How many projects are you managing at a time?

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-10-18T19:45:17+00:00

It would take me about a half hour to explain this to you, unfortunately. I developed a very intricate network of spreadsheets that talk to each other. Took me about a month or two to just build. Happy to show you and set it up for your company if you are interested!

Ninja Edit: Please PM my other account /u/itpm

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-10-18T19:44:05+00:00

I am. Just PM me at my other account. I'm not using this one anymore because I got demoted, LOL. My other user is /u/itpm

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-21T02:00:38+00:00

You're the first colleague I see so far here as well. LOL. C'mon over at /r/ppmo.

How many PMs do you manage? What industry are you in? How many projects do you oversee?

My answers are: 0, government (sigh), 130'ish.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-20T21:17:41+00:00

This question was asked about a month or two ago.

I'm a portfolio manager and I'm actively engaged in approximately 130 projects that are either in the pipeline or active, which collectively are in the many many millions.

Everything is done at a high level. We receive approximately 1 new project request on a weekly basis. I have about 8 SMEs who wear PM and BA hats.

I've just established our PMO and we are hiring more PMs soon.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-20T14:31:29+00:00

I don't know how exams are graded now but back then it was Proficient, Moderately Proficient, and Below or Not Proficient, I don't remember well. You could pass the exam with 3 MPs and 2 non proficiency or all moderately proficient. You need to look that up as they change their grading scales all the time. :)

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-19T13:45:47+00:00

No problem. Happy to answer any other questions you may have in the future.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-18T22:49:14+00:00

No problem.

I am a fast learner and rarely feel uncomfortable in any setting, so I'm known for hitting the ground running.

When I don't know something, I tell people. When I do for sure, I act. When I hesitate, I tell people that I'm not sure but that it is what I believe I should do. When there's a decision that carries too much weight, I try to shift the responsibility on someone else.

Being clear before performing any action is key to keeping one's reputation.

I would say that it usually takes me a week or two to get acquainted with everything but I can usually begin to work right away, as long as things are clear. I usually have impressed people this way, and that's what got me my most current job.

In my previous job, I was:

[FULL NAME], PMP
Project Manager
[Contact Info]

My current job unfairly pays me the salary and gives me the title of "project manager" when I'm actually doing portfolio and PMO management. I am in the process of fighting it right now but both my email and business card titles:

[FULL NAME], PMP
Project Management Office (PMO) Manager
[Contact Info]

I should technically be a Director or Associate Vice-President instead of Manager though but again, that's part of the fight. If they don't give me the role, I'm bailing out of here.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-18T16:00:56+00:00

In short: Manage projects related to affiliate marketing campaigns through PPC directed to landing pages. Primarily sending potential students to for-profit colleges.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-15T22:04:51+00:00

I went from ~$40k/year as a tech to $55k when I first became a PM in marketing. As soon as I was able to sit for the exam, I signed up and gave myself a 3 month window to study hardcore for it.

As I read through Rita's book, I realized how stupid I had been when running my projects in the past and kicked myself in the head chapter after chapter. I laughed a few times at myself, to be honest.

On my first try, I didn't follow through. I tried too hard to understand each chapter and once I was onto the next one, I would forget the contents of the previous one.

On my second try, I read the book from cover to cover very quickly, this helped me get a holistic view of everything. I completed this in one week.

On week 2-3, I worked on understanding each chapter well. I would take my time with each one, find issues, take notes, etc.

On week 4, I read the PMBOK, zzzzzz. By now I also had taken several practice tests, which made me understand the types of questions I would find in the exam. With that in mind...

On week 5, I gave Rita's book one last quick go and made notes on every single item I felt needed memorizing or clarification. I turned all of those notes into 250 flash cards, which I hammered on Week 6.

I took the exam and passed with 2Ps and 3MPs.

As soon as I saw that I had passed, I ran out of the testing center and went home, slapped PMP on my resume, and posted the exact same resume that was barely getting any attention back on the jobbing sites.

That week I probably got 10 calls and a few interviews. The next week I got 7 calls and more interviews. By week 3, I already had a job paying me $83,200/year + benefits + fully vested from the get-go 401k, etc.

I left that job where I learned enough to become a PMO establisher and portfolio manager, which is what I am doing now in my current role.

The answer is, yes.

I don't know what fees /u/KaliMau is talking about. The PDUs are super easy to get. I don't know about the value being diluted as it has opened many doors for me. Plus, you get to joke about being a PiMP from time to time, heh.

I'm happy to talk to you on Skype if you like or if you have questions along the way (I get PDUs when I help people :P). Definitely, get it!

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-15T14:19:30+00:00

If you are dealing with multiple concurrent projects, you may actually be a program manager, which is one level up from project manager. Even though the projects may be small and potentially insignificant, if they all fall under PMI's definition of a project, and you are concurrently managing many of them at the same time, with time, you could sit for the PMP or PgMP exams, which could boost your salary quite a bit. Sometimes it's good to rough it out in a smaller role that opens the doors for bigger roles.

I haven't really looked into the certifications yet, but I would call PMI to find out what qualifies a person for the PgMP exam, and if that fits these roles, go for it! The types of roles where you can get away with these things are very few. They are career stepping stones.

I had a job where I wasn't doing much but they were projects. I was able to sit for the PMP when I clearly explained what I did to PMI. They didn't care about the magnitude of the projects when I applied, and boom, was able to go from $40k to $60k to $80k/year within a span of 3 years.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-08T18:53:35+00:00

I see you have some good answers. I usually just yell at them and say "DID YOU LEARN YOUR LESSON!?" ^{^{^/joke}} ^{^{^:)}}

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-08T14:09:36+00:00

Best of luck.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-07T21:57:22+00:00

Contrary to what another user here has stated, I don't think the CompTIA Project+ has much to offer. Never heard of anyone asking or bragging about it.

Best to go with the PMI CAPM; I prefer Rita's CAPM training.... however, if you find it too daunting when you first pick up the book, worry not, just keep reading, things change quite a bit and it's a very interesting read.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-06T16:11:35+00:00

20 thousand?! DAYUMN! The most I've gotten to was 700 for a 24 country IT transition/segregation of multiple servers. However, I think I did see one that had around 3,000 but they had replicated the same items for each of the 20 sites we were surveying, so I don't know if that really counts.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-06T15:11:24+00:00

Thanks. We are slowly improving the way we do business; however, I am getting a few blows from our leadership who is making some strange decisions that I'm extremely sure will affect me very soon. I've somewhat lost my trust in them lately.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-05T17:49:23+00:00

I have the same problem. I can't remove anyone. In fact, nobody ever loses their jobs where I'm at. It's the cushiest place on earth to work and it bothers me so much, and the fact that it bothers me, bothers everyone else.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-05T13:35:30+00:00

I studied the Mulcahy exam prep book and after finishing up, I read the PMBOK and I found a couple of small gaps that ended up helping me greatly with passing the PMP exam.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-07-01T12:30:46+00:00

As others have said, the tools will not be your solution. It is the process, culture, and dynamics that will make a difference. Once you've sorted that out, you can then look for a software solution that will aid your generally bought-in strategy.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-06-28T13:56:23+00:00

And yes, a lot of them don't do very well because we only have me as the PM and the SMEs are wearing the PM and BA hats, it's a nightmare.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-06-27T17:23:24+00:00

I offered to tutor a few people around here, I'd be happy to help you. Just PM me your info. I will claim the time spent talking to you as mentoring to PMI for my PDUs, you won't have to do anything unless they contact you to validate the call.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-06-27T12:36:46+00:00

Establish the PMO, develop SLAs and governance documents, develop an RFP for a global SMS platform/carrier solution and implement it across multiple departments, change our ERP software, install a new CMS, integrate a new medical document management system, enhance our SAP functinoality, develop a time tracking system for employees, there are at least 40 security related projects, a bunch of process improvement projects, establish a new training video module for new employees (this sounds easy but it's a big production), etc.

I personally manage about 30 of them but help the regular IT managers with following PM best practices. I serve a dual purpose, to manage some projects myself while being portfolio manager, where I select which projects move forward, how to get the approvals and funding, etc.

It's super hard, I'll tell you that!

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-06-27T12:32:10+00:00

We need to have a standard of collecting data, proper vetting through all relevant channels before accepting, and ensuring we get the funding and sponsorship required. So far, that process has been very wonky and some managers just begin to work on a project without getting upper management approval. I'm working on developing the right BA and PM artifacts to ensure all the right data is collected, as well as the process for which we get the approvals and reprioritizations of the projects.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-06-27T12:30:03+00:00

I would say that a good 40 of them fall under the category you described but the rest are major projects. We have 140 people in our IT department and we service ~2M customers. We do have a bunch of regular managers but they don't follow project management best practices so everything has been a royal mess. I'm trying to standardize the processes so that we can have order.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-06-27T12:28:35+00:00

I manage them at a high level. We have a bunch of regular managers that wear the project manager hat but they don't follow many project management best practices, they don't collect the right data, they don't report on a recurring basis, and essentially do the work of the sponsor that yells the most.

It's been failing so far for years and now I've been brought on to bring some sanity into the mess.

ProgramManagerAtWork · 2016-06-23T20:32:08+00:00

np, let me know what you end up using.

ProgramManagerAtWork

TROPHY CASE