Mar 18, 2016
When and why did you decide to start a career in PM?
I chose to be a project manager, so that part of my job was a natural progression from Business Change Analyst many years ago to the role I have now. I joined American Express as a graduate trainee, and I saw a lot of different departments on my placements. When I found Business Engineering, I realised there was a job that was all about staying organised, creating lists and ticking off tasks as complete. I felt that it played to my natural strengths and I decided that was what I wanted to do.
I had no idea about what corporate jobs existed, and I had never heard of project management, which was why the graduate scheme was such a good opportunity for me.
Could you give use 3 top tips for women who want to start a PM career?
A key factor for your success will be your ability to understand the business you work in. Project management is no longer about ticking boxes to say that a task is complete, but more about making sure that you are delivering change that makes a positive difference. That means applying business sense and professional judgment to everything you do, framing your project work as a way of adding value – even though that just sounds like buzzwords.
For example, we can recruit developers, but it’s hard to get someone who understands what happens when their code doesn’t work: the business impact can be significant. That’s the gap that I’m seeing, and the only answer is for organisations to get better at succession planning so that they can fill that gap with internal talent and create a pipeline for those hard-to-fill positions. It’s unacceptable to expect universities to turn out senior programmers with in-depth business knowledge: they can’t do it, and they shouldn’t be expected to, although I know many courses have industry placements which must help.
Training alone is a hygiene factor: certification doesn’t automatically mean you are a stellar project manager, but it’s a useful grounding in project management practice, and it ensures everyone on the team speaks the same language. No one has ever said to me that I didn’t get a job or couldn’t do a role because I didn’t have a certification.
I support my team and colleagues to get certifications because it’s a way of ensuring the team shares a common background and because I firmly believe people should take responsibility for their career progression. It’s a way of continuous professional development, and that’s only a good thing, so make a great case for why your employer should be investing in sending you on courses and don’t expect them to offer you training on a plate.
Finally, don’t think that you can’t take a PM job because you don’t have experience. You can get project management skills from any walk of life, including volunteering and managing a household, so don’t be put off by people saying you need deep subject matter expertise. And while it didn’t work this way for me, you can move into project management through other careers, so look for opportunities in your current role.
What’s the biggest hurdle you’ve had to overcome in your career and how?
Time management! With two distinct roles, plus a young family, it’s hard to keep on top of everything. As a result, I spend less time on risk management and proactive strategic work than I would like.
I’m not sure I have overcome it. Some weeks I feel like I’ve got it all under control. Other weeks I don’t have enough time to put the washing on, and I’m scrabbling for something decent to wear.
Have you noticed a change in your workplace since you’ve made a name for yourself in the online community?
Not really. I don’t go around at work handing out copies of my blog articles or anything! I just get on with my job, and at work, I’m one of the team. I had written one book at the time of my interview, and I think that helped me get the job, though.
How have you seen the role of PM change and where do you see it in the future?
Technology has changed how we do our jobs. Back in 2008 when I first started getting interested in social and collaboration tools (and it wasn’t that long ago), we didn’t have as much choice. Project team members were active on social media channels, and as project managers we still relied heavily on paper reports, Excel spreadsheets and Microsoft Project. Nothing wrong with any of those tools, by the way. However, my take on it was that we should be easy to do business with and that we should be working the way our teams worked.
The last few years have seen a complete sea change in the way tools have adapted to suit the needs of mobile, highly technically-literate teams. It’s less now about tapping into existing social media channels and more about choosing online collaboration tools that support the way you manage projects with a virtual team.
Agile seems to be the new buzzword in Australia, how do you find it and do you have a preferred method of working?
I don’t have experience of working in a truly Agile environment, but I am highly supportive of embedding end users into the project team and collaborative iterative working.
