How I went from failure to success in project management

I wasn’t always a rockstar project manager. When I first transitioned into the industry, it was all a big, unwanted surprise. One day I was a rotating equipment engineer, focused on fixing specific things that were broken, and the next, I was in the corporate office, thrown into the deep end of a mysterious world called project management.

While I had worked with project managers before, I never actually understood what they did. From my limited perspective back then, they were the people who took notes in meetings and I didn’t have much respect for the role they played. And now to be pushed into project management myself — well, you could say I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about the whole thing. But the more I learned about the industry, the more I loved it and the better I became. 

The first few years were rough, but I came out shining on the other side, grateful to have found this fulfilling career. To save you the growing pains I endured, I’m going to detail the biggest lessons I learned the hard way — so you don’t have to.

What I was doing wrong

Once I accepted my new career as a project manager, I was determined to do well — despite not knowing what I was doing. But being only a few years out of college and surrounded by people with years of experience, I was shy, insecure and afraid to ask too many questions. I didn’t want my boss or colleagues to think I didn’t know what I was doing.

That was mistake #1. 

By not asking enough questions, I delayed my development as a project manager in those first few years. And operating in a vacuum led me to think I was kicking ass when I really wasn’t.

Sure, my projects were getting done on budget and on time, but when my review came in, it wasn’t as high as I expected it to be. 

I was putting in 12 hour days, working harder than everyone else, or so I thought. You see, while I was working harder, I wasn’t working smart.

That was mistake #2. 

After my disappointing review, I went to my boss to talk about it — angry, frustrated and confused. He explained that most of the time, people on the team didn’t know what I was doing, and that was a problem. He then gave me a piece of advice that turned my whole career around and eventually led to a big promotion.

The key to project management

“Have you thought about sending out notes?” my boss asked. I couldn’t believe it. This was his magic solution to my not-so-stellar review? I was almost offended by the comment — it was just too simple.

Looking back, my resistance to note-taking probably stemmed from my negative view of project managers as a technician. I didn’t want to be that guy who blasted everyone with notes after meetings. It felt too secretarial. So up until that point, I kept my note-sending at a bare minimum.

But having built up a trust with my boss (and not having any other options to improve my performance), he convinced me to level up my notes and the impact was huge.

Before, I had to chase people down to make sure work got done. Because I wasn’t holding my team accountable in the notes, what should have been a 10-hour day was a 12-hour day. Once I started sending detailed notes, however — complete with meeting recaps, tables and timelines — I got my life back.

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The results

After a year of taking and sending out first-class notes, my life as a project manager improved by 50% — and that’s not an exaggeration. That year, I not only got the best review of my career, I got a huge promotion.

Had I stayed silent and not asked for advice from my boss on how to turn things around, this story would have a very different ending. Had I chosen not to take his advice and let my ego win, this story would have a very different ending. So while learning about the importance of notes was vital to turning my project management career around, I wouldn’t have gotten there without overcoming my fear of asking questions and my own ego first.

Are you new to project management? What kind of challenges are you facing? Comment below.