Questions

I have recently moved in to a dedicated project management role having progressed from a development manager background. Whilst I understand the technology side of the project I am running, I am comfortable managing teams and understand the mechanics of running a project I feel like I have a long path towards to being a solid project manager and would like to shorten the learning curve. Working within an Agile environment I am currently looking at gaining my Agile PM and Scrum Master certifications. I wondered whether anyone had any recommendations in terms of follow on course or qualifications and any good project management books aside from the basic introductory texts. Many thanks

To be a polished project manager, I think you need to look beyond the methodologies, tools and templates and get to the core of what is really required to evaluate a project as 'successful'.

At the heart of every project is a change. Something is going to be different after the project than it was before the project. For a project to be completely successful it must be the right change to move the organization toward their goals and it must be supported by the people who will be the end users of these changes.

The best project managers that I have observed and the success that I have had in project management has been due to the soft skills to work with the project sponsors to ensure the business drivers are understood and articulated. It is understanding the steps that are required to properly prepare the end users for the changes. It is not only efficiently executing the steps to build the hard deliverables, but making sure they are the right deliverables in the first place and that environment is there to support them.

To become polished, I recommend that project managers get training in stakeholder management and organizational change management. They should spend time to get an understanding of the strategic goals of the organization so they can speak the language of the project sponsor and directly link the project direction to outcomes that will build a better business. With this well rounded approach you will not only 'get it done' but your project will be truly successful.


Answered 9 years ago

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