Download Women in Project Management Forum Notes

Women in Project Management Forum Notes
July 2, 2010
Follow-up from June meeting discussion on project management training
There is a free one hour risk management class the week of July 5 provided by Stanford
University. Check their website for details, or contact Maura Jones.
What do you find most challenging about project management?
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Need to do administrative tasks and finding time to fit them into the schedule
Not being thanked for your work – You thank your team, but no one thanks you.
Personalities, conflict resolution
Aggressive timelines – how to deliver the message to your sponsor that scope needs
to be reduced or resources added in order to meet the timeline without sacrificing
quality
Lack of processes and procedures and/or lack of enforcement of those that exist
Lack of clear roles and responsibilities
Politics – affects teamwork, ability to get the right resources (e.g., if there are
conflicting projects)
How can one quickly get a feel for the politics when joining a new company?
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Meet with a lot of different people and listen well to what they tell you
Pay attention to team interactions; note who seems to have more influence – it can
often be those who are not in charge, but have credibility or power for other reasons
Understand the organizational structure
Understand how decisions are made and by whom
How to transition from another type of job into project management, or from one industry
to another
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On your resume, put a note in parentheses next to your job title indicating you had
project management responsibilities (if you did not have the project manager title
formally)
Position yourself with a particular type of project management expertise based on
your past experience, e.g., I know how to manage a product through regulatory
compliance review
Take a transitional position – with elements from your former position, but which
includes some elements of project management
Volunteer to help others manage things when you see the opportunity
Plan and run effective meetings
To change industries, you may want to try a position in a smaller company where
you can be exposed to many aspects of the new industry
If transitioning from pharmaceuticals, you may want to try another health-related
industry such as medical devices, health care software, etc.
What is Scrum?
We had a far-ranging discussion about Scrum & Agile. Here are some of the key points:
Scrum is a way of managing and delivering projects within preset “boxes” of time. Agile
is an overall approach to project management and Scrum is one technique within Agile.
XP programming is another. When companies say they use Agile, they often mean
different things, so ask what they mean exactly.
The strength of Scrum is the collaboration in the team. The team usually includes the
product manager, QA, technical members – so a cross-section of people working
together. There is an over-arching plan of the product vision, but deliverables are done
in small pieces (e.g. 2-3 weeks per set of deliverables), and may evolve throughout the
project as the product manager or sponsor sees the shorter-term results and as new
ideas emerge. Anyone on the team can contribute ideas, and team members help each
other out to meet the goals of the mini-project (which is called a sprint). Teams are often
co-located to facilitate collaboration.
There is less formal documentation in Scrum. The role of the project manager (Scrum
Master) is as a facilitator, a “protector” of the team, and to help eliminate roadblocks.
The team is more self-directed than in a traditional waterfall project.
For Scrum training, Kevin Thompson (who recently taught a Scrum class for PMI SV) is
excellent!
Is there a way to post a Microsoft Project plan on the web for viewing by people who do
not have the MS Project license?
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You can save an MS Project file in PNG format and post it to a wiki.
There is a product from a company called Steelray which has an MS Project viewer.
There is also some open source free software which can do this. Check the
following website: www.ganttproject.biz
How can I decide whether a move from program management to strategic planning is
something for me?
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In a larger company, try making an internal move to see if you like this work. You
might want to try product management first, as that has a lot of strategic planning
aspects to it.
Take a class to get a better understanding of strategic planning.
Meet with people who are doing this type of job and find out what they like, don’t like,
what skills and interests are a good fit.
Be prepared for politics! There will be more of it in this type of a role, most likely.