Project Management

www.shutterstock.com/My Life Graphic Project Management and the Technical Communicator: By Liz Herman | Senior Member Why It Works 6 September 2013

Proj e ct Mana g ementAs a long-time technical communicator, the role I play When I am asked about my own PMP certification andas a project manager and the reasons why I succeed in involvement in PMI, I see the benefits of being a technicalproject management make perfect sense to me. To others, communicator in every process group and in everyhowever, the connection is not so clear. The skills that we knowledge area.refine over time as technical communicators have a criticalplace in project management. In addition to the actual act Let us take the knowledge area of human resourceof communicating content skillfully, technical communi- management as an example. In this knowledge area, thecators work to understand what the users need and how project manager must acquire, develop, and manage athe users prefer to access and consume information. At project team. While the human resources departmenta microscopic level, we intimately understand the role within your organization can help you acquire and developformatting plays in documentation, we know the questions your team, the management aspect falls largely in your lap.to ask of our subject matter experts to extract the detailed As a technical communicator, you are most likely alreadyanswers, and we recognize the value of checking our skilled at working with different personalities and you havework once, twice, and three times over. At a macroscopic figured out how to motivate people to share information.level, we see firsthand how organizational culture affects You understand the intricacies of working with virtualinformation sharing, we know the importance of keeping teams and how to overcome cultural and geographicstakeholders informed, and we can identify pain points barriers that can sometimes derail projects. Even if youcaused by communication breakdowns across an organiza- are not currently in a management role, your work as antion. We also do pretty well at communicating with tact and individual technical communicator is positioning you fordiplomacy. These skills can be directly applied to the art of a project management role in your future. Keep in mindproject management and can even give us an advantage in that this management role extends beyond a technicalensuring project success. communication project. These skills can be applied to implementation of a talent development program, to an If you have not thought about project management engineering software upgrade, or to the debut of a newbefore, it is time to see how your skills as a technical company website. The people skills that you already possesscommunicator can lead you to a project manager position. can lead you to successfully managing a team for any of these projects.About Project Management If you have not thought aboutProject management is about leadership, team building, project management before, itmotivation, communication, negotiation, conflict is time to see how your skills as amanagement, political and cultural awareness, trust technical communicator can leadbuilding, coaching, and decision making. These traits you to a project manager position.are, in fact, listed as the necessary interpersonal skills ofa project manager in the Project Management Institute’s The Voice of the Project(PMI) Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge orPMBOK (pronounced PIM-bock). Technical communica- As a project manager, you serve as the voice of the project.tors possess these traits and exercise them on a daily basis. You will regularly communicate with the project sponsor,Whether you are coaching a new editor, motivating yourself stakeholders, executive leadership, your team, and yourto write a blog entry for your STC chapter website, or customer. Once again, technical communicators are inleading a new release of online help, you are putting these a great position to be project managers. Why? We areproject management skills into practice each and every day. expert communicators. We know how to take complex information and make it accessible and understandable. Similar to STC’s dedication to advancing the field of We think about how the weekly status report will looktechnical communication, PMI is a professional association and whether our end users will be viewing the report on athat is dedicated to advancing the field of project mobile device or a laptop. This is one thing that definitelymanagement. Its members attend local chapter events differentiates us as project managers: We think about ouras well as national and international conferences. PMI end users and their needs at all times. Who better to do amembers can become certified Project Management Profes- needs analysis of an audience than a technical communi-sionals (PMPs) similar to STC members becoming Certified cator? We can determine by completing a needs analysisProfessional Technical Communicators (CPTCs). whether a two-page dashboard status report is sufficient or if the stakeholders want the full 10-page PDF file with PMI bases its project management guidance around all the details. We understand the benefit of asking ourfive process groups called initiating, planning, executing, team members what they need and when they need it. Wemonitoring and controlling, and closing. Within theseprocess groups are knowledge areas related to time,cost, and scope, which are known as the triple constraintin managing projects. There are also knowledge areasrelated to communications management, stakeholdermanagement, and quality management among others.www.stc.org 7

may not be the one actually designing the report, but we If you do not have experiencehave this knowledge that we can convey to the designer with budgeting, scheduling, orthat ultimately helps foster communication and delivery of managing scope, these mightcontent across the project team. The PMBOK, in its section be things to which you can gainon communications management, details these types of exposure through your currentconsiderations. It also highlights the communications work environment.skills that are helpful for a project manager to possess:active listening, fact-finding, educating, summarizing, influence. An organization’s political and cultural climateand outlining next steps. Do these sound like skills that can make or break communication efforts. As a technicaltechnical communicators possess? I think so too. communicator, you are probably aware of how the climate in your organization fosters or hinders communication. For Within the past year, I was asked to implement a example, some colleagues may tend to hoard informationmentoring program across the division in which I work. As because it gives them power. Others may tend to be morethe project manager and voice of the project, I needed to transparent with information because they see the value ofdetermine how best to communicate this new program to sharing. As a project manager, you need to possess skills toemployees. I understood that they would need guidance maneuver through these challenges. As a technical commu-as to how the program worked. Because of my technical nicator who reaches out to others for information, yourwriting background, it was easy for me to recognize that maneuvering skills at obtaining that information are mostsome type of online reference guide should be created likely already in place. You have worked with the stubbornand made available and easily accessible to the program subject matter expert, tactfully demanded the softwareparticipants. The guide explains the role of the mentor release schedule, or presented a business case that shows howand mentee, provides suggestions on possible topics, lists technical communicators add value. All of these experiencesresources, and clearly identifies who across the organiza- will help you in your role as project manager.tion can answer questions. While I still needed to initiate aproject charter, manage the schedule, adhere to a budget, Why It Worksand focus on quality, the communications aspect was madesimpler because participants had something, the guide in The technical communicator turned project managerthis case, to reference. works because of the unique skill set that we bring to the project. The interpersonal traits suggested by theBeyond Communication PMBOK are traits that we possess. They are traits that we put into practice on a daily basis. Moreover, otherThere is more to project management than communica- technical communicators have successfully made thetion. As a project manager, you do need to understand transition to the project manager position. Results fromthe financial aspect of your project as well the schedule to an informal survey I conducted in July 2013 using Twitterwhich it is aligned. You also need an understanding of the and SurveyMonkey shows that there are self-identifiedscope of your project so that you can manage expectations technical communicators who are PMP certified. Somearound the final deliverable. There is also a key component reasons for their pursuit of the PMP certification includeof managing risk that you should understand as well. If owning a consulting business, using PMI principles to leadyou do not have experience with budgeting, scheduling, or projects that are more technical and complex in nature,managing scope, these might be things to which you can and using PMI’s communication principles to ensuregain exposure through your current work environment. that everyone understands the project. PMP certificationYou might also try to gain this kind of experience through is not a requirement for transitioning to role of projecta volunteer project outside of work. You could, for example, manager. There are many projects that do not require amanage a project for an event sponsored by your local PMP-certified project manager. What is required is that youSTC chapter. This would provide you with some initial apply your technical communication skills because theyexperience with budgeting and scheduling and overall have positioned you to be a successful project manager. giproject management. The common trait shared amongtechnical communicators is that we are lifelong learners. Liz Herman ([email protected]), PhD, PMP, is a communi-I witnessed this trait at this year’s STC Summit. It was cations leader with 19 years of demonstrated achievements deliver-wonderful to be among a learning community. Therefore, ing knowledge management solutions (www.lizherman.com).if you do not have this experience now, I know as a lifelong She is a senior member of STC and is active in STC’s Eastern Iowalearner that you can gain these skills to complement your Chapter and PMI’s Eastern Iowa Chapter. She is already lookingalready-strong skill set as a technical communicator. forward to the 2014 STC Summit. An additional interpersonal skill mentioned earlierin this article and stated in the PMBOK is that of beingpolitically and culturally aware. This means that you havea sense of the political climate and cultural climate ofthe organization. The PMBOK calls this organizational8 September 2013