Why I was Successful as a IT Program and Project Manager

Technology Project Management

 

Why I was Successful as a IT Program and Project Manager
"What has contributed to your success?"(A question I get at conference presentations and within coaching sessions)
I began my career in the Aerospace and Department of Defense (DOD) environments. And before I became a project and program manager in those environments and the commercial IT industry, I had held positions as a specialist in Development (Systems and Procedures Analyst, etc.), Configuration Management and Quality Assurance. I attended training sessions to understand standards and regulations for these disciplines or processes along with creating plans that had to be approved, applied and used for system engineering and IT (as we now know it) development projects and programs.

Best Practice Processes' best practices, Knowledge Transfer, and Lessons Learned
Except from an article and my response:
“…Several years back and during my early project management career I was working for this IT company. I was told that there were concerns for each time I had to take on a new project in a different technology or business environment: system, software, application, migration, infrastructure/networks, web development, e-business and e-commerce. But because of my past success, senior management had confidence in me. I recall also being taken aside by a trusted manager and being told that several managers were concerned about me being as successful in network development and migration projects as I had been in the software/application and system engineering development environments? (Note: large scale system, database, and system integration development projects and programs…and don’t think I didn't consult with the technology experts, receive on the job training and attended classes about a variety of technologies and their resulting benefits.) I just laughed and said to him that we will just have to see. I was not concerned if I did what I do best and lead with what I have learned (lessons learned), and built the “right” team and planned and effectively executed the what called Best Practice Processes (Project/Program Management, the Development Process/Methodologies (which addresses the SDLC),System/Software Management and System/Software Quality Assurance).

Technology Project Program Management

Technology Project Management Best Practices

Project Managers, Business and System Analysts have Different Responsibilities

Recently their have been job descriptions requesting a Project Manager/Business Analyst (PM/BA). A Business Analyst and Systems Analyst (SA) have different roles and responsibilities. A BA relates to the Business side and gathers requirements and specifies/documents business requirements and SA relates to the Technical side and analyses is problems, supports the determination of solutions and business requirements to create and specify functional and non-functional requirements.

That's why is it important to understand the differences and that anyone applying for a BA or SA position must pay particular attention to the responsibilities and skills sets/qualifications required. The PM, BA, and SA have different roles and extensive responsibilities. With a small project you may have a PM doing some BA work but don’t kid yourself. For intermediate and large scale projects and programs they have full time responsibilities. Many IT Project Managers manage multiple projects but the responsibilities are basically the same.