What are project managers like?
I had a lot of face time today with my project management peers. I spent time throughout the day talking and meeting with other PMs about my projects and at noon I went to my second project manager brown bag.
There are forty-five PMs in my particular part of the company. Most are in the project office but a lot of departments have one or two project managers like me. I suspect the PMs in the project office are watched more closely by their management and are under more pressure to succeed than people in non-PM groups.
What are the PMs at my job like? About half the group are men, although the leaders are all women. There are a few people in their 30's but otherwise they're 40s or older. Almost all (except for me and my peer) have the coveted PMP credential from the Project Mangement Institute, the Microsoft of project management. Most of them have been project managers for a long time although a small number were promoted in the last few years from the development staff. A handful are contractors, senior people brought in at very big rates because 40 PMs weren't enough.
The people with the PMI certificates tend to talk in PMI. They say things like "I can't wait to do a WBS on that!" or "We must have accountability from the stakeholders to have a valid bug tracking process." They like to talk about closing a project and about really good processes used in their last jobs. Sounds dull, doesn't it? It is.
I'm not sure I exactly fit in but it's a considerable pay raise if you move into a job in the project office. If it helps me retire a year or two earlier, I'll talk the talk. Hey, did I ever tell you about that great baselining macro I wrote for Microsoft Project?......
There are forty-five PMs in my particular part of the company. Most are in the project office but a lot of departments have one or two project managers like me. I suspect the PMs in the project office are watched more closely by their management and are under more pressure to succeed than people in non-PM groups.
What are the PMs at my job like? About half the group are men, although the leaders are all women. There are a few people in their 30's but otherwise they're 40s or older. Almost all (except for me and my peer) have the coveted PMP credential from the Project Mangement Institute, the Microsoft of project management. Most of them have been project managers for a long time although a small number were promoted in the last few years from the development staff. A handful are contractors, senior people brought in at very big rates because 40 PMs weren't enough.
The people with the PMI certificates tend to talk in PMI. They say things like "I can't wait to do a WBS on that!" or "We must have accountability from the stakeholders to have a valid bug tracking process." They like to talk about closing a project and about really good processes used in their last jobs. Sounds dull, doesn't it? It is.
I'm not sure I exactly fit in but it's a considerable pay raise if you move into a job in the project office. If it helps me retire a year or two earlier, I'll talk the talk. Hey, did I ever tell you about that great baselining macro I wrote for Microsoft Project?......
posted by changingagain at 7:18 PM
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