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: 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: 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: Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo

Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:24:27 +0000

Yes, I think these labels are of little or no relevance to project management. I do believe that as one becomes more involved with the business aspects, the more one tends to become more conservative than liberal (using Travis’ definitions) simply because of the burdens big government puts on running business, but even that is not a litmus test for everyone.

Good night from Jakarta

BR,
Dr. PDG

By: Chet Frame

Chet Frame — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:32:46 +0000

An old friend and mentor who died recently, always said that real understanding doesn’t start until we clear away labels and the conceptions of others and examine how we feel and think about a subject. Our roles as PM vary based on the context of the project we are leading and the profile of the team members. There are times when we will want complete autonomy and other times when we will want a close reporting relationship with the corporate leadership. There are times when we want consensus and other times when we will be more autocratic or pedagogic. To the question Travis asked, I have worn all of those labels and more.