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Project Management Success: Q&A How Do I Build My Basic Project Management Knowledge? |
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Q.) What kind of knowledge of the basics of project management will I need to take back to implement projects in a small (8-9 people) company? How can I minimize the time it takes to get operational while still managing projects effectively? What is the Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge and how can I use it? What is the Project Management Institute?Here's a shocker: Out here in the real world the majority of projects are quick and relatively simple. (But, you already knew that, didn't you?) They are conducted in plain old normal companies in every industry & every country--every day, day-in & day-out. The key project management skills necessary for success at this level are significantly less complex than the ones necessary for those massive projects we all read about in the news.
Read on to find common sense--low cost--answers to these, and other issues that can enable you to enhance your career.
A.) Look at the simplified project management guides. DO NOT get caught up (Yet...) in the multitudes of overly complex – frequently confusing – advanced resources on the market until you have firmly established your mastery of the basics. In my project management reference library I probably have over 80 books--yet I find myself constantly leafing through the "Dummy" and "Idiot" guides more often than not. (Gee...I hope that's not an indication of my core mental capabilities.)
The reasoning behind this concept is perfectly logical: These simplified books provide the condensed advice on the basics that most people tend to avoid because it's too easy. Guess what? These are precisely the levels of project management methodology that the majority of project teams screw up. (As I always told my World Literature students: Cliff's Notes is written by some of the top scholars in the world. Don't over-complicate.)
Use what works best for you!
Remember: PMI’s PMBOK
™
is a guide to generally accepted, frequently used, practices and procedures – NOT necessarily a guide for directly managing projects. And it certainly is not a set of rails forcing you to use every single recommendation. Use the KISS principle until you have established your comfort and productivity zones. Eliminate as much of the wheel spinning--and wheel re-inventing--as possible from your processes: Identify, locate, download, and modify somebody else’s templates for creating and managing the most common project tasks and activities. Most project managers that I come in contact with are more than willing to share their templates and their knowledge with one another--just, please, try to invest some of your own time helping someone who needs your expertise. This way we keep our professional trust networks operating.
Effective work habits are not cheating--they're intelligent!
Most important of all: Keep track of what you do, how well it works (or doesn’t work) and evolve the project management processes and environment to “fit” with your enterprise realities.
And PMI? That's the Project Management Institute - Pennsylvania, USA--and, yes, I am both a member and a certified PMP. These folks are arguably the most active and organized association of project management professionals in the world. They are aggressively establishing and enhancing the standards and ethics that guide project personnel all over the world.
However, don't forget some of the other project management associations:
We can ALL learn something from one another. And then some...
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