They don’t call Project Management “the accidental profession” for nothing. Many of us arrived here from a business or management background, but a lot of us came into this profession via a more indirect route, specifically, through a technical discipline that landed us in front of a new project. And this is where it can get really interesting.

I recall one particular meeting I attended based on an invitation from a high-level executive who suspected his head of Program Controls was doing a poor job. The executive was right. This fellow wasn’t trained in PM – he had a Ph.D. in a technical discipline, and knew just enough PM jargon to insinuate himself into the newly-created slot he occupied. His Team was large, as was the conference room, so I just took a seat in the back and kept my ears open.

“Here’s the problem I want addressed” he began, standing in front of the rather large white board. He drew five large rectangles on the upper third portion of the white board.

“These represent the major program offices” he stated. He then drew about a dozen smaller rectangles in the middle third of the white board, in a different color.

“These are the major projects within the portfolio” he said, as he drew lines both between the mid-level rectangles and the high-level ones. He then drew around twenty small rectangles on the bottom third.

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