18 nov 2011

Not in charge

Recently, I was offered a position in a huge engineering project, changing transportation systems here in Bogotá. I decided to take it and I am now part of the PMO (Project Management Office), in charge of schedule and risk management. The PMO includes now 5 people and is still growing, since the project is that big.

For the last 7 or so years, I lead small software projects, 10 to 12 people tops. We didn't had a PMO, just a PM. I did all managing activities. It was doable considering the size of the projects at hand. This is my third week in this position, and I am aware of how different a project seems when you are a project worker instead of the PM.

It has been quite interesting to see how my perspective on the matters is so different when I am not in charge, and how people working in projects see their little bit of it in particular ways.

All PM books and best practices insist on communication being the main activity of any PM. It´s been sort of a revelation how more critical  this is when being a part of the team. If strategic decisions or even simple little decisions are not informed to you systematically, your job might seem irrelevant or might certainly be irrelevant. Knowing their importance before, I now give more value to team follow up meetings.




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