Question

Interview a program/project manager; it can be inside your organization or external to your organization, preferably this individual has more than ten-years’ experience in the profession.

ask the following:

What is your approach to managing a project?

What is your school of thought on project management? Do you prefer waterfall, agile methods etc.?

What skills does a program manager need to have in today’s market?

What is the greatest challenge as a program manager?

Where do you see program management going in the future?

How do you handle politics and conflict?

Write a 2 to 4 paragraph summary of the interview, from the above questions.

Answer 1

Personally speaking, I interviewed my senior Project Manager. We work in a multinational publishing organization headquartered in Amsterdam. This particular individual has more than 10 years of experience in project handling.

• Her approach in managing the projects is to delegate as many tasks as possible to the team members so that they learn and grow and at the same time she can take additional responsibilities in the project.
• The PM usually uses the Agile approach or school of though as she has very limited knowledge in the scope beforehand. The Agile approach is that the project is in a new domain and hence they don’t have any prescribed rules. The reason that she uses the agile approach is that she would be prepared for the worse thus ensuring risk mitigation strategies. In other words, she would be strategically prepared to face any uncertainties.
• The skills that a program manager needs to have in today’s business world are communication, critical thinking, problem solving skills, creative thinking, interpersonal skills and personal management.
• The greatest challenge that the program manager might face is the scope creep. Also, setting unrealistic deadlines by the management poses great challenge for the program manager.
• Future of project management is not limited. Though the strategies, tools and leadership capabilities might change, project management would be used universally in every industry as it would become highly important in all streams.
• Politics and conflict are among the greatest challenges that the program managers might face. She mentioned that she would handle them by solving the underlying problems and not just the symptoms. Also, oneto-one discussion would be conducted to understand the reasons or concerns and they would be addressed as quickly as possible.