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Showing posts with the label Project Manager

Project Managers' Sizes!

At first, a PM to me meant a respectful person, full of experience and knowledge, some kind of a Chinese monk, sober, who knows what s/he does and knows that his/her job is to deliver successful projects as much as to help people and guide them. To my surprise “as usual”, I found out that there are different types of PMs in the world… In other words, different sizes of PMs! Let me introduce to you two project managers’ sizes and my stories with them. Mini PM referred to as Miss Mini and Mighty PM referred to as Mr. Mighty… Mini PM When I first met her, I tried to convince myself that she definitely looks much younger then her real age. Anyways… for her, a planning activity was equivalent to and maybe easier than preparing for a picnic or a weekend trip with friends and family! She was assigned a very big strategic project, and her role was to create the high level project plan for all teams and to coordinate with them to deliver the big project on time "of course". ...

To PMP or not to PMP?!

That is the question! As implied by its name PMP (Project Management Professional), to obtain such a certificate you should be a professional in the field of Project Management… To my surprise, almost 95% of the people I met holding this certificate know nothing about Project Management!! They think that studying for this certificate and obtaining it means they are professional, although they should be professional to deserve such a certificate. I understand that one of the prerequisites to get this certificate is to have some practical experience in the Project Management field. But for some odd reason, I discovered that the people I am talking about, which are a majority in the field now, don’t really have experience, some of them are even fresh graduates… I once had a very aggressive argument with a “ kid ” in my team, and by the word “ kid ” I am referring to his age and his attitude in despising my knowledge and experience due to his ignorance, he was very aggressive and arrogant...

The Bus Driver

They took some time to plan for the trip… They drew the road map, bought some food and beverages… and got equipped with the necessary tools… They were going to travel through the woods to draw the magnificent scenes which were observed by their neighbors early this year… This wasn’t their first trip together as a team, though they were all excited… The bus driver was in charge for making the big decision in the trip while taking care of the travellers’ team while of course driving the bus and communicating daily with his supervisor in the station. The map was clear, the weather was very well studied, though the bus driver expected to pass by some pitfalls in the road as there were some reparation in the way. He reported this to his supervisor and requested to take some more supplies just in case they have to camp one or two days more, but the supervisor refused “ the trip has to be completed on time and the painting should be ready for sale by the end of the week ” Anyways, ...

5 Reasons not to listen to a PM (for Teams)

I remember that once a team member asked me to go home, sit in the balcony and have a cold drink till they finish the deployment and then call me! I was really offended by this thought and attitude because I really care for both my teams and my projects. Other teams I dealt with refused to listen to me even before knowing me, just because they hate PMs! As previously explained and recommended to managers, there are reasons for which they shouldn’t listen to their PMs . These same reasons constitute a solid base for teams not to listen to their PMs too… “ A PM cares about his projects and is keen to develop them as per the planned budget, time and scope. ” Well… here’s why teams should not listen to their PMs in more details: 1. PMs are Time Wasters PMs use the help of their teams to study projects, their feasibility and estimates to produce plans. All these activities are time wasting from some team members’ perspective… Many teams think they can start coding right away to produce ...

5 Reasons not to listen to a PM (for Managers)

Usually a PM cares about his projects and is keen to develop them as per the planned budget, time and scope. However, managers should not listen to their PMs for the following reasons: 1. PMs are Time Wasters PMs plan… They study and mitigate risks and project issues in proper ways to guarantee the smooth execution of the project. Planning is a bad practice that PMs should stop using and referring to whenever they discuss a project related issue. Plans are not really needed and in most of the times they are useless because no one follows them (all gratitude and respect reserved for PJs). Also, it is preferable to face risks when they fire. Anyways, who really cares for risk mitigation and contingency stuff! Let’s face surprises when they arise and use panic mode to push on teams to solve their issues! 2. PMs Forecast PMs track their projects and use trends, issues, project and client historical data to forecast project status and use corrective actions properly to maintain thei...

Who is the PM?

Everyone asks for a strong project manager... When they get him they don't want him! By definition, a manager is “ the person responsible for planning and directing the work of a group of individuals, monitoring their work, and taking corrective actions when necessary ”. The Project Manager in the field of Software Development is a very special type of manager… I mean this when I think about the people who really care about their work and carry it out as it should be… From my point of view, I think these people are very rare to find. They are always put under the stress of delivering successful projects despite all obstacles related to pleasing their clients, top management and teams. Super Man-ager Or in other words, the Invincible Hero known as the Project Manager should possess a countless set of qualifications… He should have the: Wisdom of Confucius Brilliance of Albert Einstein Courage of Gandhi Endurance of Jacob … The PM should also be able to contain all...

I am a Project Manager

I am a Project Manager and I love my job… I am a project Manager and I love doing my work! I am nothing more but a Project Manager amongst many others. I got married to my work (not job) after a great love story which started from early childhood ( coming soon ). I started my career as a Software Developer in the late 90s, then held many positions in the field of Software Development, some were promotions and some were kind of additional assignments due to my performance. Among the positions I held are Developer, Team Leader, Project Manager, Project Leader, Senior Project Manager, Senior Project Leader, Program Manager, Business Analyst… though I was dreaming about becoming an Architect! But seriously the job I loved the most is Project Management. The things I hated the most in my early years were politics and economics/finance, which both became the core of my daily work for some years now! 94% of my experience was built by working in Software Houses as a vendor/provider and ...