1.
WHAT IS ENGINEERING'S APPROACH TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT? WHAT METHODS DO WE USE?
The business world in which we operate is divided between companies that "purchase" and companies that "sell" project management. Engineering is a company that sells project management. Therefore, we are a supplier of projects or, more frequently, of project components within greater projects and transformations desired and guided by our Clients.
This leads to two important facts that I, as a project manager in the company, have to deal with: the first is that the input for our projects ( which in P.M. is referred to as the "project charter") is, for us, the supply contract, and no methods can override it: we are obliged to do what the contract requires. The second is that our methods, which are inspired by the highest international standards (from the PMI to ISO), must nevertheless take into account what our clients demand and expect from us both in terms of practices and terminology.
This is also the reason why our internal methods are not binding but leave ample scope for the use of both agile and traditional best practices, adapting to whatever the context and clients ask of us.
The business world in which we operate is divided between companies that "purchase" and companies that "sell" project management. Engineering is a company that sells project management. Therefore, we are a supplier of projects or, more frequently, of project components within greater projects and transformations desired and guided by our Clients.
This leads to two important facts that I, as a project manager in the company, have to deal with: the first is that the input for our projects ( which in P.M. is referred to as the "project charter") is, for us, the supply contract, and no methods can override it: we are obliged to do what the contract requires. The second is that our methods, which are inspired by the highest international standards (from the PMI to ISO), must nevertheless take into account what our clients demand and expect from us both in terms of practices and terminology.
This is also the reason why our internal methods are not binding but leave ample scope for the use of both agile and traditional best practices, adapting to whatever the context and clients ask of us.
2.
WHAT ARE THE 3 FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS OF A PROJECT MANAGER?
First of all, we project managers are professionals, like lawyers, accountants, engineers and doctors. Like any professional, we must be able to apply the techniques of the profession in the environment in which we work, adapting them, but never forgetting the underlying principle.
The second thing that I consider very important is the ability to interpret the present with the future in mind. In operational terms, we could call it risk management. In essence, it is the propensity to read today's problems by thinking about what the future might hold if I act in one way or another.
Next comes leadership and communication. As Project Managers we have to know how to use the different leadership techniques appropriately; sometimes a directive leadership is required, other times a servant leadership is appropriate, In other words, we have to put ourselves "at the service" of the work teams. We also have to know how to represent project information in a way that is understood and usable by our counterparts.
First of all, we project managers are professionals, like lawyers, accountants, engineers and doctors. Like any professional, we must be able to apply the techniques of the profession in the environment in which we work, adapting them, but never forgetting the underlying principle.
The second thing that I consider very important is the ability to interpret the present with the future in mind. In operational terms, we could call it risk management. In essence, it is the propensity to read today's problems by thinking about what the future might hold if I act in one way or another.
Next comes leadership and communication. As Project Managers we have to know how to use the different leadership techniques appropriately; sometimes a directive leadership is required, other times a servant leadership is appropriate, In other words, we have to put ourselves "at the service" of the work teams. We also have to know how to represent project information in a way that is understood and usable by our counterparts.
3.
LAST YEAR SAW A STRONG ACCELERATION OF THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION. HOW CAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUPPORT COMPANIES IN MANAGING THEIR DIGITIZATION PROCESSES?
The term Digital Transformation identifies a multitude of project types that sometimes differ greatly. If I were to sponsor a transformation project - I'm putting myself on the side of the sponsor and the business - I think would want a Project Manager at my side with the ability to integrate the different core elements of the transformation, to relate to all the company structures affected and to guide me through the process of organizational, technological and above all human change.
I would like a Project Manager who can show me the obstacles to change, how to overcome them, and where I will find resistance.
I would like a Project Manager who can help me to assess from time to time whether I am achieving the value and benefits I have set myself at the budgeted costs. Someone who knows how to assess the reality of change through numbers and objective facts, clearly suggesting where and how I should intervene.
The term Digital Transformation identifies a multitude of project types that sometimes differ greatly. If I were to sponsor a transformation project - I'm putting myself on the side of the sponsor and the business - I think would want a Project Manager at my side with the ability to integrate the different core elements of the transformation, to relate to all the company structures affected and to guide me through the process of organizational, technological and above all human change.
I would like a Project Manager who can show me the obstacles to change, how to overcome them, and where I will find resistance.
I would like a Project Manager who can help me to assess from time to time whether I am achieving the value and benefits I have set myself at the budgeted costs. Someone who knows how to assess the reality of change through numbers and objective facts, clearly suggesting where and how I should intervene.
4.
NOT ALL PROJECTS (AND CLIENTS) ARE THE SAME AND NOT ALL OF THEM HAVE THE SAME LEVEL OF DIGITIZATION. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT APPROACH TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT WHEN DEALING WITH A PROJECT THAT IS HIGHLY DIGITAL IN NATURE?
I believe the most likely path is that of the hybrid approach, which incidentally we are discovering to be beneficial not only in projects with a "strong digital nature". Today, talking about hybrid project management is no longer just a novel idea or an attempt at a compromise between traditional and agile techniques. There are training courses and certifications for acquiring skills on how to lead a project using the hybrid method.
The benefits are considerable, you can maintain a solid overall vision of your projects without sacrificing the ability to work in an incremental or even agile fashion where appropriate, for example when customizing universal platforms.
I believe the most likely path is that of the hybrid approach, which incidentally we are discovering to be beneficial not only in projects with a "strong digital nature". Today, talking about hybrid project management is no longer just a novel idea or an attempt at a compromise between traditional and agile techniques. There are training courses and certifications for acquiring skills on how to lead a project using the hybrid method.
The benefits are considerable, you can maintain a solid overall vision of your projects without sacrificing the ability to work in an incremental or even agile fashion where appropriate, for example when customizing universal platforms.
5.
WHAT VALUE DOES THE PROJECT MANAGER HAVE IN MANAGING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON BUSINESS PROJECTS?
All of my PMOs and PMs are currently working in purely virtual environments. I myself have just spent 8 months working on a project exclusively in a Covid-19 environment. This was in a previously unknown business and in collaboration with a client I had never met before. Well, although the Covid-19 situation ultimately puts the value of any manager to the test, we as Project Managers are perhaps privileged, because we are more accustomed than other managers to using "essential and effective" communication based on facts and figures and less on words and verbal exposition.
Therefore, if a Project Manager was important before, now he is even more important, and he becomes a crucial aggregating element across the board and a primary source of all information on current progress and future projections.
All of my PMOs and PMs are currently working in purely virtual environments. I myself have just spent 8 months working on a project exclusively in a Covid-19 environment. This was in a previously unknown business and in collaboration with a client I had never met before. Well, although the Covid-19 situation ultimately puts the value of any manager to the test, we as Project Managers are perhaps privileged, because we are more accustomed than other managers to using "essential and effective" communication based on facts and figures and less on words and verbal exposition.
Therefore, if a Project Manager was important before, now he is even more important, and he becomes a crucial aggregating element across the board and a primary source of all information on current progress and future projections.
Maria Cristina Barbero
Graduated in Mathematics and with a Master in Business Administration, Maria Cristina is Senior Director in Engineering. Always engaged in software projects of transformation and migration with large customers and expert in the governance of projects and services, in the last 20 years she has contributed to the growth and spread of Project Management in Italy and has built a team of Project Management specialists who manage a support of the most critical projects of the group.
Maria Cristina currently leads the group's Project Management Center of Excellence and the Project Manager business units of the market directions.
Maria Cristina currently leads the group's Project Management Center of Excellence and the Project Manager business units of the market directions.
Contact us
marketing@eng.it
Tel. (+39) 06-87591