The certified project manager sounds like a super profession. Many people today want to become project managers.
In this article, we share the opinion of Kimberly Jones. Why she wants to become a project manager. Kimberly is currently enrolled in the BVOP certified project management course and is in the early stages of her studies. Here is what she answered.
Table of Contents
New perspective
I’m looking for a new perspective that covers as much of my idea of ”liking the job” as possible:
To combine current experience with something new in a field/position, so that there is something to learn and develop as skills
The project manager receives a higher salary
To have the potential to be successful – the position to suit you in terms of professional and personal qualities that you possess
Diversity in tasks, problems, and everyday life to some extent
The results of the work should be measurable/visible
What are your expectations from being a project manager?
I have no specific expectations, I have not yet gathered the necessary information and everything is abstract to me at this stage.
What are the things that worry you the most at this stage?
Terminology, IT language, and whether I will not be like a calf on the railway, and not understand anything = failure.
The language barrier – I have not worked entirely in an English-speaking environment and for me, it will be more or less stressful
Lack of confidence that it is something new, in which you can not sit quietly in the corner until you get used to, and you are ahead of day 1.
What problems do you think you will have in your work?
I like to give feedback and not be silent when something is not OK. I think this would be a bad joke if I don’t control it and it will be a challenge for me.
Being a certified project manager is difficult
Being a project manager is hard work, but being a great project manager is even harder. And when the boss relies on you for the success of all projects is the hardest. Read more: 18 Best Project Management Certifications and Courses of 2022
It takes a lot of skills as well as competencies to succeed. Current competencies and skills that will help us: It comes first
Build good working relationships with people at all levels.
The most important management skill is the ability to build good relationships with people at all levels.
The relationship-building approach focuses on building “high-quality relationships” through respectful engagement, and this will be a huge plus for our project as well as for future projects.
Effective prioritization of tasks for me and the team.
We all have a huge number of things we want or need to do. Requirements can often seem overwhelming to us and our team members. That is why prioritization is the second most important management skill.
Consider many factors in decision-making
We have all seen how bad decisions can be when they are hasty or when financial concerns are the only criteria used. It is therefore worth using a formal, structured process to consider the issue in-depth, including risk analysis and ethical considerations.
The ORAPAPA framework – which means opportunities, risks, alternatives and improvements, experience, analysis, people and alignment, and ethics – is a good example.
Knowledge of the basic principles of good communication
Management is about doing things by working with people. You can only do this if we communicate effectively.
This is where the 7 Cs of communication – clear, concise, specific, correct, consistent, complete, kind – can help you understand your message more clearly.
Use of emotional intelligence
All managers need emotional intelligence to be effective. This means having the self-awareness, self-control, motivation, empathy, and social skills needed to behave in a mature, wise, empathetic way with the people around you.
Emotionally intelligent managers are a pleasure to work with, which is why they attract and retain the best people.
As a new manager, without much experience, there are certainly a lot of skills that I will lack in this case and which I have yet to learn over time and in the process of the work itself as:
Develop new ideas to solve customer problems
A huge number of products and services are now sold based on ratings and customer reviews.
To receive top reviews, we need to provide something that meets the needs of our customers extremely well.
Approaches such as design thinking and ethnographic research will only help me to develop extremely satisfying products with my team, and mapping the customer experience can help us make a satisfying customer journey.
Understand the needs of different stakeholders and communicate with them in an appropriate way
As we lead larger projects, it is becoming increasingly important to manage many different groups of people who can support or undermine the work I do.
Here it is important to be able to develop good stakeholder analysis and stakeholder management skills.
The Certified project manager and project documentation
Poor documentation is defined as that which lacks clarity, specificity, or completeness and is of overall poor quality.
I have a lot of skills in writing project documentation as a former Business Analyst. I want to use these skills in my work and as a project manager.
The first example I will share is the lack of documentation. I bought great software and I like it a lot, but I was surprised to find that there is no documentation – rather there are quite simple frequently asked questions. If I want information, I have to send an email.
Even if the product is easy to use, I’m sure it has features, possible workflows, and time-saving ones that I can’t quickly learn because there is no documentation to look at. The software is called solver. He works as a text editor and in principle is very convenient.
Providing little or no documentation and then including an invitation to send an email with questions invites a huge amount of email. Don’t do that.
The inability to enter a search term was quite disappointing (at least I didn’t see a place to enter the keyword). Make it as easy as possible for your end-users to find the answer themselves and I guarantee that they will start to be self-sufficient.
Article titles should make it easier to quickly scan a page and find what end-users want.
A better naming convention would be to ask a question that end-users ask and title your article with that question (or use the workflow name).
Whatever you decide, make sure it’s specific and descriptive so that end-users know the question the article will answer and can easily find it while reviewing your documentation.
Several help desk ticket services provide an online knowledge base option and for the most part, they are quite good. But if you have a lot of documentation, it becomes very difficult to look at the knowledge base.
Making it easier to review your documentation may not seem like a big deal if your knowledge base has great search capabilities; However, your end-users like to see a menu of options to choose from if they are unfamiliar with what is possible.
One reply on “Why do you want to be a certified project manager?”
Let me tell you about myself and my motivation to be a project manager. I hold a Master’s degree in “Management of international projects” at the University of National and World Economy. I finished my master’s degree in 2014 and went to live in the United States of America. There I did not have the opportunity to develop my professional knowledge in the obtained specialty. It has always been an interesting field for me and now after a few years, I actually realize the importance of project management.
Regardless of the field of work, each of us is faced with the project undertaking every day. Project management knowledge is something I have always found interesting and very useful.
I would like to develop more skills in the specialty and have more knowledge. I want to work in a different environment, in a team of diverse personalities, with whom we can manage to realize successful projects and ventures.
I am an organized, disciplined and orderly person. In my opinion, these qualities help each individual and are an important part of personality development.
I like to communicate with different people (regardless of gender, race, age, ethnicity) and I always approach with good intentions. I like to listen to people and I am always ready to offer help or advice.
I manage to cope with many different tasks on a daily basis and I love new endeavors.
The beginnings I start – I always finish and do not leave in time.
I have a developed sense of justice.
I try not to have harmful habits and avoid them if possible.
My highly developed sense of justice sometimes prevents me from passing a given situation.
I have a slight spark of temper in my character.
I often have too high expectations of people and expect them to be able to do things as quickly as I can do them. I am not very tolerant of people who try to have someone else do their work and always find their excuses.
A sense of justice – should be more moderately expressed in my character. I could not remove this trait from my character, but only control it to the extent that it succeeds in giving me correct judgment and help in my communication with others.
Temper – awareness of the degree of importance of the given problem.
I plan to talk to my relatives and friends about the subject, who know me well, in order to control this spark. More in-depth conversations, reading and more nature walks.
High expectations for others – understanding the differences in people, in view of their upbringing and experiences. More tolerance on my part, more conversations with them and seeing the problem from their point of view. It is not possible to change people according to our requirements and desires. I plan to enroll in a course chosen in this subject as well.