Insights and inspiration for project professionals

Where it All Began

Like many, I wasn't interested in project management. It sounded like it was getting in the way of my precious work.

For I was an expert, Artificial Intelligence in Medical Devices, and I was good at it. Back then, I was doing a PhD in biomedical engineering, and in the academic world, management is not exactly a consideration.

And yet.

One of the key elements of project management is self efficacy, the ability to estimate, plan out, and deliver activities. It makes us efficient. As experts, that is the part we know best.

Discovering the Bigger Picture

What is less known is the social and business acumen required to deliver value without burning out.
That is how frustrated at how the research team ran, I started studying, first the CAPM, much later PMP.
And did it help.

Starting with formalising all the good practices, giving them names and tools I could quickly put in place to save hours and reduce errors.

But this competence and knowledge came at a cost, it became increasingly clear that politics were at play, damaging our product and risking lives.

So I kept digging, certified, and took the newfound confidence and skills to the negotiating table.

Turning Points and Tough Lessons

There was no table, and 18 months later I was hired by my boss' funders, and they cut the funding.
I did get a raise in the order of 25% and a new position.

By the end of the new year, more political issues arose, yet I was untouchable, having just obtained 3 Million in funding with the prototype I designed and delivered with consultants. Another raise, another new position.

This time in charge of medical device quality management, and testing. Pre-existing knowledge from PM studies allowed me to quickly capture the quality management system, and move forward with a product design.

Meanwhile, the expert-led leadership became tangled in more political discussions, and the project was increasingly at risk.

Consulting: A New Phase

My experience and PM qualifications landed me a job as IT management consultant, while two project managers burned out and the project failed.

As a consultant, the structure provided by the PMBOK was essential. Quick stakeholder and impact analysis, strong knowledge management structure, and a keen eye to benefits allowed me to deliver on multiple projects over 3+ years, many who were seen as lost causes.

On my first such project, the sponsor was an angry gatekeeper, it was nearly impossible to get direction out of them. But I rallied the team and colleagues around our purpose with a clean charter, and ruthless culling of unnecessary work. From failing to exemplary project in 4 months, finally detecting quality issues in production sites.

On my next engagement, I found a Pharma team with no direction, no documentation, and 90-day delivery periods despite a 6-week backlog estimate. Again, knowledge is power: we standardised the processes and all of the scrum rituals, turned timeboxing into an art, and regularly addressed key decisions before sprint plannings. We cut daily meeting duration in 3, and reduced delivery periods by a minimum of 10%.

More than Tools: it's Stakeholder Management 

In parallel, I managed the ERP change for a small clinic, where once more good requirements management and quality controls meant we delivered the right tool and negotiated prices right in time.

The next project was almost entirely stakeholder management. An IT strategy, without an IT strategy specialist, major internal conflicts, a general hatred for externals, a fixed budget, and holes in the contract.

The kind of projects where you learn a lot, and burn a lot. Stakeholder management and agile work allowed us to go through a large number of deliverables, and foresee the clashes that would happen with other stakeholders, reducing internal clashes.

A Crisis — and a Turnaround 

One blessing follows another, my last project as a consultant was on the brink of collapse when I joined. Half of the compliance team was ready to quit on this Software as Medical Device, the customer was ready to pull out, and a colleague was working with our internal competitors, sabotaging our work.

Once more, extensive stakeholder management solved the core issues. Engaging with the customer heavily, showing good will, and structuring the communications. Behind the scenes, I coached my team to temporarily give me the risk and focus on delivery, without giving false hopes.

This pronged solution allowed me to increase good will and rebuild collaborations between the customer and consultant teams. We turned the project around in 2 months, going from risk of cancellation to 1 year of extension.

Gratitude for the Journey

For these skills that I gained, and the economic as well as intellectual benefits that they have given me, I am thankful.

To CAPM and PMP for the formalism.

To PMI for the content, and the local chapters for the curated, custom content.

For the volunteers and participants, with whom I could exchange ideas and learn, and who have given me opportunities to practice the leadership of a manager.

 

Joachim will be one of the speakers at the upcoming PMI Benelux Summit on October 10th — don’t miss his session if you’d like to hear more from his journey firsthand.

 

Joachim Dehais, PhD, PMP, TOGAF, CCBA
VP Members & Volunteers, PMI Switzerland