PM POWER Moves: Breaking INTO Project Management – 019: Project Management PERSPECTIVE

Welcome back to the PM POWER Moves newsletter! If you missed any of the other iterations, check my profile to read!

I've been actively engaged on LinkedIn since April of 2022. In that time, I've developed a niche of aspiring project managers looking to translate their existing experience (like I did) to gain new opportunities in the project management field. My desire for my content (and this newsletter) is to be able to help YOU do that!

I will be publishing this newsletter every other Sunday and covering a wide variety of content to leverage in your own experience and career to help provide you opportunity!

This week's topic: Project Management PERSPECTIVE

In my last newsletter, I discussed developing a project management mindset and how you can go about doing that.

Part of that mindset shift/development requires adopting a project management perspective (ie: seeing the world as though everything can be tackled as a project).

In today’s article, we’re going to delve deeper into what that looks like, how to ultimately apply it (ex: your job search), and why it’s of benefit to you as an aspiring/pivoting project manager.

There are 6 areas I mentioned in the last newsletter, let’s walk through them individually.

Goal-Oriented Thinking

As a PM, a lot of your job is focused on progressing specific tasks within set timing (and ultimately delivering a viable product/solution).

To do this effectively, you need to define clear business requirements (ie: goals), break them down into actionable tasks, and then assist your project team with progressing them to completion.

By embracing a mindset of goal-oriented thinking, whether in your life or in your job search (or both), you’re building the tools to effectively approach project management.

Systematic Planning

It should be no surprise to anyone that you as a PM need to be good with organization and planning.

Defining scope, creating schedules, identifying resources, and estimating timelines and costs, as well as tracking them throughout a project are massive parts of a PM’s day-to-day job.?You also have to take into account any dependencies, risks, and systems for change.

Developing skills and experience that promote establishing a plan and being able to carry it out effectively are essential to proving you’re ready to take on management of a project in a more formal role.

Risk Awareness

Murphy’s Law: “What can go wrong, will go wrong.”

I’m not saying that every project will have catastrophic problems or be heavily defined by risks, but they are inherent in every part of the projects you perform.

Get good at seeing the long view and make sure you’re looking through those risk binoculars regularly.?A PM that can anticipate problems before they become real is an effective leader and a valuable asset to the team.

Stakeholder Focus

While they’re not always easy to work with, stakeholders (and your ability to engage them) are essential to project success.

Consider the needs and expectations of stakeholders often during your project and ask yourself questions like:

“Am I communicating X information (status, needs, barriers, etc.) effectively?”

“Are my stakeholders aware and present in where we are currently??If not, what can I do to re-engage them?”

Result-Driven Mindset

Ultimately, the name of the game when it comes to PM is acceptable delivery of what’s been asked for.

Prioritize outcomes and focus on value creation by tracking progress, measuring team performance, and using data to help make decisions that will drive you toward project success.

Collaboration and Teamwork

Finally, a PM is only as good as the team they assemble and how well they work with them.

Promote collaboration, be open to input and new ideas, leverage your team’s diverse skills and experience to drive your project forward. Foster an open work environment and be an example to your team by championing effective communication and cooperation.

This list is great and all, but how do you BUILD this where you are to leverage toward a project management opportunity?

Glad you asked, let’s look through a relevant example: pursuing a PM role via job search.

1. Goal-oriented thinking: get clear on what roles and industry you want to pursue, establish a plan (company research, resume tailoring toward specific job descriptions, and networking) that you can carry out to meet that goal of obtaining a formal PM role.
2. Systematic planning: take the goal-oriented plan above and break it down further into manageable chunks.?This would include: which companies to pursue, who specifically to reach out to at that company on open positions, sources of company research to access, how many applications to apply to each day or week, how many people to network with, etc.?Getting specific promotes clarity.?Clarity breeds action.?Action leads to success.
3. Risk awareness: not everything you do will go according to plan.?Your networking may fall flat, you may get initially rejected for a job you really like, you may end up getting an interview but not getting the offer, etc.?Develop strategies (direct follow-ups, continued relationship developing from networking) to keep those channels open and mitigate job search risks.?You never know when a positive risk (original offer for a different candidate falls through, larger budget for an extra hire, etc.) can lead to an opportunity.?Have counters to every counter.
4. Stakeholder focus: ultimately, your job search should highlight more about what you can do for THEM than what they can do for you.?Always circle back (in your resume, in an interview) on how your past/current experience is relevant to THEIR needs for this role.?Position yourself as the best (ideally, only) solution to their problem and needs.
5. Result-driven mindset: this one is obvious, audit your strategies OFTEN.?Evaluate (with data) what you’re doing and whether it’s leading to opportunity.?If your networking strategy is falling flat, evaluate why and change it.?If you haven’t gotten any interviews, compare your resume to the job descriptions you’ve applied to and determine how it’s not meeting it and make those changes.?A plan without a data-driven strategy for improvement is ultimately a prayer.?Always. Be. Iterating.
6. Collaboration and teamwork: you literally can’t (and shouldn’t) do a career transition (or job seeking) alone.?Lean on your networks (both via LinkedIn and personally) to help you gain new opportunities.?Join your local PMI chapter, network with PMs who have made the leap out of the field you’re in, develop relationships with PMs in your current company/community.?Leverage relationships to build toward relationships to build toward opportunity.?It’ll make your job search much quicker and much less stressful.

That’s it!

Adopting a project management perspective in your professional career (and in life) will ultimately drive you toward project management opportunity.?

Build skills including goal-oriented thinking, systematic planning, risk awareness, stakeholder focus, result-driven mindset, and teamwork/collaboration, into your approach to work, your job search, or whatever it is you’re currently pursuing, to allow you to continue to cultivate a project management mindset, and ultimately prepare you to manage projects effectively.

Thank you for reading! As always, I hope these newsletters resonate!

I'd love to hear your feedback as well as any suggestions for future topics that you'd like me to cover.

Please let me know in the comments below or DM me!