I am always fascinated by the ongoing debate of which is better, the technical or non-technical Business Analyst or Project Manager. That's why I just had to let you all know about this article by Tom L. Barnett, PMP over on gantthead.com. It's an excellent addition to the discussion that I think really captures why it is such a difficult topic to resolve.
You can find examples of success on both sides of the argument as well as examples of failure. Mr. Barnett takes a closer look at two examples and in my opinion makes a compelling case for his conclusion. It's about the people, not the process or the domain.
What do you think?
You can find examples of success on both sides of the argument as well as examples of failure. Mr. Barnett takes a closer look at two examples and in my opinion makes a compelling case for his conclusion. It's about the people, not the process or the domain.
What do you think?
I wanted to mirror my comments over here too. Thanks for directing us to this article Craig!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Tom! I wanted to add that a project manager who is able to build a great relationship with the people who have domain knowledge can be very successful. If you openly ask for a mentoring relationship from people who know the industry, it can be a powerful way to gain trust from your team and stakeholders because (1) you openly acknowledge them as a source of expertise and (2) many of the reasons for defensive behavior go away.
This reminds me of a point in Hal Macomber's Two Great Wastes. One of the reasons "not listening" becomes a problem is when there is concentrated knowledge and power, usually in a manager or project manager. When I see a manager or project manager who tries to be (or is) the subject matter expert on the team, there are usually trust issues there. The flip side is what I describe above.
Josh Nankivel
pmStudent.com
Thanks Josh
ReplyDeleteJanet was the one who posted the article, although it is a conept we are all interested in.
Why is this such a difficult question?
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