Foul Tech Sours

"On an annualized basis, employers will need to fill nearly 2.2 MILLION new project-oriented roles each year through 2027." - PMI, Job Growth and Talent Gap in Project Management 2017 With many seasoned project management practitioners reaching retirement age, there has been a threat of a potential gap in the availability of qualified talent in project management. As the global economy becomes more project-oriented, the demand for project management has continued to grow. Although project management professionals are trained and certified regularly, there are many factors that contribute to the loss of value of project management as an art form. In today's business environment, we want things fast, cheap, and potentially virtual if it will help reduce overhead costs. While many organizations have turned to third party project management consulting as a way to fill this gap internally, a newly emerging method of consulting is coming to change the game: micro-consulting

In the fall of 2016, I had the pleasure of taking Mr. Leslie "Jim" Sklenar as a professor for my Communications Management course. While there were many key takeaways from this course, the biggest takeaway for me concerned conflict resolution and management. Although this was not the primary purpose of the course, the brief overview of conflict resolution and management led me to a simple yet very relevant thought: It is not only the responsibility of a project manager to manage and control the triple constraint, but a project manager may need to also be a peer mediator. This year, during the fall of 2017 in an elective course titled "Special Topics in Project Management", Mr. Marcus Parker further broadened this perspective for me. A project manager's responsibility regarding conflict management is not limited to just peer mediation, but at times may require the project manager to be a teacher, a mentor, and (dare I say it), a referee. Though initially insult

In my short time as a professional, I've performed a few actions that I personally consider "checking the box": Graduated high school. Check. Got a government internship. Check. Got a technical undergraduate degree. Check. Obtained a job as a software developer. Check.  Got a job in project management. Check. Got my CAPM. Check. Completed a Master in Project Management. Check (Almost..two weeks left!) Although I have already gotten my foot in the door as a Technical Project Manager, I realize that many of my classmates have not yet penetrated the field. Being among my actual peers (age-wise) has made me realize that we are all completing these "checks in boxes", but don't know what to do next. We (yes, we) often find ourselves performing these accomplishments then asking "How do I...?", "What if I...?", or just straight up "Now what?" especially when it comes to entering the project management fie

In a text prepared by Andrew Wicks, Edward Freeman, Patricia Werhane, and Kirsten Martin, the authors discuss various approaches to tackling business ethics in a global society. While there is some emphasis on different perspectives that represent extreme views on how to have a discussion about global ethics, the authors provide several concepts that present an intermediate platform to discuss conflicting views. Global goals, formally known as universal values, are just one way in which conflicts about sustainable development can be addressed. Global goals are important because they represent a “set of moral principles on which people can at least agree” (Wicks ,et al., 2009). This set of moral minimums provides overarching goals that address poverty, hunger, education, environmental sustainment, world peace, and global partnerships. Specifically, universally accepted global values bring people of varying cultures, socio-economic classifications, age groups, and professions togethe

Good communication is known to be a key component of successful project management. Project managers are expected to have a broad set of communication skills: they must be interpersonal, amiable, tactful in their communications, and most importantly, they must be open minded. With open mindedness comes the expectation that project managers are tolerant of individuals of varying ethnicities, religious beliefs, knowledge levels, financial situations, personal characteristics, and temperament. The personality of an individual cannot be changed, however, the way in which a project manager communicates with stakeholder, can change. An experienced project manager will have likely dealt with different personalities over the course of his or her career. Some people are introverts while other are extroverts. Some people say exactly what they’re thinking, while other people may be more soft spoken. Some individuals may always require detailed guidance and direction, while others may be more au

Photo courtesy of  Proof Positive Cash. Currency. Dinero. Mula. Capital.  Regardless of which term you use, it's all the same thing: MONEY. It's valuable and very highly coveted. To some, it's easy to obtain, for others, it eludes them very easily. With regards to Project Management, money is a very value resource, a necessity in some cases, that is required for a project manager and his or her team to successfully complete an assigned project. It's a commonly known fact that it's rare, if not impossible, to perfectly guesstimate a budget for a project. This is usually the case for long term, large scale projects. The mistakes that project managers make when it comes to the cost estimation of the overall project varies. Sometimes, project manager can be too optimistic. Other times, the project manager may fail to account for certain aspects of a project that may involve cost. And, very frequently, known unknowns come into play and unexpectedly dep