Are You F.i.t. To Be A Project Manager? Part 1

So, you’ve made the decision to become a Project Manager. Have you ever asked yourself why? I know that the general consensus these days is that the Project Management profession is growing and that there is a tremendous need for experienced project managers. What an incredible opportunity!

Your choice to become a project manager may be quite logical based on your current career path. After all, you’ve been successful as a systems analyst, developer, or whatever else it is that you do – so why not move up the career ladder and get a pay raise by becoming a Project Manager? After all, everyone knows that project managers do make a lot of money for not really doing anything, don’t they?

Now obviously I’m being facetious. But you must recognize that there is this myth prevalent in the IT industry that project managers are not real workers. Why? Maybe it’s because the work that we do sometimes has a sense of “invisibility” – a lot of it is intangible. In many cases, your clients will not see any physical output except when the project is delivered successfully.

To try to prevent this perception from materializing, some project managers respond by getting very involved in the detailed tasks – in an effort to prove to their clients, their teams, and maybe even themselves that they really are working – that they are valuable to the project.

Sadly, because they often schedule themselves to complete critical tasks, the oversight and control that they were supposed to be exerting as project managers does not get done and so the crises begin.

So, take this time to assess yourself. Do you truly believe that you have the skills and disposition to become a successful Project Manager? Do you know what these are?

Well, that’s where we come in. I have decided to approach this assessment in much the same way as we analyze any product that has proven successful. Let’s use the metric known as “Fitness for Use”.

Fitness for Use

Most of you may be are familiar with the term “Fitness for Use” when it is applied to software or hardware analysis. Is the software or hardware that we are recommending or developing going to fit the needs as specified by our clients? These requirements can be reviewed from both qualitative or quantitative terms – it doesn’t really matter. The main purpose of this evaluation is to ensure that any component or system that is recommended should be fit for use in the environment that it is being installed and under the constraints that may exist or that is specified by our clients.

So how does this apply to Project Management?

Well, think of modifying the acronym “F.I.T” to represent the three key characteristics that any successful project manager should demonstrate:

Focus
Intensity
Training

The Standish Group’s Chaos Report recognized that part of the reasons for project failure could be attributed to the inexperience and lack of training of the assigned Project Manager. In other words, the Project Manager that was assigned was not F.I.T for the job.

We need to make sure that you are F.I.T for this position. This approach may seem a bit radical, but believe me, it is what has helped me set the foundation for a successful career. I have no doubt that it will do the same for you.

In Parts 2 to 4 of this article, we will be exploring the nature of F.I.T. and determine how you can use this information to improve your project management capabilities and levels of project success.