Project Management and the technical communicator: By Liz HerMan | Senior Member Why it www.shutterstock.com/My life graphic Works 6 september 2013
ProjEcT MANAgEMENT as a Long-tiMe technical communicator, the role i play When i am asked about my own PMP certification and as a project manager and the reasons why i succeed in involvement in PMi, i see the benefits of being a technical project management make perfect sense to me. to others, communicator in every process group and in every however, the connection is not so clear. the skills that we knowledge area. refine over time as technical communicators have a critical Let us take the knowledge area of human resource place in project management. in addition to the actual act management as an example. in this knowledge area, the of communicating content skillfully, technical communi- project manager must acquire, develop, and manage a cators work to understand what the users need and how project team. While the human resources department the users prefer to access and consume information. at within your organization can help you acquire and develop a microscopic level, we intimately understand the role your team, the management aspect falls largely in your lap. formatting plays in documentation, we know the questions as a technical communicator, you are most likely already to ask of our subject matter experts to extract the detailed skilled at working with different personalities and you have answers, and we recognize the value of checking our figured out how to motivate people to share information. work once, twice, and three times over. at a macroscopic you understand the intricacies of working with virtual level, we see firsthand how organizational culture affects teams and how to overcome cultural and geographic information sharing, we know the importance of keeping barriers that can sometimes derail projects. even if you stakeholders informed, and we can identify pain points are not currently in a management role, your work as an caused by communication breakdowns across an organiza- individual technical communicator is positioning you for tion. We also do pretty well at communicating with tact and a project management role in your future. Keep in mind diplomacy. these skills can be directly applied to the art of that this management role extends beyond a technical project management and can even give us an advantage in communication project. these skills can be applied to ensuring project success. 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 new before, it is time to see how your skills as a technical company website. the people skills that you already possess communicator can lead you to a project manager position. can lead you to successfully managing a team for any of these projects. about Project management Project management is about leadership, team building, if you have not thought about motivation, communication, negotiation, conflict management, political and cultural awareness, trust project management before, it building, coaching, and decision making. these traits is time to see how your skills as a are, in fact, listed as the necessary interpersonal skills of a project manager in the Project Management institute’s technical communicator can lead (PMi) Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge or PMBoK (pronounced PiM-bock). technical communica- you to a project manager position. tors possess these traits and exercise them on a daily basis. Whether you are coaching a new editor, motivating yourself to write a blog entry for your stc chapter website, or the voice of the Project leading a new release of online help, you are putting these as a project manager, you serve as the voice of the project. project management skills into practice each and every day. you will regularly communicate with the project sponsor, similar to stc’s dedication to advancing the field of stakeholders, executive leadership, your team, and your technical communication, PMi is a professional association customer. once again, technical communicators are in that is dedicated to advancing the field of project a great position to be project managers. Why? We are management. its members attend local chapter events expert communicators. We know how to take complex as well as national and international conferences. PMi information and make it accessible and understandable. members can become certified Project Management Profes- We think about how the weekly status report will look sionals (PMPs) similar to stc members becoming certified and whether our end users will be viewing the report on a Professional technical communicators (cPtcs). mobile device or a laptop. this is one thing that definitely PMi bases its project management guidance around differentiates us as project managers: We think about our five process groups called initiating, planning, executing, end users and their needs at all times. Who better to do a monitoring and controlling, and closing. Within these needs analysis of an audience than a technical communi- process groups are knowledge areas related to time, cator? We can determine by completing a needs analysis cost, and scope, which are known as the triple constraint whether a two-page dashboard status report is sufficient in managing projects. there are also knowledge areas or if the stakeholders want the full 10-page PdF file with related to communications management, stakeholder all the details. We understand the benefit of asking our management, and quality management among others. team members what they need and when they need it. We www.stc.org 7
may not be the one actually designing the report, but we if you do not have experience have this knowledge that we can convey to the designer that ultimately helps foster communication and delivery of with budgeting, scheduling, or content across the project team. the PMBoK, in its section managing scope, these might on communications management, details these types of considerations. it also highlights the communications be things to which you can gain skills that are helpful for a project manager to possess: active listening, fact-finding, educating, summarizing, exposure through your current and outlining next steps. do these sound like skills that work environment. technical communicators possess? i think so too. Within the past year, i was asked to implement a mentoring program across the division in which i work. as influence. an organization’s political and cultural climate the project manager and voice of the project, i needed to can make or break communication efforts. as a technical determine how best to communicate this new program to communicator, you are probably aware of how the climate employees. i understood that they would need guidance in your organization fosters or hinders communication. For as to how the program worked. Because of my technical example, some colleagues may tend to hoard information writing background, it was easy for me to recognize that because it gives them power. others may tend to be more some type of online reference guide should be created transparent with information because they see the value of and made available and easily accessible to the program sharing. as a project manager, you need to possess skills to participants. the guide explains the role of the mentor maneuver through these challenges. as a technical commu- and mentee, provides suggestions on possible topics, lists nicator who reaches out to others for information, your resources, and clearly identifies who across the organiza- maneuvering skills at obtaining that information are most tion can answer questions. While i still needed to initiate a likely already in place. you have worked with the stubborn project charter, manage the schedule, adhere to a budget, subject matter expert, tactfully demanded the software and focus on quality, the communications aspect was made release schedule, or presented a business case that shows how simpler because participants had something, the guide in technical communicators add value. all of these experiences this case, to reference. will help you in your role as project manager. beyond Communication Why it Works there is more to project management than communica- the technical communicator turned project manager tion. as a project manager, you do need to understand works because of the unique skill set that we bring to the financial aspect of your project as well the schedule to the project. the interpersonal traits suggested by the which it is aligned. you also need an understanding of the PMBoK are traits that we possess. they are traits that scope of your project so that you can manage expectations we put into practice on a daily basis. Moreover, other around the final deliverable. there is also a key component technical communicators have successfully made the of managing risk that you should understand as well. if transition to the project manager position. results from you do not have experience with budgeting, scheduling, or an informal survey i conducted in july 2013 using twitter managing scope, these might be things to which you can and surveyMonkey shows that there are self-identified gain exposure through your current work environment. technical communicators who are PMP certified. some you might also try to gain this kind of experience through reasons for their pursuit of the PMP certification include a volunteer project outside of work. you could, for example, owning a consulting business, using PMi principles to lead manage a project for an event sponsored by your local projects that are more technical and complex in nature, stc chapter. this would provide you with some initial and using PMi’s communication principles to ensure experience with budgeting and scheduling and overall that everyone understands the project. PMP certification project management. the common trait shared among is not a requirement for transitioning to role of project technical communicators is that we are lifelong learners. manager. there are many projects that do not require a i witnessed this trait at this year’s stc summit. it was PMP-certified project manager. What is required is that you wonderful to be among a learning community. therefore, apply your technical communication skills because they if you do not have this experience now, i know as a lifelong have positioned you to be a successful project manager. g i learner that you can gain these skills to complement your already-strong skill set as a technical communicator. Liz HerMan ([email protected]), PhD, PMP, is a communi- an additional interpersonal skill mentioned earlier cations leader with 19 years of demonstrated achievements deliver- in this article and stated in the PMBoK is that of being ing knowledge management solutions (www.lizherman.com). politically and culturally aware. this means that you have She is a senior member of STC and is active in STC’s Eastern Iowa a sense of the political climate and cultural climate of Chapter and PMI’s Eastern Iowa Chapter. She is already looking the organization. the PMBoK calls this organizational forward to the 2014 STC Summit. 8 september 2013
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