TSI’s Project Management Discussion Blog

Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America recently announced that Toyota would be consolidating truck manufacturing at some plants and using a new plant in Mississippi to produce Prius automobiles in the U.S. In the announcement he stated that Toyota was using this as an opportunity to develop team members and improve operations in order to emerge even stronger.

So, what is your company doing about the downturn in the economy? What are YOU doing personally about changes in the economy?

Now could be the time to “re-think and re-tool” to meet new needs which are being identified today. If you have some “slack-time” available to you as a company, what better way to enhance your competitive position than by determining new directions, determining new products and determining better ways to achieve corporate goals.

What better way to identify, document, create and implement new corporate goals than by using project and process management.

If you have some time available to you as an individual, you also may need to “re-think and re-tool” to meet you personal goals – or simply your personal needs.

At TSI we recognize that the economic situation in the United States today – and in other countries of the world as well is rapidly changing. Just like the climate conditions that are being experienced globally, economic conditions are highly variable by the geographic location that you find yourself in.

If you worked in the U.S. mortgage industry, you might be looking for a new job. If you work in the automotive industry, you might be looking for a new job. If you work in the airline industry, sorry, but if you aren’t looking for a new job yet, you might in the near future. Even if you work at the coffee shop, you might be looking for a new job!

What is the key to looking for a new job? Project Management can help you in your new job search and in your new career.

Your job search is a project that is best managed by establishing and documenting goals and performing a systematic series of processes or events to move you towards project completion – your new job or new endeavor.

Project Managers are still in the “top 10” of sought after job skills in most industries. Project management is recognized as a skill that enables efficiency within organizations and enables success. Project managers are often sought after even in the most dire economic conditions.

TSI can help you to “re-think and re-tool” whether you are a business or an individual. TSI’s Quad-Mapping process management tool can help you develop efficiencies in your organization. TSI’s project management consulting, staffing and training areas can help both the corporation and the individual improve skills and meet goals. TSI’s training towards project management skills and certification can help you re-tool to be able to get your next job and further your career.

TSI frequently has specials for businesses and for individuals that help you meet your needs and goals as cost-effectively as possible. Check our website regularly for new specials.

The news media reported on Monday, July 7, that Barack Obama’s chartered campaign aircraft experienced elevator problems in flight from Chicago and made an “unscheduled” landing in St. Louis. Unfortunately, the mechanical description in the press reminded me of the catastrophic airplane crash involving Alaska Airlines off the coast of California several years ago. To my knowledge (and maybe I missed something) a presidential candidate from a major political party has never died while campaigning. It makes one wonder what the effects on the country and the election would have been if the flight had become deadly.

But it also reminds me of how being an airline pilot is much like being a project manager.

The slang definition of being an airline pilot is something like “Thousands of hours of boredom, punctuated by a few moments (every now and then) of stark terror”!

We think we know how the airline pilot gets his or her moments of terror. Weather conditions, proximity to other aircraft and mechanical “challenges” can punctuate the airline pilot’s day (and the day of the passengers). But, think about how this resembles project management. Generally, what project managers do is pretty routine. Project managers have a pretty boring life – if the project goes OK. Project managers define and document the elements associated with the project. Project managers work closely with and communicate with stakeholders. Project managers work with subject matter experts to achieve results. Just like the study of the standard for project management – the PMBOK Guide® Third Edition…it can be pretty high on the D&B scale (Dull and Boring).

That’s not to say that there is not job satisfaction. I am not saying that the thrill of doing something, of creating a new product or service is not satisfying. But generally, when things go well, the project manager takes the project from “point A” to “point B” and the project closes.

But what happens when the project does not go so well. What happens after you leave “point A” and find out your destination has changed; “point B” is not the end point, but only a connection along the way! What happens when the stakeholders say “I know I told you that was what I wanted, but what I really want is…”? What happens when everything that can go wrong does and all of the risks that were identified, mitigated and accepted come home to affect the project?

In the case of the project manager, it can provide more than “a few moments” of stark terror. It can provide days and weeks of challenges that have to be managed, mitigated, negotiated and resolved. The big difference is that the project manager usually has time to consider alternatives, to take corrective or preventive actions and to work through alternatives to resolve the situation. The airline pilot’s actions have to be instantaneous.

But just like an experienced pilot, an experienced project manager is worth their weight in gold when the unexpected challenges occur.

This morning one of the alleged US experts on petroleum has been interviewed by one or more media outlets and has predicted that gasoline could reach $12-$15 per gallon in the United States.  While I think this expert is wrong about gas prices in the US; in other parts of the globe there could be some validity to his assertion.

In case you have not noticed, gasoline is already over $10 per gallon – in Britain. 

But this is good news for project managers Read the rest…