Submitted by pegman on
in
Forums
Hi all,
Any views, comments would be much appreciated:
BLUF: I was interviewing for a Project Manager role in an organisation that is very new to Project Management. The project has a clear timeframe but no scope or budget established and it is fair to say the progress has been slow to date. After discussing the fundamentals of how to establish and run a project (which appeared to be very well received) I was asked how long I thought it would take to prepare the business case. Alarm bells went off....don't provide a timeframe I thought.
It seemed clear to me as they asked the question this was going to be a watershed moment in the interview as they really need the business case like yesterday. I was also thinking it would be risky to give a timeframe with limited knowledge of the project, stakeholders, organisation, current risks/issues and the limited progress to date.
Is it a mistake to provide a timeframe? Any ideas on how to answer this one?
Thoughts
Can I just quickly point out that your BLUF actually came at the very end - your question - is the BLUF.
Anyhow, here's my two cents - I don't have "Project Management" at my org either, so I think a timeframe is a reasonable question. If I hire you, when will I see results? Maybe it is not in PM-world?
Either way, if you think it will take 3 months and I was hoping for 2 weeks, we have a major disconnect. You will need to sell me on "why" it will take 3 months and what I will receive for that amount of time. You said they need it "yesterday", so anything you offer on an actual estimate isn't going to be good enough.
I suspect by not giving an answer, you blew the interview. Hope I'm wrong.
Michelle
7-7-2-1
Date for a date with explination of why
I would expect a good PM to say that he doesn't have enough information and instead suggest a date for a date, something like 1 week. Explain that you want the estimate to mean something so that they can make decisions based on it. Explain what you need to get a credible estimate and how you'd approch geting that information in the given timeframe. Good luck - Sam
Give a date and qualify/caveat it
Give a date and caveat/qualify it. "I expect it would take two weeks based on what I reasonably expect from this information. However, this could change as I learn more details of scope etc."
I work in an engineering consulting firm doing project management, and If I was interviewing you and heard anything other than the above it would be a strike against... as if a potential client asked me a similiar question, you better believe I'm going to give them a date! Anything else wouldn't be useful for the client.
The strength of my caveat/qualifing changes based on the information I know.
"The project you're looking for should have a budget of about ~150,000 with a timeframe of approximately 8 weeks. I will nail down the exact budget and timeframe as we discuss scope further -- I really don't have the detail at this time to be sure."