Leading your team to achieve success with every project
The Many Benefits of Effective Project Management
Project management is an integral part of the global language services industry and is paramount to each translation project’s success. As the single point person for any project from kickoff to completion, project managers (PMs) handle projects of varying lengths and levels of complexity. Project managers create the structures and processes that foster smooth cooperation between a language services provider (LSP) and their clients. In fact, when companies have professional project managers at the helm, they reduce unnecessary time, decrease spend, and improve the quality of their projects.
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), in 2016 alone, “organizations around the globe reduced the average amount of money they wasted on projects and programs by 20 percent compared to the previous year.”1 How did they do this? The report points to a number of factors that all center around effective project management. But there’s just one problem — “[a]cross the globe, there’s a widening gap between employers’ need for skilled project management workers and the availability of professionals to fill those roles.2 In its Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap report, the Project Management Institute estimates that “[b]y 2027, employers will need 87.8 million individuals working in project management-oriented roles.”ibid
Data Source: Project Management Institute
Without project managers professionally trained to lead each of your translation projects from start to finish, LSPs can quickly run into some pretty serious (and potentially costly) problems. Project managers are at the very heart of an LSP’s organization and are integral to the success of localization departments within multinational corporations. In the words of industry expert and veteran Renato Beninnato, “The Project Management function is the single most important part of the entire language service provider.”3 However, there just aren’t enough formal education programs available that specialize in project management for the localization industry. As a result, many project managers often learn on the go and gain experience over time while doing the actual work. However, as we continue to mature as an industry, this will not be sustainable. Our industry needs a reliable bank of professionally trained project managers. But where do companies find these trained professionals?
The Importance of Localization Project Management As the saying goes, failure to prepare is preparation for failure. By not planning, organizing, and following well defined processes, your translation projects are likely to fail. Without an experienced project manager to lead your projects, unrealistic expectations can be made regarding timelines, workflows, and possible risks. You might also miss the mark on how much of a translation budget to set aside or which resources the project requires. Not having a project manager also means that your entire team might not be focused on the same goal. What this ultimately means, however, is a possible sacrifice of your time, expenses, and reputation. Each time you run into a challenge, it can potentially cost you more time to correct, more resources in which to invest, and more money. And, if not corrected quickly enough, it could also cost you some clients. Some of the top translation project management challenges facing LSPs involve the following:
Do these ring true for you too? Are your translation projects keeping you up at night? Thankfully, delsurtranslations has the solutions.
Localization and Translation Project Management Courses
delsurtransaltions has been offering project management support and recruitment for a great many years so it was only fitting that we began to roll out localization project management training courses and workshops. We work closely with LSPs of all sizes and specialties, and have earned our reputation as project management specialists time and time again. With a team of CLPM certified PMs experienced in project management training, we offer onsite and virtual courses that range in complexity from basic to advanced and have even tutored students working toward their project management diploma at a local university.
When asked in a survey how their experience was, students have been very enthusiastic, unanimously agreeing that the courses were enlightening as many did not have a previous background in project management. In fact, we are thrilled to hear that upon completion of our courses, many of our students are now working as localization and translations project managers — the greatest reward we could receive! So, what exactly do we do? We’re glad you asked!
We teach students who are just starting their professional career and want to become project managers, as well as experienced PMs who want to perfect their skills and focus on building a trustworthy and competent professional profile. We help our students become experts in understanding (and successfully managing) all stages of the translation and localization process for any vertical.
We Listen to You. And Then We Deliver. Over the years, we have seen a great need for — and relevance of — translation and localization project management in the language services industry. But we have also noticed the limitations in project management education, specifically for the localization industry. As a forward-thinking, proactive company, the only solution for us was to bridge this educational gap and begin to train professionals interested in pursuing or advancing their career in project management. So far, the experience has been a win-win. Both our clients and our students are thrilled with our course offerings. Our CLPM Certified PMs have more than 10 years of experience in project management, are responsive, knowledgeable, and committed to each project and course offering. delsurtranslations has already placed over 20 PMs in translation project management roles. Simply put, we listened to you and then we delivered.
Are you ready to kickstart an exciting career or brush up on your industry knowledge in translation project management? Need experienced and fully-trained PMs to expand your overseas teams? Give delsurtranslations a call today and let’s get started!
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REFERENCES
1 “PMI 2017 Pulse of the Profession: Project Success Rates Climb, Fewer Dollars Wasted.” Project Management Institute, Project Management Institute, 8 Feb. 2017, www.pmi.org/about/press-media/press-releases/pmi-2017-pulse-of-the-profession.
2 “Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017 – 2027.” Project Management Institute, 2017, www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/job-growth-report.pdf.
3 Beninatto, Renato, and Johnson, Tucker. The General Theory of the Translation Company. USA, Authors, 2017.