Here’s the next profile in my series “How Did I Get Here?” focusing on how and why someone became a project manager.

McDowell Graham has 20 years’ project planning and business process engineering experience; 11 years’ experience with supporting Federal agencies; and 5 years in SharePoint site collection administration and content design/development/delivery. A Certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Black Belt, and ISO Certified Internal Auditor, McDowell offers a unique combination of creativity, analytical skills, and extensive experience in project management, systems analysis, capture management, and business process engineering to create cost-effective, value-add solutions for companies and clients alike in the private and public sectors.

When did you first decide to become a project manager?

At my age, no one “decided” to become a project manager! However, my transition to this role was more organic, in that, people who are natural organizers tend to make good PMs. In all of my jobs, I always took a “planner’s” approach to work; it’s how I’m wired!

Early in my career at the software company, I was promoted to the manager of the Scheduling and Editing department within the Technical Documentation organization. My first official projects were standing up that department and scheduling the new release editing projects.

What was your academic and/or corporate background before you became a project manager?

Always served in supervisory positions overseeing workload, projects, and resources. This meant that I needed a PM perspective in order to organize my functional areas.

I also took it upon myself to take training courses related to project management.

If you made a transition, did your company support your transition to project manager?

The expectation was that I would take on this role. They just didn’t call it something like “Project Management” then!

Once I took on the role, I then became responsible for training others.

Which credential do you have?

PMP, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

How has having your credential helped (or hurt?) your career?

If you want to be a PM, most jobs now require that you have a PMP. Plus, you should have at least one of the other “flavor of the month” credentials, such as Lean Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt).

What advice would you give an aspiring project manager?

Start tracking anything you do as if it were a “real” project. For the PMP, you have to be able to prove that you’ve done a certain number of project management hours. Start taking project management-type training courses. Again, you have to prove that you have a certain number of training hours to get the PMP. These do not have to be courses that you paid for. Anything that focuses on some aspect of PM can qualify. Use the courses available to you through your workplace—it’s free and will look good on your resume!

Any final advice?

I believe that being a successful project manager is, first and foremost, depends on your natural talents and abilities. You have to naturally be a planner, a scheduler, an organizer to enjoy this kind of work. It’s possible to learn the “book learning” kinds of tips and tricks that all PMs need to know. But if you aren’t by nature someone who enjoys herding cats, this is not a field that you should go into.

More about McDowell

McDowell’s professional background is in Business Process Re-engineering and Organizational Change Management. She has over 20 years’ experience in helping organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to deliver the highest quality service and customer satisfaction.

She also assists individuals with what I call “Personal Re-engineering,” a holistic approach to redesigning a person’s outlook, perceptions, attitudes, and assumptions. The goal is to help people radically redefine themselves and their place in the world by seeing everything with new eyes. Check out her website at Cracksinconciousness.com.

This post was edited on December 8, 2015 to add information on McDowell’s first project management experience.

Do you want to be the subject of “How Did I Get Here?” Send me an email and we’ll talk. I’m looking for folks to profile that have at least a few years of experience under their belt and a good story.

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