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Project Manager Interview

Read an interview with a professional project manager and learn the basics of project management.

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Name: Karyn Payne
Title: Project Management Office Manager
Company: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
Seattle, Washington

As project management becomes a more integral—and popular—career choice, it's important for students to understand the reality of a project manager's job and responsibilities.

Karyn Payne, who earned an MBA in management and organizational strategy from Seattle University, manages the Project Management department at Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Karyn knows the ins- and-outs of the profession first hand, and imparts her knowledge, tips and opinions about project management as a career—and about project management training.

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What path did you take to become a project manager?

I had no intention of becoming a project manager until I found myself in the world of Information Technology, and had to choose between a more technical career (server engineer, etc.), management, and/or sales. I actually started my work life as a K-12 art teacher and realized this was not what I wanted to do with my career. So, I started working at the front desk of a network engineering and consulting firm. After about five years with the company, I chose to move into project coordination and management.

Did your perception of the job match the reality?

Some project managers made the job seem harder than it actually was—and I wonder if these particular project managers were in the wrong role. But, overall, yes the perception matched the reality. I also had plenty of chances to work on projects in a coordinator role, so I was able to see that reality firsthand.

What was the first project that you managed?

It was a network redesign, upgrade and implementation for a fairly large CPA firm in Seattle. At the same time the firm was upgrading and expanding their infrastructure, they were also moving. So, the project scope expanded for me, as I had to coordinate many pieces of the infrastructure upgrade and training of technical staff with the project manager in charge of the move. I think we were both caught off guard with how much each of our projects was dependent upon the other. In the end, the project was a success and brought in on time and under budget!

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Have you seen common mistakes made by novice project managers as they work on their first project?

I think project managers fall into, or between, two categories: those who are too nice, lax and are easily swayed, and those who are too much like a dictator and use a "my way or the highway" approach. Novice project managers typically fall into the extremes of these categories. As a novice project manager gains more experience, he or she should evolve into a healthy mix between the two.

If you were in charge of training, what would be your opening advice to a new project manager?

Make sure to really listen to your team and gain their respect at the beginning of the project. A project manager can have all sorts of tools, project plans, etc., but if she or he hasn't listened to what the team really needs in order to get the project done, it will not be a success. Plan to spend a lot of face-time with your team in the beginning of the project, especially if you have never worked with the team members before, and gain their respect in the beginning. If this doesn't happen, you'll be struggling through the entire project to effectively manage the team.

Is an MBA degree essential for a project manager?

An MBA is not essential for a project manager, but it is a critical component should one want to expand his or her career. As project managers, we rarely have direct reports, although we get a lot of experience managing people on our project teams. As a result, it is hard to move into a managerial role. I have found more people willing to give me opportunities in my career (including managerial experience) as I've worked towards attaining and completing the MBA. I also feel that an MBA gives one a much better understanding of how businesses are run as a whole, and allows a project manager to be much more effective and efficient in project execution.

If you could change anything about established project management protocol, what would it be?

I think that there are too many people who attend and teach project management classes and workshops and who get into the details of process and tools, but do not have real experience managing projects. More people need to get out of the classroom and into actually managing projects. There are so many people who can talk smart about project management, but when it gets down to doing the project, they aren't as good as they talk. Additionally, the title, project manager, is such a loosely used term these days that when I'm looking to hire a project manager, it's critical to dig into the details of the experience they've had and the types of organizations they've worked for. I try to weed out those who don't balance their experience, in that they have a deep technical background but very shallow experience actually managing a project.

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