(This post contains affiliate hyperlinks. Please read my full disclosure.
I chose to become a project manager.
Although I admit that I didn’t know such a job existed until I started working, I knew it was for my.
I wasn’t sure I understood everything about project management before I took on the job.
Here are 6 things that I learned about project management — things that I didn’t know when I started in 2000.
This article:
1. It would always be the same.
2. Technology would change
3. You don’t have to be a specialist (but I could if necessary).
4. You can learn a whole vocabulary
5. It’s a life skill
6. No one would be able to understand my job
Are you wondering if project management is right for you?
1. It would always be the same.
Part of the appeal of working on projects is that I would be working at different things. What I didn’t realize was that every project would be different. Even within the same company, the project team, deliverables and departments I was delivering for, as well as the skills required, would be completely different.
It’s a job that is never quite the same, which is a huge benefit.
Because I knew that project managers would need examples of the real job, I included a lot of case studies from people in the field of project management in my first book, Shortcuts to Success.
2. Technology would change
This is something I should have known. However, back in 2000 I thought that I was just learning MS Project.
Online collaboration tools have been a part of my project management repertoire since I began managing projects.
The technology we need to do our jobs and understanding the technology used by our customers is a larger part of project management that I ever imagined (not that it was something I thought about that much at the time).
Collaboration Tools for Project Managers is a book about how to choose, implement, and use collaboration tools at work. It’s highly recommended, if you ask me.
3. You don’t have to be a specialist (although I could if necessary).
I started project managing in insurance. I am also an expert in insurance IT.
Insurance is an industry that uses a particular language (more vocabulary below). I was at a point where I felt I had to leave the industry.
I believed I had special knowledge, but it’s not impossible to move into a different industry. It is possible to learn the special knowledge of other industries. My shift to healthcare was relatively simple.
You can choose to specialize in one type of project management or industry. I love IT and can’t imagine myself making a sudden shift in my industry to construction projects or any other field.
However, IT is used in every industry. IT project management can be transferred to other industries.
Learn more about construction project management
Learn more about legal project management
I still use a whiteboard, despite all the tech! There is a vast vocabulary to learn.
Vocabulary creeps up on you. It is learned through professional study, training courses and talking to colleagues.
You don’t realize you are learning project management.
This free project management jargon buster will help if you are still unfamiliar with it.
Project management is not an exception. Many jobs require specialized terminology. When I started my job, I didn’t realize how much language I would learn about my job and how it would affect the way I work.