Ladder Progression for a Project Manager

Contrux, a specialist cosultant group on Projet Management who produice estimate (http://www.construx.com), a tool for projet estimation publi on her web site an article on ladder progession of a projec manager.

This progression is base on three stages. A project manager have to develop three major skills: engeneering management, quality and requierement.

CKA	Introductory	Competence	Leadership
CM
Design
Construction
Engineering Management
Process
Tools And Methods
Maintenance
Quality
Requirements
Test

Stage 1

Activity Type	Details
Work Experience	Act as a backup project manager on at least one project Act as a backup quality lead on at least one project Participate in the release process of a project Perform personal planning and tracking on a project Participate in the review of a project and quality plan Participate in the elicitation and specification of requirements Participate in the creation of a project estimate Participate in an informal review Participate in an inspection Review a project's documentation including the quality plan, test plans, test cases, project plans, schedules, and work breakdown structures
Reading	Code Complete, Steve McConnell - ok Rapid Development, Steve McConnell - ok Software Project Survival Guide, Steve McConnell - ok UML Distilled, Martin Fowler et all ok Mastering the Requirements Process, Robertson and Robertson - ok Software Requirements, Karl Wiegers "Manager's Handbook for Software Development", NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - ok
Classes	Real World Requirements Software Project Survival Guide Rapid Development Peer Reviews for Higher Quality and Productivity Estimation

Stage 2

Activity Type	Details
Work Experience	Act as the project business manager on at least one major project Write at least two project plans Act as a backup quality lead on at least one project Write one or more test case specification documents on a project Participate in the review of a quality plan, test plan, and test cases
Reading	Principles of Software Engineering Management, Tom Gilb Mythical Man-Month, Fred Brooks Peopleware, Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister Measures for Excellence, Lawrence Putnam and Ware Myers The Art of Software Testing, Glenford Myers "Software Measurement Guidebook", NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Classes	Software Project Management Boot Camp Risk Management Real World Software Testing
Certification	Project Management Institute's Project Management Professional

Stage 3

Activity Type	Details
Work Experience	Act as the requirements lead on at least one major project Write at least two requirements specifications Act as the quality lead on at least one major project Write at least two quality plans Participate in a code review Participate in a design review
Reading	Programming Pearls 2nd Ed, Jon Bentley Applying UML & Patterns 2nd Ed, Craig Larman Conceptual Blockbusting, James Adams Software Creativity, Robert Class Quality is Free, Philip Crosby The Deming Management Model, Mary Walton Managing the Software Process, Watts Humphrey Writing Effective Use Cases, Cockburn Exploring Requirements: Quality before Design, Gause and Weinberg Requirements Engineering, A Good Practice Guide, Sommerville and Sawyer
Classes	Code Complete Object Oriented Analysis and Design using the UML