I became a project manager though a weird route. I was working at a company as a software user interface designer and I was running out of work. Bluntly, it’s a lot easier designing UI than it is to code it, and I was way out ahead of our developers. So I started taking on other stuff like running the agile scrums and coordinating between groups and such. Then my boss mentioned that they were hiring a director of project management to start a PM department at the company and I lobbied to be his first PM.
I honestly feel for the guy. Imagine showing up to your new gig, where you get to build you own department, and get told that some random person with near 0 career experience has glommed themselves onto your team (and reputation). He barely spoke to me for six weeks, just watched me. Then he took me out for coffee and told me that I had a knack for PM and he was happy to have me in his group.
He became my first mentor. And one of the most powerful things he told me is that project management is about truth. It’s not about telling the executives or yourself a bunch of nice-sounding BS, it’s not about sugarcoating the results. If you’re over budget, you’re over budget. If you’re behind schedule, you’re behind schedule. If their endless requirements caused the problem, then you tell them — to their faces. If your bad decisions cause the problem, then you say that too, just as directly.
I always appreciated this advice, and have no doubt it benefited my career. It also matches my personal style, which I don’t think is harsh, but direct. If I have one superpower, It’s giving people the bad news or the negative review — and having them still like, or at least respect, me afterwards. I’ve had people who I’ve harshly critiqued tell me that they want to use me as a reference. Crazy.
It’s not nearly as easy to see and say the truth about yourself. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to suss out my own weaknesses and issues, so that I can change or at least mitigate them. It’s hard work. When I was being considered for a new role at work, one with lots more complexity and accountability, I performed a 360 on myself: asking managers, coworkers, and team members to critique my fitness for the role. It seemed like the logical think to do, but several people have told me since how atypical that is (“not normal” was one response).
We’re in a time and place (or a place on the timeline as Gordon would put it) where truth is kind of hard to figure out. We all have the sense that people are lying to us (politicians, news) but which ones? A lot of people answer this question by picking a team. My team tells the truth and their team lies — simple! I happen to think it’s a lot more likely that both teams lie when it suits them and get their ‘people’ to lie for them as well.
The best way to know the truth is to look at your own situation and life. Figure out how thing actually are in your life and your environment (not how they say things are). Sort out what you think about it (rather than what they tell you to think). And decide how you feel about it (not what they manipulate you into feeling).
Then look at the people who seem to be doing the same and weigh their opinions and statement accordingly. They may not always be right, but they are more real and authentic than people who just play for their team.
You may not get to the whole truth that way, but you will avoid most of the bullshit. And you’ll be focusing on the things that are relevant and important for your life, which is the safest bet in terms of ranking and evaluating your own experience.
