MSU, Learning, and Skill Development

I just completed a very fun PMP exam prep course (Project Management Professional certification for those outside of the project management realm) here in the Chicago suburbs. Aside from the PM discussions, we had some great discussions concerning education and training.

One of the acronyms I learned was MSU. While I can’t give you every word it represents, the M stands for Make and the U stands for Up. I hope you can figure out the middle word. The other one I learned was GTS. The S represents the same word as it does in MSU. The G stands for Google and the T stand for The. As I heard these (enjoyed with appropriate humor), I couldn’t help but think of the many students who tell me they don’t need skills, they can just Google whatever information they need to solve whatever problem they face.

My mind went and combined all these discussion (as it usually does) to an interesting, but not surprising conclusion.

When I first entered this business (seminar training and consulting), basic PM courses were 4-days long. In that time, we had the opportunity to challenge students to evaluate situations and attempt to apply the material they just learned. Now, it seems that they can’t “afford” to be out of the office that long, so we’ve whittled courses down to 3 and even 2 days. Because of this change, we only have time to shovel information down their throats but we don’t have the time to challenge them to apply the material in the classroom Rather, we hope they can apply it at work under even more challenging situations with people who didn’t attend the class. While I’m delighted at the e-mails I receive from students indicating they’re applying some of the tools, I can’t help but think we could improve things with a bit more critical thinking.

For example, ask yourself what the best tool is for negotiating with senior management to get resource in a project? What’s the best tool for gaining acceptance of a deliverable with a client or customer? What’s the best way to build a strong project team in a matrix environment? How can I make sure functional managers give me the resources I need for my project? We throw a ton of tools at you but don’t allow you to work these out in your head so you can pick the best one on the fly in the middle of a difficult project. The result, I frequently get students (usually from other classes) that tell me they create Gantt charts and issues logs but their projects are still challenging and frequently late.

It’s glibness! I’m continually amazed at the people with PMPs that can’t manage projects. Having a large tool chest is absolutely a benefit, but knowing how and when to apply the right tool is what makes projects work. For example, I (almost) never negotiate for resources with a Gantt chart if I have a large issue log, I would know my communication strategy was at fault.

Project management is a vast topic covering a substantial range of topics. Knowing how all the pieces interact, knowing which tool to use when, and knowing how to apply the tool is the key to project (or any other management discipline’s) success.

Go ahead and GTS and MSU when you must, but don’t just leave it at that. Keep a log of what works and what doesn’t. Watch how decisions affect peripheral issues, not just the immediate issue. Keep your own lessons learned and eliminate the glibness.