• Michael R (unregistered)

    Ah, the good old PiMP.

  • (nodebb)

    I want to write something orangy nail and inciteful, by my comments are constantly pasted.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Michael R

    Well, you know what they say... PiMPing ain't easy

  • (nodebb)

    I've always wondered what do they actually teach at these business schools and trainings - every time I read one of these stories it sounds like they study something like scholastical works - both difficult and irrelevant to reality.

  • (nodebb)

    Project management seems to be one of those skills that desperately needs a medieval-style apprenticeship program.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Allexxann

    I can't speak even to undergraduate business courses, let alone MBA courses, but I did take a continuing education course in project management, and while I didn't sit for the PMP (Project Management Professional, for the unfamiliar) exam like some of the class, I did take the one to become a Certified Associate in Project Management - while it also requires demonstrating less knowledge, the main reason for sticking to that one for me was that it didn't have the same level of requirements of reporting units spent in project management roles and training to keep up the certification (and I let my CAPM run out years ago anyway).

    Anyhow, what I can tell you was taught in that course included things like how important the role as a communicator is (that part of this article could almost have come from one of the lectures), how to use but not be a slave to some of the tools in question (Gantt charts, work breakdown studies, et cetera), and how to deal with management, including warnings about handling MBAM styles (Management by Airline Magazine) and the generalization that what managers like to see is colors and shapes.

    There were example exercises done using real-world studies, and since it was a continuing education course some groups were working with situations pulled from their actual workplaces...it was actually pretty interesting and some of it remains useful to me. But there were also certainly elements of the scholastic and questionably relevant in the available material.

    You could always pick up a copy of the Project Management Body of Knowledge if you're curious. Our instructor used to recommend it as a sleep aid.

  • 516052 (unregistered) in reply to Allexxann

    MBA is like a school for military officers.

    Managing people is a real specialized skill set that does require specialized training. However, a critical part of managing people successfully is not having at least a passing understanding of their actual job. Otherwise you will be woefully inefficient and your underlings won't ever respect you. And that is something they can't teach you in officer school.

    That is why MBA graduates work much better when managing other managers than when acting as a glorified foreman. Nobody expects the fresh faced LT because he does not know how to soldier. But a captain strait out of school absolutely can command LT's just fine.

    Or, in short, newer put a fresh graduate MBA to be a project manager. And if you do, give him a good sergeant from the worker team.

Leave a comment on “Flushed Out”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #701693:

Log Out

« Return to Article