Packet Pushers: From Engineer to Manager

The guys from Packet Pushers have @AmyEngineer on to talk about going from a technical role to a management position.

Some funny (paraphrased) quotes/thoughts:

You can't just wait for a maintenance window and patch people. 

It's hard to google error messages for people. 

Work-arounds can be tough.

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With Friends Like Me

So a former co-worker was asked to document a system after a problem occurred that resulted in a couple of hours of downtime. From his description, it sounded more like a communications issue than a true technical issue. And this system is massive when you include all the moving parts - database, communication servers, web servers, client-server apps, PLCs, HIDs, printers, scanners, etc. Everything sits on top of an IP network, of course, with a Microsoft Active Directory infrastructure, so toss in potential problems with the Cisco hardware, DHCP, AD logins, etc. Even if they froze the environment, it would take years to document every component and potential problem. So given that he was asked by a seagull manager to document this behemoth*, he was a little frustrated I think.

I tried to help out by endorsing him for the "Software Documentation" skill on LinkedIn.



* I do think there are parts of this system that could use better documentation. I also believe in good postmortems, so you can avoid or minimize problems in the future. However, in this situation, I think the criticism of the manager's request is appropriate given the nature of the problem and the environment they are in.

PMP

When I lost my job, I wanted to fill my time with something of value, so I thought about working on some certifications. I earned my ITIL Foundation cert a while back. I got a lot of good advice here and in the real world about what to do next. For many reasons, but primarily because I think it will help me get a job I am very interested in, I am working on my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from PMI.

I've been part of more projects than I care to think about - as an individual contributor or project manager and everything in between. I hope learning the PMP material will make me a better project manager, but at a minimum it should differentiate me from other candidates - and that is very important to me right now. You have to document your project experience and have at least 4,500 hours and a bachelor's degree (or 7,500 without the degree) to be eligible for the certification. In addition, you need 35 project management education hours. I'm happy to say that I completed my application and it has been accepted. Now I just need to study and pass the 200 question exam.

I am using the PMP Exam Prep, Eighth Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam book for the core of my study. YouTube is a great resource as well - see a couple of good examples at the end of this post.

Back to the studying, so my projects don't end up like this.

Learn PMP Critical Path In 17 Minutes Flat



Learn PMP Earned Value in 10 Minutes Flat

Certifiable

Many suspected, but now it is official... I am certifiable.

I passed my ITIL Foundation exam today.

ITIL

What is ITIL? My take... a long, long list of very similar vocabulary terms with a lot of overlap. I'm not saying that it isn't useful. I do think a common vocabulary can be very helpful, but there is a reason everyone I talk to says that they only do ITIL-Lite.

Projects

A classic cartoon to explain the different points of view in a project. As a bonus, you can create your own.

How the consultant described it: