Intellectual Capability vs Project Management

R13... said:
They do much more than that. Let's face it the project staff don't give a **** about what it costs to bring the project to production it is for the PM to remind them. PMs are not without fault with their habit of popping the champagne before the darn thing is even doing anything productive as long as they reach some milestone or other random project completion definition with no ties to productive work.
Click to expand...

They colour code excel cells as well. :whistle:
 
Messugga said:
You're wrong. A smart person does not a good manager make.
I'd rather keep my most technically competent (typically smart people) in positions where they add value in technical manners rather than a position where soft skills are more important.
Click to expand...

Yes keep them in a position they don't want to be in and then...they leave! Sinbad's comment about organisational skills are very important for manager positions but providing mentorship to employees who want to learn is critical in retaining them. If there is mentorship they will soon realise whether they are capable of doing the job as well as if they would enjoy doing it.
 
ahhh the ignorance of what people think Project Management is, considering the field has been around for 60+ years, some people would realize that Project Management does work. they just need to get off their high horses and see the value.
 
crackersa said:
ahhh the ignorance of what people think Project Management is, considering the field has been around for 60+ years, some people would realize that Project Management does work. they just need to get off their high horses and see the value.
Click to expand...

There's value in project management, to be sure. However, I think the ignorance you refer to extends to a lot of people who call themselves project managers too.
 
crackersa said:
ahhh the ignorance of what people think Project Management is, considering the field has been around for 60+ years, some people would realize that Project Management does work. they just need to get off their high horses and see the value.
Click to expand...

I spy with my little eye something that begins with a P..
 
A PM is a glorified nanny.
When I still worked for a company, the one they put in charge of me, pissed me off.
I took great pleasure in not only nailing her ass to the wall, but told her to f-off in nice language.

The pleasure of doing that is still with me, nearly a year later.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Haha, I was about to say "spot the PM"... :p
Click to expand...

Yeap, i'm a PM and proud to admit it. so you folks think you can deliver a complex project on time, within budget and within the agreed quality standards? will you be able to handle the development, the dependencies with other teams, client reactions. the scope management as the client will want the mona f'ing lisa for free? will you do proper risk identification and mitigation in the process while trying to code or setup servers?

personally, I couldn't develop to save my a$$ and I do recognize that the develop is a reason why I have a job.

I just think some of you have been associated with the wrong PM just like there's PM's that have been exposed to the wrong dev's (that's where the micro management comes in).

so is it bad to be a mommy or a nanny? I don't think so since some professionals are f'ing kids.
 
Project Management is a people orientated job. As someone who is intellectual, most likely you lack the people skills to be a great PM. Handling all those politics is definitely not for the faint hearted. In my opinion, going to a PM role from a dev or BA isnt really a promotion, its moving into another job role. The only thing worthwhile is gaining some basic management experience should you be interested in management in the future.
 
stixx said:
As someone who is intellectual, most likely you lack the people skills to be a great PM.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that PMs lack intelligence and can therefore, better relate to people?

 
The person most qualified for the position.

A PM skilled person should be appointed as that is the requirement of the position.


You bring a different value/set of skills needed elsewhere
 
I'm sorry, but I agree with most that a PM is a waste of time. They try to appear that they are knowledgeable but they aren't. They throw around these acronyms and when a client responds and queries their statements, they look towards the engineer for help. When a quote is required, the engineer is queried. When the project is running out of time, the engineer is queried. When the project is having issues, the engineer is queried.

What do these people actually do? Complete Fkall!
 
A good pm is fantastic to work with. Very rare, but great to find.
 
I had a boss that told me that project managers are dime a dozen and can be easily replaced. But a knowledgeable person with unique skills aren't. He still allowed me to do a PM course as the principles can still be applied on a day to day basis. Regarding the bosses reply. It is possible that he/she doesn't want to lose your skill set.

Ask for a raise. You might just get it
 
Grep said:
I'm sorry, but I agree with most that a PM is a waste of time. They try to appear that they are knowledgeable but they aren't. They throw around these acronyms and when a client responds and queries their statements, they look towards the engineer for help. When a quote is required, the engineer is queried. When the project is running out of time, the engineer is queried. When the project is having issues, the engineer is queried.

What do these people actually do? Complete Fkall!
Click to expand...

That right there is why I prefer my PM to interact with clients and acts as a barrier between my engineers and business endpoint relationship
 
Koosi said:
Same applies for engineers and technicians.
The accountants are the real geniuses after all. Bean counting has a higher value than actually creating products that sell.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it took me ten years in engineering to come to the same conclusion .
 
At any point in time I'm working with several PMs.
I found that each has their own style and preference. So the trick is to match the pm to the stage that the project is in.

Best results I ever got was from a pm who knew nothing about the technology and business. The pm knew how to manage tasks and resources. And also listen for uncertainty in responses. Mitigate and follow thru.

Worst results was from someone in the team that got promoted to pm after doing a pm course. I lost a brilliant technical resource and gained a pm who spent more time trying to tell the developers , ba and testers how to do their jobs. Recipe for disaster.
 
Grep said:
I'm sorry, but I agree with most that a PM is a waste of time. They try to appear that they are knowledgeable but they aren't. They throw around these acronyms and when a client responds and queries their statements, they look towards the engineer for help. When a quote is required, the engineer is queried. When the project is running out of time, the engineer is queried. When the project is having issues, the engineer is queried.

What do these people actually do? Complete Fkall!
Click to expand...
I couldn't have said it better.
 
Grep said:
I'm sorry, but I agree with most that a PM is a waste of time. They try to appear that they are knowledgeable but they aren't. They throw around these acronyms and when a client responds and queries their statements, they look towards the engineer for help. When a quote is required, the engineer is queried. When the project is running out of time, the engineer is queried. When the project is having issues, the engineer is queried.

What do these people actually do? Complete Fkall!
Click to expand...
Many (not all) engineers are pompous arseholes who believe that the world revolves around them. Best is to leave them in their little cages and let professionals with the correct skill sets deal with customers, suppliers, contractors, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X