Guild of Project Controls: Compendium | Roles | Assessment | Certifications | Membership

Tips on using this forum..

(1) Explain your problem, don't simply post "This isn't working". What were you doing when you faced the problem? What have you tried to resolve - did you look for a solution using "Search" ? Has it happened just once or several times?

(2) It's also good to get feedback when a solution is found, return to the original post to explain how it was resolved so that more people can also use the results.

Natural Progression?

23 replies [Last post]
Tue, 2007-05-08 07:00
Oliver Melling
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All

I firmly believe that you shouldn’t have a dream but should have a ’plan’!

If one doesn’t plan to be a planner all their life, then what is the next natural step? To be a board level PM figure at a company do you have to have been a project manager? or is there a different path?
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Sun, 2007-05-13 08:37
#1
Ashraf Jahangeer
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Larry,

No need for being apologetic, it is just that the discussion was not moving towards a conclusion that I opted out.

Also we are all professionals and we have full right to have our views it is nice of you that your share it with me.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Ashraf
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Sun, 2007-05-13 08:17
#2
Larry Bjorn
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Ashraf,

I get the feeling that I might have misinterpreted your 9th post as an attempt to be difficult rather than being a straightforward question? If that is the case, I apologies for my 27th post.

In the world of internet, it is easy to forget that we are from different cultures with English as a second/third language. Including me – I’m Swedish.

Regards,
Larry
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Sun, 2007-05-13 07:04
#3
Ashraf Jahangeer
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Charlie / Larry,

The discussion has now drifted and I am out of it.

Thanks,

Ashraf
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Sun, 2007-05-13 05:40
#4
Charleston-Joseph...
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Hello Guys,

You can be a managing director without experience if you own 50 percent of the company??????

Isn’t it???

Cheers,

Charlie

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Sun, 2007-05-13 05:30
#5
Larry Bjorn
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Interesting comment Ashraf,

Why do you think it is peculiar of a planner to promote the planning profession in a forum for planners?
Regards,
Larry
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Sun, 2007-05-13 04:31
#6
Ashraf Jahangeer
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Larry,

I somewhat agree with you specially that the move should be done at the earliest like 3 to 4 years from start.

Having said that, I did not understand two things, one that you yourself did not go for deputy project manager and opted for planning post in your career and two is that you are again promoting planner by saying that they are can get best salary hikes.

Regards,

Ashraf
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Sun, 2007-05-13 04:16
#7
Larry Bjorn
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Ashraf,

Early in my career, as a planner for mid-size contracting firm, I had the option to do exactly this. I handed in my resignation for a planning position at T5 Heathrow. Not to see me leave the employer gave me the option to stay on as an assistant project manager for a £10mil retail refurbishment project. I declined and moved onto T5.
Ashraf, my point is, if I was given the option without proactively striving for it. Then it should be really easy for a person, with MD potential, to get into the field of Project Management. Project Managers are not growing out of a tree; they are normal people who was something else before.
I sincerely think, if you want to become MD, that this move should be done as early in your career as possible. I also think that going into planning before Project Management is an excellent route. Not only from an experience point of view, but also from a salary point of view. Only Quantity Surveyors can match the dramatic salary hike Planners can expect after only a few years in the field.

Regards,
Larry
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Sun, 2007-05-13 00:08
#8
Ashraf Jahangeer
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Larry,

I am trying to understand the point you are making. So a planner shall try to directly to Project Manager position.

It is again a dream my friend as who will buy a planner as projet manager, I am talking about construction industry. Anyway your insight about project control manager is correct that they are hard to find and harder to loose.

Regards,

Ashraf
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Sat, 2007-05-12 10:18
#9
Larry Bjorn
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Ashraf,

Or even better PLANNER - PROJECT MANAGER - PROJECT DIRECTOR - MBA - OPERATIONS DIRECTOR - MANAGING DIRECTOR

Regards,
Larry
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Sat, 2007-05-12 10:12
#10
Larry Bjorn
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Ashraf,

I would suggest PLANNER - PROJECT MANAGER - PROJECT DIRECTOR - OPERATIONS DIRECTOR - MANAGING DIRECTOR and a lot of luck, hard work, and proactive career planning.

Regards,
Larry
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Sat, 2007-05-12 09:51
#11
Larry Bjorn
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Se de leon,

A Project Controls Manager role is to control and monitor the project, dealing primarily with actual data. To do a good job, you need to be dedicated to the system and follow a set protocol. Basically, it is a very technical and repetitive field – plenty of data processing and very little construction management. Do not get me wrong, it is an important part of the project but too specialist for the Managing Director route. Of course, spending some time to understand the project controls function would be beneficial for any MD, as it give you an insight of the fundamental theories of productivity.

What more, if you excel in your role as Project Controls Manager, the employer would probably find you too valuable to let you do something else. Good project Controls Manager are few and far in between.

Also, once you get used to the relaxed and relatively well paid situation of a Project Controls Manager – you probably find it hard to motivate yourself to get into the harsh world of Project Management.

Regards,
Larry
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Sat, 2007-05-12 03:31
#12
Se de Leon
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Larry,

Why do you think Project Controls Manager position is a dead end position?

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Sat, 2007-05-12 02:43
#13
Ashraf Jahangeer
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Sorry for the delay in responsding.

I have put forward the carrer path for planner which I am following. I would welcome if any body can sujjest a different route which can take the planner to the highest position ?


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Fri, 2007-05-11 05:18
#14
Hernando Pesca
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Ashraf,

In construction sector, the path you were saying is like a perfect path. But that is not what’s happening, especially in the middle east (I do not for other places).

Larry is right- Managing Director comes, usually, from other direction, and Project Manager as well. Planners may end up as Planning Managers or Project Control Managers in their careers. Project Manager, however, may start as a site engineer, then construction manager and eventually as project manager.

Regards,

Hernan
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Fri, 2007-05-11 05:18
#15
Hernando Pesca
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Ashraf,

In construction sector, the path you were saying is like a perfect path. But that is not what’s happening, especially in the middle east (I do not for other places).

Larry is right- Managing Director comes, usually, from other direction, and Project Manager as well. Planners may end up as Planning Managers or Project Control Managers in their careers. Project Manager, however, may start as a site engineer, then construction manager and eventually as project manager.

Regards,

Hernan
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Fri, 2007-05-11 05:17
#16
Hernando Pesca
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Ashraf,

In construction sector, the path you were saying is like a perfect path. But that is not what’s happening, especially in the middle east (I do not for other places).

Larry is right- Managing Director comes, usually, from other direction, and Project Manager as well. Planners may end up as Planning Managers or Project Control Managers in their careers. Project Manager, however, may start as a site engineer, then construction manager and eventually as project manager.

Regards,

Hernan
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Thu, 2007-05-10 10:17
#17
Andrew Pearce
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I think both previous posts may be correct, it depends on the industry you are working in!
In the traditional British Construction Industry Managing Directors tend to come from either Project or Commercial Manager backgrounds.
In a Construction Management company progression from Planner may be easier. Remember Planning is one of several Management skills
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Thu, 2007-05-10 09:41
#18
Oliver Melling
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Hey Larry,

The project sponsor is someone similar to the project director.

The project sponsor has a dual management function:
• the client side – managing the department’s input,
co-ordinating the department’s functional and
administrative requirements, resolving any conflicting
objectives in the department and acting as the
department’s sole point of contact for the project
• project delivery – through the project manager
(who supplies project management expertise) assessing,
procuring, managing, monitoring and controlling the
external resources needed to implement the project.

I think you could say a sponsor is more commercially biased than a Project Manager, but there is a definate overlap in their responsibility.

Project Controls Managers provide Project Managers with the tools they need to plan, track and control projects, its hardly a dead end.
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Thu, 2007-05-10 08:02
#19
Larry Bjorn
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Ashraf,

I totally disagree with your described path - to become Managing Director.
A person of Managing Director potential is to get into Project Management as soon as possible. Even if it is a Junior/Assistant Level. Project Managers are constantly being put under pressure and critised. That is the type of environment you want to be in order be recognised and provided with new thougher challanges.

The Project Controlls Manager route sound like a dead end to me. By the way, what is a Project Sponsor?

Regards,
Larry
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Wed, 2007-05-09 00:14
#20
Ashraf Jahangeer
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Hi Oliver,

Project Manager is the overall responsible for the project and he is sort of generalist who oversees the various aspects of project e.g. project quality management, HSE, constructuction mangement, procurement management etc where as Project Controls Manager is responsible only for the project controls and he sort of functional manager complimeting the project manager.

The Project manager has not to be the expert in project controls but sort of generalist who understnads the overall impact of all the project processes inclusing project controls.

Regards,

Ashraf

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Tue, 2007-05-08 11:17
#21
Oliver Melling
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Is a project controls manager not the person who creates the systems and processes that project managers utilise? and therefore should he/she not be a project manager prior, so that they understand the practicalities of the systems they try to implement?
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Tue, 2007-05-08 11:11
#22
Shahzad Munawar
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Ashraf

I totally agree with your described path. There is no doubt that Planner may become a Director if he consistently follows the said steps.


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Tue, 2007-05-08 08:59
#23
Ashraf Jahangeer
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Dear Oilver,

I agree with you as making a plan is must for career rather than dreaming.

As I have been working in Contracting companies for almost 14 years, I feel that planners have good chance of reaching to the top in construction based compnay rather than engineering based companies. For EPC projects the project manager almost certainly comes from design background however if a planner has longterm assosiation with the company and slowly rises in the heirarchy he reach the top.

The general path shall be PLANNER - PLANNING MANAGER - PROJECT CONTROL MANGER - PROJECT MANAGER - PROJECT DIRECTOR - PROJECT SPONSER - MANAGING DIRECTOR.

Say a planner starts at 25 he will maximum spend 5 years at each spot and can become the MD at the age of 55.

This is my view as well as plan.
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