Welcome back

Welcome back to ValueKey Labs, the newsletter that's more vital than continuous coffee on a project deadline day.

A bit of a space theme this time round, here's what we got :

• NASA cancels its VIPER Moon Rover Project
• How to progress your career without changing roles
• Video suggestion: Space X's new landing

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NASA Cancel's Moon Rover Project

In project-related news, NASA announced it had canceled its VIPER - (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) moon project due to rising project costs. Viper was a robotic mission intended to land near the moon's south pole and spend 100 days sniffing out lunar ice deposits. To date, NASA has spent about $450 million on the project so far.

"This is a very tough decision, but it is a decision based on budgetary concerns in a very constrained budget environment," Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate

Ok, so just another canceled project then, why is that noteworthy? I personally admire organisations that are prepared to cancel projects when they no longer justify the effort and expense. Even more so when they are such publically visible projects such as this one. It takes a whole lot of courage and conviction to cancel a project of this scale rather than continue to pour money into it.

One internet punter summed it up nicely: moon far, equipment heavy, rockets expensive.

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How to prorgress your PM career without changing roles?

A recent Workplace Wellbeing survey revealed that almost two-thirds of workers say they are unlikely to leave their current job in the next 12 months, with fears of finding new employment a major concern.

It's clear that workers are choosing stability over job hopping.

For many Project Professionals looking to climb to the next rung on the Project Management ladder, changing jobs or companies forms a key part of their career progression strategy.

So what can PMs do to keep ascending in their careers while staying put in their current role?

Maximise your current role

Look for ways to stretch your current role, bend it, and mold it into something more. This approach allows you to get the maximum value out of your current employment opportunity. One way to stretch your current role is to seek out opportunities to manage larger (Size), more Complex, and Risky projects.

Size

Progressively tackling larger-sized projects is crucial for a project manager's career growth, it allows you to build experience across different dimensions of size. Project size can be measured via monetary value, number of people, number of teams impacted, organisations involved, or countries delivered to/for. Developing a solid track record of successfully delivering projects of different sizes is invaluable and can become a competitive advantage as a PM.

Complexity

Taking on projects with increasing amounts of complexity is another great way to build experience as a PM. Project complexity can come from a range of different factors: regulatory and compliance requirements, the geographical distribution of your project team, risk factors, interdependencies, difficult stakeholder groups, or even just the scope and deliverables.

Risk

A risky project could be characterized by having a high level of uncertainty. This might sound daunting but they can be some of the most career-defining projects for Project Managers - think Hyperloop Transport System. Risk factors can also include things like the use of new or unproven technologies, tight deadlines, large public scrutiny and/or financial pressure.

TL/DR

• More workers are looking to stay in their current role
• Keep progressing by stretching your current role
• Take on larger, riskier, and more complex projects

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Video Recommendation

If you haven't seen it already (It's pretty much blowing up the internet at the moment), Space X pulled off an audacious project to capture the booster rockets from one of its launches with a pair of giant chopsticks. I tip my hat to the vision, planning, and flawless execution of this project.

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