Live at #PWWCBA: Metrics Magic and Social Currency

"Metrics Magic: Stop Guessing and Start Measuring your Requirements Practices" with Bradford J. Sandler PMP, Executive Project Manager, IBM Software Group Rational started off the afternoon in The New Era of Social Communication, Leadership & Collaboration track.

Sandler works with the Jazz team at IBM. According to the Jazz site, "Jazz is an initiative to transform software and systems delivery by making it more collaborative, productive and transparent, through integration of information and tasks across the phases of the lifecycle."

One interesting aspect Sandler mentioned briefly was the idea of  social currency being built up as users of a collaborative product digitally compliment their coworkers for providing useful information. In addition to actually allowing employees to easily access the assets (such as educational materials, documentation or presentations) they need more easily and conveniently  to accomplish a task, this social level of feedback provides both positive reinforcement and a metric for evaluation. Would you consider implementing a system like that at your company? Are there any disadvantages to a "reward" system like this?

Live from #PWWCBA: An Activity for Changing Your Mindset

During our next session "Measuring Product Knowledge Not Project Tasks" with Dr. Terry Barnhart, Senior Director Global R&D, Pfizer, Barnhart shared an activity that could be a good exercise for anyone wishing to think their way around project roadblocks.

Step 1. Write down a multi-step task (say, 5 steps) in a project you are working on
Step 2. Write down two entirely different sets of steps that could give you the same output value
Step 3. For each step of the process, write down the questions that each step answers
(For example, if your step is "Walk to the store to get food" the question might be "How am I going to feed myself?")

By replacing activities with questions you open yourself up to different possibilities. Answered your questions become a proxy for progress on your project, unanswered they can show you clearly where your project gaps are.

Live from #PWWCBA: Chuck Millhollan, GEEK

Our first main conference day at the 2011 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® kicked off with Chuck Millhollan identifying himself with one word (Geek, rather than the string of letters that follow his name MBA, MPM, PMP, PgMP, CBAP) and then identifying some of the characteristics that make a good Project Manager.

What does leadership seek when hiring a Project Manager:
Problem solving skills
Communications
- writing skills
- presentation skills
Interpersonal Skills
Team Building Skills
Professional Discipline

Many of these terms are only glancingly mentioned in the PMBoK ad BABoK, yet these are the soft skills that hiring managers are looking for most. Hard skills (or certification for that matter) are implied or expected, but soft skills will set you apart. According to Millhollan, the continued value of a project manager is more about critical judgement then simply maturing processes and technologies.

Key takeaway: don't learn the body of knowledge to make yourself more marketable, learn the foundations to make yourself a great PM or BA. 

Soft skills, professional acumen and then lastly business acumen mare the recipe for a great PM or BA.

The most memorable quote for me from this session was the following: "Knowledge is not power, knowledge is potential, how you apply the knowledge is power"

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com.