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*** II *** *** THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** PROJECT MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW The Daily Telegraph MODERN WIZARDS today, some as consultants; others employed as “in-house” staff. All need to be eminently flexible and ready to take on fresh challenges. “The job can change from day to day and there will be lots of THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT When the APM set up shop 36 years ago, few people had heard of project management as a career field. “We started with 90 members at a time when most people had never heard the phrase,” says co-founder and APM president, Martin Barnes. “We had to invent the applied science through a process of research and development.” Now, things have changed. The APM is the largest independent professional body of its kind in Europe with over 16,500 individual and 500 corporate members located throughout the UK and abroad. The organisation holds lectures and workshops and, by regulating PM training providers, is now working to professionalise the industry. Every year, its annual conference attracts professionals and key decision makers from the public and private sectors. Topics for this year’s interactive forum, The APM Project Management Conference, due to be held in London between October 29-30, include how to take advantage of global opportunities. APM members are among the most experienced in their field: full members must have a minimum of five years’ experience; while 75 per cent have 10 years or more. The discipline has broadened out to other sectors, too. “Initially, PM was limited to construction, manufacturing and engineering,” says Barnes, “but now you find it everywhere, and in newer, creative sectors such as film-making and television.” The APM is currently pursuing a Royal Charter and its application is being considered. “We are at the birth of a professional approach to project management and this includes the important drive by the APM for chartered status,” says Adrian Dooley, APM member and founder of PM training provider, The Projects Group. PERFORMING TASKS AND MAKING THINGS HAPPEN, AS IF BY MAGIC, IS ALL IN A DAY’S WORK FOR A SKILLED PROJECT MANAGER. IT’S A TRICKY ROLE BUT THE BONUSES ARE ENCHANTING, FINDS THEA JOURDAN The route to becoming a project professional YEAR 1: THE FIRST STAGES Would-be project managers tend to be graduates. The 2007 APM members’ survey shows 71 per cent of APM members are educated to degree level, with 37 per cent holding a postgraduate qualification. However, they may already have started careers when they choose to make the switch. “Although some people come to project management straight after university, the majority of PMs are coming from other sectors, such as IT, engineering and manufacturing. They realise that they need projectmanagement skills to be effective in ‘‘ P roject managers are effectively jugglers, expert communicators and magicians — hence, their job often involves pulling rabbits out of hats. So, every time a hospital trust decides to update its Accident and Emergency department, or build a new kidney dialysis centre, for instance, the project managers are called in. Or, when the government wants to raise private money for Academies or transport links, it’s the project managers they turn to for their skill and expertise. “At its most fundamental, project management is about people getting things done,” says Dr Martin Barnes, President of the Association for Project Management (APM). The APM estimates that there are around 100,000 project managers working in Britain ‘‘ This is a very modern role that equips you with a range of skills that are easily transferable surprises along the way,” admits Barnes. “This choice and flexibility means the sector offers a seductive variety of career opportunities.” And, it is partly because it is so adaptable that project management is one of the world’s fastest growing professional activities. It’s a job that crosses international borders with ease because the skills it requires are just as useful in Lagos as they are in London. “In a world where ‘a job for life’ is being replaced by portfolio working, and where each person will experience a minimum of three career changes in their working life, project management is a modern role that is totally transferable from business to business, sector to sector, and profession to profession,” says Barnes. Assignment leaders can be drafted in to perform a particular task in a particular time frame, and consultancy firms, which provide bespoke teams for clients, are doing booming business. There is also a growing band of respected freelance managers who are able to move seamlessly from contract to contract on the strength of their reputations. So what qualities do you need to be a good project manager? Adrian Dooley, chairman of training provider, The Projects Group, says: “A successful PM will be bloody-minded but accept that things can go wrong and be willing to take the blame when they do. You must be thick-skinned because as a PM you are constantly in the middle of stakeholders, bosses, and your team. It takes a great politician to balance all the parties together. Most importantly, a great PM must be a decision maker otherwise the project will inevitably fall behind.” Although men still outnumber women in the profession, more and more women are coming through as senior assignment leaders. Anne Beitel, managing director of specialist headhunting firm Executives Online, says there is a good reason for this. “Women have a lot of the skills which good project managers need, like listening and multitasking.” She says that the number of requests for specialised change managers is growing, as companies try to keep up with the fast pace of change in today’s world. Pay is also more generous. Experienced project managers can expect to earn between £80,000 and £100,000 per year, and freelance rates range from between £600-£1,200 per day. There are three levels and students can choose to do the modules as distance learners. YEAR 5: THE FINAL HURDLE At this stage, you should be an experienced senior manager with several big assignments under your belt. You can apply to join the APM as a full member, and work towards becoming an APM Certified Project Manager. their primary occupation,” says Adrian Dooley of training specialists The Projects Group. Qualifications to aim for: the APM Introductory Certificate course teaches the principles of project management. YEAR 2: STEPPING UP “Most people start as part of a team, utlitising one of the specialised skills needed on the project in hand. If you do well you might be put in charge of one of the work streams from where you can move to becoming a project manager,” explains Dooley. Qualifications to aim for: the APMP qualification is for people with up to two years’ project management experience and enables candidates to participate in varying levels of projects; PRINCE2 is a training resource developed by the Office of Government Commerce, that focuses on methodology and projects and helps put theory into practice. YEARS 3-5: MOVING ON Fledgling PMs will gradually be given more and more to take on. “There may be five layers of managers each holding more responsibility and taking more risk in a project,” says Dooley. Qualifications to aim for: the APM Practitioner and MSP Project Management qualifications can be taken at the same time. MSP, like PRINCE2, is a training resource, but that focuses on programmes rather than projects. *** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH *** *** Magic moments THE SPECIAL SKILLS IT TAKES TO GET THE JOB DONE page 2 History repeating LEADING TACTICS FROM PAST BATTLES page 5 Healing hands MANAGING GLOBAL RELIEF EFFORTS page 7 ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT BY MARK LAZENBY Project management CAREERS IN THURS *** II *** *** THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** PROJECT MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW The Daily Telegraph MODERN WIZARDS today, some as consultants; others employed as “in-house” staff. All need to be eminently flexible and ready to take on fresh challenges. “The job can change *** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 *** *** | III The Daily Telegraph PEOPLE CAREERS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Xlang Jing’s “Your Body” is currently on show at the Saatchi Gallery TAKING A BROAD NIGEL HURST DIRECTORANDCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFTHE SAATCHIGALLERY PERSPECTIVE FROM *** IV *** *** THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** *** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 *** *** | V The Daily Telegraph SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CAREERS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT LEARNINGFROMPAST MASTERS ALAMY, CORBIS, GETTY THE TACTICS EMPLOYED BY FABLED LEADERS OF THE PAST CAN PROVIDE VALUABLE TIPS TODAY. THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS IS A *** VI *** *** THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** CAREERS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT AWARDS AND TRAINING THE PRIZE WINNER JIMMY ZAMMER, OF UK CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANTS DAVIS LANGDON, WAS AWARDED THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT’S YOUNG PROJECT MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD IN 200 *** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 *** *** | VII The Daily Telegraph GLOBAL ASSIGNMENTS CAREERS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIME FOR A CHANGE? Searching for a career change that reflected her own ethical values, Wooster’s first experience of charity work was when she volunteered *** VIII *** *** THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRANSPORT Rail finders: the Docklands Light Railway The Daily Telegraph TRANSPORT TO THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS WILL NEED TO BE AS PRECISELY PLANNED AS THE EVENTS THEMSELVES, SAYS GABRIELLE COLLETT-WHITE C