Project Management Careers

Project Management Fall 2012 Search the internet for terms project management, project management careers, project portfolio management, information technology project management. Write down the number hits that you received for each of these phrases find at least 3 web sites that provide interesting information on one of the topics write a two page paper summarizing key information about these 3 web sites as well as project management institution’s Web site (www. pmi. org).

Gant charts were dominantly used in the beggings of project management however in the 1950’s Entire jobs and professional careers were made around the idea of a “project manager”. Now in beginning of the 21st century technology has revolutionized the field of project management once again. My research and search results have shown that Project Management Jobs have sustained demand over the last 8 years compared to the general field of technology jobs which has seen steep decline since 2004. Google Trends Analysis

One of the articles I had read form InformationWeek was titled “Project management Gets Lean” (IT can’t afford to do projects the old way. Lean project management gives a better picture of success or failure. ) In this article they explain a scenario where workers feel like projects are happening to them and not because of them. The article goes on to say that, Project managers can get so wrapped up in Gantt chars and forecasting that they often don’t look at the overall picture and this can lead to scope skewing or project failure.

Managers have to start approaching projects as Participation over Compliance. Compliance makes everyone feel like a captive prisoner where was participation can give the individual the perception of being a part of the solution. It is staff attitude which often accounts for a projects success or failure. Also if a group does not understand a project is can often add confusion that may hinder the perceived success of an assignment. If at all possible it is best to keep it simple; adding complexity to the user is often not a requirement of a complex system.

All users are not power users and do not require the grandiose system that upper users need. It is not a coincidence that Information Technology people often look to project management when they are interested in a career change. Both fields have Rigid deadlines, tight budgets, require careful planning, painstaking deployments all of which are common variables Information Technology and project management. It is difficult to classify a project as success for failure because most often projects in the IT field are never complete.

As summed up in the article, the nature of IT means you are never done. Only when a project is a failure are you done. Having the ability to recognize failure is a skill that many project managers lack due to inflated ego. Figure A General Search Results Google Search ResultsProject ManagementAbout 691,000,000 results  Project Management CareersAbout 138,000,000 results Project Portfolio ManagementAbout 84,200,000 result Information Technology Project ManagementAbout 190,000,000 results| http://www. nformationweek. com/global-cio/interviews/leaving-it-4-job-options-for-frustrated/232900489? queryText=project%20management http://www. informationweek. com/global-cio/personnel/project-management-is-finally-getting-re/227800091? queryText=project%20management http://www. informationweek. com/software/project-management-gets-lean/232600005? printer_friendly=this-page http://www. google. com/trends/explore#q=project%20management%20jobs%2C%20Information%20Technology%20Project%20Management;cmpt=q