Things I’ve learned in the work world. Sharing thoughts and advice that I hope will help others in their professional journey.

My Work Mantras

  • Get the right people on the bus (quality of people, especially leadership, matters)
  • Say what you’re going to do, then do it
  • Coach up or coach out
  • People Managers: Don’t spend the majority of time with the poorest performer(s)
  • I’m a helper, not a hero. Going above and beyond every once in a while can be okay, but if you are constantly having to cover for other people’s responsibilities, do extra work, work long hours, etc. there is an organizational problem (for example, lack of resourcing)
  • Empower people to do their best work
  • Don’t spend too much time trying to up-level people’s weaknesses, focus on leveraging their strengths and building a complementary team
  • Delegate decision making when possible
  • Give credit for good work
  • Be comfortable with what you know and don’t know

Project Management Tips

  • Track project details to the level you need to be able to manage the project and report on the status. For example, you don’t need to know how to configure a switch, but you need to have the configuration step in your project plan.
  • Always have an agenda for any meeting you are scheduling or facilitating and send it to participants at least 24 hours before the meeting. This is how you manage the meeting and know when the meeting objectives have been meet. For me, this is the “defintion of done” for a meeting.
  • In my experience a key factor in being a successful project manager is to focus on the management aspect. You need to be the director and a proactive problem solver.
  • It’s important to establish an agreed upon baseline (scope, schedule, resources) because change is guaranteed and you’ll need to be able to communicate the changes to your stakeholders as compared to the baseline to get approvals, additional funding, schedule changes, additional resources, etc.
  • Determine your core project management toolset and leverage those tools for project success. My core project management toolset includes project charter (essential first step for creating a baseline including assumptions), project plan, risk analysis, RACI (responsibility matrix- responsible, accountable, consult, inform), communications plan, change request form, and status report.
  • Project management by it’s very nature introduces change. Learn and use change management principles to increase awareness of your project objectives, goals, and timelines and which will ultimately increase adoption and make you and your projects more successful.
  • When a decision is needed and there are multiple options, make a recommendation and provide supporting rationale. This will help speed up the decision making process even if the Steering Committee (or Business Owner) goes with a different option versus the one you recommended.
  • When creating a project plan try to envision the end-to-end process including all of the steps in between. For example, what needs to be ordered? What’s the lead time? Does someone need to be onsite? You as the PM don’t need to know all of the answers upfront, you can leverage your core project team to help fill in the blanks but thinking through things like handoffs and lead time will help you avoid surprises and delays.

Challenge: Hiring Managers may equate your current role with the entirety of your skill set.

Recommendation: When seeking new roles, promote your relevant experience and skills gained from other roles as well and communicate why that makes you a great candidate for the role you are seeking.

I have found that even the best managers don’t recall an employee’s complete skill set and experience, often equating their current role with their capabilities (which may only be a subset of your skill set). It is important that you articulate the skills and experience that make you a good candidate for the role you are pursuing even if you are applying for an internal role.

Also, don’t assume all the interviewers have read your resume, and even if they did they may not remember all the details. Make sure to reiterate your qualifications and additional experience that makes you a great fit for the role (for example, degrees, certifications, volunteer work, various industries, etc.).

Challenge: Unclear promotion guidance.

Recommendation: Make sure to discuss your path to a promotion with your manager and ask for clear examples of what achieving those requirements looks like. For example, if there is a requirement to be a good collaborator, ask what does that look like? Does it mean being a member of of a cross-divisional product team? Does it mean running a project? How many?

You can also use the job description for the level you are trying to be promoted into to assist with this conversation. For example, are you already doing some of the tasks in that description? If there are additional skills needed those should be incorporated into your development plan (and should also be reflected in your goal setting).

It is important for you and your manager to align on what outcomes and deliverables would indicate that you are ready for the promotion ahead of time (at least a year ahead of time as most promotions are done annually) so there aren’t any misunderstandings about readiness and timing.