How to Solve Product Design Questions -The Great PM Interview

Product design (also known as Product sense) is the most common question asked during PM interviews. It should not be confused with the UI-UX or system design challenges. Here, product design is a journey where you explore diverse questions and challenges pertaining to product discovery & development. The journey begins with the search for answers to Why, Who, What, Where, When and How. However, all of these need to be investigated in a limited time frame of 30-45 mins during an interview. Product design problems can be either case studies or open ended questions on technology or physical products.

Discover the ten steps needed to crack the Product Design/ Sense Interview - HERE.

Nine Characteristics of a Project Manager

By Stanley Epstein - Principal Associate - Citadel Advantage Ltd.

So you are an aspiring project manager? You have done the training. You have passed the exams. You have a certificate to prove it.

Now the really hard test begins. Are you going to make the cut in the project management world? What are the key characteristics that a good project manager should have?

As one would expect, project managers come from all walks of life, with different professional backgrounds, different experiences and different skills.

Despite this however there are certain key characteristics that all good project managers’ have in common. Despite the huge diversity that project managers display there are personal traits that good ones all have in common.

To start with they like managing projects. If any of you are not entirely sure of what a project really is please take a moment or two to get you bearings by reading my article “The seven key characteristics of a project”.

Managing projects is not something people are neutral about. You either like it or you don't. Why would anyone want to do a job in which one can fail so spectacularly? If you succeed people will simply shrug their shoulders and say you just did your job?

Some people delight in the challenge and like the feeling of accomplishment, of getting something done that may not have happened without them.

So what makes a good project manager? What are the key characteristics of a good project manager?
Well, good project managers:

1. Are hands on – the actually manage rather than simply co-ordinate, or preside over.
2. Are natural planners – the planning of what needs to happen and what needs to happen next is a reflex part of their actions.
3. Don't like surprises – and if you don’t want surprises you need to plan thoroughly to try to prevent them popping up.
4. Are really effective fire-fighters - when the inevitable surprises or other missteps do occur they are able to sort them out quickly and decisively.
5. Reward and punish and punish fairly as it is due – remember that not dealing with someone who isn't pulling their weight can not only destroy team morale but the project itself.
6. Are good motivators and good team builders.
7. Address conflict immediately and decisively rather than leaving things to fester – remember problems need to be nipped in the bud.
8. Do not hide in an office, they are not desk bound – they walk around and ideally locate themselves physically in the middle of their team so they are approachable.
9. Get consensus whenever possible but dictate when necessary.

Remember that project managers not only need all the personal skills that any manager needs; they also need to know how to manage projects; they need people management training -  leadership skills, influencing skills, appraisal skills and so on.

Most of all, good project managers MANAGE. They do not just get swept along with the tide and hope that it all pans out.  A good project manager grabs the project by the scruff of the neck and manages it.

And a final question; how many project managers should a project have? Why, one of course. The project manager may need others below him to manage parts of the project or specialist teams, but there is only one project manager accountable directly to the project sponsor.

The Benefits of In-House Training

Have you ever considered In-House Training to meet you staff training requirements? Have you ever considered the considerable benefits that In-House Training can bring to your organization?

Citadel Advantage Training provides tailored training solutions delivered at a location of your choice. Using the combination of the experience of our conference and course trainers and the specific needs of your organization, we can deliver a cost effective training solution in a format which best meets your organizational goals.

By using our In-House training, you will benefit from the expertise and knowledge that is associated with Citadel Advantage gained over many years of hands-on in--the-field experience.

Whether it is one-to-one coaching or group training for a small team or an entire department, Citadel Advantage In-House Training will provide you with a development program to meet your business objectives.

Citadel Advantage offers a wide and comprehensive range of professional courses and training for commercial and central banks in the three core areas of operational risk management, payment systems and operations/back office management.

Examine our wide range of course offerings at http://www.citadeladvantage.com/catalog.htm

Benefits of In-house Training include:

A tailored solution to fit around your organizational needs

• Our product offering ranges from our off the shelf conferences or courses to creating a specific training solution to meet your organizations exact needs.

Experienced trainers with in-depth knowledge

• Our small team of trainers are professionals who are not only experts in their field but also have extensive in-depth business-specific knowledge, with exceptional ability to communicate this to participants.
• Our trainers have a long standing track record of delivering outstanding training programs in the UK, USA, Europe, Africa, China, Dubai, Singapore, & Hong Kong

Better working practices and improved internal communications

• When training at a team level, your staff achieve more than just training on the course subject area.
• In-house training allows the team to interact in a positive way with co-workers at a peer level as well as management providing added organizational benefits.

Reduced costs

•  Save money on costs associated with expensive air- travel to training venues, hotel accommodation, meals and time out of the office.

In-depth evaluation

• Extensive feedback package following the training, with contributions from the facilitator as well as the participants.

To discuss your organizations training needs please contact Richard Barr by e-mail at richard@citadeladvantage.com

Why your Project Management Team is so important

By Stanley Epetein - Principal Associate - Citadel Advantage Ltd. -

Successful projects rely on three mutually dependant aspects – Time, Resources and Costs. The successful Project Manager knows how to balance these three elements to ensure the optimum mix. And the optimum mix ensures a successful project. 

All businesses and organisations, even though their main activities are not project-based still need to undertake projects from time to time. Such businesses are what we call process based – they do things based on a process, like sell groceries, manufacture clocks, run transaction processing centres and the like. Their management culture is familiar with managing everyday business activities and operations – not projects! This is especially true for banks and financial institutions. 

A critical aspect of the project always is the Resources part – specifically Human Resources.  

The people in such process-based organisations who are asked to participate in projects, like in a bank or financial institution may be accountants, financial specialists, IT professionals, operations professionals, managers, clerks or just about any profession. They are not first and foremost project managers - yet they are expected to manage projects as if they are. Very often these large projects will play a major part in determining the business/organisation's future success. 

Project management methodologies always start from the presumption that a dedicated professional project team is available and that all of the team members will work full time on the project. The reality of the situation is that this is not true. 

In process-based environments, such as a bank, this assumption is almost never correct. This assumption overlooks many of the major challenges that project managers face. 

Let us consider what some of these are;

• A project is seen by many team members as a hindrance – it is not their "proper job",
• By the nature of their regular work team members may be allocated to a project only on a part-time basis,
• All too often being assigned to a project is seen as a career limiting move, 
• Senior managers may not always give projects and project managers the support they need.
• Very often too, non-IT people find themselves involved in "IT" projects. "IT" has been placed in quotes because there is no such thing as a pure IT project, but rather business projects, which involve IT, to a greater or lesser degree.

These then are just some of the challenges that a Project Manager faces in trying to meet his deliverables in terms of his or her project. 

 

 

The seven key characteristics of a project

By Stanley Epstein - Principal Associate - Citadel Advantage Ltd. -

 

Much has been written over the years about project management. In actuality Project Management is a recognized discipline in its own right whose underlying education extends today right up to the tertiary level. 

 

One can spend years studying the subject in all its many facets and still feel that one is still a novice.  

 

From experience I have learned over the years that there a number of key “project” characteristics. These characteristics are elements that make a project a project. To put it simplistically, if what your doing does not conform to all of the items in this short list, then it just isn’t a project!  

 

These seven characteristics are; 

1. A single definable purpose, end-item or result. This is usually specified in terms of cost, schedule and performance requirements.
2. Every project is unique. It requires the doing of something different, something that was not done previously. Even in what are often called “routine” projects such as home construction, the variables such as terrain, access, zoning laws, labour market, public services and local utilities make each project different. A project is a one-time, once-off activity, never to be repeated exactly the same way again. 
3. Projects are temporary activities. A project is an ad hoc organization of staff, material, equipment and facilities that is put together to accomplish a goal. This goal is within a specific time-frame. Once the goal is achieved, the organization created for it is disbanded or sometimes it is reconstituted to begin work on a new goal (project).
4. Projects cut across organizational lines. Projects always cut across the regular organizational lines and structures within a firm. They do this because the project needs to draw from the skills and the talents of multiple professions and departments within the firm and sometimes even from other organizations. The complexity of advanced technology often leads to additional project difficulties, as they create task interdependencies that may introduce new and unique problems.
5. Projects involve unfamiliarity. Because a project differs from what was previously done, it also involves unfamiliarity. And oft time a project also encompasses new technology and, for the organization/firm undertaking the project, these bring into play significant elements of uncertainty and risk.
6. The organization usually has something at stake when undertaking a project. The unique project “activity” may call for special scrutiny or effort because failure would jeopardize the organization/firm or its goals. 
7. A project is the process of working to achieve a goal. During the process, projects pass through several distinct phases, which form and are called the project life cycle. The tasks, people, organizations, and other resources will change as the project moves from one phase to the next. The organizational structure and the resource expenditures build with each succeeding phase; peak; and then decline as the project nears completion. 

Management to blame for core banking replacement failures - not tech

From Computer World UK

‘Management failings rather than technology are to blame for a growing number of botched core banking system replacements, according to Forrester Research.

Replacing legacy technology is a top priority for many banks as they face increased regulatory burdens, internal cost cutting requirements, and customer demands for digital services.

But according to Forrester principal analyst Jost Hoppermann, in the ‘Anatomy Of A Disaster — Learn From Major Banking Platform Transformation Failures’ report, “more and more” modernisation projects are running into problems due to poor management.

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