Joe's Jottings
Jottings Number 39, Reply B, by David Straker:
From: uunet!HP-UnitedKingdom-om1.om.hp.com!DAVID_STRAKER
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 95 18:02:06 +0100
Whee more heroes... >I'm working with Richard Bauhaus right now on upgrading the Transition to >Project Management course. I am currently talking to people about the trends >that are building at HP which impact project managers and the project >management environment. We want to understand the most current challenges that Tell us more! >a new project manager may face, since as you know since you have been a >speaker, the purpose of the course is to let prospective project managers or >inquisitive individual contributors know what they may be in for. > >Is this issue about heroes, since it has touched such a nerve, a good subject >to address in the program? Is it too relegated to the technical environments? Definitely. Managing heroes can be tricky: The stereotype hero (and I have known a few) have very large, very delicate egos. > Is it a trend or as Chris Argyris would say, "an undiscussable"? I don't know what you mean by 'trend', but I would alert PMs to Argyris's work. >What other trends do you see impacting the project manager of today? Probably the same as before, only more so. >On another subject, what do you feel the needs of a long term project manager >are (someone who has been in the job for over ten years) that should be >addressed by the Project Management Initiative? How should we be reaching out >to them? Project managers can tend to be great techies but poor people managers. I'd teach them more about psychology and try to get them to take their hands off the technical stuff. The best manager I had was an ex-French teacher. He assumed we knew our jobs, set objectives, then did his level best to help us achieve them together. > The wisdom and insight and the collective intelligence of the > remarkable group of people on your distribution network would be > appreciate. Flattery will get you everywhere. ;-) Dave