I’m Max Walker. I began consciously working on projects for the first time in 2002. Like many, I stumbled into it accidentally. I’d proven myself good at organizing details, leading and motivating people, and innovating solutions. The opportunity came to step out of management for a while and work on an IT project as part of the business-side project team. Seven years later, I certified PMP. I am now managing again and we’re building up the PM skill set throughout the team, even among non-PM types.
My path to PMP was characteristic of many, I think. I took my first PM training course. I liked the tools and processes I saw. I tried to implement them all: charter, preliminary scope, scope, WBS, network diagram, lessons learned. It didn’t work. It was too much for my organization. Several of us had taken the class together, and although implementing that heavy rigor failed, we found ourselves more focused, using common thought processes, and more readily recognizing holes in planning and strategy for our projects.
I kept studying. We tried implementing some PM docs and tools again. No joy. But eventually, we figured out that we don’t have to adopt all that stuff to be effective (and increasingly effective over time) in our projects. We’ve started doing Cottage PM, as I call it, and it’s working. Turns out, it involves a hybrid of Agile methods like Scrum and traditional Waterfall, so I certified ScrumMaster (CSM) later on. I know, the purists say a hybrid doesn’t work. But that kind of thinking would never have led to new models like Scrum, eh?
I can’t wait share that ongoing experience with you!
