This week in Project Management (04-11 March 2013)

1. The Dirty Little Secret of Project Management

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) blog – authors Joe Knight, Roger Thomas, and Brad Angus have succinctly outlined the uncertainty in project management deliverables as well as the difference between software project management and engineering/construction project management and the impact of the delay in deliverables of respective domain.

Project Management – Cost, Quality, Resource, Risks

They also highlight that *good* project management software (need not be expensive/fancy) can help these professionals to understand

Real state of project by tracking key variables,
Keep team members & stakeholders informed and
Judiciously inform when project is likely to be delivered/completed and with what additional cost (resources, actual cost, quality, etc).

Authors have also shared an example where the company has keep its customer informed about the delay in delivering project and how they accepted the delay. This post has really interesting statement, let me put it in authors’ own words

“If your customer doesn’t think you’re late, then you’re not late. If you need to change the schedule, do it as early as possible and give your customer an immediate heads-up so he can adjust his expectations.”

2. Industry seeks project managers who are certified

In this industry job analysis article, Rebecca Maitland has written about importance given to certified project managers in industry like Energy and Utility. As quoted in this article “Research shows that qualified and certified project managers are stronger performers and their projects are more likely to be successful. This translates into increased efficiency, improved organizational alignment and financial savings”, PMP® certifications are becoming mandatory job requirements and salaries also differ with reference certifications.

3. Capabilities of an Effective Project Manager

In this guest post at PMHut, the author Steve Hart has shared insights from his personal experience – how he judges a candidate as effective project manager while interviewing him/her. He also qualifies the successful project manager even if he/she lacks certain skillset by assessing their potential skillsets – using which they can contribute well if imparted with professional development or imparting additional experience.

He has mentioned capabilities to be effective project manager –

How well he can facilitate or enable his team & other stakeholders to work?
Can he provide attention to details?
Does he/she carry credibility to deliver project with confidence?
Knack for cost management or financial prudence?
Tool savvy –Does he make use of tools to manage projects – project scheduling, documenting, collaborating, presenting tools?
Is he a constant learner, flexible and active listener?