5 minutes with… Rebecca Hutchings
Becky is a Senior Project Manager at the Ministry of Justice, joining in the last year from the e-learning industry having worked her way up from Junior to Senior Project Manager over the previous 11 years. She is based in Sheffield.
This article was originally posted on LinkedIn in October 2023 and Becky has kindly given permission for the content to be added here.
Why did you choose a career in delivery or project management?
I kind of stumbled into a career in project management as a lot of people do. I worked in a few admin roles after finishing university not really knowing what I wanted to do. One of those jobs helped me understand that I got a great sense of satisfaction when a ‘project’ was completed and I’d seen it from start to finish and at that point I realised the project management life was for me! From there I started applying for project co-ordinator jobs and took the next step.
I’ve stayed in project management as it’s always changing, each project is a different challenge, some good, some bad and you meet so many interesting people along the way. I also love to cross items off a to-do-list and I think this is the perfect job for that.
What advice would you give someone starting out in the industry?
Start in a co-ordinator or junior position if you need to gain experience, you learn loads and you make contacts along the way.
Take on a bit more responsibility when it’s offered if you can and make suggestions if you think something can be done better.
Try and find an industry/sector you’re interested in, there are so many Project Manager jobs out there and they are all so different it can be really hard to find the right one for you.
Learn the difference between Project Managers and Delivery Managers and head in the right direction for you - it’s not always easy to move across, and it’s useful to learn about both Waterfall and Agile methodologies and ways of working - it will open up more opportunities.
Have you ever worked on a particularly difficult project? Why was it rubbish/tough/hard?
I’d rather not talk about specific projects, but of course some are difficult, it wouldn’t be project management without the challenges.
I have had projects where clients expectations have far exceed what anyone without a Disney or Pixar budget could do and they have had to be managed through the process and project so that they’re genuinely happy with the outcome that they could afford.
I’ve had projects that have had numerous technical difficulties along the way - each one requiring a conversation about time, budget and what can be done with both the internal team and the client.
The worst ones are always the ones where you feel you’re letting people down no matter how hard you and the team try, you never want anyone to go away unhappy but sometimes it happens and you just have to pick yourself back up and start the next project with a positive mindset.
What do you think are the most important skills for a delivery or project manager to have?
There are the obvious planning and budgeting skills - all the things you can learn on a project management course, but I think the following are the skills they don’t teach you:
Making friends and being approachable - you have to be the person that the rest of the team can come to and ask for advice, tell you the bad news along with the good news. Don't be an ogre, but also don’t be a pushover, you need to stand your ground sometimes and be the ‘bad’ person.
Learning how to delegate - leave the experts to do the work they’re good at e.g. Team members are trained to do the jobs they do - they don’t need you messing about with their stuff. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be interested and ask them questions, find out about what you’re asking them to do and ask if the tasks are achievable within the constraints you have.
Not being afraid to ask questions - no one knows it all and people respect you much more if they know you’re interested, want to learn and you don’t assume you know everything.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing delivery and project managers today?
Project Management is a real skill and I don’t think it’s always recognised as such but projects would not be completed effectively and efficiently without it.
At the moment there appear to be two competing methodologies Waterfall and Agile with the feeling that if you’re a Project Manager you only use a Waterfall methodology, which is often regarded as a very structured, governance focussed way of working that can’t be deviated from. I don’t believe this is the case, we can and should be looking at each project on it’s own merits and taking elements from each ideology to allow the project to run in the best way it can.
What projects would you have loved to have been involved in?
I would love to have been involved in some kind of massive engineering project like Cross Rail - a completely different world from what I do, but fascinating!
This post is from the ‘5 minutes with’ series of articles from people in the delivery management and project management space.