IT Project Mechanic

Welcome to the IT Project Mechanic blog – a place where far ranging topics are discussed, analyzed and introduced that related to IT Project Management and the business of managing projects. The first question I can imagine your asking (and it’s one that I have asked myself) is “Why another IT Project Management source of information?”. I have strongly felt for quite some time that the honesty and brutal truth of the PMs operating model is under fire by academics and “clean room” practitioners – that the reality of a Project Manager’s work and driving pursuits is far different from the manuals, books and methodologies that are currently available.

To that end, IT Project Mechanic was born. I wanted to champion a place where discussing what happens on a daily basis is based on raw truth – warts and all. Too often, PMs want to believe that (including your’s truly from time to time) circumstances, their team, stakeholders or leadership are the cause of project strife and poor performance. We lean on old maxims and cling to “truths” that don’t pan out in reality. To get to real performance, the newly minted “PMP” or other certified project professional can’t stop with the piece of paper – continuous learning and unlearning must happen to become the best we can be.

This concept of becoming the best isn’t a luxury anymore. If our chosen profession is going to flourish and grow beyond its current bounds, we will have to stay on the bleeding edge of what makes project management valuable to our clients. Whether you work for a major corporation as an employee, are a consultant or somewhere in between, you are in the service of a set of clients (no matter if you believe it, it’s true – Like it or not). This isn’t something that you or I can deny; if we don’t accept and own the fact that our performance is solely in our hands, we will atrophy and become irrelevant in the eyes of our clients.

So what to do? Well, I believe exploring ideas and subjects that are outside the norm is the answer. Like a mechanic, we have to know as much as possible about what’s under the hood of the project process, our clients and how we can generate successful outcomes for those that depend on us. We have to have the right tools, training and techniques to perform quickly and with quality. Our relationships are not based so much on what we can do, but how well we do it and how much respect we have for those that work with us.

So here’s to a fantastic journey for us all – I’m excited about getting your feedback and learning from you what you believe as we go along.

Yours,

Cris Rogers, PMP, SSBB

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at 2:18 am and is filed under General, IT Projects, Leadership, PM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.