There are always unknowns in projects, and I believe that being prepared for anything has been my best quality as a technical project manager. Similar to understanding your weaknesses, you can explain a situation where you took responsibility for a mistake and handled it.
Besides explaining your error, show the interviewer how you fixed the mistake and what you have done to ensure you made better choices in the future. The interviewer wants to know that you can fix your mistakes to continue progressing as a technical project manager. Example: "My biggest mistake was a few years ago when I failed to keep track of a team member's progress on their project task. Their final output was essential to the success of the project, and because I didn't check in on the work enough, the entire team was left doing the work of one team member in the final hours of the project deadline.
Since then, I make sure to always check in on my team members to ensure that the project is moving forward at the rate it needs to be. Each project manager delegates tasks differently depending on the team and the qualities that each individual possesses.
While the company you are applying for might have a specific task delegation process, explaining how you assign tasks can show your leadership qualities and how capable you are with managing tasks among a team. Consider showing the interviewer that you are flexible depending on the unique situation. Example: "Every person has unique qualities and skills, and understanding how each individual makes up an entire team is essential in technical project management.
While I believe every team member should be doing a generally equal amount of work, I also understand that some people have different skills than others. I would delegate more difficult tasks to those who could manage them. Team members who work hard would be rewarded and recognized to inspire the rest of the team to strengthen their weaknesses and progress their skills. Find jobs.
Company reviews. Find salaries. Upload your resume. Sign in. General questions. Why do you want to be a technical project manager? What made you want to apply for this position?
What is a weakness you have with project management? What kind of leadership qualities do you possess? What do you like most about technical project management? What do you dislike most about project management? What kind of communication style do you have? Best suited for: Often mistaken for specializing in manufacturing industries, Lean methodology is ideal for any business or organization that is not looking for a process as such, but is interested in transforming how they conduct doing business.
Originating in the manufacturing and construction industries, its lack of flexibility in design changes in the earlier stages of the development process is due to it becoming exuberantly more expensive because of its structured physical environments.
The methodology was first introduced in an article written in by Winston W. The phases are followed in the following order:. Waterfall is a project management methodology that stresses the importance of documentation. The idea is that if a worker was to leave during the development process, their replacement can start where they left off by familiarizing themselves with the information provided on the documents.
Pre-Agile saw the Waterfall methodology being used for software development, but there were many issues due to its non-adaptive design constraints, the lack of customer feedback available during the development process, and a delayed testing period.
Best suited for: Larger projects that require maintaining stringent stages and deadlines, or projects that have been done various times over where chances of surprises during the development process are relatively low. Six Sigma is project management methodology first introduced by engineers at Motorola in It aims to improve quality by reducing the number of errors in a process by identifying what is not working and then removing it from the process.
It uses quality management methods, which are mostly empirical and statistical, as well as the expertise of people who are specialists in these methods. The letters stand for:. There is also a Lean Six Sigma methodology which is committed to improving team performance by systematically eliminating waste and reducing variation.
Best suited for: Larger companies and organizations that want to improve quality and efficiency through a data-driven methodology. PMI stands for the Project Management Institute which is a not-for-profit membership association, project management certification, and standards organization.
It states that there are five process groups that are prevalent in almost every project. They are;. Along with this, it includes best practices, conventions, and techniques that are considered the industry standard. Regularly updating their guide to ensure that they echo the most up-to-date project management practices, the PMBOK is currently up to its sixth edition which was published in print and online in However, it can be used for when you want to weigh in on the best practices for your project.
You may find that more than one of the aforementioned project management methodologies seem ideal for your project, or hey, none of them would work. More from Armen Baghdasaryan. More from Vibhu Dhariwal.
More from Asmo. Very good overview btw, great work. Cheers for the tip! Hi Aruni, Establishing a retail shop seems to me something that may involve a few uncertainties and surprises, so I would probably recommend something Agile as they provide leeway and flexibility. Thanks for the tip, Abdulrahman.
Sounds like something that could be included in a revised version of this article. Hi Dinnie, great article and very informative. I currently work in a company and we execute contract both government and private contract. I was hired in February and there were 41 contract job being worked on.
I am having a hard time determining which methodology to use and how to track these projects. Most of them have been completed. Hi Chris, Construction and procurement are traditionally associated with Waterfall, however, I would advise to do further research on whether or not this would apply to your situation. Thanks for the article. It amazing how it articulates so much knowledge, on a succinct way and gives to the user a quick and sufficient overview of the PM methods as well as the initial boost for a further research deepening down, if needed.
Thanks in advance for your reply! Thanks, Yannis! Nice Info! You think is a good option for? Hi Good afternoon. Every project should be planned using the intervention logic below as a guideline. Scroll down for ten more important points to consider when putting together your project. The first condition to fund a project is that it will improve something on the territory and that a segment of the population will benefit from it in the long run.
Each project must contribute to one of the Programme's Specific Objectives, defined in the Cooperation Programme. This is what we call "thematic fit". To succeed in your application, include a clear reference to this objective and define in specific terms the specific issue it intends to address and the territory where it will operate.
You need to understand the risks involved in the implementation of your project and make a plan to mitigate them. Examples of risks: changes to the project plan, partners dropping out, etc. Use the Programme's indicator system to measure if you have achieve your project objectives. It should be noted that industry expertise is not in a certain field but the expertise to run the project. So while knowledge of the type of industry is important, you will have a project team supporting you in this endeavor.
For example, if you are managing a project that is building an oil platform, you would not be expected to have a detailed understanding of the engineering since your team will have mechanical and civil engineers who will provide the appropriate expertise; however, it would definitely help if you understood this type of work. By standards, we mean guidelines or preferred approaches that are not necessarily mandatory.
In contrast, when referring to regulations we mean mandatory rules that must be followed, such as government-imposed requirements through laws. Every industry has standards and regulations. Knowing which ones affect your project before you begin work will not only help the project to unfold smoothly, but will also allow for effective risk analysis.
Some projects require specific skills in certain application areas. Application areas are made up of categories of projects that have common elements. They can be defined by industry group pharmaceutical, financial, etc. These application areas are usually concerned with disciplines, regulations, and the specific needs of the project, the customer, or the industry. The pharmaceutical industry is interested in regulations set forth by government regulators, whereas the automotive industry has little or no concern for either of these types of regulations.
You need to stay up-to-date regarding your industry so that you can apply your knowledge effectively. There are many factors that need to be understood within your project environment Figure 2. At one level, you need to think in terms of the cultural and social environments i. Then we move to the physical environment; here we think about time zones. Think about different countries and how differently your project will be executed whether it is just in your country or if it involves an international project team that is distributed throughout the world in five different countries.
Of all the factors, the physical ones are the easiest to understand, and it is the cultural and international factors that are often misunderstood or ignored. How we deal with clients, customers, or project members from other countries can be critical to the success of the project. For example, the culture of the United States values accomplishments and individualism.
Americans tend to be informal and call each other by first names, even if having just met. Europeans tend to be more formal, using surnames instead of first names in a business setting, even if they know each other well. In addition, their communication style is more formal than in the United States, and while they tend to value individualism, they also value history, hierarchy, and loyalty. The Japanese, on the other hand, tend to communicate indirectly and consider themselves part of a group, not as individuals.
The Japanese value hard work and success, as most of us do. How a product is received can be very dependent on the international cultural differences. Western companies planned their telephone systems to work the same way in Asia as they did in Europe and the United States.
But the protocol of conversation was different. Call-waiting, a popular feature in the West, is considered impolite in some parts of Asia. This cultural blunder could have been avoided had the team captured the project environment requirements and involved the customer. It is often the simplest things that can cause trouble since, unsurprisingly, in different countries, people do things differently. One of the most notorious examples of this is also one of the most simple: date formats.
Of course it depends where you come from; in North America it is February 8th while in Europe and much of the rest of the world it is 2nd August. Clearly, when schedules and deadlines are being defined it is important that everyone is clear on the format used.
The diversity of practices and cultures and its impact on products in general and on software in particular goes well beyond the date issue. You may be managing a project to create a new website for a company that sells products worldwide. It is obvious that you need to ensure the translation is correct; however, the presentation layer will have its own set of requirements for different cultures. The left side of a website may be the first focus of attention for a Canadian; the right side would be the initial focus for anyone from the Middle East, as both Arabic and Hebrew are written from right to left.
Colors also have different meanings in different cultures. White, which is a sign of purity in North America e. Table 2. Project managers in multicultural projects must appreciate the culture dimensions and try to learn relevant customs, courtesies, and business protocols before taking responsibility for managing an international project.
Here, we are thinking of items like your ability to plan the project, execute it properly, and of course control it and bring it to a successful conclusion, along with your ability to guide the project team to achieve project objectives and balance project constraints.
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