VIEWPOINTS

Seven things a beginner project manager must NOT do

By Melissa Vincenzi, PMP

Costa Rica

Every new experience brings with it a lot of new - and probably contradictory - emotions. That’s exactly what happens in Project Management; every project is a whole new experience by itself.

As in every other areas of life, you never stop learning. Fortunately, we can learn by our own or by anyone else’s experiences; that’s precisely why, based on my previous experience (best known as ‘Lessons Learned’), I’d like to share these seven things you, as a beginner project manager, must NOT do, in order to succeed in your new career:

1. Accept the job without knowing what it is about: If you do not know what exactly project management is, the impact that project management can have in organizations, and how to define a successful project, be sure to figure it out before you take the job

2. Refuse to learn about project management theory and practice: project management, as many other professional fields, requires you to engage in a constant learning process, especially at the very beginning. If you are not willing to do that, you’ll start on the wrong path.

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About the Author Melissa Vincenzi Author Melissa Vincenzi, MPM, PMP works a Project Leader in Servicios Computacionales Novacomp, a software development company in Costa Rica. She is in charge of managing short to mid-term software development projects, especially for the financial and banking sectors. Miss Vincenzi is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP); she has a Masters degree in Project Management from the University of International Cooperation, and a BS degree in Computer Science from the Costa Rica Institute of Technology. Melissa can be reached at melissa.vincenzi@cpic.or.cr.