![\"project](\"https:\/\/svapm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/project-management-careers.jpg\" "\\"project")
There is a specific form of gluttony for punishment that comes with the territory (some consider it a clinical condition). The decision to head down the project manager career path should not be taken lightly.<\/p>\n
When I started out, there was a specific resonance I felt as I learned more about the role of a project manager. Everything I had really enjoyed about my previous positions seemed to be a part of this crazy thing called project management.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?” \u2013 Dirty Harry (1971)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Hmmmm\u2026.actually I\u2019m going to ask 2 questions instead. And maybe some sub-questions\u2026what the heck. Being a contrarian is just part of my personality\u2026 though, it\u2019s not a \u201cdesired skill\u201d for project managers. Especially not when you are contradicting a quote you picked yourself like I just did.<\/p>\n
See what project manager employment does to you after awhile? Koo Koo\u2026Koo Koo<\/p>\n
Is This a Fit?<\/h2>\n
Those shiny, flashy careers in project management may seem inviting, but do you really have a passion for this kind of work? Does your personality lend itself to the type of work?<\/p>\n
Do you like working with people?<\/strong> I don\u2019t mean like social work, (although I might have something there) I mean being able to relay technical concepts to business people and get geeks excited about what upper management wants. You need to understand \u201cProjects are about humans,\u201d as the Project Shrink says. The importance of communication in project management has become a clich\u00e9, but nonetheless, it\u2019s true. You need to do it effectively and fearlessly.<\/p>\n
Do you seek attention and praise?<\/strong> Well….this might not work out then.\u00a0 Part of being a great project manager is crediting your team with every success and shouting it from the rooftops, while taking full responsibility for any failures.\u00a0 The best project managers I have worked with did this well, and their teams would go to hell and back for them.\u00a0 People were fighting to work on their projects, and sponsors\/customers requested them by name.<\/p>\n
Never promote yourself.\u00a0 Instead, create trust and earn respect from the people around you.\u00a0 The best self-promotion is no self-promotion.\u00a0 Seek to be truly awesome and others will sing your praise.<\/p>\n
Are you passionate about this stuff?<\/strong> I really enjoy the process of creating something that never existed before. Even if it is not a tangible, physical product it is very rewarding for me to be able to think about what we did as a team. I love process improvement and change. That\u2019s one rreason why out of the various project management careers out there (project manager, business analyst, project controller, program manager, etc.) I chose to be a project manager.<\/span><\/p>\n
Do You Like Challenge?<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\nBeing a glutton for punishment really helps.<\/p>\n
One of the great things about project management is that at least once a week someone starts running around the place wildly yelling \u201cMy hair is on fire! My hair is on fire! My hair is on fire!\u201d<\/p>\n
Seriously though, I can\u2019t even smell burnt hair anymore.<\/p>\n
Do you like thinking about a project from every possible angle?<\/strong> Because that is what you will need to do in order to be effective. The customer, the team, the sponsor, external stakeholders\u2026they all have to be happy. You need to be able to change shoes every 10 minutes or so. The nature of projects is changing requirements and approaches as you go, so there will always be situations where you are the hostage negotiator that has to make everyone come out alive and feeling happy.<\/p>\n
Do you thrive on change?<\/strong> The idea that a project plan is finalized and then very little changes from there is a fantasy\u2026 a theoretical construct that only lives in the pages of your project management textbook.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean you throw your hands up in the air and let chaos rule\u2026 but it does mean that effective change management needs to be a key strength. Uncertainty and change happen, and it is all in how you deal with it (and anticipate it) that makes the difference.<\/p>\n
What other questions should someone ask themselves before jumping into the alligator pit?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am passionate about project management in general, and helping people new to the field more specifically. But let\u2019s be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[634],"class_list":["post-3010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","tag-project-management-careers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14307,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions\/14307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}