaneously to save them some costs!
Kiron
Kiron, that's right. Thanks for the suggestion! The job description has to be PM driven (not some kind of hybrid responsibilities) and also make sure that I won't unintentionally dig into technical details... Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Feb 19, 2018 9:31 AM
Replying to Jiulin Guo
...
Thomas, thanks for the view. I guess as a PM with SME the key is to have the ability to set the SEM aside and focus on people. There may be a chance for me to step in but not always. Developing the wisdom to tell when needed is critical. From this point, may be stepping out of my industry into a different one won't be a bad option.
Jiulin, yes, setting the SME capability aside is not so easy, as you might still be the better SME on the project, from history perceived as such by the client or team members and often pushed into the SME role and if a crisis comes up, you will be tempted to solve it by yourself.
You should focus on 3 other areas instead making up a project manager: 1. people/leadership 2. running the project itself (plan, staff, control, meetings...) 3. having the business value of the project in mind.
The PMBoK ed 6 Appendix X6 shows that 2 tools and techniques are used the most:
1. expert judgement (this is when the PM brings in SMEs to whatever task )
2. meetings Saving Changes...
Hi Mounir, that's an interesting view. The PMI standard brings a lot of my leading the well planning project memories back to the surface. Certainly the projects can run better if fully using the standard. Would be interesting to know the reason why the situation you mentioned (i.e. not likely to implement the PMI standard) in the oil & gas industry. Saving Changes...
I actually thought, O&G is one of the domains with very close Engineering association, and very much relevant to the PMI's PMBOK framework, unless not adopted well due to organization readiness..
In-fact, I thought, anytime you have an investment in the form of a 'Project', PMBOK tools and techniques are the de-fecto standards that one can think of for any domain for hiring a PM for the project... Although, I feel, the SME experience certainly helps in managing such project but not adequate without following the structured methodology. Saving Changes...
Chetan, really appreciate your insights. Although not the whole O&G industry has adopted the PMBOK methodology, there are some changes. The downturn may have created opportunities to accelerate the transformation of the industry in operation efficiencies via some structured methodologies (also with new technologies like big data). Saving Changes...
