Providing for your family in hard times

The plight of working overseas to provide financial support for your family. 

When you can't earn a decent wage to support your family in your country you have the option to seek employment overseas. The sacrifice you make to separate from your family to live in a foreign country at the mercy of employers that don't observe labor laws. You have to adjust to customs in their country or you will standout and that's not good.

It's a dangerous endeavor working overseas. You are at the mercy of your employer. Not all employers are bad. It's a dice roll on who you get to work for. I have made some nice friends that have made the difficult choice to work overseas. The employers can be nice to very demanding. They own you. They control your life.

I dedicate this blog post to a dear friend working in the Middle East. That person lost a family member and was unable to return home to be with that loved one. Can you imagine the sorrow in your heart and the strength you need to continue on to perform your job duties. Think about what my friend went through the next time you feel that life is dealing you bad cards.

The Problem Solver

A good Project Manger is the problem solver that needs to know how to respond fast to get a resolution with acceptable outcomes to keep a project moving. Don't just be a delegator. Jump in and work with the team to a find solution.

Having the ability to sense trouble is an asset for a Project Manager. Staying cool and taking ownership of the issue avoids any confusion on who is the point person to get a resolution delivered. You will work with subject matter experts or become one on your quest for a resolution. 

Bring in the Project Manager

The Point Person

A Project Manager is your architect to formulate and execute a plan to deliver a project on-time within the approved budget. Project Managers are involved from the inception of a project or they need to jump in on a project in progress and take it over. 

The Buck Stops Here

Project Managers should assume full responsibility of the project they are entrusted with. Any risks or concerns need to be flushed out. A good Project Manager is transparent. 

Interpersonal Skills

Project Managers need to be approachable. It's a balancing act of authority and treating people with respect. Don't create an atmosphere of fear. Let your team know that you are there for them anytime. You want a team to be open by reporting issues immediately rather than finding out latter when they can no longer cover it up. 

The Project Milestone

Reaching a milestone in a project is an accomplishment. Placing KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) in your Gantt chart after major tasks are completed is your insurance to reach that milestone everyone is working hard to get too. Defining KPI's will provide the needed validation that you are achieving the project goals as you complete critical tasks. Find out early that you are really on track to hit your milestone.

Controlling Scope Creep 

The scope definition of the project should be crystal clear to avoid additional requirements later in the project. Introducing changes and addtional requirements in a project in progress will happen. You need to readjust your Gantt chart to accommodate the new tasks. Be sure to document the justiication for the changes that were inserted in the project. When you start to get many requests for changes that are out of scope that is a red flag. You need to suspend the project and meet with your stakeholders and go over the project requirements again to uncover any additional requirements that might have been missed. New requirements will affect your delivery date and budget. If you just allow changes to keep going through you will miss your delivery date and be over budget with a different deliverable. 

Managing the Vendor 

When you work with vendors they give you a SOW (Statement of Work). You need to build your Gannt chart from the SOW to validate the timeline and the deliverable promised. Some vendors assign their own Project Manager to ensure an implementation is on track. Request a copy of their project plan so you can monitor their progress. You will have your own project plan with high level tasks of the vendors project plan. Reconciling the two project plans will ensure that everyone is on the same page to deliver an on-time project.

The Project is Done

Go over lessons learned to note adjustments for any future projects. Have a celebration to reflect on all the hard work that made the project a sucess.