IT Career Coach » project management http://www.it-career-coach.net How To Put your Career in Overdrive Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:25:02 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 How To Get Into IT Management? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/08/16/how-to-get-into-it-management/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/08/16/how-to-get-into-it-management/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:56:57 +0000 IT Career Coach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2970

Get Into IT Management

Get Into IT Management

There comes a time in your career when you will have to take a serious look at the possibility of moving into management.

This may be preceded by a time of dis-satisfaction with the status quo either because:

  • You are beginning to feel that you have hit a glass ceiling
  • You are thinking that you would do a better job than some managers you’ve worked for
  • Or someone is presenting you with an opportunity to move into management.

Personally, I never gave it much thought because I was hired into a Business Process and Technology Management Job a few years out of college.

That aside, if you are seriously considering a career in management, then this post was written for you.

Career Advice Column: How Do I Get Into Management

Here is a question from a reader on how to get into management.

If you have a question or challenge, be sure to ask for our help using [Ask IT Career Coach] and I will answer it for you.

What is the first step i should take to work in IT Management.

I deal with server related tasks on a daily basis but want to learn more.

I know taking classes is the best way but what should i do to start.

Ive looked into some different sites but would like some guidance if at all possible.

I want to further my career and i really enjoy this kind of stuff.

I work in Advertising now and i love solving computer related issues that others have no idea about.

Is Management The Right Career Move For You?

It is understandable that you feel the way you do about your current job.

However, my question to you is: “Are You Ready For Management?“

The main challenge that you are facing is a desire to learn or do more.

But moving into management is not necessarily the logical next step.

How about you changing roles or jobs for a position that allows you to do more of what you like, which is: solving computer related issues?

I say this because your question suggests that you are really looking for more technical challenges and not necessarily for management type challenges.

Basic Skill Requirements For Management Type Jobs

Becoming a manager requires a set of skills which are unlike those required to succeed in a technical job.

As a manager, you get your satisfaction out of helping others or your team to succeed.

As a technical professional, your success depends more on how much of a star player you are.

So, if you job satisfaction comes more from solving technical problems as opposed to leading, motivating or getting things done through others, management may not be for you.

The Mindset Of A Manager

You do not have to be a manager to succeed in your career.

There are many technical professionals (business analysts, computer programmers, etc.) who are not managers and yet they are satisfied with their job because they excel at it!

Here is a reality check for you. What do you answer to these questions?

  • Do you like leading, motivating, coaching or inspiring your colleagues at work? Have you made a habit of that?

  • Do you mind taking a back seat and letting others succeed?

  • Do you spend time thinking of how your team will succeed instead of how you alone will succeed?

  • Do you care more about people or about technology?

  • If you were to spend the majority of your time solving people problems instead of computer problems, how would you feel?

  • Do you spend time planning before you execute projects or does planning take a lower priority in your day?

  • Do you take responsibility for outcomes? Do you take on problems or issues beyond your immediate assignment or do you typically assume that it’s someone else’s responsibility?

If you can say yes to these questions, you have the mindset of a manager otherwise you may not be quite ready to make the leap into management.

How To Break Into IT Management

If you want to break into management, get the mindset of a manager and learn the art & discipline of project management.

If you can learn project management and develop the mindset of a manager, you will become qualified for a management job!

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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/08/16/how-to-get-into-it-management/feed/ 2 How To Lead or Manage Software Development Projects http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/07/30/how-to-lead-or-manage-software-development-projects/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/07/30/how-to-lead-or-manage-software-development-projects/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:42:50 +0000 IT Career Coach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2964

How To Lead or Manage Projects

How To Lead or Manage Projects

Statistics show that the majority of software development (web, IT, desktop, mobile…) projects are doomed to fail from inception.

The challenges facing technical leads, project managers, software development, IT managers or project sponsors are often under-estimated leading to less than successful projects.

While some software teams may argue or live in-denial of the risk facing their projects, the facts are that more than 60% of software projects fail!

The effects of poorly managed software projects are also obvious. They include:

    High turn-over rate
    Buggy or defect ridden software
    Unhappy customers
    Cost or budget overruns
    Late time to market or overly long shipping cycles
    Burnout, firing or layoffs
    Demoralized workers
    Loss of productivity
    Loss of revenue
    Loss of market positioning

This series is designed to help “software or web development teams” increase their chances of success by shedding light on the hidden art of software project management.

Why Software / Web Development Projects Fail

You may be thinking: “if software projects fail so often, “why is it that no-one is talking about it”? The shocking answer is that software project failure is now the norm. But we really don’t have to accept that!

Let’s start by examining why software or web projects fail …

  • Failure to manage scope, time or budget changes

    Customers, stakeholders or project sponsors change the scope or add to the requirements without increasing the time-line or resource allocation.

  • Incomplete or poor business requirements

    The team does not eliciting the help of a business analyst in gathering or documenting the business requirements for the project.

  • Inadequate software testing

    The software testing or quality assurance is an after-thought because the only thing that matters to the software team is writing code.

    Leaving the software testing to the end of the development cycle or not putting as much thought or planning into it as into the actual coding signifies that you will get buggy code.

  • Leadership failing to delegate or empower

    Not empowering the technical lead, project manager, business analyst or quality assurance lead to do their jobs but second guessing them or over-riding their decisions.

  • Weak Communication

    Have you ever worked on a project where the developers or business analysts were frequently kept in the dark because they didn’t need to know?

    Keeping the web or software development team in the dark is unfortunately a mark of an insecure or authoritative leadership team.

    The software development team need to be in kept in the loop through consistent and timely communication.

    The same goes with the stakeholders or the project sponsors. They need to be approachable or available especially to the project manager.

  • Inadequate Budgeting

    Budgeting mistakes happen more frequently than they need to be..

    The budget may be insufficient because it was approved without having a good understanding of the project or product scope.

    The budget may also be insufficient because customers are asking for a product with more features than they can afford to pay.

    Regardless of the reason, starting a project plan with an in-adequate staffing budget is a recipe for disaster.

By starting a frank discussion on how to get software projects done successfully, I hope to improve quality of life for software development teams facing daunting challenges or death matches.

Are you living in denial or are you up for an open, frank, no-holds barred discussion on why so many projects fail?

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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/07/30/how-to-lead-or-manage-software-development-projects/feed/ 0 Is a Project Manager or a Business Analyst Career, a Better Fit for You? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/12/is-a-project-manager-or-business-analyst-career-a-better-fit-for-you/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/12/is-a-project-manager-or-business-analyst-career-a-better-fit-for-you/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:25:22 +0000 IT Career Coach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2893

How To Choose the Right Career?

How To Choose the Right Career?

The following question was submitted by a reader who needs help with choosing between a business analyst and a project management career.

If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to submit your question as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this reader’s question below!

If you enjoy reading this post, please be sure to … Share this Post with Friends

Here is the Reader’s Question: Should I Change Careers To Business Analysis Or Project Management?

Hello,

I am interested in making a career change from working currently in customer service in a bank to becoming a business analyst or a project manager.

My educational background is a degree in Banking and Finance and I have over 8 years experience working in the Treasury department of a bank.

Can you advise which would be my best choice?

Here is the Answer: How To Decide Between a Business Analysis and a Project Management Career

Hello,

I can certainly help you understand the differences between a project management and business analyst career.

You will be able to decide on your ideal career, after weighing all the pros and cons that I will list in the rest of this article.

The Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Manager

The Project Manager is often considered to be the first point of contact for the project and is solely responsible for the project’s success or failure.

Please note that this is an important distinction between the project manager and business analyst’s duties, roles or responsibilities.

This distinction means that you have to be wired a certain way or learn to take full responsibility for the outcome of your projects without making any excuses!

  • This also means that as the project manager, you will be responsible for overseeing all the phases of a software development or information technology project unlike a business analyst who is tasked with gathering requirements at the inception or beginning phases of a project.

  • Another important distinction is that, as the project manager you will also be responsible for establishing time-lines or ensuring that your projects are completed on time and under budget.

  • Finally, the Project Manager allocates resources to a project, monitors significant milestones as the project progresses and manages risks and costs to ensure that there are no budget overruns.

To achieve these goals, the Project Manager works with a correct or comprehensive set of customer requirements provided by the business analyst.

This last statement means that the Project Manager has to collaborate or depend on the Business Analyst’s requirements elicitation and management skills.

If this collaboration works out well, then the correct and complete set of project requirements are provided to the software development or information technology project team … if not, then the project is doomed from inception!

The Roles and Responsibilities of a Business Analyst

  1. Like the Project Manager, the Business Analyst also spends most of the time working with end users, stakeholders or management.

  2. Unlike the Project Manager, whose attention is all over the phases and tasks of the Project, the business analyst focuses mainly on the requirements for the project.

  3. Because the business analyst is tasked with gathering requirements, he or she ends up focusing on the minute details of what the end user wants, documenting requirements with very detailed reports that measure goals and outcomes, validating requirements or communicating requirements in precise ways to developers using tools like User stories, Use Cases and UML

In essence, the Business Analyst ends up bridging the technical or business communication gap between the software development or project implementation teams and the management, executive or business teams.

What are the similarities and differences between a Project Manager and a Business Analyst’s Job?

There is a good deal of speculation and confusion on the 2 roles leading to the assumption in some circles that project managers can gather requirements or that business analysts can manage resources!

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Each of these is a rigorous, methodical discipline that may share some body of knowledge with the other, but are functionally, completely different.

  1. Project Managers manage all the resources assigned to project and they carry the final authority on who does what. They usually have the ability to hire or fire resources and for delegating tasks or responsibilities.

  2. Business analysts on the other hand, manage the business, end-user, customers or stakeholder requirements and in reality, they report to the project manager, just like the software developers, testers or any other resource assigned to the project.

  3. Both business analysts and project managers understand the software development life cycle, both of them serve as points of contact for the project and both of them communicate with management or stakeholders.

  4. Both of these are also responsible for accurately defining the scope of the project.

However, even here, there is still a qualitative difference … while the business analyst is concerned with the minutiae of the requirements, the project manager is focused on the big picture, and on delivering a project that fulfills the requirements under schedule and on budget.

On this last point, I would like to stress that in an ideal world, there would be no adversarial relationship between a project manager and his/her business analysts because like any successful leader knows, “war is worn by wise counsel” and the business analyst is the project manager’s wise counsel.

Another key difference between these 2 roles is that at the onset of a project, the business analyst implements feasibility and cost/benefit analysis studies before the project manager is even hired!

Finally, I would also like to add that, while the business analyst is concerned with the quality of the finished product … the Project Manager is concerned with managing the process of producing the product.

Is a Project Manager or a Business Analyst Career, a Better Fit for You?

So how do you decide which of these two (project management or business analysis) is the better fit?

If your personality type is such that you have a singular focus on completing projects with a “big picture” view of the process from beginning to end, then the Project Management career may be the better fit for you.

If on the other hand, you enjoy working on details with business users, customers or management, analyzing problems or defining solutions, documenting or communicating problems and solutions, then a Business Analyst career may be the better fit for you.

This post was written in answer to a question submitted by a reader on how to decide between becoming a project manager or a business analyst.

If you have a question, be sure to post it here as a comment or submit it to: [Ask IT Career Coach].

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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/04/12/is-a-project-manager-or-business-analyst-career-a-better-fit-for-you/feed/ 15 How To Become A Project Manager: Work On A Project! http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/11/how-to-become-a-project-manager-work-on-a-project/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/11/how-to-become-a-project-manager-work-on-a-project/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:00:01 +0000 IT Career Coach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2759

Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun

Making Things Happen

Scott Berkun, a former Microsoft Program Manager shares his views about becoming a project manager.

His views are startingly similar to the views we have been posting on this website … that getting more handson experience is the best way to jumpstart your career!

Notice Scott does not start with a long list of educational requirements or certifications for aspiring project managers but with something that you have heard me talk a lot about … hands-on experience!

Scott’s Advice for Aspiring Project Managers:

  • WORK ON A PROJECT.

  • Go make something …

  • Grab a friend and build a website, or a blog, or something. Anything …

  • Build a house. Build a couch. Make a movie …

  • Volunteer your Project Management (PM) skills wherever you can in return for a reference …

  • According to Scott; the best way to market yourself is to get experience, as there is nothing more dangerous for the world than someone who wants to be a project manager but has never managed a project in their life.

Scott is an independent author and public speaker for hire.

His work as a writer and public speaker has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Wired magazine, and on National Public Radio.

Scott has taught at the University of Washington, blogs for Harvard Business, and has appeared as an innovation expert on CNBC and MSNBC.

I recommend that you click here to read Scott Berkun’s answer to the question: “Should I Become A Project Manager?”

After reading Scott’s post, do this:

  • Advice for College Students: get some hands-on experience before you graduate. Don’t expect your educational qualifications alone to open doors.

  • Advice for Career Changers: Look for opportunities to build hands-on experience. Get your feet into the door at all costs. Click here to learn more about building hands-on experience

  • Advice for IT Professionals: Don’t get complacent by neglecting to buildup hands-on experience. Ask your manager or boss for opportunities to work on challenging, experience building projects. That is one good way to secure your job or your career!

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]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/11/how-to-become-a-project-manager-work-on-a-project/feed/ 1 Former Microsoft Product and Program Manager Looking for Volunteer Testers http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/19/former-microsoft-product-and-program-manager-looking-for-volunteer-software-testers-or-project-managers/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/19/former-microsoft-product-and-program-manager-looking-for-volunteer-software-testers-or-project-managers/#comments Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:51:56 +0000 IT Career Coach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2076

Employment Job Search

Volunteers Wanted


Michael Surkan a former Microsoft Senior Product Planner and Program Manager is looking for Volunteer Software Testers and Project Managers for an on-line customer relationship management (CRM) and business management software service project.

While at Microsoft, Michael conducted customer, industry and research to help make decisions for future versions of the Windows operating system.

Michael’s work includes using surveys, focus groups, and customer interviews as part of research strategies and synthesized all the data into conclusions and recommendations for senior managers.

Michael is obsessed with making sure that the products that companies make are the RIGHT ones and that they meet the needs of their customers and the broader market place.

Michael has spent years as a program manager actually building the guts of the Windows operating system and now spends his days doing customer and market research to help those very same Program Managers have the data and insights they need to make good product decisions.

About This Opportunity

This offer is for volunteer software testers and volunteer project managers who are willing to make a serious commitment to using Michael’s product for managing a significant project.

The volunteers won’t be charged for using this product for at least a year because the motivation is to get some good showcases of how this product is used in the real-world.

So far, Michael has signed-up real-estate developers, cabinet manufacturers and event planners and is now looking for sign-ups from the software industry!

About The Online Project Or Process Management Service

Michael’s online project or process management software service is looking for volunteers interested in finding a way to manage software development projects while improving communications, efficiency, and timeliness

The online CRM tool is a fantastic tool for outsourced projects. It helps keep everyone in synch and the work on track.

Volunteer Software Testers or Project Managers may use this on-line service without any payment for up to a year (which normally sells for $40,000 a year) in exchange for help with testing the software and (more importantly) building the templates needed to manage their work.

The online software service has already proven itself as a great help to one small distributed web software development team with team members in places as diverse as the Philippines, Canada, and Russia.

Here is additional information on the online project management or CRM software service:

  1. You can track entire projects, including e-mails, customer requirements, and specifications from the beginning to end of project. Everyone on the project stays on the same page.

  2. You get complete versioning and history on every document in the system (can easily revert back to whatever previous version you wish).

  3. You can handle project and task management, automatically determine delivery dates and assign tasks to the appropriate people. You can easy to tell when things are falling behind (and automatically re-adjusting schedules in real-time) before they get out of hand.

  4. You get a completely web-based architecture that doesn’t require any local software, and can be easily used by an team-members wherever they are in the world.

  5. You can use it as core component of your own public web site, allowing you to automatically turn any document into public web pages.

  6. You get Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Services as an integral part of the product.

Michael recommends this online project or CRM software service for managing any business. So even if you are not in software and you want to be a volunteer tester, you can sign-up to test and use this service

Click here to Contact Michael:

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