Aaron Gette, The Bay Club Company, Chief Information Officer
Good PMs Are Open, Honest, and Self-Evaluating
- PMs must have a good understanding of the Agile methodology how to apply different pieces of that methodology to
adequately support a project within its business context. - PMs must be clear communicators to be credible within the team and with stakeholders. They can’t be afraid to step on
people’s toes to get to the heart of a blocking issue. - PMs have to keep all the pieces in front of them and understand how things come together, and they must be totally open and honest.
- Good PMs will take the time to conduct root cause analysis, to really understand what led to a failure and how to prevent it from happening again.
“I would rather have a PM who’s a great metrics analyst than a technology guru.”
To better understand the qualities I look for in a project manager (PM), I must first describe my perspective on what makes projects successful. Success is based on three fundamental principles: (1) You can’t improve what you can’t measure; (2) metrics drive behavior; and (3) bad news on time is good news. Here’s how these governing principles relate to good PMs:
• You can’t improve what you can’t measure. As a chief information officer (CIO), I have to deliver on many projects at the same time.
This is an excerpt from What IT Execs Want Most From Project Managers. The eBook was generously sponsored by Workfront.
