Ely Garcia, Cisneros Group of Companies, Chief Technology Officer
PMs Need To Use Tools as Extensions of Themselves
- PMs should be able to see how collaboration and project management tools become extensions of themselves.
- PMs need to be project facilitators.
- PMs need to recognize that certain situations are out of their control. They must be adept at figuring out how to work around those situations.
“I don’t have to go to my PMs to ask questions: If they’re doing their jobs correctly, I can get everything I need
online, any time.”
In my role as chief information officer, I oversee IT operations for our corporate office and the different business divisions. Our three main areas of business focus are media, real estate, and interactive divisions, but we also have a strong social responsibility component that extends across all divisions and is fundamental to the company. We are a global company, as well, so we have geographically dispersed project managers (PMs), teams, and stakeholders. With so many different activities happening in so many places, we rely on several cloud-based tools to gain the project oversight and visibility we need. In fact, we depend on these technologies for status reporting through dashboards, meetings, and project communications. For us, the most important thing is transparency, and everyone uses the same set of tools to share information and see where everything is at any given time. I don’t have to go to my PMs to ask questions: If they’re doing their jobs correctly, I can get everything I need online, any time.
This is an excerpt from What IT Execs Want Most From Project Managers. The eBook was generously sponsored by Workfront.
