What do you wish someone had told you early in your PM career?

Aman,

Thanks for mentioning that. I think a lot of people management (or leadership) skills carry over to project management, and that could be a very helpful tip for someone thinking about making the move to project management, but who might be having some hesitation.

But I also think there are some project management specific traits that we shouldn't assume will be there without training or experience. The ability to break down a complex deliverable into manageable bits is one example. And thinking in terms of deliverables, in contrast to thinking about tasks. Some people have difficulty with that, while they excel at other things.

John,

I am in complete agreement with you. My response is straight to what I found that somebody might have told me.

Thanks

Margaret,
That's a good point! Thanks for bringing that up.

I support you on this one Margaret. It's hard to make that move, but it may help if you realize that a low-performer usually puts a burden on everyone else, trying to compensate by supporting him. That's great, it means you have a good team willing to cooperate, but in addition it may impact negatively the performance of those who try to help and the project overall.

In the end, it may become a lose-lose situation because all the pressure on the person who is struggling will only make him feel bad and stress him.

Bottom line is, PMs have to take hard decisions all the time, but you better make it timely.

True, when I was new person to project management I appreciate any and all the advice that other people in the field gave to me. The ability to take criticism and use it to form a constructive learning path for yourself is essential for a successful career in project management. Usually the people who do not want to change or are unable to change in order to adjust to their environment are usually the ones who have the most difficulty in a project management structure. After than its assessing the risk/reward of maintain a person in hope they their performance will improve. Being able to spot raw talent, potential and the associated scale of performance from the rest is a skill a project manager develops over time.

By the way... I'm jealous of your job. How cool would it be to be a PM at CRACKER BARREL? I LOVE Cracker Barrel!!!

Margaret,

Thanks! It's a great place to work. :-) We've had several interesting projects.

Thanks George, that's a great point. The Rita book is great for self study, and really does a good job of explaining things. I picked up a lot from going through it too.

I agree that Rita Mulcahy's Exam Prep book is a tremendous book to read and I always recommend it to those about to take the exam.