So when does a swamped project manager find time to write a blog… when trapped without internet on a long road trip to San Diego …
Road to San Diego
So many topics… so little time… what’s a gal to do?
I’m not really sure there’s a formal definition for the kind of project management we do. As consulting project managers, my fellow project managers and I don’t really fall into what I would consider the standard PMI definition. The catch phrase ‘on time, on budget’ still applies, but it’s a lot less academic and much more hands on. We are not the types who are satisfied with high-level status updates for fancy project schedules. We are in the trenches working with the client and the engineers to get the job done. We are combination business analyst, user interface designer, technical writer, quality assurance specialist, business manager and fire fighter.
WE NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING
Or at least it seems that way. We need to know the business process, the user who will be using the system, the available technologies, the software best practices, and the technical possibilities. I think it sometimes drives the people around us crazy, because we never stop asking questions and challenging assumptions in an effort to eliminate shades of gray and possible misunderstanding and re-work. The possibilities are endless and there is never just one way to do something. There isn’t even one best practice. We have to synthesize the information from the business users and the software engineers, to make the most qualified recommendations. And we are at our most effective when we have direct knowledge and understanding of the users who will be using the software systems.
BREAKING IT DOWN
One of the key criteria to success of any project is breaking down a large work effort into smaller bite size pieces in order to understand the dependencies (critical path), resources (people, software, time), and communication required. My 5 year old’s favorite cartoon these days is Special Agent Oso… he’s oh sooo special. He’s a panda bear in training to be a special agent, but his training missions are always interrupted by special missions to help kids learn how to do things. Everything whether learning to hula hoop, play hide and seek, take the rabbit to school, or cook blueberry muffins, takes three steps to do it right. In real life, it almost never takes just 3 steps, but the concept of breaking every task down into smaller steps helps tremendously. Even to start writing my first blog entry… I couldn’t stop myself, I started breaking it down into possible topics. And that part about getting interrupted for special assignments… it happens all the time.
Viva la blog… let’s see where this road trip takes us…
- Mara Pederson
August 2009
Tags: San Diego, software system
