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Lately, quite a few non-project-managers and beginning-project-managers have asked me how to break into project management, or how to brush up on the basics of project management. By posting my thoughts through the blog, I thought I’d try to make the answer a little more collaborative. I have highlighted what are some must-have introductory skills, and stated at a high level some intermediate and advanced skills, which can be addressed further in future posts. These are still my work in progress thoughts; experienced project managers out there and beginners who have been through this phase recently, feel free to chime in with your experiences.
As the first step, I suggest understanding how a project traverses through its various stages, i.e. Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring & Control and Closing; know what the goal of each phase is so you can better lead the team towards accomplishing that goal. I stress goal and not all the inputs, outputs and processes described by various methodologies. Regardless of whether you follow Agile, PMBOK, PRINCE or Waterfall approaches, projects follow a few basics: person-A dreams up a project for person-B to execute. Person-B needs to figure out how to organize the resources at his or her disposal to get the work done per person-A’s expectations. This entails reporting the vital stats at periodic intervals, and ensuring there are no loose ends. So read the theory behind what goes into a project’s beginning, middle and end, glean from that theory the practical insights that fit your environment and understand what your role is in facilitating the project through its life cycle.
Leadership, documentation and communication are probably three of the most basic skills needed to run projects successfully. From a documentation perspective, understand what are the needs of the project, of the team and of the sponsors. Some projects and sponsors will expect daily updates, others weekly. Some teams will warrant meeting and following up daily, others work better when left alone. Every project is different. This is where your leadership, communication and documentation intersect to produce what’s in the best interest of the project. At the least, know what goes into a project charter or some form of a project definition document, a status report, an issue log, a risk log and of course a project schedule. Familiarize yourself with the basics of risk identification, activity and resource scheduling, requirements capture and problem solving. Another important basic skill is being able to lead meetings whether they be weekly status calls, kick off meetings, client onsite discussions or steering committee calls. I have been quite surprised by how many PMs don’t know how to lead meetings effectively and efficiently.
IMO, intermediate project management skills focus on more elaborate risk management, issue management, team building, basic budget tracking, scope management, stakeholder management and facilitating proper project closure. Advanced project management includes budget control, detailed risk analysis, cost estimating, tracking project performance metrics through earned value management and other techniques, developing better forecasting skills and honing your project management style using a blend of best practices and methodologies. Check back again in the next few days for more posts on this theme. Btw, thanks to Soma B who unknowingly helped me get started on this series of posts…!
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