How to Build Master IT

Project Managers
...or Too Valuable to be
Underpaid .......
Ted Smith
CEO, Gartner Institute
VP of Career Markets & Services, TechRepublic

Between You and Lunch:

1) Why should I listen to you?
2) Who are these project managers anyway?
3) What kind of project managers do we need?
4) Why do project managers fail?
5) What characteristic define a Master Project manager?
6) Where are the master project managers hiding?
7) How can I build master project managers?
8) Does PM business contribution = compensation?
9) Can you put a number on that?

For a copy of this presentation:

www.techrepublic.com/downloads.jhtml

Why should I listen to you?

Step 1: Start with Gartner Group research and analysis combined with Gartner
client inquiry to determine industry need
Step 2: Conduct primary research through detailed job task analysis and critical
incidence identification and build job skill standards that are legally defensible
Step 3: Produce content that improves the effectiveness of the IT Organization

m
Co

Step 4: Refine that content through constant dialogue with the largest on-line
community of IT professionals --> www.techrepublic.com

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400 IT Project
Managers
20,000 hours of IT
PM experts &
practitioners

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Who Are These Project Managers

Anyway?

40%

Trained

What Kind of Project Managers Do

We Need?

Our Research of 30 large IT Organizations

found:
2 levels of Project Management Need:
- Project Capable Level
- Turn-around Artist or Master Level
95% of organizations with >75 IT
professionals could identify at least one
Master level PM

73% of those organizations did not have a

succession plan or career path for that
Master PM

Wanted: Project Managers

and Project Masters
Project-Capable

Master

Skill Level
Budget
Staff
Duration
COMPLEXITY

$ $ $

$ $ $ $
$

Required Competencies

Capability Maturity Model Scale

Most IT
project
managers
are here

Behavioral

Business
Technical

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Project Management Expertise

Level 5

Why Do Project Managers Fail?

Business Competency Failure

Ignorance of changes in business initiative sponsorship

Changes in the business requirements not reflected in project planning

On time, on budget, wrong outcome

Followed the methodology, lost the goal

Behavioral Competency Failure

Inability to serve as advocate for the team

Inability to withhold making a final decision until the important facts have been
collected and evaluated

Failure to understand (and consider) ramifications of decisions

Ineffective feedback to team members (both positive and negative)

What Characteristic Define A

Master Project Manager?
1) Big picture / long term viewpoint: Never
believes the numbers
2) Ability to make and own PM policy
3) A great front person
4) Coaching leadership style
5) Risk analysis and contingency planning
beyond make-work deliverables

Where Are the Master Project

Managers Hiding?
Master IT Project Managers were found in
three places:
Happily at the top of great PMOs
Moving like frequent flyer nomads through
consulting firms
Miserable in organizations that classified
them as one of those people that likes that
administrative stuff

Core IT Project
Management
Staffing Pool

25
%
35%

Informally assigned to
IT project leadership
roles - usually have
other responsibilites

40
%

Trained

Master IT Project
Managers & Mentors

Untrain
ed

Formal Project Office

Even Great PMOs Get a B-

How Can I Build Master Project

Managers?
1) Segment the workforce to encourage mentoring
at all levels
in all IT job roles
2) Stop wasting $ on 8-week traditional PM training programs
and INVEST it in compensation and rewards programs for
effective PM mentoring
3) Focus on creating a large group of project-capable PMs
through targeted training and supervised staffing owned by
your best-performing PMs
4) Reserve the job title Project Manager for those who have
proven themselves in the role and create a Senior Project
Manager job title and role.
5) Create the career path from Sr. PM to IT executive role and
include increasing business management responsibilities

Does PM Business Contribution

Equal Compensation?
Budgetary
Responsibility

$$$$$

Upper Management
Dir. of IS, Dir. of Data Center

Median $40M

Project Management
Applications, Distributed
Systems

Technical Staff
Programmer/Analyst,
Database Specialist

$$$$
Median $3M

Median
$<100k

Base
Compensation

$$$$$
Median
$125k

$$$

Median $80k

$$$$
Median $95k

*Base median compensation from blended comp studies and national

averaging

Can You Put a Number on That?

Q=((PA - PB)/(SQRT(((nA * SA2)+(nB * SB2))/(nA + nB))))
PA = exam score of project manager A
PB = exam score of project manager B
SA = standard deviation of exam score of project manager A
SB = standard deviation of exam score of project manager B
nA = number of questions on project manager As exam
nB = number of questions on project manager Bs exam

Standard Deviation
s=(xb + xw)/6); where
s= standard deviation
xb = value of 1% best
possible outcome
xw = value of 1% worst
possible outcome
6 = number standard
deviations in a normal
distribution

A Job Role With a Bottom Line

IT Project
Manager
Proficiency

99% Efficiency (Based on $500,000 Project)

90%
$3.2MM

75%

Efficiency
($)

$1.7MM

30%
- $1.3MM

Inexperienced

Above Average

Superior

IT Project Manager Skill Level

Summary
The broad base of project-responsible workers is not skilled

and often are the root cause of project failure and the devaluation of the PM job role
Business and leadership skills are critical success factors in

the high-stakes world of IT

A project office needs to balance proteges and mentors -

doing both a service

Master PMs need to be found and developed
The project manager runs a business inside of your business

and needs to be recognized accordingly

Thank You
For a copy of this presentation:

www.techrepublic.com/downloads.jhtml
or send an email request to: tsmith@techrepublic.com

Bonus Slide: When Do IT Projects

Fail?
20%
Planning

40%

Scope
Definition

Execution

Closure

10%

30%

Bonus Slide: Is IT Really Different?

Engineering/
Construction

Information
Technology

Slow, incremental

Rapid, unplanned

Explicit plan

Often ambiguous

Roles

Specialists

Utility players

Implementation

Six Sigma

Controlled crisis

Change

Requirements