Hi Andrew

I believe that if you have a logical mind you will be able to grasp the concepts of most differing industries fairly quickly. Usually, most planners have been urged or selected to work in the field because they have a logical approach towards the structuring of any work and they also have a high attention to detail, not because they know everything about everything (Sort of like the philosophy that a manager needs to know how to manage, not actually do the work)

Industry specific jargon could be the one thing that catches you out, but once you cut through the bull sh*t it always makes sense. Often you will see some people use it as a form of one up-man-ship to extol their virtues to all and sundry. My old boss who I credit a lot of my career achievements too, is worth > $50m, pre melt-down, was never too afraid to ask for a clearer explanation of something if he didn’t understand.

My strategy is to grab the specifications and the list of abbreviations & acronyms (if they have one) & read my heart out when I 1st start at any new organization. This helps me to quickly learn most of the technical aspects, or a least give me a whole list of questions to ask.

As with any plan that is created, sequencing is the key, so be prepared to ask, as this is the number 1 issue that will affect your credibility. I have often found that the old timers are the best source for this information as they have been burnt over the years & therefore they remember all the little tricks & tips inside their head’s to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

The one thing that is common across all industries (or at least should be) is the project management philosophy, noting that planning is just extension of this process.

P.S My belief with regard to Primavera is that it is just a tool (abet a good one) for communicating the plan to the project team. If the organization’s doesn’t have a good level of scheduling maturity, you will always suffer from credibility issues. You need to be ensuring that the organization is capturing credible data, and that the plan has “buy in”. If you told to create a schedule, but you don’t get any input (or updates during the execution phase) from the team, you can safely say that the organization doesn’t have a high level of scheduling maturity. If you then can’t change their approach within 6 – 12 months you never will.
Mark

Coming from a building construction background, I tried Airport IT Systems 4 years ago. When I first come across the task " Migration to Production Environment" I was taken aback and thought of leaving the project, because the language being used is Greek to me.

It took me a while to really understand how it works because IT is a completely different arena to me.

Back to the question, yes I used primavera the same way I used it in building construction.

It’s good to learn different industries, but the down side is if you jump from one industry to another, you become only expert in Primavera but not the industry project management practice.

IMHO

Yes and Yes for as long as you don’t stop learning, and maybe No if the works requires expertise or specialization, but do you expect that the whole Planning Works can be done by one Person?

Good Answer

I Worked For Building Projects for several years ,and switched to Yacht Interiors Production for more money.
and planning to move to aircraft industry