Author: Linky

Linky

How to Prepare for Project Management Internships

By Rene Williams

project management internshipsIf you are a non-traditional student, which is someone who has returned to college over the age of 25, it can be difficult trying to organize your life. Attending college/university for an education in project management means you will have a variety of career options to choose from, but it is important that you find a way to do an internship before graduation. Whether you complete paid or non-paid internships, the position will not only provide you with valuable experience, but an internship will help you decide if this is the career for you.

If you are considering a career in project management, the following tips will help you find an internship, what to do during and after the internship.

Finding an Internship

The first step is to decide what type of internship you are interested in.

  • Whether you attend a traditional college or are earning your degree through an online college, the first place to research information about a project manager internship is through the school. Many colleges have an established relationship with a variety of companies that offer internships. There is an advantage to applying for internships through the school you attend, because the internship is already established and the company will understand what the goal of your internship is.
  • If you are working at a company that provides additional training and you want to expand your career options with the same company, talk with the personnel manager about an in-house internship. In some situations, applying for an in-house internship means you may get paid for the experience. It is also beneficial in helping to secure a promotion following your internship and graduation.
  • The internet is also a great place to find internships. Simply do a search for companies in your area that pertain to what you want to do, either search their website for information about internships or call the personnel department directly for information. This is the perfect opportunity to contact a specific organization or company you have always wanted to work for. Do not be intimidated about contacting them, in fact, your determination will make you stand out.

During the Internship

If your goal is to turn your internship into a position with the company, here are a few things you can do to improve your chances. The first rule for turning an internship into a full time job is to be remembered for your professionalism and impressive work skills.

  • Work hard, come early and stay late. You will make a difference by working harder than the employees who already work there.
  • Pretend you’re not an intern. In other words, be mature and responsible. Do not discuss your weekend at the local club or how much you dislike working in general. Act like a member of the company and you will be seen as one.
  • Dress appropriately. During the initial interview, ask about the dress code and follow it. Never break the rules.
  • Seek out a mentor. Observe how the other employees work, notice who is dedicated to the company and who is not and ask a seasoned employee to help guide you through the company expectations. Ask how you can improve your skills and what you are doing wrong.
  • Impressions are gold. Hand in all assignments before the deadline, come up with fresh ideas and be excited to accomplish assigned tasks.

After the Internship

Once your internship has ended, send an email to each person in the department in which you worked thanking them for the experience. It is also beneficial to alert the team you have been working with on when your last day will be and offer to help tie up any loose ends with projects they have before leaving. Regardless of how you felt about your boss during the internship, it is vital that you personally thank them for the opportunity. Schedule an appointment to meet with your supervisor and not only thank them, but to let them know what you have learned and how valuable it will be for your career. Remember to mention that you would like to keep in touch.

Absorb any information presented to you throughout the internship and learn from it. Interning is a great opportunity to make sure you have chosen the right field or not. If during the internship you learn that a particular company is not the type of work you want to do, try a different company next year, but do not give up on your goal of being a project manager, just keep trying and you will eventually find the best company for you.

About the Author: Rene Williams is a freelance writer who regularly contributes to DegreeJungle, an online resource for prospective college students and their parents. She suggests you visit their website to learn more information about the best online colleges.

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Linky

Project Management and Soft Skills

project manager soft skillsWhen a project manager starts a new project, it is important to do a check-point of both the Project Management Methodology and templates that will be used, but also the soft skills that will be required. This article highlights some essential soft skills to ensure that a Project Management Professional can effectively manage, collaborate, and influence as needed to drive a project to successful completion.

According to Joanna Durand, Managing Director of the Citigroup, effective leadership consists of a balance between both “hard skills” and “soft skills” that act as the conduits for success.

Hard Skills versus Soft Skills

Soft skills, also called behavioral skills, is a sociological term relating to the cluster of personality traits and behavioral competencies that characterize relationships with other people. Soft skills complement hard skills, also called technical skills, which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities.

Soft skills are essentially people skills – the non-technical, intangible, personality-specific skills that determine your strengths as a leader, listener, negotiator, and conflict mediator.

Hard skills, on the other hand, are more along the lines of what might appear on your resume – your education, experience and level of expertise.

Essential Soft Skills

Effective communication serves as the foundation by which all other soft skills are derived.  Mastery of communication skills will ensure broader success with rounding out your soft skills.

Communication skills include Oral, written and non-verbal communication.

  • Oral: presentation, audience awareness, listening, body language
  • Written: presentation of data, critical reading, revision and editing, writing
  • Non-verbal: personal style, tone, body language and audience awareness

For communication to be effective remember the five “C’s”:

  1. Clarity
  2. Completeness
  3. Conciseness
  4. Concreteness
  5. Correctness

Stakeholder Management

Project success is often determined by the ability to successfully manage stakeholder expectations.   These interactions all begin with the basic communication process and an understanding of stakeholder objectives.

Some recommended best practices to communicate effectively with project stakeholders are:

  • To know your audience and to customize your message according to their needs
  • To have a professional presence
  • To summarise the top 3-5 key messages
  • To acknowledge personal communication styles

 How can a Project Manager’s soft skills be developed?

  • Set clear expectations – the team needs to be aligned as to what is being delivered. This will help with accountability and to manage changes to the scope.
  • Stage your delivery by creating interim deliverables.
  • Think ahead of what can go wrong. Anticipate problems (risks) and work with the client to find mitigation strategies.
  • Speak up and escalate when help is needed. This is a sign of confidence.
  • Skip the jargon and speak to clients in the same language they use.
  • Leverage the strengths of the team. Take time to know the team and their strengths as your project will run more effectively if the right people are working on the right things.
  • Don’t steal the limelight when things are going well and give credit to other people’s ideas.
  • Be realistic when setting deadlines. Promise what you know you can do and finish on time.

It is important to understand how the basic communication process works and to appreciate the communication styles of different personality types. To grow as a project manager you need to consistently try to close the gap between “hard” and “soft” skills.

For more articles about Project Management based on best practices, please subscribe to the Blog feed.

Linky

What is PRINCE2 and How Popular is it?

For a better understanding of PRINCE2 in the Project Management context, please refer to this article:

Understanding PRINCE2 in the Project Management Context

For more information about PRINCE2 and how to implement it in your organisation, please refer to:

Understanding PRINCE2 and How to Implement

Today I would like to share an Infograpic from Knowledge Train, a PRINCE2 training provider. It is about the popularity of PRINCE2 as the preferred project management qualification of choice.

The most recent annual figures released by APMG-International for 2012, show the number of PRINCE2 examinations taken globally rose 5% compared with 2011. The figures show more than 144,000 people sat PRINCE2 examinations in 2012 compared with 136,000 the previous year. By the end of 2012, more than 1 million candidates had taken PRINCE2 exams since 1996.

In fact, the total number of exams taken in 2012 was the highest on record,  and also saw record numbers of candidates take both Foundation and Practitioner examinations.

PRINCE2 exam popularity statistics – An infographic by the team at Knowledge Train PRINCE2 training

Linky

Project Management Standards Update for 2013

PMBOK

All project managers use the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide to prepare for the certification exams in order to become a Project Management Professional (PMP). This book presents a set of standard terminology and guidelines for project management.

Overview of changes in new editionIt was first published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) as a white paper in 1983 in an attempt to document and standardize generally accepted project management information and practices. The first edition was published in 1996.

The PMBOK Guide is process-based, meaning it describes work as being accomplished by processes. This approach is consistent with other management standards such as ISO 9000 and the Software Engineering Institute‘s CMMI. At the beginning of 2013 the Fifth Edition was published as the latest release.

 

Summary of Changes

This article will give a summary of the changes made in the latest edition.  At the end you will also find a link to a video from IIL explaining what to expect in the newest edition.

As an overview the following changes were made:

  • One new knowledge area (Project Stakeholder Management)
  • Seven new processes
  • Two moved processes (Distribute information, Report performance)
  • Nine process name changes
  • Eleven new process definitions
  • Many changes to the Glossary definitions
  • Chapters are now called sections

The biggest change is to split Project Communications Management into two parts, namely Project Communication Management and Project Stakeholder Management.

There is an increased discussion of Project Management Offices or PMO’s, as well as project life cycles and phases.  The Chapter 3 Project Management Processes has been moved to Annexure A1.

For a complete overview of all the changes made to the PMBOK, please view the following video:

A PMBOK Guide – Fifth Edition Overview

Linky

A Closer Look at What Agile Project Management is

Many project managers prefer to use Agile project management for software development projects or on projects that are too complex for the customer to understand and specify before testing prototypes. This article will explore Agile Project Management to understand what it is, how to receive training and how to become certified.

What is Agile Project Management

Agile focuses on continuous improvement, scope flexibility, team input, and delivering essential quality products. Agile project management methodologies include scrum, extreme programming (XP), and lean.

According to Wikipedia:

Agile is an iterative method of determining requirements for engineering and information technology development projects in a highly flexible and interactive manner. During Agile development deliverables are submitted in stages. One difference between agile and iterative development is that the delivery time in agile is in weeks rather than months.

The 12 Agile Principles

The 12 Agile Principles are a set of guiding concepts that support project teams in implementing agile projects. Please have a look at the Agile Project Management Cheat Sheet for the details of the 12 Agile principles.

A typical Agile project will consist of 7 stages:

  1. Stage 1: Product Vision
  2. Stage 2: Product Roadmap
  3. Stage 3: Release Plan
  4. Stage 4: Sprint Planning
  5. Stage 5: Daily Scrum
  6. Stage 6: Sprint review
  7. Stage 7: Sprint retrospective.

An Agile project also consists of specific roles, namely:

  • Development team: Group of people who create the product
  • Product owner: The person responsible for bridging the gap between the customer, business stakeholders, and the development team
  • Scrum master: Also called project facilitator who supports the development team and keeping the agile process consistent.
  • Agile mentor: Someone who has experience implementing agile projects and can share that experience with a project team.

Agile Project Management Organisations and Certifications

There are several representative organisations for Agile practitioners. Agile Alliance, the original global agile community, with a mission to help advance agile principles and practices.

Scrum Alliance is a nonprofit professional membership organization that promotes understanding and usage of scrum. The following professional certifications are offered by them:

  • Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
  • Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
  • Certified Scrum Developer (CSD)
  • Certified Scrum Professional (CSP)
  • Certified Scrum Coach (CSC)
  • Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)

PMI Agile Community

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the largest nonprofit project management membership association in the world. The agile section of PMI’s website provides access to papers, books, and seminars about agile project management. PMI supports an agile community of practice and a certification, the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).

Agile Project Management products

For project managers who want to become PMI-ACP certified, there is a good product from Cornelius Fichtner, the President of OSP International. It is called the Agile PrepCast.

The Agile PrepCast™ is a Video Workshop that you download to your smart phone, table or laptop and watch whenever and wherever you want. It’s a podcast/videocast with in-depth video lessons for your PMI-ACP exam prep.

After completing The Agile PrepCast™ and passing the Final Exam you will be able to print a 21 Contact Hours Certificate and use it to apply for your PMI-ACP® exam. OSP International is a PMI® Registered Education Provider.

Agile Certified

Linky

Project Manager – The Value of Certification

project management certificationThe demand for skilled project managers is at an all-time high as organisations continue to focus on higher productivity and greater customer satisfaction with minimum resources. Project management is a booming profession that is only going to get bigger in the years ahead.

Once you decide that you want to become a professional project manager, or you’re already doing the work and you want to formalise your credentials in order to be acknowledged as a project manager, you have a few choices. You can pursue a degree or diploma in project management, offered at multiple universities and institutions, and/or you can become certified by becoming a Project Management Professional (PMP), a title awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

In order to obtain the certification, you need to complete a log book as evidence of your experience and you need to pass an exam. To study for an exam while working full-time can be a challenge.

Here are three excellent resources from Cornelius Fichtner to help you prepare and pass the PMP exam the first time (there are people who have to sit more than once before they pass).

#1 PM StudyCoach

The PM StudyCoach™ is a 10-week long self-study coaching course in which you will receive and learn what it is exactly that you have to study week after week.

The benefits of this course are that it helps you to stay focused, to apply best practices, to make studying a routine. It also keeps up your study morale and it guides you to a proven plan. The coaching sessions are in MP3 format and it provides activity checklists.

#2 PMP Exam eFlashCards

Now that people can surf the net with the use of their phones, laptops, androids and other gadgets that fit their lifestyle, you no longer require thick sets of paper for flashcards. With eFlashCards™ you can do reviews while in the elevator, during your break time, or waiting for the bus. They run on your iPod®, BlackBerry® and most other smartphones.

The benefits of the FlashCards are that they make repetitive learning fun and fast. More of your senses are engaged in the learning process. You can study anytime and anywhere .The digital flashcards can be downloaded for your iPod, Blackberry, Windows mobile device or smartphone and they include all the chapters of the PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition.

#3 The PM Exam Simulator

This offers you the opportunity to take 9 computer-based sample PMP® Exams before heading out for the real thing.

The benefits are that you practice under test conditions, learn to manage your exam time effectively, to gain confidence and most importantly that you are ready to take the exam. With 1800 realistic PMP exam questions and detailed explanations for all answers, you can make certain that you pass the exam!

If you have more questions about following a career in project management, you are welcome to email me at:

linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com

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Linky

Project Management: How a PMO Can Make a Difference

PMORecently I attended a Virtual Conference hosted by the International Institute of Learning (IIL). A presentation by James C. Brown about how a PMO can make a difference was very insightful. Today I want to share some of what I have learned from him about Project Offices and the value that they bring.

PMO Perceptions

Often there are many perceptions about Project Management Offices (PMO’s) in organisations. They are considered to be ‘Report Generators’, ‘Process Creators’, ‘Infastructure builders – building and maintaining costing, time-keeping and scheduling tools etc’, ‘Dashboard/Scorecard experts’, ‘Organisational home of Project/Program managers’, ‘process police’ and so on.

In reality a PMO is and should be much more than any of the above. Let’s take a closer look at what the goal of the PMO should be.

Goal of a PMO

According to James Brown and the research that he has done, the goal of a PMO is the following:

“The right information at the right time in the right hands.”

For a PMO the commodity is information. How a PMO manages and communicates that information to others so that they know where it is, have it at the right time, and it’s pertinent to them to use it, interact with it, and make decisions with it, is the key to success.

When you want your PMO to deliver real value, you need to make Portfolio Management your goal. This would include:

  • Strategy development
  • Revenue planning and budget development
  • Functional resource management
  • Project execution

And how all of the above relate to one another.

James Brown states that for a PMO to be successful, the PMO needs to make life easier for the stakeholders by providing data that they need for decision making and making visible what projects have done for the organisation at any given time.

Types of PMO’s

Traditionally there are 3 types of PMO’s:

  1. Auditing – responsible for auditing methodologies and compliance with quality and standards.
  2. Enabling – to improve the maturity and effectiveness of project leaders
  3. Executing – actively engaged in implementations, responsible for facilitating and doing project work.

The ultimate vision, according to Brown, is to be a bit of all these types, but being flexible depending on the needs of the organisation.  For a PMO to survive it should become agile, which means it must learn to adapt and overcome challenges.

Some critical success factors for successful PMO’s are:

  • To support the vision of the Leadership team (innovation, cost savings, growth etc)
  • Focus on value delivered from a stakeholders point of view
  • Support decision management with data that matters to stakeholders
  • To improve forecast capabilities
  • To provide near real-time data that is always accessable

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Please share in the comments section if your organisation has a PMO and what your perception is of the value that your PMO delivers.

Linky

Leadership Style – Servant Leadership and Communication

By Bill Flint

This article is part of a series of Leadership Style articles about Servant Leadership.

Servant Leaders Communication and Conflict Resolution skillsOne of the most common challenges in today’s work-place, is to find the time to improve on communication and conflict resolution skills.

Leaders complain about people being lazy or not doing their jobs right, or people complain about the leaders being so busy that they don’t have time to spend with their people.  The workforce complains their leaders don’t set expectations, don’t ask for feedback and don’t really care about them. Then we wonder why companies have a gap between their vision and the results they are achieving. Everything in life and business revolves not just around communication but the “right kind of communication.”

Communication is the # 1 problem in almost all businesses

Why is communication considered as the main problem in many businesses?

  • It keeps the people and the organization from reaching their potential.
  • It’s not because people aren’t talking, but in most cases, it’s the “wrong kind” of communication or a “lack of the right kind.”
  • People are talking at each other, but not getting through.

Servant Leaders and communication

What Servant Leaders have learned about great communication is:

  • Setting Goals
  • Helping people understand what is expected and why?
  • What they will be measured by?
  • Performance reviews—how they are doing, what are they doing well and the areas they need to improve on.
  • Asking people for their ideas and suggestions.
  • Providing, inspiration, encouragement and motivation.
  • Discipline
  • Conflict Resolution
  • I’m your “coach not your boss.” I’m here for you.

Servant leaders know it’s their goal to “help both the people and the bottom line  grow.”

It’s not an either or. You need both for a business and its people to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

Communication and Conflict Resolution

Servant Leaders need to realize about communication and conflict resolution:

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Closing a project prematurely – is it right?

By Simon Beuhring

Closing projects prematurelyHave you ever worked on a project which lost sight of its goals? Or worse, worked on a project where the goals were never clearly defined?

If so, then join the club of projects which have been a waste of money.

Recipe for disaster

Too many times projects are started based upon loosely defined objectives. The most important stakeholder on a project – the sponsor – authorizes such projects and then sits back thinking their job is done. Project managers are then left with the job of delivering the project, often without further input from the sponsor. This is a recipe for disaster.

Business justification

A fundamental principle of project management is that a project must have continued business justification. Without it, you are guaranteed to waste both precious time and money.

This means that the sponsor must be involved from the very beginning in defining the reasons for doing the project. This means being clear about the business problem(s) you are facing, or the business opportunity which is presenting itself.

Business Case is the key

The most important of all project documentation is the Business Case. This document outlines the reasons for doing the project and the expected benefits which will result from the project. It should contain an investment appraisal where the costs and risks are weighed up against the expected benefits.

Deliverables help realise benefits

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Leadership Styles: The Vision of a Servant Leader

By Bill Flint

Vision of a Servant LeaderAs part of a series of articles about Leadership Styles, today’s post is about the vision of a Servant Leader.

The best strategy to achieve organizational goals and create competitive advantage is by developing an environment of caring, mutual trust, and respect between the leaders and the people by focusing their efforts and strategy on developing the full potential of all associates and the business, therefore creating a winning partnership.

Servant Leaders Live Their Vision By:

  • Treating people as the most important asset in the company
  • Seeing people not as they are today but their potential
  • Realizing people are more important than tasks
  • Measuring their own success by the success of those they lead
  • Knowing leadership is about building relationships throughout the company
  • Impacting people’s lives by mentoring and coaching
  • Setting goals, objectives, actions, and measurements, with accountability for the results
  • Leading not just with their words but with their actions and modeling the behavior
  • Believing it is the responsibility of leaders to make a difference in people’s lives
  • Encouraging, inspiring, and motivating their people

When you see the definition and vision of a servant leader, it seems it should be something every leader and every company would want to embrace. It’s hard to argue with developing leaders who exhibit such skills, abilities, vision, and philosophy for leading others. But for many, it’s hard for them to understand the importance and make servant leadership a way of life.

Often when companies have tried to start new initiatives to improve relationships with their people, it has failed, because there is no real strategy or plan for developing and implementing a process. Real change takes time, patience and perseverance to make the needed people and culture improvements.

They look at it as a program and not as an on-going process. Programs are usually looked at as something short term, while process-building is for the long term. If servant leadership is going to be successful, leadership must be committed to the journey and the changes that everyone in the company will need to make in the way they lead, interact, and think about the people they lead.

Success Factors for Servant Leadership

Some of those changes will require a commitment that causes leaders to learn how to:

  • Balance the leadership of the people with the stewardship of the company.
  • Establish the expectations with their leadership for this new servant leadership style.
  • Obtain support by all senior leadership (from the top), or it will not work
  • Ensure leaders, supervisors, and middle -managers who won’t support it or cannot change leave the company.
  • Realize it is a journey and not a quick fix.
  • Communicate the process and the strategy to the total workforce, so they know what is happening and will hold you accountable for making it happen.
  • Expect scepticism from some associates.
  • Remove the barriers that keep people and the company from reaching their goals.
  • Empower your people.
  • Dramatically improve communication up and down the chain; communication will be the glue that makes it work.
  • Build real relationships with those they lead.
  • Make resolving conflict “job one,” because there will be plenty of conflicts as you implement this strategy.
  • Move your company from reactive to proactive in its personality.
  • Position people as problems solvers, not problems in the mind of all the leaders.
  • Develop an atmosphere of innovation and imagination.
  • Make motivating, encouraging, inspiring, and energizing your people the new normal.
  • Train and teach to build your associates into a team of champions.
  • See problems as opportunities.
  • Concentrate on developing the potential of your people.
  • Set goals, objectives, actions, and measurements, with accountability for the results. Build a sense of community, where everyone is pulling together to build your competitive advantage.
  • Train, teach, and learn over and over.
  • Remember there will sometimes be pain in the journey, but it will be worth it.

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Leadership Styles – Is Servant Leadership the Answer?

By Bill Flint

Is Servant Leadership the answer?When we look at the state of our economic climate, politics, and the decline in trust people around the world have for their leaders, it becomes obvious that there needs to be a new direction and emphasis on the right kind of leadership.

Almost every night on TV, we see the despair people feel around the world because leadership isn’t working. In countries where leaders have used the power of the “big stick and control” leadership model to try and control their people, we see individuals willing to die in the streets to bring about change.

What is the answer to this leadership crisis?

Servant leadership is about working to eliminate conflict through good communication, listening to other people’s ideas, and being civil in the way we treat those with ideas we don’t agree with, so we can reach agreement for the good of the people we lead. This leadership style could be the answer.

Leaders are forgetting that leadership is always about thepeople. That doesn’t mean people will always get what they want, but even medicine that doesn’t taste well can make you feel better. We need leaders who really care about us, who will be honest, explain what needs to be done, and tell us the pain and the sacrifices we must go through and the actions needed to make things better. We need leaders who can develop a three-year strategy, instead of throwing abandon to the wind and coming up with a new program all the time to satisfy special interests and try to give us false hope.

How will Servant Leadership be an answer to the problems?

What kind of leadership is needed to bring about the changes we desperately need?

Who are Servant Leaders in Business?

Men and women who bring their purpose, passion, and character, and when combined with their God-given skills and abilities for leadership, bring out the best in people, helping a business develop and implement a sustainable process for success.

To Develop This Type Of Business Environment Requires Several Things

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Leadership Styles – Servant Leadership

servant leadershipFollowing a recent article about Grateful Leadership, I want to look at another leadership style that will help you become a better leader.

Recently I came across an article by Darrell Andrews, who is a sport enthusiast, stating that he came across two types of leaders in sport. Some leaders enjoy the adoration that comes with success and clamor the spotlight when all is going well. They love giving interviews and communicating with the media during good times.

Unfortunately when things start to become challenging, these leaders don’t do so well. They begin to blame weakness in their organization for the failure. They start to pressure the people they are leading and make life miserable for everyone else, for in their mind, the problems in no way can be their fault. Although they love success, they are poor examples of leadership.

The second type of leader enjoys success too but they do something a little different. They give credit to the people within their organizations or businesses. This type of leader is a leader of people and they recognize that success in any organization starts with the people who work within it.

Servant Leadership

Lute Olsen, the former University of Arizona basketball coach put it this way: When the team wins, I give them the credit, when play is mediocre, we both need to improve, but when the team loses, it is my fault. What a great example of leadership!

We need more leaders like this today – leaders with an attitude of service. This leadership style is also called Servant Leadership.

Wikipedia defines it as follows:

“Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and a set of leadership practices. Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top. By comparison, the servant leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible”.

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