Apparently I am a project manager, but I don’t feel like one

[Ollie123]

I’m a 26 year old software consultant and I work for a small software company, I've been told I will be promoted to project manager when we start the 2015/2016 budget; I don’t doubt this.

In the mean time I've just been given my first project worth €110k and I’m very happy with my progression having joined the company straight out of university in 2011. The only problem is I have received no training in project management, nor have any of my colleagues for that matter (all of which are older than me and have been with the company much longer).

We all just run on gut feeling, common sense, and a bunch of excel documents that we’ve mustered up ourselves. It’s a complete shambles to be honest and although we deliver results against all odds none of us feel remotely qualified to call ourselves project managers, which brings to neatly to the point that I am looking for a new job (for all the usual reasons).

Searching the job sites for software consultant/project management roles shows most to require various qualifications such as PRINCE2 etc., in addition to 5+ years’ experience which I don’t have.

My employer won’t send anyone on an external training course despite the vast majority of us asking, so I’m going to have to do this myself.

I just feel a bit stuck really. I’ve got the nous, attitude, technical, and customer facing skills to excel at my job but on the paper credentials and length of experience are lacking.

This post is more of a rant, but I am half hoping for some useful advice.

Thanks kindly.

[slow_poke]

PM eh?

Meh, install yourself a copy of MS Project software, learn what the critical path means, and job's a good'un.

[Ollie123]

Our share holder wont pay for MS project licenses...

[BrabusMog]

slow_poke said:

PM eh?

Meh, install yourself a copy of MS Project software, learn what the critical path means, and job's a good'un.

In all seriousness, if you're capable the accreditations aren't required. I practically run a small business with very limited educational background (BA in what basically amounts to PR) but I learnt the ropes and use a limited framework such as the OP - we are totally reliant on Excel data and a MS Access database that I somehow managed to cobble together.

If the company you work for is a "company for life" type workplace, just keep plugging away and you'll end up at a level which you don't need the exams. If you think you need to move on, then do the exams off your own expense, I'm sure it will look good to employers, but you may not need it.

[Bodo]

Ollie123 said:

Our share holder wont pay for MS project licenses...

At least one of the few companies with a turnover over $200bn uses Excel for project planning and Gantt charts!

PM is not about the software you use, but about being an entrepreneur that focuses on cost and schedule. You need to have your project member's confidence, and you need to plan ahead. With that, start your assignment. Continue for two years; and you'll get your next employer's confidence more easily.

[gaz1234]

Can you breakdown making a cup of tea?
Open project

[Vaud]

Ollie123 said:

Our share holder wont pay for MS project licenses...

http://opensource.com/business/14/1/top-project-management-tools-2014

Pick up a dummies guide (no offence) as they cover the basics, which is probably what you need for a smallish project.

[Ultraviolet]

Look up on Wikipedia what is meant by the following, then download a template for each. Make sure each is approved in writing before you progress:

PID
Functional requirements
Non functional requirements

Then put together the following
WBS
Project plan which shows the wbs products being delivered

Then learn about
Baselining
Critical path analysis
Tracking progress (eg using% complete
Raid

I would find a way to get msp if you can, even if you have to pay for it yourself - it's the industry standard. Otherwise there are various open source / free alternates out there.

Uv

[Polariz]

It's not a bad idea to at least purchase the Prince 2 book and have a read through. It's pretty dull and quite expensive but generally worth it.

In my eyes though a successful PM is someone who does two things:

- Constantly thinks ahead about "what could go wrong"
- Use common sense

I see PM's fail time and time again, despite the qualifications they have, because they lack one or both of the above.

[toon10]

Sounds similar to me. Software development background and asked to project manage our virutalisation solution project. I'm not a network engineer or techy but good with suppliers, people and quite oganised. I had a budget of £150k and brought it in on time and under budget using common sense and a few in house project management courses and procedures.

I'm sure if I went to another company and advertised myself as a project manager I'd not get through the front door without some accreditation. PRINCE does seem to be the preferred choice.

I much prefer managing people than projects. There's a new organisational structure going live in March which means I'll be doing neither. Oh well, head down, collect pay and carry on with life.

[anonymous-user]

The issue is 'what is a project?' you don't need loads of experience to manage 100k that's what 2000 or so man hours, or 1 man year, so at 26 you are being asked to manage a department of one, but don't confuse project management with 'planning' software, get micro soft project and understand Gant charts etc, but that is not the 'project managers role' on a big project you get a planning engineers to do that, Conan Powell summed up project management for me, as 'making decisions with 20% of the fact and getting 80% right.
The project manager is the project 'king' not a planning engineer, learning to make timely correct decisions is the key to good project management.is

[pherlopolus]

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate...

60 day trial?

I know some good PMs who use excel, I even converted one template in excel to project but he still went back to excel....

I used to do high level plans in PowerPoint

Graph paper and some nice coloured felt tips would work

[Carl_Docklands]

Ollie123 said:

I’m a 26 year old software consultant and I work for a small software company, I've been told I will be promoted to project manager when we start the 2015/2016 budget; I don’t doubt this.

In the mean time I've just been given my first project worth €110k and I’m very happy with my progression having joined the company straight out of university in 2011. The only problem is I have received no training in project management, nor have any of my colleagues for that matter (all of which are older than me and have been with the company much longer).

We all just run on gut feeling, common sense, and a bunch of excel documents that we’ve mustered up ourselves. It’s a complete shambles to be honest and although we deliver results against all odds none of us feel remotely qualified to call ourselves project managers, which brings to neatly to the point that I am looking for a new job (for all the usual reasons).

Searching the job sites for software consultant/project management roles shows most to require various qualifications such as PRINCE2 etc., in addition to 5+ years’ experience which I don’t have.

My employer won’t send anyone on an external training course despite the vast majority of us asking, so I’m going to have to do this myself.

I just feel a bit stuck really. I’ve got the nous, attitude, technical, and customer facing skills to excel at my job but on the paper credentials and length of experience are lacking.

This post is more of a rant, but I am half hoping for some useful advice.

Thanks kindly.

Patience young padawan, you are only 26.

For Prince2, you don't need the training course. Those are for the muppets.

Read this book cover to cover and you will pass both exams:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prince2-Study-Guide-David-...

Prince2 is a CV filter that clueless recruitment consultants (90% of them) use to find people. The exams are ridiculously easy to pass. That said, for International Software Development PMP and Agile are more common, I would consider that path also.

Two questions you need to ask yourself

1) is this company going places? If it is and they are willing to promote you then I would stay. If the company explodes you can move on later into a much more senior job.

2) can I get into architecture ?

There is more money in Software Architecture and Development than Project management because the barriers to entry are higher although, there is always strong demand for good software PM's as they are hard to find.

Microsoft Project Server is the state of the art for planning software but standard Microsoft Project and Excel are 'good enough' tools for small shops which can be substituted for free tools from Google and Apple. Not having money for licenses is not a barrier these days as long as your company is flexible on using cloud software.

[Ollie123]

Thanks for all of the replies.

While I agree I need to be proactive outside of work, I was mainly asking about how I transition into an identical role at a new employer with my current lack of experience.

Upon reflection I think the best course of action is to grit my teeth, get the accreditations in my own time and gain real PM experience from my existing employer.