New Series: How PMs Think — Consultants’ Voices #01

Alongside our regular column by PM Global’s CEO, we are launching How PMs Think, a new series featuring first-person perspectives from our consultants.

In their own words, our consultants share what they think about in the field, how they approach challenges, and what project management means in practice.

In the first installment of Consultants’ Voices, one of our consultants reflects on the unpredictable nature of day-to-day PMO work—and why forming hypotheses and finding answers through dialogue make the work so rewarding.

Unpredictable—and That’s What Makes It Interesting

“Every Day Is Different”

One of the things that surprised me most about working as a consultant was discovering that there is no such thing as a “typical day.”

Some days are filled with back-to-back meetings. On others, I spend the entire day working alone on documents and presentations. The people I meet and the topics we discuss vary completely from one day of the week to the next. I have yet to experience a day that I could describe as following a set pattern.

I work as part of a project management office, or PMO, supporting multiple projects at large corporations. My week includes a wide range of meetings: regular project meetings, internal progress updates, and discussions with other departments and vendors. Many of these meetings last only 30 minutes, yet the decisions made in that short time can affect the entire project.

On one particular morning, my day began on the train as I reviewed the agenda for the first meeting. It was only after the meeting ended that I was finally able to turn to my own work and start preparing documents. But that was just one day among many—and no two are ever quite the same.

What requires even more thought than the meetings themselves, however, is the preparation behind them.

On one project, even the client had not yet clarified what needed to be decided at the regular meeting. So before the meeting took place, I set aside time to work with the client and organize how we would move forward: What did we already know? What decisions were needed before the project could progress?

Only after establishing that foundation could we make the 30-minute meeting truly productive.

“Start with a Hypothesis”

Project management is supported by a structured body of knowledge known as the PMBOK® Guide, and I draw on it as a foundation for my work. In practice, however, projects rarely unfold exactly as the textbooks suggest.

I select and adapt the approaches that best fit each project. At times, I use generative AI as a sounding board before refining and rebuilding my own hypothesis. There is a considerable gap between knowing something and knowing how to apply it. I believe that bridging this gap lies at the heart of a consultant’s work.

To be honest, there are still many things I do not know. Much of a client’s business and organizational background can only be fully understood by the people within that organization.

That is precisely why the ability we need is not simply to tolerate uncertainty. It is the ability to form a hypothesis from the limited information available.

In the past, I would simply ask, “What does this mean?” Now, I bring my own interpretation to the conversation and ask, “This is how I understand it. Am I on the right track?”

Approaching conversations with a hypothesis has changed the way I communicate with clients. When I first started, I often felt that clients had already considered everything I could think of and that the only value I could offer was in carrying out the work.

A turning point came when I proposed reorganizing the way we were approaching a project. As it gradually began to get back on track, a client approached me during a business trip and said, “That really helped.”

Those few words made me realize for the first time that my ideas had value too.

“Finding the Answer Through Dialogue”

I believe project management is, fundamentally, a job built on communication.

We adapt the way we communicate to the person in front of us, align our assumptions, and search for answers together. Because projects do not always go according to plan, we form hypotheses, test them, and rethink them. Then we repeat the process.

The question is whether you can find it interesting when things do not go as planned.

For those who enjoy working with others to find answers through dialogue, project management can be a deeply rewarding career.