Article

I sit down to write this article knowing that my initial proposition is going to cause some debate – even anger – among readers. Yet, I believe that the point still needs to be discussed, so I am going to take a risk and put these thoughts into writing.

The proposition that I would like to make is that the roles of project manager and business analyst are not very different from each other. In fact, I’ll even go further than that: I believe that these roles eventually merge together the higher one rises in either profession.

Now, before you start writing a strongly-worded rebuttal, please take the time to consider these facts:

I spend a portion of my time recovering troubled projects or helping project managers avoid traveling down the road towards a troubled project. In doing this, I keep making the same observation over and over again: most project managers are failing.

For Your Eyes Only

Have you ever typed an e-mail with information for the eyes of the recipient only, then find out that they have forwarded it on to someone else without editing the e-mail first! This could be embarrassing. If you are going to forward an e-mail with a thread, read the complete thread and edit if necessary. A lot of trouble can be caused if the wrong information or privileged information is sent to the wrong person.

People say things in e-mails that they regret later when the words fall into the wrong inbox, like their bosses. Be very careful what you say about people or clients, etc. You have to be very careful not to put something in an e-mail that could have negative consequences for you. You can not depend on the recipient not to forward your e-mail unedited.

I have been asked to participate in a panel discussion at a conference on certification. The session is called “There is NO Value in Certification!” At first, I thought this statement was ridiculous, and couldn’t imagine too many people wanting to support this premise; however, as I have talked to people, I realize that this position is not too uncommon.

The main criticism that people have of PM certification programs is that the well-known ones (at least in North America) all seem to be knowledge-based assessments. Yes, many of them (like the PMP) have experiential components, but the core of the assessment is testing whether someone has memorized material from a standard syllabus.

What this means is that the assessing body has verified that these PMs have acquired knowledge of a common set of project management terms, processes, and techniques. What it doesn’t verify is whether a specific project manager is any good or not at the practice of project management.

You can always spot the project managers who have just received their PMP – they are eager, idealistic, and prone to proclaim at length the necessity for “Change Control” as if it were the cure for all project management evils. Don’t get me wrong – I am glad that the level of training that new project managers receive is increasing, and I am glad that they are learning that change can derail a project; however, new PMs appear to have a naïve view of how projects work in the real world, and I would like to do my part to correct that. To start with, there is NO SUCH THING AS CHANGE CONTROL. Yes, you read that correctly. The idea that we can control change is a myth.