Math communication = success

How did you get interested in governmentinformation technology work? Growing up in Lexington, Va.,my parents were both math professors. Wekids were guinea pigs for their teachingmethods. I remember watching a film projectedon the wall in the dining room aboutpartial differential equations. It was all naturalto me. It was what we did.I majored in math at Wake ForestUniversity. In those days, before there was acomputer science major, we would joke thatIBM Corp.'s strategy was to drive buses downand hire all the math majors.In that Cold War period in the 1980s, Ilearned how to do intelligence work at IBM.Initially, I thought I would get a bit of experience?before going on to become a math professor,but I stayed with it. What factors influenced your career? The project management professionhas grown a lot. I earned the ProjectManagement Professional credential [fromthe Project Management Institute] in 2007.That emphasis has made us more capable andhas made it easier to do our jobs. It also hasgiven us a common vocabulary on costs andschedules and a focus on common risks. Also,Carnegie Mellon University developed a capabilitymaturity model for long-term softwaredevelopment. It has really raised the bar. What can you tell me about the FBI's NextGeneration Identification project, especially interms of its small-business subcontractors? The FBI is very excited about it,and our job is to be the strong systems integratorthat the FBI needs to make this projectsuccessful.We are big Lockheed Martin, and we have aresponsibility to help small businesses. Wehave always done a healthy dose of small-businesssubcontracting, sometimes up to 75 percent.With the mentor/protégé relationships,you try to ask: What does this company needto be doing in turns of organization and businessdevelopment? How have you dealt with being a femaleIT project manager in a field dominated bymales? I've been working with manyvery effective women managers from thebeginning. People seemed to like my stylebecause I am a communicator. Over time,there have been more women involved onboth the client side and the industry side.As a manager, I put a lot of emphasis onmentoring. I have several women whom Imentor who ask me about the work/life balance.I say, "Forget about balance, make it ablend. Don't cut off one area of your life butrather blend it all together." I love BlackBerrys: I will take calls at home from a customer,and I will accept a call from one of mykids at work. Think of it this way: Does afarmer ever "go home"? That is the model Ihave chosen for blending my life. What other advice do you give to managersin government IT? I try to bring a sense of enthusiasmand a sense of mission. I want the teammembers to feel this is the most importantproject.Studying abroad helps. I spent a summerin South Africa and a year in Venice as a babysitter. It has helped me to adapt to andrespect different cultures. The ability to dothat in government IT contracting, withworkplace cultures as diverse as the Air Forceor the Social Security Administration, makesyou more valuable as a manager.