Skills

Job Skills For The Future: Vendor Management

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

In a recent meeting, a manager much higher than I said something that blew me away: Vendor Management is a job skill of the future.

First, because I realized she was right and I hadn’t thought of it.

Secondly because I realized that’s an issue I’ve not covered here, and if I’m going to be the geek job guru I need to cover skills we progeeks need for the future. So welcome to my latest series – Job Skills For The Future.

I can’t claim it’s the most original title. But anyway, let’s talk Vendor Management, because we should.

Vendor Management – You’re Going To Need It

What do I mean by Vendor Management? Pretty simple – Vendor Management is working with a company outside of your own to get goods and services.

OK, it’s not simple because it involves negotiation, contracts, communication, money, and of course inevitable complex legal agreements. I’ve been on both sides of the equation and trust me, Vendor Management is a complete skillset of its own. There are people that specialize in it as part of their other job functions, and for some it’s most of their job function.

(which is also a way of saying if you can do it and have done it, put it on your resume, people probably need it.)

But why is this a job skill that’s important for the future? It’s pretty important now, what’s the deal?

It’s important for your future: As you move up in your career, it’s more and more likely that you’ll have to interact with vendors. So for your own sake, look for opportunities to learn it.

People are outsourcing more than ever: Ever feel like a lot of your company’s functions are outsourced? That’s because they are – its’ easier to do than ever and in a complex, more necessary to do (because of the need for specialists). In the future there will be more outsourcing – I used to joke I could make a triple A game with a five person staff by outsourcing, and its not as funny as it was.

By the way outsourcing isn’t just contractors. It’s software or it’s meal services or whatever.

You’re inevitably getting something from a vendor: You company or yourself as a freelancer is going to inevitable interact with a vendor. Sure, it may not be many, but vendors interact with other vendors and so on. You might as well get those vendor management skills together because like it or not, even a few vendor relationships probably spiderweb into fr more tan you realize.0

Vendors change: Right now how many people get important software services on the web via subscription? I recall a time when that seemed odd or impossible. That outsourcing/insoucring strategy that seems good today will change in a few years. Vendor relations and needs and services change – so getting good at Vendor Management gets you ready for transformations.  Even if it’s not your job now . . .

It’s only going to get more complicated from here.

So How Do I Get Good At It?

So how do you get good at Vendor Management? Well most of my experience was a mix of accident and “call Steve he likes to talk to people.” But here’s what I found and what I’ve seen.

  • First, be aware of Vendor relations period. Don’t tune it out, or ignore it, or pray it goes away (not that I haven’t done those things). Listen and learn. As of late just paying attention helped me find out how some Vendors have changed (sadly, for the worst).
  • Second, find an edge for dealing with Vendors – are you good at talking, good at the law, good at analyzing proposals? Find where you’re good, because unless it’s a major part of your job, you should develop the part you need.  (My advantage is persistence and friendliness).
  • Third, go and try it out. One of my major realizations lately is that as my experience is piecemeal, I need more. The people really good at Vendor Management seem to dive into it and learn – so seek it out.
  • Fourth and finally, and though I say this often, pay attention to the news. Knowing what vendors are out there is helpeful. Many’s the time I’ve found some new service and wished I’d known more about it.

As I said, I could be a bit better at this – but I hope my advice helps you.  I’ll share any more insights I have.

If you’re a Freelancer? Then you’re gonna have to deal with a lot of Vendor Management, so get good at it now.

– Steve

Geek Job Guru: How To Be Terrible At The Skills You’re Good At

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ship speed gear speed control

Recently, someone commented on an email I had sent that was a poor bit of communication. Not wrong, not inaccurate, but simply inappropriate – overly wordy, not addressing the point, too much detail, etc. They were frustrated.

As this person put it, to paraphrase, “You write, how did you get this wrong?”

Of course I write. I’ve written fiction and science papers, technical documents and chatty career columns, books and guides. I mean I can write all sorts of things . . .

And then, in that conversation, I realized that was the problem. My mouth literally hung open as it came to me – I had chosen the wrong mode of writing as I had so many modes at my disposal.

That experience stuck with me, and it’s something I wanted to explore for the sake of our careers – and as sometimes we geeks can be very talented and people wonder how we screw stuff up.

It’s not about being bad. Many of us can be so good at something we screw it up.

Read more

Geek Job Guru: Project Management

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Now and then here and in my various speaking engagements I talk, mostly jokingly, about how people should go into Project Management, since I did it for nearly a decade (I just moved up to “one level higher,” Program Management, sort of the Epic Class of Project Management)). When a friend asked me for details on the career and what to do I realized I should A) write it up so I didn’t have to again, and B) do it as a column for the same reason as reason A.

Also hey, I already talked about management, so let’s get to my kind.

This is that column. So buckle in, because the joke is over, it’s time to get real.

Real ORGANIZED.

OK, So What Is Project Management?

In a nutshell, Project Management is the ability to ensure a specific time-bound goal is reached by planning, organizing, and working with resources (people or otherwise). You do this with a mixture of techniques,tools, common language, and human interaction.

So what it comes down to is that when you have specific goals in mind (like a software launch, an ad development, or a building getting done), and want someone that’s going to help you get there, you get a Project Manager.

(By the way, if by now you’re saying, “hey, I’ve been a Project Manager but wasn’t called that” you are not alone – but you may want to make it officially).

It really is a specific discipline, and historically you can probably recognize people that did the job even before the term existed. It’s not general leadership, it’s not technically implementing something, it’s that ability to say “we want to go here, here’s how, and let me check up on where we are.”

As the profession has developed it’s become even more distinct, with tools, principles, techniques, and organizations. People are damned serious about this.

So Why Would I Want To Do This?

First of all, you may not. In my experience the best Project Managers (and those practicing similar professions) are sort of naturals at it. If you don’t like it, you’re not going to want to do it.

Now that being said, here’s reasons:on:

  • It’s a profession about organizing. If you are a natural organizer, this could be your job. In fact, it’s probably needed because if you’ve ever met . . . a lot of humanity . . . you know a lot of people just aren’t that great at it in scale.
  • It’s a profession that provides structure and support for your career. Project management a recognized profession, and it has many associated professions like Program Management, Product Management, and more. If you’re a PM (the short term for Project Manager), it provides you access to various career options. In general I find it may limit you, but you may also not care.
  • It’s a great next step. My story is that at one point, being an Engineer,I wondered what was next. After talking to some people, it seemed the logical conclusion – I should move from programming to being a person that organizes engineering efforts, using my experience. If you feel you need a step up, it may be for you.
  • It’s a good transition. Even if you don’t want to do it forever, Project Management is a good transitory step, to do for a few years (though I recommend 3-5) and then move to management, recruiting, etc.
  • It’s a great way to open options. Most of my engineering experience was banking, government, and to an extent media. But with Project Management I was able to make “horizontal” moves to different industries – picking up knowledge each time.
  • It is a social profession that supports you. There’s an international organization, PMI, that supports project managers and related professions, provides events ad groups, and more. Frankly, it’s a great professional organization, so you’ll get supported.
  • Pay and compensation is usually pretty good, and there’s a lot of long-term potential.

One warning though – you gotta like it to be good at it. Sure you may want to be a manager or a product manager, or you want to broaden yourself or something. But if you don’t like it you’re not going to be happy. And you’ll be bad at it.

What’s It Like On The Job?

Different for every Project Manager, but there’s a few things you can count on:

* You’ll make and maintain plans in various tools and forms.
* You’ll track and measure progress of projects – and unblock them.
* You’ll talk to and interact with people a lot, from networking to convincing to reporting.
* You’ll have to do a lot of reading and analysis to know what’s going on.
* you’ll use, explore, and develop techniques to improve all of the above tasks.

For myself, my usual day was:

  1. Review email and communications.
  2. Check project progress, and keep a list of worries, concern, and issues.
  3. Update reports, people, tackle issues that came up in progress.
  4. Resolve any sudden emergencies or issues throughout the day.
  5. Take on new projects and have meetings, reviews, planning sessions, an more.
  6. Evaluate ways to improve things and improve what I was doing.
  7. Lots of reporting, communications, and keeping up with people.

Sound like something you’d like? So how do you do it?

Being A Project Manager – General

So being a Project Manager has two parts, I like to call General and Advanced. General is how you do it- Advanced is how you really engage it.

So basically, to be a Project Manager, try these steps.

Join PMI: Really. If you are serious go join or at least g to a local chapter to meet people and participate. But the fact it provides so many resources, tools, and a magazine is worth it.

Get Familiar: First, read up on it. Go grab “Project Management for Dummies” (which is quite good, actually) and get familiar with the terms, techniques, and so forth. Project Management is in part about a language of communication. If you want to dive deep into traditional project management, you can read the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) – I did, and though it was not exciting, It gave me a good grounding in traditional management and terms.

Learn Regular Tools: Traditional linear project management, called “Waterfall” is the basis of a lot of modern tools – because things happen in order. I’d get basic skills in thi method by taking a crack at Microsoft Project, Merlin, or OmniPlan – or on the web, Wrike. You may or may not use these, but it’ll help you know WHY you didn’t.

Know Some Agile Techniques: Agile is the big thing the last decade or so, where Projects aren’t done “Waterfall” but are done in semi-organized “lumps” of tasks called sprints, that are small and heavily reviewed. Think of it as getting a “bag” of to-dos and then evaluating what more has to be done later and refilling the bag. I’d read up on SCRUM, which is the big one everyone pretends to use.  Note that though these techniques are usually used for software and IT projects, they are creeping in elsewhere.

Get Some Training: There are tons of classes, and PMI will point you at them and provide many. If you’re really serious, you can get pretty educated.

Use It: Use what you learn as soon as possible. On the job. At home. VOlunteer to be a junior PM at work. Whatever it takes. But go and use it right away because that’s how you learn.

Short form,go learn the techniques and tools and use it right away, that’s how you become a PM. Or realize it’s not for you

Project Management: Advanced

Now if you’re hardcore serious about this, being a PM has a few more requirements. Here’s what you do if you say “I’m really serious”

Join PMI: If you haven’t already. Really. It’s indespensible. Shell out the money, join your local chapter, and go.

Get Certified: PMI provides certifications, the “junior” Certified Associates of Project Management (CAPM) and the Project Management Professional (PMP – yes we’ve heard the PiMP jokes). The CAPM is sort of transitory to the PMP, but is noteworthy, and the PMP is gold. Both have stringent requirements and you actally have to keep up the PMP and register your self-development with PMI. If you get these – and maintain them – you WILL be a better PM and people will notice.

Become A PM: How did I become a PM? I mentione dto my boss that was my goal and kept working at it. THen I became one (probably thrilled they could pay me my engneers’s salary). So if you’re serious figure out how to work to it at your company or look for jobs that will let you be a PM.

If you are a titled PM, have your PMP, and are part of PMI, and always improvig, you are one of us. And it’s worth it.

Being A PM: The Challenges

So, this sounds great, but it can’t be all sunshine and Gantt Charts, right? Well, it isn’t. Because you don’t become a PM to have an easy time, you go into it frankly because it fits you. Here’s the challenges:

Order Out of Chaos: Ever wonder why no one organizes things? Well as a PM that person is you, and you’re resonsible.

Power Of The PM: PM authority comes from knowledge, negotiation, expertese, and association. YOu rarely have any actual power of assigned-over-people.

Constant Self-Development: A PM requires constant self-development, from reading and studying, to practicing and applying, to maintaining certifications. There’s not always a lot of breathing room, frankly.

Weirdness Hits Home: Strange hours, unusual happenings, unexpected interruptions – a lot of times they filter through you. If it is bizarre, liming, traging, disatrous, or insane itcomes to you at some point or another.

As I said, you don’t do this job because it’s easy.

So, Any Regrets?

Now, what is my take having done this for so long (over half my IT career)? Frankly, one of the best choices I ever made.

At some point as an Engineer, you usually have to make the call of Specialist or Generalist. Netiher really fit me, and I also wanted to help get things done – since I was always an organizing and documenting force. Being a PM fit me, or as I joked (ala Dilbert), at least as a PM any stupid decisions I made would be the informed stupid decisions of an IT professional.

Being a PM broadened what I did, let me expand my horizons, and really used all my skills, not just my technical ones. It let me try more things, meet more people, and as corny as this sounds, I think it made me a better person. Being a PM prys the lid off of your world and requires you to grow.

I also like the people I meet. PMI is a great organization, the meetings are fun, and I like the camaraderie. I like how my job means I’m taking to engineers, managers, makreters, product managers, and more. I think I’m more extraverted because of the profession as well.

Finally, I loved how it opened up industries to me. As an engineer I had a specialty (data driven web apps) and specialty industries (banking, government). As a PM, exposed to so much, I could go farther – communications, games, advertising, software, etc. Admittedly having faced assorted layoffs I wish for a little less diversity, but still.

Regrets? Actually . . . none. I’m happy. I made the right choice.

If you think this sounds like you, you’re probably PM material.

So What’s Next?

Well, what’s next? I’d at least take a look at PMI and grab Project Management for Dummies. If that appeals, then start taking on PM duties and see what’s next. I think you’ll know.

And best of all, when someone asks you what it’s like to be a PM, you can show them this post.

Efficiency, after all, is one of those PM watchwords . . .

– Steven Savage