It's great to be doing another issue of Engineering Management Review with Cinda Voegtli, and dedicating it to Project Management. The articles featured in this issue are quite interesting and present a wide field of view.
Plan View
The usual image of project management is otherworldly - other people and other departments do it. With sufficient stature, a cadre of experts is mobilized to plan, schedule, expedite, and project-manage the grandest of tasks. The nature of it hinges upon one's professional discipline; defense contracting, construction, road building, power plant repairs, software development, and systems integration are examples. Nevertheless, visions of big companies, big projects, complicated schedules, and progress meetings infer that project management is only the domain of specialists. It is not.
Whither Project Management?
What defines a project? It is an assortment of activities that collectively have a start and a finish. Why generate plans and schedules? The easy answer is to help get projects done, but there are other reasons. A project schedule ought to document the understanding among the various work groups or contractors on how work will progress. It even may be contractual. Importantly, it should provide some leverage over those employed to do the work or provide the support. Here's a list of the best reasons to generate plans and schedules:
Regarding this last point, evidence of good planning and scheduling during the proposal phase wins contracts and justifies higher bids. Continued, it maintains customer confidence and support when difficulties arise and require attention.
Not Too Insignificant
Small projects are important, too. Changing jobs, moving, preparing for an institution's reaccredidation, new product development, network upgrades, or initiating a marketing campaign are each quite complicated ventures, often requiring the coordinated efforts of many individuals and/or organizations. Good plans and graphic schedules do much to keep efforts coordinated toward achieving progress. Further, the availability of planning tools has increased, as has their effectiveness.
What You Do, Not Who You Are
In short, having the title Project Manager is not a prerequisite to managing projects. Administering projects well extends our abilities as engineers and leaders. More often than not, it is another way to make ourselves needed. That puts bread on the table and yields a larger menu of career opportunities.
An Addition
The Engineering Management Review has recently gained a new Managing Editor. I am pleased to welcome Debra Schiff to the Review. I have quickly come to trust her judgement, and to count on her own project management skills. Deb, I am happy to have you on the team.