I BOUGHT MY DAUGHTER
A T-SHIRT
Alfred Richardson VP
of Technology
It has been a while since we released something on our blog
and the thought occurred to me about my daughter’s chosen profession- Program
Management. I know the title sounds like a strange topic for a blog in the
undersea systems world but bear with me.
Yes, my daughter is a strange person, she chose to become a Program
Manager. Yep, one of those people of multi-tasking skills and details. She is one of “those” people that every
program must deal with. You ever notice
that they speak their own language.
Words like waterfall and agile. I thought I knew what a waterfall was,
and as far as an agile program you got me there. They have “terms” for everything. I really
like how they describe organizational structures as functional organizations
like it is a bad thing. Ever hear of a
projectized organization or a composite organization? Even my spell checker has
a problem with the former. And don’t get me started on Program Manager acronyms,
we previously wrote a blog about the over use and misuse of acronyms.
So, this got me to thinking about the program mangers I
worked with and for over the years. They
were nice people, well most of them, with a slightly different look at life.
Ever hear the expression, “We never have
the time to do it right but always seem to find the time to do it over again.”
In today’s software world they have tools to track just about everything. A few of these tools are Gantt charts
(devised in 1910 by a man called Gantt), Pert charts (Program Evaluation Review Technique, developed by the Navy in
1950), and maybe something to do with Scrum. (Isn't that a Rugby formation?).
The use of Program Managers created what we at R&R refer to as Project
Quality Management. That is, they are the central person most responsible for creating an
organization’s profit on a specific project or projects. Although some may disagree,
the organization’s responsibility is to provide the Program Manager with the
tools that provide the highest potential for success. In short, the organization should be working
for the project manager and in turn the project manager works for the
organization by providing the fuel to keep the organization fed, i.e. Profit.
Being a Program Manager is not easy. As the saying goes,
back in the day I was first trained as a Program Manager by AT&T and then
several years later by the US government; both had the same message -learn how
to do more with less. Because in reality
a program needs more output with less people, less time, and less money. After
all organizations do not have an unlimited source of funding.
Program Managers have a tough job working with engineers,
management suppliers, and customers. As
we also provide program support R&R’s estimate is that about 90% of the
issues that must be resolved are internal and only about 10% is customer based.
Herding cats maybe less stressful. So,
in closing, let me say be nice to your Program Manager.
And what did the t-shirt say? PROGRAM MANAGER BECAUSE MIRACLE WORKER ISN'T AN OFFICIAL
JOB TITLE, YET!
