Comments on: Conservative vs. Liberal – What kind of PM am I?

By: Reggie

Reggie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:24:00 +0000

I really liked this article. I thought using different types of political standpoints to describe project managers was helpful.

If anyone wants to learn more about project management, I highly recommend UTD’s website – http://som.utdallas.edu/graduate/execed/projectMgmtProg/. It has some great information about different project management programs and groups.

By: Reggie

Reggie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:24:00 +0000

I really liked this article. I thought using different types of political standpoints to describe project managers was helpful.

By: Travis Anderson

Travis Anderson — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:45:15 +0000

Chet Frame hit when he said, “our role as a PM varies based on the context of the project.”

Let’s look at estimating for instance. When it comes time to apply contingency or management reserve, how do I think as a PM, conservative or liberal. Shall I apply 10% or 20% on top of my engineering estimate. Do I ask my self,”Are the engineering estimates pure or gross”. I believe Mr. Duncan did a great series that relates to his ideology related to estimating.

Risk, “What is the probability that a particular risk may occur?” Is my PID score high or low and why?”, “What is my mitigation plan?” It all depends on the individuals, the organization, and the ideologies of the stakeholders involved.

My point is that no matter the ideology label, conservative/liberal/moderate, we all have our own idea of what Project Management is in our own contexts and experiences. I hope that we can expand on those ideas so that we can learn from each other.

By: Travis Anderson

Travis Anderson — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:45:00 +0000

Chet Frame hit when he said, “our role as a PM varies based on the context of the project.”

By: Josh Nankivel

Josh Nankivel — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:41:32 +0000

Perhaps a helpful exercise would be for you to identify specific areas within project management and try to assign them.

For instance, what does conservative/moderate/liberal mean for the following:

Risk Attitudes
Project Controls
Schedule Management
Estimation & Planning
etc….

Then people could rate themselves along a continuum on various aspects. You could even tabulate some kind of score. Not sure what it would mean or how it would be used. I would use better definitions of the terms though, not the political stereotypes.

By: Josh Nankivel

Josh Nankivel — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Perhaps a helpful exercise would be for you to identify specific areas within project management and try to assign them.

For instance, what does conservative/moderate/liberal mean for the following:

Risk Attitudes
Project Controls
Schedule Management
Estimation & Planning
etc….