Project Management and Career Success

Project management has been an integral component in my career development till now and has given me an opportunity to both develop and exhibit my skills.

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow"  ― Ronald E. Osborn

It was an honor and great joy to host the panel discussion on Project Management and Career Success organized by the Project Management Club at UT Dallas. In my capacity as a moderator of the panel discussion, I got a chance to interact with the panelists- experts from the industry- and put forward my questions to them, set the pace of the discussion and navigate it to queries from the audience. On the back of their extensive industry experience and diverse backgrounds, each panelist shared very intriguing and thought-provoking insights on latest trends in project management and future prospects. The discussion took place around topics such as current and future trends, industry expectations, the different career paths, and the nuances of becoming successful in the project management domain.

I have made an attempt to merge my understanding, experience and knowledge in this domain with some of the key takeaways of this enlightening panel discussion.

Emotional intelligence – A project manager needs to make critical decisions throughout the project life cycle for successful delivery of the project. Risk management, conflict resolution, stakeholder coordination, communication at all levels, and many more falls under their purview. EQ is a good barometer of how a project manager is able to deal with all such aspects of project management. It is an essential characteristic required of project managers so as to successfully deliver projects within the project constraints, and keep all stakeholders satisfied in the process.

Technological advancement such as IoT, AI – IoT and AI is not just the future, it has already arrived. This has seen an influx in new type of projects that need to be implemented over hitherto unknown areas. As new technologies keep permeating more into everyday businesses, it has become important for project managers to be aware of the ways they can successfully handle and deliver projects related to this field. Technological advancements are going to revolutionize the way we do business and will certainly grow exponentially over the course of coming years. It will find its way into project management software and will introduce new ways of undertaking the project management functions. It will enable quicker and easier access to data and reports, improve flexibility and productivity and provide better tools for more effective collaboration. It is essential for Project Managers to keep up with the pace of technological advancements in the industry to not only thrive but to sustain, even.

Methodologies – Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all methodologies, now we have various methodologies in the industry such as Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, etc. to choose from that customizes project delivery and makes it more efficient and more relevant to a customer. Due to their uniqueness and varied utilities, there is no one single methodology that is preferred over the others. There can be cases where one method is applied to some phases and another method in remaining phases of a project. Even though the industry is moving away from Waterfall towards Agile practices due to their iterative nature of adapting to the changing environment, there is also a growing need for a hybrid methodology to manage projects. Project managers are required to not only know the latest industry practices, but also, have the knowledge of traditional methodologies- this helps them choose the best approach that to run a given project with.

It was indeed an extremely informative and insightful session, that exposed us to different facets of project management.  The panel had the rapt attention of the entire audience and were able to impart a new way of thinking into the group.

 “In vain have you acquired knowledge if you have not imparted it to others” - Deuteronomy Rabbah

The discussion enriched my knowledge in project management and the above captures it at a high level. Sharing this here as it will be helpful for those interested in keeping abreast with emerging trends in project management and wants to make a career in it.