Today, developing project management skills is must if one wants to move ahead in life. They not only create more value for the organisation, but also for the individual looking for better prospects, says Shisam Bhattacharyya
An all-out career change may be a good choice for some, one doesn’t need to take such a drastic step to breathe new life into the present position. Developing skills in project management, even if one is not a project manager, empowers one to make the most of the abilities, deliver greater value to the organisation, and sets one apart from the crowd. Even making a modest improvement in how one works on projects can help one rise above the mediocrity. In nearly every industry and job type, project management has become a must-have skill for anyone looking for career advancement. Project management allows one to create more value for the organisation.
With knowledge of project management principles and processes, one can complete projects (any temporary endeavour undertaken to produce a unique outcome, with a clearly defined beginning and end) in less time with a higher standard of quality. The key word here is completion. By being able to complete projects fast, employees with project management skills have tremendous value.
In a recent edition of the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) annual publication, Pulse of the Profession, the report’s authors find that “high-performing organisations successfully complete 89 per cent of their projects, while low performers complete only 36 per cent successfully. This difference in success results in high-performing organisations wasting nearly 12 times less than low performers.” Employees with project management skills like the ability to manage time effectively, delegate responsibilities, manage risks, negotiate for resources, and adhere to a project budget and timeline, have the know-how to successfully bring their projects to completion.
Creating more value for the company gives one leverage. The PMI’s 2013 salary survey found that project management salaries in the US are consistently high, and are likely stay that way. The survey showed median salaries above $100,000 for all industries (including construction, engineering, research and development, and many others), across all sizes of organisations, and for all project team sizes. The point is that project management is a lucrative field, and even those just starting out can expect to be compensated generously.
Many successful project managers advance to their positions from other career tracks within their organisation; 46 per cent of the salary survey respondents reported that they followed an “informal” project management career path in their organisation, and only 25 per cent followed a career path that was “clearly defined in writing.” So even if one is not formally a project manager in the organisation, developing the skills and earning credentials to prove it is one of the smartest move to advance one’s career.
There are many ways for information technology initiatives to go wrong and they do so all the time. In fact, approximately one-half of businesses will have an IT project fail within a year, according to research. In summarising the most common reasons for these failures, AtTask, a cloud-based enterprise work-management solution company, has come out with a free-to-download e-book titled 10 Problems Preventing Your IT Team from Doing (Its) Best Work and How to Solve Them.
A number of evolving dynamics are contributing to the issues, including mobilisation, globalisation, stakeholder demands, limited resources and team focus not to mention badly run meetings. These problems lead to disjointed project approaches and frazzled, stressed-out workers. Inevitably, the unfortunate outcomes include missed deadlines, budget overruns and unmet expectations.
Project management skills are transferable across many job types and industries. In today’s world, there is an expectation that as a functioning professional in any industry, one should know the basics of getting things done. Project management is an exploding career field and people who hold Project Management Professional (PMP) credential are some of the highest paid middle-level managers worldwide.
(The writer is faculty associate, operation management & decision science, Asia Pacific Institute of Management)