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How to write a data-driven resume

Written by Ron Boaz on . Posted in Articles. 14 Comments on How to write a data-driven resume

As business professionals, we know the increasing importance of data-driven decision making in our projects and operations.

This article will explain why we need to bring that same approach to resume writing, and how to level up your Project Manager/Business Analyst resume writing skills.

The importance of data

In the business world today, it is hard to come by important decisions that are made in the absence of data to support them. Managers are, understandably, loath to not have evidence stacked up to support a claim or decision that exposes their organization to opportunity, but also risk. 

This same perspective can be applied to hiring decisions as well. Are not employees a huge opportunity, albeit potential risk, for any business? A star employee can transform an organization for the better, resulting in a strong bottom line and happier customers. In a competitive job market, candidates need to sell their attributes and accomplishments to hiring managers, who increasingly need to base their hiring decisions on strong evidence, not unlike other operational or project decisions. Show me the data!

What does this mean for your resume?

For one, your resume needs to be quantitative. Most resumes list work experience and education in a neat table, sorted by date and organization. This is a good start. However, when you drill down into the details (the bullet points) underlying each previous job, the descriptions often leave something to be desired. For example;

  • “Compiled project analysis for company executives”
  • “Managed an organization-wide ERP solution implementation”
  • “Trained support teams on use of new software tool”

What these examples demonstrate is a lack of volume, scale, or size. How is a hiring manager to know if you managed the roll out of an ERP system for a staff of 10, or 2000? What does improved service delivery really mean? That each agent more consistently said thank you at the end of each call? Or were turnaround times reduced by 30%? Look for your ‘wins’ and highlight them with data.

What this can look like:

  • “Comprehensively analyzed and compiled dozens of address, routing, and fuel data points on a weekly cadence, to draft executive reports that could be quickly understood and acted upon”
  • “Managed a 1 year ERP implementation affecting 900 staff, resulting in time savings of 5 FTEs”
  • “Facilitated dozens of training sessions of 5‐25 participants each, achieving an average instructor rating of 4.5/5 from feedback forms”

There are 2 important take-aways from the above examples:

  1. Fully use the real estate provided to you on the page. Your resume should only be 1-2 pages, so use up that white space as efficiently as possible.
  2. The examples use specifics that are quantified.

Examples of other metrics you can use:

  • $’s spent, saved or earned
  • Time taken or time saved
  • Cadence or turnaround time of process or task
  • # of people impacted, trained or involved
  • # of computers/machines updated or provisioned
  • Volume or quantity of materials 
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Is the data impressive enough?

What if the numbers aren’t impressive, you may ask? When providing feedback on resumes, mentees often state they don’t think their accomplishments sound big or important enough if too much detail is given, as if keeping it vague somehow augments their work. If you don’t think an accomplishment is worth quantifying, remember that hiring managers can also revert to the lowest common denominator, if quantities aren’t provided. You may have concurrently managed 10 accounts worth an average of $10,000. In the absence of concrete numbers, a hiring manager may theoretically guess that maybe it was 4 accounts worth $5000 each. 

Sometimes, exploring different ways of telling your data story can make your work history sound more effective too. Maybe you successfully negotiated a $100 savings on a monthly vendor contract. That’s great, but maybe you can re-word it as, “Negotiated a 10% savings on a recurring monthly expense, saving $1000s per year”. Explore absolute versus percent versus ratio metrics for each claim, as sometimes one will sound better than the other. 

Internal- and external-facing data points

You may notice 2 distinct metrics types, that we can call internal, vs. external. Often, when we are stuck in the weeds of our projects, we only think of our internal metrics. These could include things like # of stakeholders managed, dollars spent, or groups involved. What are often more impactful, in terms of convincing employers of the significance of your work, are metrics that speak to what your project ultimately accomplished; the downstream outcomes. Sometimes, these data points may not be known for months or years. These could include things like # of new clients, # of people trained, or incremental dollars earned or saved, directly due to actions you took while deep in the weeds of your project. Have a think about your last few projects. What were their downstream outcomes?

Quantify your interests

People differ on the utility of a personal interests or extracurricular section of your resume. I’m personally a fan, because hiring managers are hiring people, not robots, and want to know who the person is that they are hiring. Also, hiring managers, like all humans, are subject to nervousness around meeting new people in a formal interview setting. The personal interests section provide great small chat talking points to fill otherwise awkward pauses that can occur before and after the formal questioning part of an interview.

Just like with the other sections of your resume, be specific, and quantified, with your personal life! Instead of; 

  • “Organizer of musical festivals”, or 
  • “Love travelling and photography”

you could say

  • “Have organized 3 musical festivals with 1000s of participants each”, or
  • “Have traveled in 23 countries, and photographed the Taj Mahal to the fish & corals of the Great Barrier Reef”

Final thoughts

Lastly, quantifying your resume is an exercise to perform not only once you are looking for your next contract or job, but on an ongoing basis, so that you can leverage the metrics you have formulated for yourself in conversations and informal networking chats.

Good luck on your next application!

The Project Manager is not a Scrum Master

Written by Paul Oppong on . Posted in Articles. 10 Comments on The Project Manager is not a Scrum Master

A common question that arises is whether the Project Manager should be a Scrum Master.

Project Managers are sometimes expected to simply take up the role of Scrum Master when their organisation moves to taking an agile approach. This may well occur without the Project Manager being provided any training to take on this new, and quite distinct role. However, a recent survey by Scrum.org found that fewer than one third of organisations (31%) assign the role of Scrum Master to a Project Manager, and there are very good reasons for this. There are a wide variety of different people that could potentially take the role of Scrum Master, depending on the organisation, and it does not have to sit with the Project Manager role. Rather, the Scrum Master title should sit with the person who can do the best job of it. The following explains why the Project Manager is typically not a Scrum Master.

Different Skillsets and Activities

By the nature of the work that Project Managers and Scrum Masters do, the two are not particularly closely aligned, even if it seems at first glance that they are. Managing a project is not the same as being a Scrum Master. Scrum Masters have the role of mentoring, teaching, coaching and facilitating, while the role of the Project Manager is to ensure that the project runs to time and budget. This means that the Scrum Master relies on more of the so-called “soft skills” involved with helping people to move forward, while the Project Manager takes a more methodical, and arguably more of a “hard skills” approach. While both roles have an interest in ensuring a high level of team performance and driving efficiency within the team, the ways in which they go about this are very different. The Scrum Master facilitates and coaches, while the Project Manager assesses risk and manages issues and conflicts. 
Looking closer at what Project Managers and Scrum Masters do in terms of activities, differences can be seen here too. Project Managers manage projects, while the role of the Scrum Master is to is to make sure the rules of the Scrum are followed and that the Scrum Framework is adhered to. Project Managers work across all areas of the project spectrum, while Scrum Masters will largely only focus on the three areas of scope management, quality management and resource management. The Project Manager can commonly be responsible for a very large team, while Scrum Masters work within scrum teams which can be quite a lot smaller. Project Managers also plan regular project meetings as needed, but the Scrum Master will hold a meeting every day for the scrum. Even the emphasis of the work is different, since Project Managers schedule and plan, and narrow in on costs, while Scrum Masters are concerned with the value of the product. Importantly, Project Managers can serve in any industry, delivering projects. However, Scrum Masters only work in the IT industry, or similar related field. As can be seen therefore, there are both subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the skills and activities of Project Managers and Scrum Masters. 
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The Issue of Control

Ultimately, the Project Manager has a role that is focused on control. Project Managers are responsible for project costs, time spent, scope, quality of the end result, stakeholder management, risk and more. If the Project Manager is unsuccessful, they are accountable for this, and they will usually be blamed for issues. This means that the role of the Project Manager has to be based on control. This is achieved through each of the different stages of the project, such as its initiation, planning, design, running, monitoring, change control and even the final evaluation. On the other hand, the Scrum Master does not have an emphasis on control at all. Their role is ensuring everyone understands what their role is in the Scrum, getting rid of impediments, coaching people and ensuring that Scrum events occur. Importantly, they encourage the team to self-organise. This is not the same at all as the level of control that is involved with ensuring that project is managed effectively. 
As a Project Manager, being controlling is a good thing. It means that projects get delivered to time and to budget. But being controlling by nature is hard to change, and Scrum Masters are not controlling. It is very difficult for a person that is used to leading in a command and control style to adopt the very different, softer leadership style of the Scrum Master. 

What I still want my Project Manager to be the Scrum Master?

If, having considered the evidence above, you still believe that your Project Manager is the right person to be the Scrum Master, then there are some important steps you should take. You should review the experience they have working in the Scrum, and additionally provide some Scrum training. Perhaps most critical of all, you should determine if your Project Manager has energy, enthusiasm and interest for putting the Scrum in place. If they do not, then the initiative will be likely to fail, because any effective Scrum needs a great Scrum Master who is interested in and committed to making it work. The good news is, it is possible to learn how to be a great Scrum Master, but you must ensure that the passion to do so is there in the first place for this to succeed.

Summary

As has been seen, despite common misconceptions, the Project Manager is not the Scrum Master. The roles are different and require skillsets and activities that might be considered conflicting in nature. This is perhaps why less than a third of organisations assign the Project Manager to be Scrum Master. This is not to say that your Project Manager cannot be Scrum Master under any circumstances – they can – but the circumstances and level of interest have to be just right to get it to work. 

From the Sponsor’s Desk – Charlie’s Best Practices Book

Written by Drew Davison on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on From the Sponsor’s Desk – Charlie’s Best Practices Book

“Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.” – Dalai Lama

How good are you at your job? In your craft? Whether you’re a CEO or CXO, a project or change manager, a business analyst, a software developer or QA, an IT or business manager or fill other vital roles in your organization’s operations, I expect you have a wealth of knowledge and insight that contributes value every day. Some of that knowledge is undoubtedly shared locally, even widely. However, I expect some of your know-how is unique to you. Think about that unique insight. Could it contribute to your colleagues’ and teams’ performance if they also had that knowledge? Would it deliver greater productivity? Better quality? Increased value for stakeholders? Contribute to a culture of sharing and collaboration? Garner career recognition and advancement opportunities? Something to think about! And a good reason to continue reading about Charlie’s best practices book.

I have a friend. Let’s call him Charlie. He’s a civil engineer. He has been involved in designing, building and operating municipal waste and fresh water systems for decades. The infrastructure he oversaw has been around and will continue to serve the community for decades. These facilities cost tens of millions of dollars to deliver and need to stand the test of time. They serve millions of residents who depend on consistent, reliable, safe services. A design, construction or operational mistake can take months or years and millions of dollars to remedy and jeopardize lives. The stakes were significant.

When Charlie decided to retire, he was managing a mishmash of water systems that had started life as independent installations supporting villages and towns. As the area grew, those previously standalone facilities were merged and interconnected to serve new customers, provide better backup and recovery capability and reduce overall operating costs. He dealt with a few failures, problems and threats over the years and learned a thing or two about what worked and what didn’t.

Charlie worked with over 20 managers and their staff along with a multitude of consultants covering everything from soil dynamics to pumping technologies. He liaised with other water system managers and stayed up to date with current and emerging best practices in the industry. He recognized he had unique and vital insights into the area’s water services. He wanted to share that with the current and future management and staff to better serve the growing residential and industrial user base. He wanted to leave a legacy of lessons learned!

And so Charlie wrote Charlie’s Best Practices Book. He discussed the idea with his boss who loved the concept. It took Charlie over two years to complete, at over 60 pages. He covered the history of each of the water systems, some of the difficulties that were encountered along the way and how they were addressed. He described the overall system’s current state with maps, blueprints, diagrams and commentary on known issues, risks and vulnerabilities. And he included his ideas for future developments and improvements, again with narratives, maps and diagrams.

Charlie admits that his book was an opinion piece. His boss and all his managers received a copy. When Charlie visited his office after retirement, the book was visible on many desks and in many offices. So it may be adding value daily. But Charlie doesn’t really know.

Unfortunately, there was no time before Charlie left to institutionalize the learnings and directions into ongoing operations. When I asked Charlie if his old boss would ensure that a design proposal was vetted against Charlie’s material, he thought probably not. Although, he did think his old boss might do the review himself.

I reviewed Charlie’s Best Practices Book and was duly impressed. It includes information that wouldn’t be apparent to the uninitiated – a newly employed engineer or recently contracted consultant for example – and provides ways out of certain complexities that, if overlooked, could lead to local failures or more extensive catastrophes.

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I’m not an engineer and I don’t know a lot about water services. But, there is no question, if I was engaged to do work for this municipal water services organization, I would want access to this book. A similar repository would be invaluable for anyone contemplating or involved in a change to any process, structure, system or service in any industry – aerospace, agriculture, banking, insurance, manufacturing, nuclear power, retail, etc. In fact, Charlie’s rational for his book is the very reason I wrote my books – to share information about practices and frameworks that will help organizations deliver change successfully.

So here’s a challenge to you – share your wisdom! And here are some thoughts on how you can go about that.

  1. Record your insights – Take stock of what you know, what works, what doesn’t, what you’d like to see happen and record it. Put it in a document, a video, a diagram, a blog. Use whatever helps you get the knowledge recorded and whatever will help it get consumed.
  2. Don’t wait until you retire – Do it now! Make it an ongoing exercise. Take stock monthly, after a project, before your performance appraisal, whenever makes sense for you.
  3. Make it incremental – Iterate the exercise. Add to your knowledge base. Include new ideas and insights, change things that need to change, delete stuff that is no longer applicable.
  4. Do a peer review – Socialize your material. Start out with close friends and colleagues. Ask team members for feedback, additions and comments. Take it to other parts of the organization to get their reactions. You can keep it informal or formalize it with sign-offs and version numbers, as you see fit.
  5. Institutionalize the best practices – Take it to your boss. Take it to your boss’s boss. Take it to the standards and practice body in your organization. Formalize the content, format and delivery vehicles and change mechanisms. Establish KPI’s for your book’s contribution and measurement mechanisms to gauge its effectiveness. If you’d like to take your best practices to this level, see my previous post – Leaving a Legacy of Lessons Learned.
  6. Take it to the world – Be the next Wikipedia, or parts thereof. Write and publish a book or three. Start a blog for interested parties. Create and manage a web site. Start a new organization to share the word – a PMI or ACMP equivalent for your discipline, perhaps with a supporting body of knowledge. Or contribute to one that already exists.

So, as you tackle your next project or venture, consider sharing your knowledge with others on a more formal basis. Feel free to use the story of Charlie and his book and the points above to motivate you. Feel free to use Project Pre-Check and its three best practice based building blocks covering the key stakeholder group, the decision management process and the Decision Framework as a model. Or find your own way. But please, SHARE! It is a way to achieve immortality.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has willingly shared their experiences for presentation in this blog. Everyone benefits. First time contributors get a copy of one of my books. Readers get insights they can apply to their own unique circumstances. So, if you have a project experience, a favorite best practice, or an interesting insight that can make a project or change manager’s life a little easier, send me the details and we’ll chat. I’ll write it up and, when you’re happy with the results, Project Times will post it so others can learn from your insights. Thanks.

Remote Project Management: Pitfalls & Solutions

Written by Bryce Welker on . Posted in Articles. 15 Comments on Remote Project Management: Pitfalls & Solutions

Did you know that only 2.5% of companies successfully finish 100% of their projects?

What’s more ‘interesting’ is the fact that for every $1 billion invested in the US,$135 million is at risk due to poor project communication and planning, according to research by PMI.

With staggering statistics like these ones, it goes without saying that project management isn’t a joke. Despite the plethora of resources, certifications, and tech deployed, project management holds its place as one of the most challenging professions.

The scope of project management gets even tougher if the work is done remotely, as remote work comes with its own set of pitfalls. In this article, we’ll discuss the major remote project management challenges and their possible solutions.

1. Insufficient Team Skills

According to the 2017 PMI Pulse of the Profession survey, 20% of all project failures are attributed to inexperienced project managers.

But inexperienced project managers shouldn’t carry all the blame for project failures. If the team members aren’t smart enough or well trained to handle the assigned tasks, it can put development in a risky spot.

At times, team members for remote project work are assigned on their availability, rather than on their expertise in carrying out the assigned task. Besides, it’s more cost-effective to hire a local than an international worker who will demand travel and accommodation allowances.

Solution: Always hire based on skills, not availability irrespective of the costs. Project managers should also have the required skills to manage a team and perform all the related costs and risk management analysis.

It’s ideal that the project manager has a PMP certification or is currently pursuing one. Crush the CPA Exam has compiled a list of the best PMP preparation materials that can help project managers striving to become a “Project Management Professional” improve their skills.

2. Poor Communication

In project management, communication is critical as a failure to communicate effectively or on time can have dire consequences on the project’s progress.

Project managers need to communicate with their remote teams from time to time to relay information regarding project adjustments, changes in technology, customer requests, detected risks, and any other issue that may arise.

At times, prompt communication can be a challenge in remote project management due to network failures and lack of proper channels of communication among other factors.

Solution: Project managers can overcome communication barriers by having a dedicated channel for different teams working on different aspects of the project.

A team productivity tool like Slack can allow for the creation of many channels hence it’s great for keeping your team updated on the project’s progress. Offline communication is essential when the network is down so it’s imperative to have all your team’s contact info. It’s also important that you and your team have impeccable communication skills to be able to listen and articulately express points without leaving room for others to make assumptions.

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3. Gradual Loss of Productivity

Low productivity is an inevitable risk when employees work outside the traditional office. In an environment without day to day oversight, employees are likely to slack off.

Too much freedom can be counterproductive and this is often the case when it comes to remote project management. Many employees tend to lose concentration and do other things not related to the project.

Solution: The best way to increase your team’s productivity is to set clear expectations for each role and ensure constant check-ups to gauge performance. Also, make sure to set realistic goals so you don’t overwork your team, which can also be counterproductive.

4. Availability

Availability is a key pitfall that plagues all sorts of virtual work. Issues with availability can be due to various reasons.

Sometimes, team members may be located in different time zones, making it difficult to communicate in real-time. Internet problems in some regions may also cause availability issues. And in rare cases, a remote team member may fall sick or lose communication devices.

Solution: Remote work involves working outside the office environment, so availability issues are bound to emerge. However, you can mitigate these risks by setting geographical boundaries. For instance, hiring individuals within the same time zone or adjacent time zones with no more than 4 hours’ time difference, if you prefer an international workforce. 

Wrapping Up

Managing a remote team can be challenging, but addressing those challenges heads-on is worth your time and effort.

The challenges discussed above are the typical pitfalls faced by remote project managers on a daily basis. Some may be tough to handle, but with the right team, resources, and good planning, you can overcome every challenge that comes your way.

Beyond the Resume – 5 Tips to Hire the Right Project Manager

Written by Paul Oppong on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on Beyond the Resume – 5 Tips to Hire the Right Project Manager

The right project manager can be the real difference between success and failure of your project despite the governance structures.

Unfortunately, even the most experienced managers often make blunders when hiring. The wrong PM will drain your time, money, and resources. Even with the best intentions in the world, hiring managers still miss out way too many things during the hiring process. Look beyond the resume and use these five tips to hire the right candidate;

#1 – Recognize the Critical Behavioural Traits

The existing education system and an indifferent interviewing process make it a little challenging to find the right kind of person for the job. There’s a chance a candidate might check all the boxes from their resume, but is unable to gel with team members. Other than the essential skills and the requisite experience, there are other important factors like the “right behavioral traits” that need to be considered when looking for a new project manager. Most job listings only talk about certain objectives that have almost become redundant. Words like adaptable, positive, passionate, proactive have become useless with no real meaning left.

It’s vital to ensure that organizations create a list of behavioral traits that are required for the specific position. For instance, some posts might require someone passionate and a go-getter, whereas other positions might require a person with a high degree of patience. Do some homework and figure out what is essential for the job. Speak to a former colleague or employer of theirs. Don’t hire a generic “misfit” PM who is not suited and unable to earn respect from clients and other team members. It would be a disaster.

#2 – Choose Relevant Experience Over Degrees and Certifications

If you happen to find a candidate that seems suitable for the job, try and think beyond the need for redundant industry certifications. In my experience, there have been many great PMs who’ve got the most suited experience without any proper industry certification. Even the most certified PMs cannot guarantee 100% efficiency on a project. There is a possibility that some of these most “certified” project managers have never delivered a quality project. Look beyond just the badges and numbers. However, before you’re about to finalize the candidate for a position, spend enough time carefully verifying their credentials, especially experience and the working style.

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#3 – Look for Enthusiasm and Passion in The Interview

At the risk of sounding like every other article available on the Internet, this is still a relevant pointer. The role of a project manager can be overwhelming. To perform, a project manager must be focused and deeply vested in the daily drills. They must love what they do. While interviewing a candidate, make sure that you’re able to gauge the requisite passion needed for the profession in general. Any candidate that showcases laziness, tiredness, and even excessive nervousness should be dealt with extreme caution. Be careful. Be aware. If they’re not able to bring out the passion for the job in an interview, you should probably move on to the next candidate. Project Managers need a high degree of energy and enthusiasm to stay driven to serve their clients best. Look for the intrinsic fire in their belly that allows them to stay inspired and focused.

#4 – Articulate Specific Methodology Required

With competition and even recession in some industries, hiring managers often try and choose a generalist who can be expanded into multiple roles. This is usually done to save costs. However, the half-hearted approach of hiring a person who is the jack of all trades and master of none can backfire if you need a specific methodology in your organization. Rather than asking a candidate about every project management methodology they know about, ask them about the specific methods you want them to use. It’s good practice to mention the same methodology in the job listing as well. This can help reduce the number of applicants and make the hiring process more efficient. Don’t try and find a person that you expect to “adjust” when the time arises. Ask what you need at the time of the interview, to avoid problems down the line.

#5 – Create The Right Job Listing

Putting the right job listing out is something that most organizations struggle with. You need to be extremely original in your listing. This effectively means that the listing needs to be informational, to the point, and highly specific to your needs. You can also use Google forms in the listing to ask some specific questions that will make it easier to sort through the applications. Always stay away from those template job descriptions that sound like a copy-paste act that doesn’t inspire trust among the most qualified candidates. In a nutshell, get specific!

Summary

People generally don’t work the same job for 30 years the way they use to. This means that while you can expect a Project Manager to stick around for a long time, you can’t realistically expect someone to be around for decades. You might have to go through this roller coaster of hiring, retaining, or even firing in some rare instances. If you keep these five pointers in mind and hire a project manager who is suited to your organization, you’ll see less attrition and more productivity.

Stay clear about what you need from the beginning. Highlight the precise goals that your organization is planning to achieve by the end of a defined period. Give them a plan of action and the right opportunity to rise to the challenge in their role. The process might seem like an overkill in the beginning, but you’ll fall in love with it in due time. Is this a fool proof plan for hiring a Rockstar? Certainly not. The best you can do is to put a process in place to get the most suited person for the job.