My training had taught me that no Continuous Improvement project is complete until a control plan has been developed and delivered to the business owners upon completion. I had felt similar frustrations as a Continuous Improvement practitioner. I want to know that my work lives on, beyond the life of my project." I want to know that I'm making a difference. She crinkled her nose at me, as if the lunch that had just arrived at our table smelled awful. This friend had the right stuff to move up the ladder quickly if she wanted to. "It sounds like you want to be the boss! Move over CEO, your replacement is here!" I was only half kidding. I mean, where are all these problems coming from? Who chooses which opportunities are worth chartering into new projects?" I can build a very lucrative career being an expert firefighter until I retire, but I'm starting to feel a deeper calling. We work our magic, celebrate our success, and then move on to the next project. A project gets chartered to fix a problem or to capture some new opportunity, and they assign it to me or another Project Manager. "I can't shake this feeling that I'm working inside an infinite loop. She paused for a moment, as she struggled to find the right words. "It doesn't sound like your career is stuck at all. In fact, I'm being asked to develop my coaching and mentoring skills so that I can show some of the newer Project Managers how to be more effective." ![]() ![]() "No, that's not it," she quickly replied. "Are you burning out?" I asked, wondering if she was starting to feel the early effects of overachiever syndrome. This wasn't really a surprise, because they keep naming me as the lead Project Manager for new initiatives, even though the old ones haven’t wrapped up yet." My merit increase was higher than the average, and my director told me that I am usually the first person considered for the most critical projects. "I was rated as 'Exceptional' in my last annual review. What advice could someone in her shoes possibly need? Thinking she might just be looking to vent some frustrations out loud, I settled into my seat as she continued. ![]() She is one of the most successful Project Managers that I have had the pleasure to work with, a type-A personality who has checked all the elusive boxes to be happy, content, and satisfied with her never-ending list of accomplishments at work. Hearing these words, my heart went out to my friend as we sat down to lunch. So why can't I shake this feeling that my career is stuck? Where do I go from here?" The work is important, my bosses appreciate my skills, and there is a new challenge every day. I hope that by sharing our conversation about Business Process Management, you will also have success in disrupting the deja-vu problem we faced. The conversation between friends that follows below will be familiar to Project Managers who recognize these patterns. Teams face the same obstacles, solve the same problems, and even re-trace the footsteps of earlier projects that didn't "stick" after the previous project team had declared victory. However, astute Project Managers often start to notice that these new projects are re-runs of the same patterns. After we successfully complete projects, we charter new ones with a never-ending focus on continuous improvement. Too often in Project Management roles, we experience a sense of deja-vu: the unshakeable feeling that we've been here before and we've done this already.
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