The Project Manager Interview - What to Expect in Today's Business Environment

Today's project manager interview explores the changing requirements of project management in the current business climate. The traditional project manager role focused on the processes and tools needed to complete a project within a set budget and time frame. It no longer makes best business sense to develop a long-term plan and stick to it at all costs. Factors such as globalization, stricter accountability, employee development, change and risk management and unstable economic conditions all require that companies today have to be able to adapt quickly and to be flexible to succeed in tough economic times.

How does this impact on the project manager interview?

Project managers need to be flexible and adaptable. The change management process is essential to the success of a project. Project manager interview questions will explore the ability of the candidate to quickly assess a new situation and adapt effectively to it. The project manager needs to fill the role of coach, communicator and conflict and resistance manager with the team when change is introduced.

They need to be strategic thinkers who can successfully build strategies consistent with organizational beliefs, goals and plans. The project manager is required to consider not only the success of the project itself but also the success of the project outcome. What is the strategic impact of the project? The new role of the project manager requires a comprehensive knowledge of the strategy that the project is supporting and the ability to place the project in the context of an existing strategic plan.

Project managers need to come up with innovative ways of improving effectiveness and finding solutions to challenges. The project manager should go beyond accepting and implementing the first solution that comes to mind. Solutions need to be found through the generation of ideas and possible alternatives in a creative manner and thinking out of the box can go a long way in finding workable solutions. Expect interview questions that determine your willingness to be creative and inventive with both the initiation of a new project as well as the components of an existing project.

The modern project manager must be able to motivate and inspire confidence in the project team regardless of the difficulties and challenges they face. Leadership skills are key to successful project management. An effective project manager needs to lead though setting goals and using the most appropriate methods to guide and influence the project team towards goal attainment. Good leaders make team members feel they have a real stake in the project and encourage them to participate in meeting challenges. Interview questions will explore the ability to effectively structure a team, to implement and maintain good intra-team communication and to enhance team satisfaction. Encouragement and positive reinforcement are key to getting the team to effectively work together,

Project management tools and processes remain important but the emphasis has shifted in the project manager interview to an exploration of whether the candidate has these key project leadership skills. Project Manager Interview Questions and Answer Guidelines help you prepare for success in your project management job interview.

Julia Penny has many years experience interviewing and placing candidates in a wide range of positions. She has recruited project managers for a number of companies. Her free website on successful job interviews is available at best-job-interview.com.

Project Management Training In Today's World

Through project management training, people can learn how to work on projects and manage projects in them most effective way, making optimum use of all resources. The project manager can utilize project management tools to ensure effective management of the project. An important part of project management is leadership, as projects may fail without a good leader.

Part of a project manager's job is to define a project's scope. This way, the project will not evolve into something too large to be completed on time. Aspects of project management can actually be applied to projects of any size. In fact, people use project management tools all the time, without even knowing that they are the same tools project managers use.

One example of a project is cleaning one's house. The one that is doing the cleaning must first make plans. These plans will include where to start the cleaning, what cleaning supplies and tools will be needed, and how much time they want to spend on each room. Every decision that is made in the house cleaning is also part of project management planning.

An example of a larger project is building a house, as it includes many project aspects. They would first need an architect to create the initial design for the house, then a group to prepare the land for construction, followed by builders, carpenters, painters, and so on. This type of project requires certain tasks to be completed before others are started. These larger projects result in project management becoming a contact sport.

Leadership is a contact sport. The leaders or project managers must manage all resources that are applicable to the project and the time that is spent on the different aspects of the project. Resources of projects include each person assigned to work on the project, supplies, outsourcers, and anything else that is included in the completion of a project. Each resource is vital to the project, though some resources may only be active in a particular section of the project.

Project managers can utilize many different tools in project management training. This training can assist a project manager in the planning stage or a project, as well as in assigning resources and coming up with an appropriate timeline for successfully completing the project. Such programs can demonstrate to people that leadership in effective project management is a contact support. Projects may prove unsuccessful if there isn't regular contact between everyone involved on the project.

Clearly project management training is essential when you are planning any project. No project is too small for project management. Larger projects which require detailed project management can be augmented by the use of related computer software programs.

Project management training helps people learn how to manage projects most effectively. Certain project management tools can be utilized for this purpose. Project management methods can be applied to any project, irrespective of size. A wide range of people uses the tools for project management, daily. They can be utilized in any area, from cleaning a house to building a house, and so forth. Leadership is vital to project management. It is all about communication and contact with the team. Thus Leadership Is A Contact Sport. A project manager should utilize his resources, including his team members, supplies and outsourcers, properly. Without this, the project cannot be successfully completed.

Software Project Management in Today's Business World

As a practicing project manager I felt that I could provide some good tools, useful information and cool links related to this field. This page is for project managers and the purpose is to share information on software development project management topics. My scope on this page is to provide general, as well as, specific project information and software to assist anyone who is working to establish consistent software project leadership.

Moreover, I hope to provide some assistance in building professionalism. The current literature still says even with all the training going on and attention to managing projects there is still a rather large error or failure rate in software projects. If your career path is in project management you have a legacy problem and even more reason to read and apply the things that work. My favorite book on this stuff is by Harold Kerzner and is Project Management A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. I had the good fortune to attend PMI certification training with Dr Kerzner as the instructor.

This article is on project management body of knowledge (PMBOK).

Before anything else remember that responsibility without sponsorship makes you an immediate target for project time, scope and resource adjustment problems. Responsibility without authority is pretty much like having great vanity. It means almost nothing when tough choices are required. It is quite a lot like Solomon's thinking on vanity being "like striving after the wind".

First of all my focus is on the principles developed by Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and shared by project managers world-wide within the context of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).

As a starting point it is important to discuss what is called the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK). The PMBOK was developed to provide c

onsistent definition to the phases of a project and to delineate what should be considered as important within the context of each part of project management guidance.

The knowledge areas and project management processes are contained in nine main focus areas.

Project Integration Management - development of project plan, project plan execution and change control.

Project Scope Management - initiation, scope planning, scope definition, scope verification and scope change control.

Project Time Management - activity definition, activity sequencing, activity duration estimation, schedule development and schedule control.

Project Cost Management - resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting and cost control.

Project Quality Management - quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control.

Project Human Resource Management - organizational planning, staff acquisition and team development.

Project Communications Management - communications planning, information distribution, performance reporting and administrative closure.

Project Risk Management - risk identification, risk qualification, risk response development and risk response control.

Project Procurement Management - procurement planning, solicitation planning, solicitation, source selection, contract administration and contract close-out.

As you can see from these focus areas there is a strong emphasis on the use and meaning of the word "control". A LOT of activity and paperwork can be developed in these management areas, but the main point is that there must be corrective action as required. The authority and responsibility resides with the project manager.

There are many skills and attributes that a project manager needs to draw upon to be effective. The project manager has to be:

Leader - as a manager the primary concern is consistently provide key results that are expected by the "stakeholders". Leading is also required and involves establishing the vision, strategies needed to "realize" the vision, and, in fact, establishing the direction. The leader must motivate, inspire and communicate among the various people overcoming the political, bureaucratic and people barriers. It is important to remember that leadership must be demonstrated at all levels within the project such as by individuals responsible for technical issues and by team members.

Communicating - exchanging information is the key. Make sure that clear, concise and complete information is given to the receiver. Make sure that the receiver has obtained the information in its entirety and that it is clearly understood. Communications is a broad subject area but suffice to say that, whether oral or written, communications is critical to the project. It does not matter whether the communications are formal, whether the communications are going up, down or vertical. What does matter is that the effort will be far exceeded by the results. One area to remember is that if you tell everyone at once you have a better chance of getting your concerns or information disseminated correctly rather than reliance on word of mouth by members of the team telling others. Every time a different person relays information the slant, intent, body language, inflection all have a chance to infer something different.

Negotiating - conferring with people to come to consensus or agreement. Negotiating infers that there may be a need for a mediator, arbitrator or facilitator. It depends on the circumstance, the importance, the level, and, more likely, the issues. Issues like cost, scope, objectives, contract terms and conditions, resources can all require negotiating skills.

Problem solving - defining (problem definition) and deciding (decision making based on analysis, solution viability or dictates from stakeholders).

Influencing the organization - the ability to use power and politics to get things done. This requires the ability to understand the mechanics or the organization regarding how to constructively use political ability.

Project management processes can be organized into five groupings of one or more processes each as follows:

Initiating processes - this includes recognizing that a project or phase should begin and making a commitment to do it.

Planning processes - this means developing and maintaining a "workable" plan to accomplish what the project was undertaken to accomplish.

Executing processes - coordinating people and any other resources to "execute" or carry out the plan.

Controlling processes - making sure that the project objectives are met by measuring and monitoring progress. Furthermore, it means taking appropriate corrective actions when necessary.

Closing processes - bringing the project to an orderly conclusion with formal acceptance of the phase or the project.

Everyone connected with managing projects has had the additional core challenge of developing metrics that are "added value" in performance capability and delivery of completed projects that meet the expectations of stakeholders. Collecting metrics does not mean just tabulating figures. It means developing information that helps now and then helps even more in future efforts.

There are many, many methods. The charge is to determine what works best for your organization. There are volumes of information on what to collect and how to use the measures effectively. The main point is to not just collect data. Collect information!

My next article will discuss the project triangle and the level of technical solution - time, resources and technology solutions. Following that I will be sharing information on Six Sigma as developed by Motorola that can drastically change the quality of your products and/or services by instilling a business process culture that does affect the organization and provide positive returns. In fact the principles are based on statistical analysis that revolves around the concept of standard deviation.

I would now like to offer some suggestions, by way of experience, and then offer some links to places I have found of great value to me.

Cost Expert is a fairly inexpensive software package that provides for what-if, reporting, combining types of estimates such as function points, top down, bottom up, GUI. Moreover, you can use it with Microsoft Project. I have enjoyed the functionality and reporting capabilities. The software will help generate good plans, resource requirements and risk factors. Cost Expert is particularly good for project managers working without a formalized project-central organizational approach.

I have also been a big fan of Microsoft Project software ever since Project 4. The new version still provides a database schema and the VBA capability to expand the functionality continues to make the product a good choice for those not interested in spending much more money for project software.

There is a fairly simple wizard that is good to start with in counting function points. It is called the SEER Function Point Wizard and it is fpwiz.

There is a PDF file on DoD initiatives regarding software measurement that is Software Measures for DOD Systems.

MMB&T makes available version 1.1 of the SoftEST which was developed by MCR Federal Inc. on behalf of the Air Force Cost Analysis Agency.

SoftEST Cost Model (V1.1) (1 MB - Zipped file)

DEVELOP YOUR MICROSOFT PROJECT AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Getting the most out of Microsoft Project requires using the product features correctly and using the right features to meet your project management needs.

Microsoft describes resources you will find helpful in developing your skills with Microsoft Project and applying them to the broader field of project management.

Read about it at: Microsoft Project Assistance

Microsoft® Project Courseware Trainer Pack

These are but a few resources available. The good news is that the function is now recognized as something that merits full attention from executive management and sponsorship to avoid the previously very high failure rate on projects.

This article is copywrited by Martin Floyd of MMB&T. All rights reserved.

Software Project Management in Today's Business World

As a practicing project manager I felt that I could provide some good tools, useful information and cool links related to this field. This page is for project managers and the purpose is to share information on software development project management topics. My scope on this page is to provide general, as well as, specific project information and software to assist anyone who is working to establish consistent software project leadership.

Moreover, I hope to provide some assistance in building professionalism. The current literature still says even with all the training going on and attention to managing projects there is still a rather large error or failure rate in software projects. If your career path is in project management you have a legacy problem and even more reason to read and apply the things that work. My favorite book on this stuff is by Harold Kerzner and is Project Management A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. I had the good fortune to attend PMI certification training with Dr Kerzner as the instructor.

This article is on project management body of knowledge (PMBOK).

Before anything else remember that responsibility without sponsorship makes you an immediate target for project time, scope and resource adjustment problems. Responsibility without authority is pretty much like having great vanity. It means almost nothing when tough choices are required. It is quite a lot like Solomon's thinking on vanity being "like striving after the wind".

First of all my focus is on the principles developed by Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and shared by project managers world-wide within the context of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).

As a starting point it is important to discuss what is called the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK). The PMBOK was developed to provide c

onsistent definition to the phases of a project and to delineate what should be considered as important within the context of each part of project management guidance.

The knowledge areas and project management processes are contained in nine main focus areas.

Project Integration Management - development of project plan, project plan execution and change control.

Project Scope Management - initiation, scope planning, scope definition, scope verification and scope change control.

Project Time Management - activity definition, activity sequencing, activity duration estimation, schedule development and schedule control.

Project Cost Management - resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting and cost control.

Project Quality Management - quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control.

Project Human Resource Management - organizational planning, staff acquisition and team development.

Project Communications Management - communications planning, information distribution, performance reporting and administrative closure.

Project Risk Management - risk identification, risk qualification, risk response development and risk response control.

Project Procurement Management - procurement planning, solicitation planning, solicitation, source selection, contract administration and contract close-out.

As you can see from these focus areas there is a strong emphasis on the use and meaning of the word "control". A LOT of activity and paperwork can be developed in these management areas, but the main point is that there must be corrective action as required. The authority and responsibility resides with the project manager.

There are many skills and attributes that a project manager needs to draw upon to be effective. The project manager has to be:

Leader - as a manager the primary concern is consistently provide key results that are expected by the "stakeholders". Leading is also required and involves establishing the vision, strategies needed to "realize" the vision, and, in fact, establishing the direction. The leader must motivate, inspire and communicate among the various people overcoming the political, bureaucratic and people barriers. It is important to remember that leadership must be demonstrated at all levels within the project such as by individuals responsible for technical issues and by team members.

Communicating - exchanging information is the key. Make sure that clear, concise and complete information is given to the receiver. Make sure that the receiver has obtained the information in its entirety and that it is clearly understood. Communications is a broad subject area but suffice to say that, whether oral or written, communications is critical to the project. It does not matter whether the communications are formal, whether the communications are going up, down or vertical. What does matter is that the effort will be far exceeded by the results. One area to remember is that if you tell everyone at once you have a better chance of getting your concerns or information disseminated correctly rather than reliance on word of mouth by members of the team telling others. Every time a different person relays information the slant, intent, body language, inflection all have a chance to infer something different.

Negotiating - conferring with people to come to consensus or agreement. Negotiating infers that there may be a need for a mediator, arbitrator or facilitator. It depends on the circumstance, the importance, the level, and, more likely, the issues. Issues like cost, scope, objectives, contract terms and conditions, resources can all require negotiating skills.

Problem solving - defining (problem definition) and deciding (decision making based on analysis, solution viability or dictates from stakeholders).

Influencing the organization - the ability to use power and politics to get things done. This requires the ability to understand the mechanics or the organization regarding how to constructively use political ability.

Project management processes can be organized into five groupings of one or more processes each as follows:

Initiating processes - this includes recognizing that a project or phase should begin and making a commitment to do it.

Planning processes - this means developing and maintaining a "workable" plan to accomplish what the project was undertaken to accomplish.

Executing processes - coordinating people and any other resources to "execute" or carry out the plan.

Controlling processes - making sure that the project objectives are met by measuring and monitoring progress. Furthermore, it means taking appropriate corrective actions when necessary.

Closing processes - bringing the project to an orderly conclusion with formal acceptance of the phase or the project.

Everyone connected with managing projects has had the additional core challenge of developing metrics that are "added value" in performance capability and delivery of completed projects that meet the expectations of stakeholders. Collecting metrics does not mean just tabulating figures. It means developing information that helps now and then helps even more in future efforts.

There are many, many methods. The charge is to determine what works best for your organization. There are volumes of information on what to collect and how to use the measures effectively. The main point is to not just collect data. Collect information!

My next article will discuss the project triangle and the level of technical solution - time, resources and technology solutions. Following that I will be sharing information on Six Sigma as developed by Motorola that can drastically change the quality of your products and/or services by instilling a business process culture that does affect the organization and provide positive returns. In fact the principles are based on statistical analysis that revolves around the concept of standard deviation.

I would now like to offer some suggestions, by way of experience, and then offer some links to places I have found of great value to me.

Cost Expert is a fairly inexpensive software package that provides for what-if, reporting, combining types of estimates such as function points, top down, bottom up, GUI. Moreover, you can use it with Microsoft Project. I have enjoyed the functionality and reporting capabilities. The software will help generate good plans, resource requirements and risk factors. Cost Expert is particularly good for project managers working without a formalized project-central organizational approach.

I have also been a big fan of Microsoft Project software ever since Project 4. The new version still provides a database schema and the VBA capability to expand the functionality continues to make the product a good choice for those not interested in spending much more money for project software.

There is a fairly simple wizard that is good to start with in counting function points. It is called the SEER Function Point Wizard and it is fpwiz.

There is a PDF file on DoD initiatives regarding software measurement that is Software Measures for DOD Systems.

MMB&T makes available version 1.1 of the SoftEST which was developed by MCR Federal Inc. on behalf of the Air Force Cost Analysis Agency.

SoftEST Cost Model (V1.1) (1 MB - Zipped file)

DEVELOP YOUR MICROSOFT PROJECT AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Getting the most out of Microsoft Project requires using the product features correctly and using the right features to meet your project management needs.

Microsoft describes resources you will find helpful in developing your skills with Microsoft Project and applying them to the broader field of project management.

Read about it at: Microsoft Project Assistance

Microsoft® Project Courseware Trainer Pack

These are but a few resources available. The good news is that the function is now recognized as something that merits full attention from executive management and sponsorship to avoid the previously very high failure rate on projects.

This article is copywrited by Martin Floyd of MMB&T. All rights reserved.