Pain and learning experiences are good for us...right? As long as they don't kill us first. Stress, chaos, misdirection, issues, changes and scope creep. All the things that drive us crazy as project managers on our engagements make us better project managers on our next engagements. No way does it seem worth it at the moment. We probably want to stick our head in the sand. But, the things we’ve learned during our trials and tribulations in managing those less than desirable projects - the ones that fall in that ‘more than 50% of all projects fail’ category…can be worth their weight in gold on our next project or five projects down the road.
The key is – we must learn from the mistakes we make, the failures we experience, and the very difficult clients who may have helped us realize those setbacks. How we pick ourselves up and move on will define us as project managers and help us to establish a more meaningful career than if we float on by thinking everything we touch turns to gold. Remember my saying? “You’re only as successful as your last customer thinks you are.” I try to live my professional life by that statement. (And it’s really not a bad statement to live your personal life by, too.)...
The key is – we must learn from the mistakes we make, the failures we experience, and the very difficult clients who may have helped us realize those setbacks. How we pick ourselves up and move on will define us as project managers and help us to establish a more meaningful career than if we float on by thinking everything we touch turns to gold. Remember my saying? “You’re only as successful as your last customer thinks you are.” I try to live my professional life by that statement. (And it’s really not a bad statement to live your personal life by, too.)...
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