Project Management certifications don’t always equal high quality projects
A PMP, CSM or even a SA certification don’t necessarily make you a good project manager in consulting. It is a criteria recruiters screen for, and can eliminate some very good candidates. Don’t get me wrong, these certifications enable project managers to use a common language and employ standards recognized worldwide.
If you google “Project Manager traits”, you’ll find 100s of articles, stating roughly the same qualities (strategic, organized, change agent, etc). Generally speaking, I’ve found the descriptions of these qualities general. In this blog, I’ll describe in detail and with examples what a good project manager does in consulting.
In a prior blog post, I wrote about the need for Project Managers with proven Salesforce expertise because in the Salesforce ecosystem every project is highly customized. Two other core traits that I look for in a great project manager are proven technical experience, a high EQ and intuitive foresight.
Over the course of my career, I have counseled project managers to step beyond the traditional PM role, determine what is the question behind the question from the client. And stays very close to the project architects and asks them throughout the project what are the risks and, what keeps them up at night.
When coaching PMs, I’ve come across the following:
- Example 1: A very involved client IT team.
Before security testing, I counseled the PM to have the TA create a document describing false positives. It detailed what may occur, why it occurs, and why the system is safe. This allowed the project to stay in front of the “defects” that might be logged, and gave the IT team the confidence that we were one step ahead. - Examples 2 & 3: Proactively prevented UAT Scope Creep.
2. Always use a Traceability Matrix. I counsel PMs to always use a traceability matrix. It maps the User Stories (with Acceptance Criteria) to the Test Scripts, which are in turn mapped to the Test Results. Using this, the PM and Architects can quickly identify new requests disguised as defects, and as an added plus, you ensure everything is tested. This makes testing so much smoother, and again gives the client confidence in the team.
3. Establish Test Triage Process. When using a Traceability Matrix, you must also implement a Test Triage process. At one unhappy client, we found during testing there an immense amount of duplicate defects. And therefore, it made the bug count higher than the actual. Managing the project sponsor became a full time job because they were so upset with testing. Once the PM implemented a strict test triage review process (and detailed test reporting that I knew would give the project sponsor confidence), the defect count dwindled to a very manageable level.
When I interview PMs, below are some of the characteristics I look for in consulting Project Managers. I craft questions or scenarios to gauge their breadth and depth. And most importantly, you have to phrase the question so you don’t give away the “typical best answer”.
Flesh out the EQ of Project Managers
This is about behavioral questions, and be extremely careful how you word the questions, so that the answer isn’t obvious. Ask how they learn the political landscape at the client. And the answer should be more than a debrief from Sales. In a post on the The Project Management Academy website, they write: “project managers with strong emotional intelligence understanding handle larger projects successfully with more people better than those with less emotional intelligence knowledge.” I could not agree more.
Determine the breadth and depth of their technical knowledge
A PM who states they have been on projects with data migration, integration or code, is not enough. All PMs have been on these projects. But not all projects are successful. Ask them what must be established to keep risks in these areas to a minimum. And expect an experienced somewhat technical answer. Then you’ll know they know.
Great PMs have foresight
They are always 10 moves ahead in the project. Most PMs will say the project plan keeps them on track and keeps them ahead of tasks. But your question.needs to be about the nuances of foresight. For example are they volunteering the following information:
- Always has daily internal stand ups, not to discuss user stories, to work through who is doing what, who needs help, alignment to forecast, concerns, etc
- Has a weekly forecast discussion with the team and updates the forecast by discussing the work and realistic hours.
- IDs the riskiest elements of the project, and start working on them immediately in collaboration with the architects.
- They read every project document, no matter how technical and work with the team to ensure it aligns with the timeline, scope and budget and it is clear and of high quality.
When hiring or promoting staff into a PM role, consider the above. And don’t let the lack of project management certifications eliminate good candidates.
