Project Management; Final Thoughts

This will be my final blog for Project Times. It has been a great experience for me to write monthly on various topics and various experiences in project management. Over the past two years, I have been fighting the urge to call myself a project manager because I did not want to be pigeonholed as someone that can only manage projects. I wanted to be known as a consultant who also does project management.

What I am beginning to realize is that consulting and project managing have many similar characteristics:

• Each should have a desired outcome to be achieved;
• Each requires management of expectations;
• Each requires a discipline to make effective decisions; and
• Each requires a strong relationship with the client and/or team.

I guess I am a project manager and a consultant and it does not matter which comes first.

My final thought is that project management is on the rise. Companies need to bring in the discipline that project managers are taught from the get-to: focusing on priorities; managing scope; managing people; staying on budget; and staying within timelines. I defy you to find me a company that would not benefit from people with the skills to perform the above.

As project managers, you should be excited about the future and what it might hold. Market yourself and let people know what you do. Not that you are a project manager, but what that means to your organization or your clients’ organization. It means discipline, fiscal prudence, the ability to prioritize difficult work packages and getting activities completed successfully. Sounds like a pretty appealing set of abilities, no? We are in demand and we need to keep working on advancing the profession of project management forward. So how do we do that? I will make a guest appearance on PT in the future and let you know.

Bye for now, it has been a pleasure!