Cesar Abeid is a Certified Project Mangement Professional and Vice President of Client Services at Remontech. He started his career as an electrical engineer. He is the author of Project Management for You and host of the Project Management for the Masses podcast.
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What Is Project Management?
- What is the most important thing you can share about pricing?
- Do not become a commodity. Be different, and then you have no competition.
- The question then becomes, “What are people willing to pay for what I do?”
- If you think you are a commodity, differentiate yourself in a specific niche.
- For example, if you are a web developer outline your differences – WordPress, bilingual, family man, etc.
- Narrow your target market and offer specific solutions to that market.
- “Life is a project; you are the manager” is his motto.
- What is the definition of a project?
- The textbook definition is an endeavor that has a definite beginning, a definite end, is done by a team and creates something unique.
- Manufacturing the Ford Focus is not a project; that is operations.
- Creating the 2017 Ford Focus is a project, which ends with the production of the car.
- It is important to differentiate between projects and operations.
- When you are faced with a new challenge, are you going to be able to look back a few months later and say it is complete?
- If not, it is not a project.
- What is the synergy between Getting Things Done (GTD) and project management?
- GTD is a methodology for living life in the 21st Century.
- How do you handle things when they come?
- If you need to take action for an item that more than one step, it is a project.
- For most simple projects, you can move through the steps, one after the other, as GTD describes.
- Project management involves thinking past the very next step.
- GTD is for the individual to have clarity and a clear mind to focus.
Value and the Project Manager
- Is project management easier if you have an effective value conversation?
- Value and project management come together when you realize what you need to do.
- Once you are focused on the value you need to deliver, project management becomes much easier.
- If the value you need to create requires the creation of something that is complex, project management pays off.
- You have to stay focused on why you are doing something to be effective in project management.
- Know the main pain point so that you can deliver on time, on budget, and within scope.
- Understand that you have competing constraints (the triangle of scope, time and budget) during a project and discuss how one change affects the other two.
- Communication with the customer regarding this can help them believe you are on their side.
- How can you have the difficult conversation when the Triangle of Truth is out of balance?
- Many project managers come from a technical background, where numbers and data are easier than dealing with people.
- Learn better communication.
- During a project, do not see yourself and the customer on opposing sides.
- Let the customer know you are together in the same endeavor.
- Scope creep is easier to manage in advance.
- If you are scared of having the change conversation, you have to learn the skills to do so confidently.
- Make friends from the tradesman to the vice president to remain on the same “side” as your customer.
- How can the construction industry differentiate on value?
- The industry has been trying to change the course of how the contracts are given out.
- They are trying to get away from the lowest bid mentality.
- Establish relationships with known contractors to create unique value by working together.
Managing Change
- What is the best way to manage change during a project?
- There are whole conferences about change management.
- Find out what the angle is behind the change request.
- If you have good communication with the customer, you can work together to figure out how to balance the triangle.
- You have to understand why the change is needed.
- Are agile development and project management in conflict, or not?
- Agile is a subset of project management.
- Traditional project management is waterfall, where you set up the requirements, plan the project, work the plan and receive sign-off.
- Software development can change – what you start doing at the beginning can change dramatically in the process.
- The Agile Manifesto says not to focus on the process, but to focus on the customer and the result.
- It says do not plan the whole project, just plan little sprints from a minimally viable project and deliver that feature.
- Agile is harder to apply to the construction industry, but can be applied during the design process.
- Focus on the value of what the customer needs rather than the methodology – be open to different approaches.
- What is one of your best stories about creating value for a customer?
- You do not need to get paid for everything you do.
- The most value he has created has been through his podcast.
- He does not make money directly from the show, but the value it creates for the listeners is immeasurable.
- Think about how you can give back to your industry through your writing, mentoring and volunteering.
- It provides you with a great sense of purpose.
About Cesar Abeid
- Website: CesarAbeid.com
- Podcast: PM for the Masses
- Twitter: @CesarAbeid
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