Agility Loop

Stumbled upon a posting entitled “10 Steps for a Military Sharepoint Contract” on Adam Buenz’s Sharepoint Shelter.  Ten very good points (and the blog is an overall good resource for Sharepoint folks).  One in particular I enjoyed, and I TOTALLY agree with.

Hiring A Generic Project Manager Will Go Over Like A Fart In Church

If you are responsible for staffing, do not under any circumstances hire a generic project manager for a military SharePoint contract. A project manager in a military environment is a specialized position since they have to understand the inner working of the military, this type of knowledge is disseminated through experience and not through book smarts or nonspecific PM knowledge. While a generic PM might understand the fundamental ranking and command hierarchy concepts, they will have no clue about how the military cogs make the overall federal machine work. Unless you want to send a lamb to the slaughter, just avoid it and shell out the money for a PM either with direct military background or previous federal work history (state governments generally do not count). Going back to the above point about acclimation of product, the PM will heavily be responsible for facilitating the rely of operational information that will affect the whole project. When they get the aggregate picture along with the intricate unit workings, their contributions are unmistakably noticeable and will cause the project to run much smoother.

I have seen good PMs with no tech or military experience get chewed up b/c of this very point.  Generic PMs do NOT work in the Federal space.  You have to find someone who can walk the walk and talk the talk.