Self discipline processes, team building, logical thinking, more certifications and perhaps a little extra money.Yep, we all learn that.
What are the things that you are un-learning by being in the profession?
•Risk taking- Obviously in your personal /professional life because we are so attuned to seeing them ahead of time and getting rid of it.
•Creativity- The logic, the process, the flow, the bugs and codes can take us far away from the creative self. Try writing a piece of prose that is not related to project management and notice if you have to think. Its different from what you think tied up in your PM chair every day. And it feels nice, doesn’t it?
•Not having fun- we always wait for the right moment, that’s how we trained ourselves- the right moment to inform the team, the right timing to convey it to stakeholders, the timeline and the deadlines run us. The stress and the phones and our validation through overflowing inboxes is what fun is for us. Remember- what did you want to be when you grow up? When was the last time you tried it?
•Working like machines- We love automation. The work we just do everyday- get the coffee, look at emails, write back and forth, browse through proposals, look into excel sheets and more emails and meetings and drive back home. Have you tried to change anything in the last 15 days or ways you been in automation? Are you mindful?
•Giving up- On everything you love to get that extra pat from your boss by overworking yourself and convincing yourself that I will have more time to be happy when I have this project in my bag.
•Being numb- even when you know it’s not the right thing to do. You come back from work to flop in front of the TV and just keep your mind numb, so you can tell your brain to stop thinking of the things that comes naturally to you. We shut them up, even when we know you should pay more attention to what you want.
•Need more, need better mindset- More projects, higher budgets, more certificates, PDU’s, more authority, better team- that’s we think. Less is more- is not very aptly though out concept for project managers. Do you think what you need or do you just need more because that’s what you are unconsciously being trained to ask for?
If you are a Project Manager and think out of the box or within the box- share your thoughts please.
The point being is be true to yourself and don't get trapped into the system. Watch this TED video for some mind numbing data.
P.S. I think only in bullet points these days- scary!
(Pic Courtesy)
2 comments:
The way I see it, once you're over the challenge of learning the processes and tools, you can spend the rest of your career learning to deal with and handle people, and that's where the fun is :)
I think a lot of the problems you're talking about are endemic to IT project management, which (despite common usage) is not synonymous with "project management". IT project management is blessed and cursed with certain "safe" behaviors: follow the steps and you'll probably be safe. If your project involves actually creating and shipping a product, on the other hand, you'll fail fast without risk-taking or creativity, if you work like a machine or turn into a cert-chaser. No one in the software world gives a damn about project management certs, they just care if you've got the chops.
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