The Practicing IT Project Manager

Over the years, I’ve listened to a lot of project managers argue that you don’t need in-depth business or industry knowledge in order to successfully manage projects.  However, I don’t recall ever seeing anyone who was not a project manager making that argument.  If you take a look at requisitions on any of the internet job sites, I think you’ll see that just about all of them stipulate experience in a particular problem domain or line of business.  If there’s a software company that’s looking for someone with experience managing civil engineering projects, I’d bet that they’re developing software for that target audience and want a subject matter expert, rather than someone to manage their software development project.

Just this week Michelle Symonds posted her thoughts on the subject, and asked the critical question: “[D]o project managers who have reached their current role [based on their experience in the business area or industry] have any greater success than a formally trained professional?”  Unfortunately, she doesn’t try to answer it – she simply states that “[I]t can actually be a disadvantage to get too involved in the detail of individual tasks and activities.”  I won’t disagree, but I will point out that “uninvolved” is rarely acceptable to those sponsoring the project, or the stakeholders, or the project team.

Try walking onto a construction site and announce that you’re qualified to manage construction of this mixed-use tower because you’ve successfully led software development projects.  You know a lot about team building, and risk management, and planning and managing tasks, and dealing with stakeholders.  Or go into a pharmaceutical firm and tell them you can shepherd their new drug through clinical trials and on to production, because you’ve previously built roads and bridges.  Or tell the folks at Microsoft that you can manage development of the next version of Windows because you led development of a very successful new recreational vehicle for Winnebago.

Projects are about the products that they deliver, and what they mean to the people who will benefit (or not) from those products.  You can’t deliver a significant product in a business or technical domain unless you understand enough about that domain to communicate with the stakeholders.  That includes the external regulatory authorities who will drive many of the tasks and deliverables.  That also includes the “downstream” stakeholders, such as the people in manufacturing, or support, or marketing, or maintenance, or any number of functional areas.  Sure, you can probably learn all that stuff, but the subject matter experts can learn to manage projects; they’ve done so for as long as people have been organizing to conduct “temporary endeavors.”  And they can probably learn it more quickly than someone who’s managed the build-out of a network of cellular telephone towers can learn what’s needed to replace a payroll system.

Note that this phenomenon isn’t limited to project managers.  For some reason, former pizza company CEO Herman Cain decided he had the experience needed to be President of the United States.  He didn’t make it through the interview process.

It’s a bit early, but the surveys of hiring managers for 2012 are starting to trickle in.  When asked what skills they plan to hire for next year, the top two are software developer and project manager.  But now it seems that there’s a growing interest in having a PM who can also act as a business analyst.  While this is certainly viable for small projects, it leads me to wonder if this trend anticipates lower capital spending next year.  Based on the stock market, it seems like we’re headed for another recession, and if there will be fewer “large” projects, it might be tempting for some employers to shed some of their most senior (read: expensive) project managers.

If you’ve been too busy to do a career self-assessment, this might be an excellent time for it.  Update your resume and then compare it to the jobs listed on Dice and some of the other technology job boards.  What are employers looking for, compared to what you’ve got?  Education?  Professional credentials?  Product-specific experience?  Industry-specific experience?  Does your ten years of experience read like one year of experience, ten times?

Take a look at your professional network.  Are you on LinkedIn?  Is your profile up to date?  When was the last time you went to a PMI chapter meeting?  What is your personal brand?  Do you have a 30-second elevator pitch that describes you and your skills?  Can you deliver it in 30 seconds, and make the listener want to give you another five minutes?

Don’t wait until you have all the time in the world to re-examine your career goals.  Even if you don’t want to call it a contingency plan, it’s better to have a clear plan than a gnawing anxiety.

Someone posted an interesting question just yesterday on the LinkedIn Certified Project, Program, & Portfolio Managers group.  “Do you find it tough for introverts to manage projects?”

The preferences for extroversion and introversion are often referred to as attitudes. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment assumes that each of the cognitive functions can operate in the external world of behavior, action, people, and things (extroverted attitude) or the internal world of ideas and reflection (introverted attitude), and thus it sorts for an overall preference for one or the other.

People who prefer extroversion draw energy from action: they tend to act, then reflect, then act further. If they are inactive, their motivation tends to decline. To rebuild their energy, extroverts need breaks from time spent in reflection. Conversely, those who prefer introversion expend energy through action: they prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again. To rebuild their energy, introverts need quiet time alone, away from activity.  Some summary observations from the research literature include:

• Extroverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented.
• Extroverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence.
• Extroverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more substantial interaction.
• Extroverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone.

I think you could make a case for either preference being a good fit for project management, with different styles. My Meyers-Briggs type is INTJ, and I seem to do all right. One of my former colleagues is ESFP, and she’s thriving, too. Of course, I couldn’t manage the way she does, and my style would probably put her into therapy inside of a month, but we each get to choose our own styles, so it works.  The key is to understand your preferences, and develop a style that gets the job done, leveraging your own attitudes and preferences, while acknowledging and respecting the different attitudes and preferences of the people you work with.

For more information on the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, check out the Myers & Briggs Foundation website.