The experience of failed projects is also experience.
Often, in the job description of a product or project manager it is indicated that the experience of participation in at least several successful projects is obligatory for a candidate for the position. Anyway, during the interview the candidate is asked to tell about his professional experience, where of course only the story about successful projects or as such will be heard.
The behavior of candidates is clear: everyone wants to sell themselves profitably and no one wants to talk about dark spots in his career when they first meet.
However, those who hire a future manager should not ignore the negative experience of the candidates, let alone exclude them from the candidates for the vacancy. After all, the presence of failed projects in the career of your manager can be very useful for the company.
No one wants to say bad things about themselves. Therefore, if you are looking for Superman or Mr. Tompkins , you will hear from the candidate only successful stories - as in the conditions of the most severe restrictions, he heroically pulled out the project on his powerful shoulders.
So that the candidate is not afraid to talk about the failed projects or his mistakes, you need to let him know that you are not going to condemn his failures, and the negative experience will not be a refusal in employment.
Any career manager has failed projects. A competent manager always analyzes his mistakes and will certainly be able to tell you about the reasons for the failure, including his fault, as well as about the conclusions he made as a result.
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Question at the interview:
Tell us about your most difficult projects. What were the difficulties and how did you cope with them? Negative experience in projects can also be useful, tell us about such projects.
If the manager really did not have failed projects, then it is possible:
Of course, the presence of too many failed projects or departures from previous companies may indicate a lack of human competence. But an experienced HR and manager should be able to see such people and sift out in time. At the same time it is also important to be able to see the failures of projects that occurred through no fault of the manager, for example:
Question at the interview:
You said that in the three projects listed, problems were not your fault. Did these projects have a chance to complete successfully? At what stage was the mistake made and how would you act now while working on such a project?
Often, when hiring new employees, they are told that they should not take part in any commercial projects, except for the company's projects, and also very reluctantly listen to stories about their own projects. Apparently, this is some kind of jealousy of the leadership, to other projects, because the employee must almost live in their company and all the time think only about it.
A good product manager is a good businessman, and a businessman by nature always has his own business, though not always successful. His project within the company is his small business within a large system. Many successful product managers have or had their own projects and even companies, which is not bad. After all, where, if not on your own projects, where you spend your personal resources, you can realize the responsibility for the decisions made and learn to see the project as a business and a means of earning, and not “work” for which salary is paid. His own project could not fly up banal due to lack of resources, time or self-motivation, but thanks to his experience in the company he will be able to achieve great results.
Question at the interview:
Tell us about your own projects, if any. Why did you create them, what did you expect to receive and what did you learn in them?
No matter how sad it may sound, we learn best from our own mistakes. The more mistakes we make, the less likely they are to repeat in the future.
So let those who once made mistakes and endure failures work for you, and not those for whom it will happen on your project.
The behavior of candidates is clear: everyone wants to sell themselves profitably and no one wants to talk about dark spots in his career when they first meet.
However, those who hire a future manager should not ignore the negative experience of the candidates, let alone exclude them from the candidates for the vacancy. After all, the presence of failed projects in the career of your manager can be very useful for the company.
Everybody Lies © Dr. House
No one wants to say bad things about themselves. Therefore, if you are looking for Superman or Mr. Tompkins , you will hear from the candidate only successful stories - as in the conditions of the most severe restrictions, he heroically pulled out the project on his powerful shoulders.
So that the candidate is not afraid to talk about the failed projects or his mistakes, you need to let him know that you are not going to condemn his failures, and the negative experience will not be a refusal in employment.
Any career manager has failed projects. A competent manager always analyzes his mistakes and will certainly be able to tell you about the reasons for the failure, including his fault, as well as about the conclusions he made as a result.
')
Question at the interview:
Tell us about your most difficult projects. What were the difficulties and how did you cope with them? Negative experience in projects can also be useful, tell us about such projects.
What is harmful only positive experience
If the manager really did not have failed projects, then it is possible:
- He worked in a mature company with well-established processes, where the probability of failure was low, regardless of the manager’s abilities. In an open, highly competitive or volatile market, such a manager may not be able to cope with unusual and changing conditions.
- He worked in projects with no clear goals and with a lot of resources, incl. and financial, where many mistakes could be corrected by increasing the budget. Your project may not be so relaxed, and the manager will not be ready for this.
- He worked on small projects. Having come to a large project, he may not cope with the increased flow of information, tasks, a large team, new activities, etc.
- He worked in the state. structures. Everyone knows how things are often there with deadlines, planning and responsibility. Projects there last for years and do not happen to fail simply because there are no criteria for failure.
- He had a strong and experienced boss or protégé who solved all the problems for him. Without such an assistant on a new project, the manager may not last long.
Negative experience is not always the fault of the manager.
Of course, the presence of too many failed projects or departures from previous companies may indicate a lack of human competence. But an experienced HR and manager should be able to see such people and sift out in time. At the same time it is also important to be able to see the failures of projects that occurred through no fault of the manager, for example:
- The company has an inefficient management structure. A young manager can be a good manager of the project and his department. But he is still too young to be able to reconfigure the structure of the whole company.
- The manager's subordinates are not competent enough. No matter how brilliant the coach is, he is unlikely to be able to win the World Cup with a yard team.
- The company has no resources. They say to the manager: here's 3000 rubles for you, run an ad in Yandex.Direct, send an SMS mailing, and if there is money left, order another banner (real example).
Question at the interview:
You said that in the three projects listed, problems were not your fault. Did these projects have a chance to complete successfully? At what stage was the mistake made and how would you act now while working on such a project?
Experience of own projects
Often, when hiring new employees, they are told that they should not take part in any commercial projects, except for the company's projects, and also very reluctantly listen to stories about their own projects. Apparently, this is some kind of jealousy of the leadership, to other projects, because the employee must almost live in their company and all the time think only about it.
A good product manager is a good businessman, and a businessman by nature always has his own business, though not always successful. His project within the company is his small business within a large system. Many successful product managers have or had their own projects and even companies, which is not bad. After all, where, if not on your own projects, where you spend your personal resources, you can realize the responsibility for the decisions made and learn to see the project as a business and a means of earning, and not “work” for which salary is paid. His own project could not fly up banal due to lack of resources, time or self-motivation, but thanks to his experience in the company he will be able to achieve great results.
Question at the interview:
Tell us about your own projects, if any. Why did you create them, what did you expect to receive and what did you learn in them?
No matter how sad it may sound, we learn best from our own mistakes. The more mistakes we make, the less likely they are to repeat in the future.
So let those who once made mistakes and endure failures work for you, and not those for whom it will happen on your project.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/180217/
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