In a previous post (WHICH PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS SHOULD I BE LEARNING RIGHT NOW?), we told you about a handful of skills that today’s project managers should be learning. Below are additional areas where savvy project professionals are boning up their talents.
Long-term planning. No longer is it OK to assume that an organization will have the resources necessary to address issues that come up 4 or 5 years from now. Instead, companies are looking for Project Managers with the expertise to proactively examine market pressures, industry trends, and other information, and use that data to develop useful long-range plans.
Risk management. Successfully identifying potential problems and developing mitigation strategies becomes increasingly important as organizations are less willing to accept (or less able to absorb) risk as a normal part of doing business. Areas of focus include risk modeling, response control, and mitigation strategies.
Resource tracking and oversight. As companies continue to rely heavily on outside resources—consultants, strategic business partners, etc.—your ability to accurately forecast the need for external support and effectively use those assets will be valuable. Become familiar with technologies that can help you track resources, and learn best practices on using them successfully.
Change management. Along with beefing up your budget management prowess, being more adept at controlling change—and how it affects your project—will also serve you well. Improve your ability to spot potential needs for change early in the process, better control how changes are reviewed and approved, and minimize the impact of change on your project’s budget, deliverables, and end user satisfaction.
Social networking and media. Not only are Project Teams more frequently turning to social media to keep stakeholders, end users, and the community updated on project status and news, but companies are increasingly using social networking platforms to engage with job candidates and see what potential hires have been up to.
PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.
