Interesting thread. I am the PM on a project of about 6 people. Everyone on the job was older than me (until we traded some staff out). This was one of the most difficult projects I had to run. I had two team members that thought *they* were the PM
and fought me for a while. The most leadable guy on this was the 50 year old ex-Army guy. Took direction and just did it. Oh, how I wish I could have been a follower on this one. I could barely drag the client along. I could have done wonderful work and my life would have been so easy. As it stands, I had one guy decide to retire (I think I drove him too hard..today was his last day) and I'm ready to quit myself since I got little support from above.
There are so few people willing to step up to the plate. I have always found myself stepping up/in to get stuff done. Sometimes it's incredibly frustrating watching thing fail until I step up. Sometimes it's very rewarding but draining.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stomachmonkey
You have also learned when is "the right time". A lot of business decisions will "evolve" over time. Decisions and action before the picture comes into focus is wasted effort. You need to manage time and resources and nothing sucks more than expending them at the wrong time.
Politics start to come into heavy play. "Horestrading" starts to happen, take a hit for me on this and I'll make that other thing happen for you.
...
When I was 16 I thought I knew everything and that they were out of touch when it was really me that knew nothing and they were as wise as their years.
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Good points. A lot of times I have told my team that we have to let some of the smoke clear and wait a little bit to see what happens. Don't however, accept all delays as "experience" lots of people are afraid to decide. Lots of people are promoted from tech roles into management and can't hack it.