A fellow Black Belt and I were talking about project management skills. She made a very perceptive comment, which I will paraphrase:

“Some people are really good at setting up a project – the ability to identify needed tasks, sources of benchmarking information, delegating, putting everything into a timeframe. And others are really good about implementing change – they can work with people tovisualize the future state, dissolve resistance and facilitate through the sometimes-chaotic change process to arrive ata successful new process. Ideally of course, you would have both sets of skills.”

I think that I can do the first part pretty well – but I most enjoy helping people to see that they can change their environment in a positive and productive way.

It reminded me of an interview question I once fielded about which DMAIC phase was my favorite. Not which one was Ibest at – but which one I enjoyed the most. My answer was “Define”- helping people see the customer expectations and opening up the possibility of changing to a future state in which both the customer and the employees were better off.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I can slack off on the other phases!!!

What about you, dear reader – do you have a favorite phase or part of project management?