Project Management: Learn and Find Jobs

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the role of project management, emphasizing the need to balance time, money, and quality in project execution. This balance is often visualized as a triangle, where one must choose two of the three elements to prioritize. The complexity of project management varies significantly across different fields, such as residential construction, large office projects, and research and development environments, where unpredictability in tasks and costs can complicate planning. Participants note the challenges of people management, highlighting that while technical aspects may be straightforward, motivating team members can be significantly more difficult. The conversation also touches on the application of M/M/1 queueing theory in network technician roles, questioning its relevance in practical scenarios within the profession. Overall, the discussion underscores the multifaceted nature of project management and the importance of both technical and interpersonal skills.
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What is it about ? I want to learn and will look for a job that mainly do things about it ? :blushing:
 
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In a nutshell. making sure all the things that need to happen to get a project done properly in an efficient manner within the constraints of time and money.

The easiest top level view is a triangle. You have money, quality, and time at each corner. A project managers job is to balance those out to make his customers happy, and the proverbial saying is "here are 3, pick the two you want".

Its pretty easy to do in residential construction, much tougher in a towering office complex, and insanely difficult in an R-D environment where you are required to put plans together, when close to 60% of the needed tasks have wide variability in the arenas of labor, costs, and even feasibility. Then throw in people management, apart from the easily defined arena's of costing, equipment, and deliveries, and it becomes a pretty grey field.

There are many in engineering and science who find the ambiguity troublesome, but there are also others who truly thrive on the challenge, and the people management aspects. A friend of mine who was a shutte engineer used to say, the tech stuff is easy, the people part is where the big challenges are. Personally I think he was correct, almost to the point of thinking the people management issues can be quite overwhelming at times. I can persuade a group of electrons to do something, getting Joe motivated may be a much larger challenge. Each are needed, and we all have different skills. A good project manager is a huge asset, even more so if they are technically sharp.

Ron
 
by the way do you know if a matrix calculated as M/M/1 is applied in real jobs of network technicians ? where in the profession is that applied ? it appears in all of network exams
 
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