Technology Project Manager

Amidst all that we've done to better ourselves or attempt to do a perfect job comes this question: why do we always end up wondering if we could have done things a little differently or done it better, given another chance.

This is probably truer with my case as the flow and complexity of every technical project I got on my plate varies tremendously.

I find that it is often not an issue of the proverb "measure twice, cut once" sort of approach.

Because basically, you could might as well be measuring a millions times, and still end up cutting it a million times more...

This is the reality that project managers face from across the industry.

Technologists in particular, are carrying the full fury of this fact. As many of those who have the privilege to work in the technical industry know, that what you know today will somehow be obsolete within the next 18 months.

Of course there are exceptions in all cases, including this industry, but this just goes to show the tremendous challenges that face technologists in general.

So how do you cope with all of this?

The PMI (Project Management Institute), a community of professionals in pursuit of the study of the subtle arts of project management, suggests an industry accepted framework along side a body of knowledge collected from the contributions of countless project management professionals throughout the years.

But even they know that in order to keep up with the Jones', you have to re-assess your craft at specific periods in time. They recommend re-validating your skills/knowledge every 12 months.

Personally, I am not a big fan of something that forces you to change what you know from time to time...

Nor am I thrilled at the idea of having to change my entire infrastructure build plan just because those geeks over at M-labs decided how to build better VPN security tiers toward the closing months of the year.

But somehow, I survive it all, and on occasion, I even surprise myself as I see myself thriving amidst what seemingly chaotic and random world that is IT.

I bet my ability to adapt came from my mother side of the family.

Mom, is almost always the flexible one in the family. She could easily connect the dots and cross the T's in any situation. She can spot any small variations in any circumstance and cook up a probable solution while others would've given up days ago. In other words, she likes solving crossword puzzles and similar things.

But then again, having the capability to see the "fine lines and draw at them" would not get you far if you don't have the right information/knowledge to help you through it.

That's when my dad's side comes in.

Dad, is more of the methodical thinker. He would analyse a situation at face value and recommend the best possible solution based on an information that he's got stored away in his memory banks. He's a voracious reader, someone who's taught me the value of continuing education and that learning only stops when you expire...

Put the two together and you have a power combination of characteristics, which hopefully, would prove to be the winning formula in the career I've chosen to thread.

Project Management is actually a perversion for technologists like me. Because it's something to do with technology, but not really. It's a whole new field of specific skills, processes and knowledge.

But having seen the power of technology first hand, I felt the next logical step is to get into managing how to make technology work for you best. It's really all about thinking of a solution, then trying to make all the different technical components work together, in a specific time frame, with a specific scope, and budget.

I believe, that given another chance to choose between whether to remain as a technologist or project management, I believe the next evolution, would definitely point to the latter, if, and only if, you are really a technologist at heart.