Quick interview with a real project manager
So today I got a great opportunity to interview someone who deals a lot with project management. She works for a large organization in Europe and gave me some insights on some of the challenges she faces when choosing projects and making sure they are executed according to plan. I’m going to briefly discuss 3 points which where the highlights of the short interview I had with her.
A Full Team That Drives Management
As a project manager, she collaborates with a bunch people who has an interest in the projects she manages and, one of the misconceptions she wants to clarify is that, it’s never a one-man show but actually a whole team with a bunch of disciplines and backgrounds that come to the table to brainstorm and come up with the best strategies on how to select and carry out the best projects for the organization. This is also one of the things she enjoys about her work. “It’s a great opportunity to learn from others and discover potential pitfalls or risks through other people’s point a view. I’ve come to find it essential in fact, to be in constant collaboration with others to navigate the management of projects in the right direction”.
Necessary Formalities
She has worked for many organizations, both big and small in the past and one of the typical things you would find at large organizations is the amount of formal processes and documents that are used for many aspects and facets of managing projects, she says. “Large organizations usually tend to go for the more formal approaches in documenting every development when managing a project. One of the reasons is that the status projects can be more properly monitored and the effectiveness of a project can be assessed. Furthermore, the decision-makers within the company can also make better decisions on what to do with a project when things go wrong, but also, when things go well. They would be better informed if the wish to scale up the project or, move the activities to a different geographic location, IT infrastructure, elevate/de-elevate the priority of the project or even change the direction of the project all together. At first, it took a bit of getting used to but afterwards, I saw the necessity of these formal standards within the company.”
Business Strategies based on Market Research and Analysis
She wanted to tell a bit about how the organization determines which projects should be done. One of the ways how an organization determines what projects to embark on is by doing market research. Things like market share is looked at, existing competitor products or services are researched, financial resources and return on investments forecasts are put into perspective, to name a few points, are analyzed and business strategies are created. At the same time, also the management seniors within the organization, the vision and mission of the organization also influence the business strategies that are created.
These are the main take-aways I got from a quick interview I got from a project manager within a large organization. Again, 1) it’s not just one person that manages projects but a full team with different disciplines, 2) Formal standards, processes and documents are necessary within an organization as they can be better communicated and relocated within the organization and 3) business strategies are created based on market research and analysis.
I would like to thank the project manager for her quick insights in managing projects and I hope to grab some beers with her anytime soon, as I owe her one! 🙂