Few things in life generate as much stress as the job search! For those in the midst of the job search process – this certainly isn’t news. For those who have gone through it, and that would be most of us, it could be locked away and filed under “Experiences We Wish To Forget.” Realistically, most of us will undergo the job search process more than once in our professional lifetimes – voluntarily or not, so it’s a good idea to think about what this entails and do a bit of prep work – just in case.

There are many kinds of teams.  A functional team is a permanent team established to conduct operational activities for a particular part of the organization, such as finance, sales, marketing, etc. 

There is no specified time limit on functional teams as they are needed to keep the business running.  A project team is brought together for a discrete period of time to achieve a defined goal.  At the end of the project the team is disbanded. 

Project teams are often matrix in nature, staffed by members taken from diverse functional teams in order to achieve the project goal.  When the Project Manager has a high degree of authority this is known as a strong matrix; when Functional Managers have stronger authority this is known as a weak matrix.

Here’s something I hear a lot in IT development teams:

• Users don’t know what they want
• Users are always changing the requirements

The other day I sat in a meeting with a development team PM and her client. The system, mind you, is already built, but not yet live. I listened, incredulously, as the users asked for one new requirement after another. It was like watching children go nuts in the grocery store while the slightly clueless parent says “Please Johnny don’t.” I was embarrassed for the PM because, quite frankly, she had done a very poor job of managing her users. 

There are times we all fall out of love with those things we cherish the most. Our closest friends, our homes, and our careers can all migrate from being what we treasure to becoming what we tolerate. And yet, with Valentine’s Day upon us, it’s a great idea to find ways to fall back into love. And yes, I’m talking about falling in love with your career as a project manager. 

Have you ever heard the expression, “Play with the equipment you are issued?” It’s used to encourage people to make the most of their God-given talents. Rather than spending time worrying about or wishing they had other skills, they should be grateful for them, sharpen them, and do their absolute best with them.

In working with a client on the basic rules of earned value, I found myself coaching them on the 32 basic rules, known as the Cost Schedule Control Systems Criteria (CS-squared).  As we talked to the specific subcomponents that have to be in place to make earned value sing and dance, the question surfaced time and again, "Where do my team members fit into this?"

Download the Self-Evaluation Form and Rate Your PM Skills (50.5 KB Excel Worksheet)

Employing qualified PMs is a significant requirement recognized across many Federal agencies. These are vastly important jobs and often extremely satisfying to those PMs skilled enough to be selected. Unfortunately, the definitions still vary by agency for the term “qualified PM”.