Profile of a project manager

Name: Dr David Hillson
 
Membership grade: Honorary Fellow
 
Job title: The Risk Doctor
 
Company: Risk Doctor & Partners
 
Why did you become a member of APM? As a new and inexperienced junior project manager in 1984 I knew I had lots to learn (I still do). I wanted to be part of a professional association where I could meet people who knew more than me and who were prepared to share their knowledge and experience (I met lots). I also thought APM membership would be good for my career (it was).
 
How did you get into project management? Like many others, I was an “accidental project manager”, asked to step into the role when a vacancy occurred, but with no prior aspiration or aptitude. I was working for a major defence contractor and one of our main contracts was in trouble so we needed a fresh approach with some new energy and enthusiasm. I was dropped in with no preparation or training, and had to learn fast on the job. Fortunately I had some great mentors who helped me understand what worked (and what didn’t). We rescued the project and I got reassigned to another project – my career in project management had begun!
 
What would be your top tip to any aspiring project manager? Manage your risks or they’ll manage you. But remember that risk includes both threat and opportunity, and you can manage both proactively. If you’re too busy to manage risk, then you’re too busy.
 
Describe yourself in ten words or less: iconoclast, delivery, integrity, committed, purple, focused, connected, caring, learning, complex
 
If you had to spend the rest of your life on a desert island, what album, book, film and luxury item would you take with you?

1. Album: The Creation, by Joseph Haydn – English version conducted by Paul McCreesh with the Gabrieli Consort and Players
2. Book: Paradise Lost/Paradise Regained (combined edition), by John Milton
3. Film: The Pink Panther (1963 version) – or even better, the boxed set of the whole series (includes The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Revenge of the Pink Panther, Trail of the Pink Panther)
4. Luxury item: A full-size Steinway grand piano (with humidifier and tuning tools)
 
If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? Apart from my late father (obviously), I’d love to have dinner with the young Karl Marx in about 1830 (with translator present of course) – if I could influence his world view then history might have turned out very differently.

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