Author: Linky

Linky

Project Manager – The Value of Certification

project management certificationThe demand for skilled project managers is at an all-time high as organisations continue to focus on higher productivity and greater customer satisfaction with minimum resources. Project management is a booming profession that is only going to get bigger in the years ahead.

Once you decide that you want to become a professional project manager, or you’re already doing the work and you want to formalise your credentials in order to be acknowledged as a project manager, you have a few choices. You can pursue a degree or diploma in project management, offered at multiple universities and institutions, and/or you can become certified by becoming a Project Management Professional (PMP), a title awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

In order to obtain the certification, you need to complete a log book as evidence of your experience and you need to pass an exam. To study for an exam while working full-time can be a challenge.

Here are three excellent resources from Cornelius Fichtner to help you prepare and pass the PMP exam the first time (there are people who have to sit more than once before they pass).

#1 PM StudyCoach

The PM StudyCoach™ is a 10-week long self-study coaching course in which you will receive and learn what it is exactly that you have to study week after week.

The benefits of this course are that it helps you to stay focused, to apply best practices, to make studying a routine. It also keeps up your study morale and it guides you to a proven plan. The coaching sessions are in MP3 format and it provides activity checklists.

#2 PMP Exam eFlashCards

Now that people can surf the net with the use of their phones, laptops, androids and other gadgets that fit their lifestyle, you no longer require thick sets of paper for flashcards. With eFlashCards™ you can do reviews while in the elevator, during your break time, or waiting for the bus. They run on your iPod®, BlackBerry® and most other smartphones.

The benefits of the FlashCards are that they make repetitive learning fun and fast. More of your senses are engaged in the learning process. You can study anytime and anywhere .The digital flashcards can be downloaded for your iPod, Blackberry, Windows mobile device or smartphone and they include all the chapters of the PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition.

#3 The PM Exam Simulator

This offers you the opportunity to take 9 computer-based sample PMP® Exams before heading out for the real thing.

The benefits are that you practice under test conditions, learn to manage your exam time effectively, to gain confidence and most importantly that you are ready to take the exam. With 1800 realistic PMP exam questions and detailed explanations for all answers, you can make certain that you pass the exam!

If you have more questions about following a career in project management, you are welcome to email me at:

linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com

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Linky

Project Management: How a PMO Can Make a Difference

PMORecently I attended a Virtual Conference hosted by the International Institute of Learning (IIL). A presentation by James C. Brown about how a PMO can make a difference was very insightful. Today I want to share some of what I have learned from him about Project Offices and the value that they bring.

PMO Perceptions

Often there are many perceptions about Project Management Offices (PMO’s) in organisations. They are considered to be ‘Report Generators’, ‘Process Creators’, ‘Infastructure builders – building and maintaining costing, time-keeping and scheduling tools etc’, ‘Dashboard/Scorecard experts’, ‘Organisational home of Project/Program managers’, ‘process police’ and so on.

In reality a PMO is and should be much more than any of the above. Let’s take a closer look at what the goal of the PMO should be.

Goal of a PMO

According to James Brown and the research that he has done, the goal of a PMO is the following:

“The right information at the right time in the right hands.”

For a PMO the commodity is information. How a PMO manages and communicates that information to others so that they know where it is, have it at the right time, and it’s pertinent to them to use it, interact with it, and make decisions with it, is the key to success.

When you want your PMO to deliver real value, you need to make Portfolio Management your goal. This would include:

  • Strategy development
  • Revenue planning and budget development
  • Functional resource management
  • Project execution

And how all of the above relate to one another.

James Brown states that for a PMO to be successful, the PMO needs to make life easier for the stakeholders by providing data that they need for decision making and making visible what projects have done for the organisation at any given time.

Types of PMO’s

Traditionally there are 3 types of PMO’s:

  1. Auditing – responsible for auditing methodologies and compliance with quality and standards.
  2. Enabling – to improve the maturity and effectiveness of project leaders
  3. Executing – actively engaged in implementations, responsible for facilitating and doing project work.

The ultimate vision, according to Brown, is to be a bit of all these types, but being flexible depending on the needs of the organisation.  For a PMO to survive it should become agile, which means it must learn to adapt and overcome challenges.

Some critical success factors for successful PMO’s are:

  • To support the vision of the Leadership team (innovation, cost savings, growth etc)
  • Focus on value delivered from a stakeholders point of view
  • Support decision management with data that matters to stakeholders
  • To improve forecast capabilities
  • To provide near real-time data that is always accessable

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Please share in the comments section if your organisation has a PMO and what your perception is of the value that your PMO delivers.

Linky

Leadership Style – Servant Leadership and Communication

By Bill Flint

This article is part of a series of Leadership Style articles about Servant Leadership.

Servant Leaders Communication and Conflict Resolution skillsOne of the most common challenges in today’s work-place, is to find the time to improve on communication and conflict resolution skills.

Leaders complain about people being lazy or not doing their jobs right, or people complain about the leaders being so busy that they don’t have time to spend with their people.  The workforce complains their leaders don’t set expectations, don’t ask for feedback and don’t really care about them. Then we wonder why companies have a gap between their vision and the results they are achieving. Everything in life and business revolves not just around communication but the “right kind of communication.”

Communication is the # 1 problem in almost all businesses

Why is communication considered as the main problem in many businesses?

  • It keeps the people and the organization from reaching their potential.
  • It’s not because people aren’t talking, but in most cases, it’s the “wrong kind” of communication or a “lack of the right kind.”
  • People are talking at each other, but not getting through.

Servant Leaders and communication

What Servant Leaders have learned about great communication is:

  • Setting Goals
  • Helping people understand what is expected and why?
  • What they will be measured by?
  • Performance reviews—how they are doing, what are they doing well and the areas they need to improve on.
  • Asking people for their ideas and suggestions.
  • Providing, inspiration, encouragement and motivation.
  • Discipline
  • Conflict Resolution
  • I’m your “coach not your boss.” I’m here for you.

Servant leaders know it’s their goal to “help both the people and the bottom line  grow.”

It’s not an either or. You need both for a business and its people to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

Communication and Conflict Resolution

Servant Leaders need to realize about communication and conflict resolution:

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Linky

Closing a project prematurely – is it right?

By Simon Beuhring

Closing projects prematurelyHave you ever worked on a project which lost sight of its goals? Or worse, worked on a project where the goals were never clearly defined?

If so, then join the club of projects which have been a waste of money.

Recipe for disaster

Too many times projects are started based upon loosely defined objectives. The most important stakeholder on a project – the sponsor – authorizes such projects and then sits back thinking their job is done. Project managers are then left with the job of delivering the project, often without further input from the sponsor. This is a recipe for disaster.

Business justification

A fundamental principle of project management is that a project must have continued business justification. Without it, you are guaranteed to waste both precious time and money.

This means that the sponsor must be involved from the very beginning in defining the reasons for doing the project. This means being clear about the business problem(s) you are facing, or the business opportunity which is presenting itself.

Business Case is the key

The most important of all project documentation is the Business Case. This document outlines the reasons for doing the project and the expected benefits which will result from the project. It should contain an investment appraisal where the costs and risks are weighed up against the expected benefits.

Deliverables help realise benefits

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Linky

Leadership Styles: The Vision of a Servant Leader

By Bill Flint

Vision of a Servant LeaderAs part of a series of articles about Leadership Styles, today’s post is about the vision of a Servant Leader.

The best strategy to achieve organizational goals and create competitive advantage is by developing an environment of caring, mutual trust, and respect between the leaders and the people by focusing their efforts and strategy on developing the full potential of all associates and the business, therefore creating a winning partnership.

Servant Leaders Live Their Vision By:

  • Treating people as the most important asset in the company
  • Seeing people not as they are today but their potential
  • Realizing people are more important than tasks
  • Measuring their own success by the success of those they lead
  • Knowing leadership is about building relationships throughout the company
  • Impacting people’s lives by mentoring and coaching
  • Setting goals, objectives, actions, and measurements, with accountability for the results
  • Leading not just with their words but with their actions and modeling the behavior
  • Believing it is the responsibility of leaders to make a difference in people’s lives
  • Encouraging, inspiring, and motivating their people

When you see the definition and vision of a servant leader, it seems it should be something every leader and every company would want to embrace. It’s hard to argue with developing leaders who exhibit such skills, abilities, vision, and philosophy for leading others. But for many, it’s hard for them to understand the importance and make servant leadership a way of life.

Often when companies have tried to start new initiatives to improve relationships with their people, it has failed, because there is no real strategy or plan for developing and implementing a process. Real change takes time, patience and perseverance to make the needed people and culture improvements.

They look at it as a program and not as an on-going process. Programs are usually looked at as something short term, while process-building is for the long term. If servant leadership is going to be successful, leadership must be committed to the journey and the changes that everyone in the company will need to make in the way they lead, interact, and think about the people they lead.

Success Factors for Servant Leadership

Some of those changes will require a commitment that causes leaders to learn how to:

  • Balance the leadership of the people with the stewardship of the company.
  • Establish the expectations with their leadership for this new servant leadership style.
  • Obtain support by all senior leadership (from the top), or it will not work
  • Ensure leaders, supervisors, and middle -managers who won’t support it or cannot change leave the company.
  • Realize it is a journey and not a quick fix.
  • Communicate the process and the strategy to the total workforce, so they know what is happening and will hold you accountable for making it happen.
  • Expect scepticism from some associates.
  • Remove the barriers that keep people and the company from reaching their goals.
  • Empower your people.
  • Dramatically improve communication up and down the chain; communication will be the glue that makes it work.
  • Build real relationships with those they lead.
  • Make resolving conflict “job one,” because there will be plenty of conflicts as you implement this strategy.
  • Move your company from reactive to proactive in its personality.
  • Position people as problems solvers, not problems in the mind of all the leaders.
  • Develop an atmosphere of innovation and imagination.
  • Make motivating, encouraging, inspiring, and energizing your people the new normal.
  • Train and teach to build your associates into a team of champions.
  • See problems as opportunities.
  • Concentrate on developing the potential of your people.
  • Set goals, objectives, actions, and measurements, with accountability for the results. Build a sense of community, where everyone is pulling together to build your competitive advantage.
  • Train, teach, and learn over and over.
  • Remember there will sometimes be pain in the journey, but it will be worth it.

    Continue reading

Linky

Leadership Styles – Is Servant Leadership the Answer?

By Bill Flint

Is Servant Leadership the answer?When we look at the state of our economic climate, politics, and the decline in trust people around the world have for their leaders, it becomes obvious that there needs to be a new direction and emphasis on the right kind of leadership.

Almost every night on TV, we see the despair people feel around the world because leadership isn’t working. In countries where leaders have used the power of the “big stick and control” leadership model to try and control their people, we see individuals willing to die in the streets to bring about change.

What is the answer to this leadership crisis?

Servant leadership is about working to eliminate conflict through good communication, listening to other people’s ideas, and being civil in the way we treat those with ideas we don’t agree with, so we can reach agreement for the good of the people we lead. This leadership style could be the answer.

Leaders are forgetting that leadership is always about thepeople. That doesn’t mean people will always get what they want, but even medicine that doesn’t taste well can make you feel better. We need leaders who really care about us, who will be honest, explain what needs to be done, and tell us the pain and the sacrifices we must go through and the actions needed to make things better. We need leaders who can develop a three-year strategy, instead of throwing abandon to the wind and coming up with a new program all the time to satisfy special interests and try to give us false hope.

How will Servant Leadership be an answer to the problems?

What kind of leadership is needed to bring about the changes we desperately need?

Who are Servant Leaders in Business?

Men and women who bring their purpose, passion, and character, and when combined with their God-given skills and abilities for leadership, bring out the best in people, helping a business develop and implement a sustainable process for success.

To Develop This Type Of Business Environment Requires Several Things

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Linky

Leadership Styles – Servant Leadership

servant leadershipFollowing a recent article about Grateful Leadership, I want to look at another leadership style that will help you become a better leader.

Recently I came across an article by Darrell Andrews, who is a sport enthusiast, stating that he came across two types of leaders in sport. Some leaders enjoy the adoration that comes with success and clamor the spotlight when all is going well. They love giving interviews and communicating with the media during good times.

Unfortunately when things start to become challenging, these leaders don’t do so well. They begin to blame weakness in their organization for the failure. They start to pressure the people they are leading and make life miserable for everyone else, for in their mind, the problems in no way can be their fault. Although they love success, they are poor examples of leadership.

The second type of leader enjoys success too but they do something a little different. They give credit to the people within their organizations or businesses. This type of leader is a leader of people and they recognize that success in any organization starts with the people who work within it.

Servant Leadership

Lute Olsen, the former University of Arizona basketball coach put it this way: When the team wins, I give them the credit, when play is mediocre, we both need to improve, but when the team loses, it is my fault. What a great example of leadership!

We need more leaders like this today – leaders with an attitude of service. This leadership style is also called Servant Leadership.

Wikipedia defines it as follows:

“Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and a set of leadership practices. Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top. By comparison, the servant leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible”.

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Linky

Leadership Style: The Power of Grateful Leadership

Grateful Leadership

This article is inspired by the book:

“Grateful Leadership using the Power of Acknowledgement” by Judith W. Umlas.

The concept of Grateful Leadership is as profound as the concept of the leadership style Servant Leadership, dating from the 1960’s, has been. This is a model that came after the success of The Power of Acknowledgement, a book by the same author.

What is a Grateful Leader?

A person who is generous with acknowledgement is the key to Grateful Leadership.  It is:

What is Acknowledgement?

“Acknowledgment is a heartfelt and authentic communication that lets a person know their value to the organization and the importance of the contribution that they make.” From ‘The Power of Acknowledgment’ by Judith W. Umlas.

What are the reasons to be a Grateful Leader?

There are many reasons to be a grateful leader. Why?

Tools to help you be a Grateful Leader

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Linky

How To Manage Projects In Today’s Risk Economy

By Fredy Rhoehrs
How To Manage Projects In Today’s Risk EconomyPlenty of risk, slow growth and unpredictable forecasting is what I hear when I am speaking with project managers today. Large organizations are facing big challenges in today’s economy. The most obvious of these is the euro zone’s debt crisis, which will limit growth for companies across the entire world.

More preoccupied with risks than opportunities, companies will remain cautious in their spending and project management investments.

“When a risk occurs, with some ingenuity, this may open up an opportunity, and conversely when pursuing an opportunity there will be associated risks. Risks are generally deemed acceptable if the possible gains exceed the possible losses.” – Rory Burke

What’s the view?

I believe project managers today will need to have an objective view of required contingency to account for cost and schedule uncertainty as well as analyzing the cost effectiveness of risk response plans. All project managers should be able to run applications and technology in order to:

  • Identify common scheduling pitfalls that may result in misleading schedule or risk analysis results
  • Integrate pre-developed risk registers and define new risk registers
  • Address full lifecycle risk management through advanced Monte Carlo-based cost and schedule analytics
  • Report confidence levels with regards to finish dates, costs, float, internal rate of return and net present value

What’s the solution?

The solution lies in following a systematic process of identifying, analysing and responding to project risk over the full life-cycle of a project and being able to report accurately on risks and risk management plans.

One such solution is provided by Oracle’s Primavera software. Risk Analysis is a full lifecycle risk analytics solution integrating cost and schedule risk management. Primavera Risk Analysis provides a comprehensive means of determining confidence levels for project success together with quick and easy techniques for determining contingency and risk response plans.

You are invited to watch this educational video from the Primavera Youtube Channel related to how to reduce risk and complexity in large organizations:

Mega Project Management: Reducing Risk and Complexity

Let me know what your thoughts are and please enter your comments below in order to understand if your business challenges today could be resolved using Oracle Primavera.

About the author:

Fredy Roehrs is an experienced business development consultant for project management solutions in Oracle Primavera.  With proven business relationships in Middle East, Latin America and Spain; he can provide real solutions to all the project management challenges your company face today.

For a better understanding of the Oracle Primavera application click here.

Linky

Memorable Project – Past Forward

A novel approach to preserving memories before it is too late

By Lisa Chait

Picture the scene:  It’s 2054 and a 15 year old somewhere in the world is putting the final touches on his family tree for a school project.  He goes online using the latest version of the iPad (can you imagine it?) and types in his mother’s maiden name.  Google throws up a few bits and pieces but one particular find catches his eye. It’s a YouTube clip of an interview with a woman who somehow looks familiar.

He has already used Geni.com to get a broad layout of who is who in his ancestry.  With the amazing reach of the Internet and input from others around the globe – each contributing data and photos – the grid is rich and full.

The woman whose interview Google has found is, according to the tree, his great, great, great, great grandmother. It is the very first time he has come across her.  Excited, he clicks the link … and watches her come alive.

‘Dear family’, I am your ancestor and I know most of you watching this will never meet me because I will be long gone.

But I want to tell you my Life Story because it is who I am.  And more importantly, it is who you are and where you come from.‘
Life Stories Project

Memorable Project

The clip is part of the Life Stories Project that was started in 2010.  Essentially what this memorable project does, is to record memories so that clients can have a record of the stories and personalities of their ancestors for future generations. Simply put, it helps people Talk Across Time.

People record their parents, grandparents, colleagues or friends stories and sometimes their own Life Stories are captured as a family legacy for their children and children’s children.

These stories offer a window into a world that will be lost forever with their passing. And they also magically take you back into the locations, stories and personalities of their parents, grandparents and even great grandparents. They have a precious key into the past that will now be preserved forever through their telling.  It is about recording history NOW for future generations.  Not leaving it until it is too late and we are left saying, ‘We should have’ or ‘I am so sorry we didn’t.’

The Life Stories Project team consists of researchers, interviewers, camera people and sound recordists, commissioned to record peoples lives and then edit them into beautifully watchable or readable experiences (DVD, Audio and written). The team trawls through amazing photographs and old film, discover letters, documents and fascinating mementos. They ask questions and get wonderful, moving, funny and poignant answers, supporting people to share what is most precious – the story of their lives.

The project goal is to create thousands – even tens of thousands – of conversations across time and geography that are archived forever on DVD, CD and in text. But also available online on open or private platforms so that they don’t get lost and are accessible and sharable at the click of a button.

It doesn’t matter how you do it! Use a cellphone to record, sit down after dinner or go and visit a family member. Just take something down. Anything! Or consider using the Life Stories Project team to come and handle it for you.  Don’t regret not having captured your heritage.

In terms of the project vision, the team doesn’t look for lives worthy of blockbuster scripts, or ones that publishers might consider bestsellers. The project supports wonderful regular folk whose story is important and fascinating because of its intrinsic and genealogical value.  Every life is important – and even more so when the family wants to capture it.  The simple idea is to help people share these stories with the future. And it is the greatest privilege to do so.

To find out more about Life Stories please visit: www.lifestories.co.za

And remember to let us know in the comments what you think of this project!

About Lisa Chait

Lisa Chait is a former history teacher and radio talk show host. More recently she has co-produced, written and presented the SABC3 television and online series ‘I Am Woman Leap of Faith’ (www.iamwomanseries.com). At last count it had 38 000 online viewers. Lisa has sat up a pole for charity at the V & A Waterfront raising R1.2 million for the prevention of child abuse. Lisa is also the passionate founder and project director of Life Stories www.lifestories.co.za.

Contact Lisa on info@lifestories.co.za or +27 72 3776211

Linky

Project Management – 7 Tips to Effectively Manage Project Meetings

As a project manager you have to deal with multiple meetings almost every day. Whether you plan for which meetings to avoid or attend, you cannot deny the fact that meetings are crucial for planning and delivery of projects you manage.

8 tips to effective project meetings In these meeting, you may to interact with your project team members, colleagues, customers, partners, project sponsors, senior management on various aspects of projects like issues, plans, progress, risks, budget, resources, etc.

As a project manager, you always have limited time and if you are anyway going to spend it in these meetings – why not utilize it to the best possible extent?

Here are 7 tips to help you in effectively managing your meetings.

1. What do you want to achieve? (Objectives)

Unless you have clear objective(s) to achieve as a result of a meeting, the meeting and discussions may not lead to anything useful to organization also, potentially wasting every attendee’s time. Before you call for a meeting or attend a meeting, ensure that you have clearly defined objectives that you would like to achieve.

2. What are you going to discuss? (Agenda)

Meeting agenda sets the roadmap for meeting – as what meeting participants can expect. As an organizer you should share meeting agenda with everyone invited, well before the meeting.

3. Who is going to drive it? (People)

If the meeting is expected to conclude in terms of some decision, you will have to ensure that there will be a senior representative – decision maker, present in the meeting. The steering committee may make all useful discussion, but if it is going to be a senior manager who is expected to approve it, organizer should inform him/her about it and invite them to meeting.

4. Are you discussing off-topic and wasting time? (On-track)

It is not uncommon to see that meeting discussion goes off-topic, sub-group of people starts discussing within themselves. As a meeting coordinator, everyone would expect you to direct all such discussion to the point and that you insist everyone to focus on the agenda.

Of course, quick humorous notes/comments are just fine to make the meeting environment little relaxed and healthy.

5. Criticize concepts/concerns and not people

Project team members and stakeholders may have differences, liking for one topic over other or preference for one resource over other; however it is important to focus on the concepts, ideas rather than preferences in people.

Sometimes, meeting participant may tend to criticize other attendees. If you are in the best position; you should drive them to discuss the concept rather than the proposer.

6. Understand, Accept differences and Propose Solution

Sometimes there are bound to be differences of opinion and for meaningful discussion, you need not have unilateral/consensus on a given topic. As a meeting attendees, you should be able to accept these differences, record those and understand what works best for your organization and meets the goal of meeting.

7. Share MoM, Action Items to follow up

An equally important point to carry out is post-meeting activities. Always record minutes of meetings (MoM), enlist action points with a due date and assignee and share this information with all meeting attendees.

I am sure, as a project manager you have plenty of meetings to attend every week, too many emails to go through and plenty of agenda, MoM, action items to search through. There is no easier way of organizing all information than using central meeting manager system.

Bottom line

A meetings is like a drawing board and it’s critical to the success of project planning and delivery. You should carefully plan for it, attend and conduct it effectively.

How do you make your meeting more productive? Please share your experiences in the comments.

About the Author:

Dhan is co-founder of Zilicus, the technology company that offers online project management software – ZilicusPM. ZilicusPM helps organizations in managing entire lifecycle of projects with advanced project planning, risk management, issue tracking, timesheet management, meeting management, document management, resource management, reports and dashboards.

Linky

The Right Internship Can Give Experience and Career Opportunities

By Jennifer Moore

This article is aimed at students who consider internships to expose themselves to more career opportunities, for example in project management. Also discover 5 tips for best performance on internship programs.

Internships for experience and career opportunities As a college student, you may want to take on a business internship. This is a type of on-the-job training that prepares you for your future career, whether this is in project management or any other field. Suitable internship opportunities can give you a better feel for project management and what it entails, especially if you happen to find an internship program that allows you to use your creativity, initiative and ability to guide others.

Why Should an Internship Interest You?

Just as a student studying Education needs experience in teaching, business students need internships offered by businesses. However, future employers also look for graduates with some professional experience out of the classroom. They look for candidates that take initiative and do more than just the coursework necessary to get their degree – and a project management internship could give you this experience.

Where to Find this Type of Internship

While many businesses offer specific internship programs, many of these don’t deal with project management, as this can be a delicate and complicated process. If project management is your aim, then you could look for this type of internship in the non-profit sector. It is easier to find a non-profit with internship positions for students that pertain to getting a certain project or process completed.

Once you do find the right project management internship program, then you want to follow these 5 tips for best performance:

#1 – Understand the Details

If you take on an internship offered with the sole purpose of completing a certain project, be sure you understand what the project goal is and the company’s expectation is.  Ask all the questions you need in order to understand the expectations of the project sponsor and what defines project success. This will allow you and the team to develop the plan and to verify the goals.

Identify the project success criteria, how each of the tasks will be accomplished and tracked, and the time frame for when these will be achieved. This is part of the Planning phase of a project.

#2- Identify Team Responsibilities Early On

Once you have a plan you can determine what you and the team are responsible for. Whatever your project is, remember that this is not an individual study. A project team is a working unit, sharing one goal, but each member has its own responsibilities. If you take on the role of project manager, you need to identify the skills and talents of each individual team member and put those skills to work (much like your sports team coach does).

#3 – Identify the Project Milestones

With the help of your team members, you should identify the project milestones. Remember that each project has four phases; initiation, planning, execution and closure. Evaluate the process of the project against these phases and place time limitations on each of these.

#4 – Project Communication

One of the most critical parts of project management is to communicate regularly with stakeholders like management and team members. Keep everyone informed of the process and keep communications open, honest and as concise as possible.

#5 – Test the End Result

Before delivering the end results you should review, and if possible, test the results to make sure they are correct and according to expectations before delivering the finished product.

Conclusion

Many students are apprehensive about entering an internship program, and some even more so when it has to do with project management. So it’s important to realize that any company that gives you an internship position and project to manage, won’t give you any project that they don’t feel you are completely capable of handling.

As an intern you won’t receive a critical business project to work on. Even so, any project offered to you offers you a great opportunity to gain experience in the field. It offers you the opportunity to learn how project management teams really work and what is expected of you.

About the author: Jennifer Moore, an experienced business and tech writer, once worked on many training-team business projects for large corporations such as General Motors, John Deere and Trico. She frequently contributes to Degree Jungle, a research resource for college students and young professionals.