Becoming an accidental project manager  (Page 5/5)

Unfortunately, not everyone on your team will be as knowledgeable and skilled as you would like. Nonetheless, you've got to get the job done using whatever resources have been provided. Project manager’s staff is generally on temporary loan to them. This is also true of the material resources needed for the success of the project. People with specialized skills often work on the individual pieces.

On the B2B sub-project in this story, the team was structured in such a way that most of the members would bring their own specialized skills to the project, e.g., knowledge of e-commerce, knowledge of the workings of the procurement division, internet/technical skills. Often, though, skills are so specialized that they are employed only briefly. It is not at all uncommon to have the composition of the project team continually changing as the project progresses through its life cycle.

So as long as project professionals are dealing with borrowed resources, they have limited control over them. This reality overwhelmed John. The case study is full of instances in which he was incapable of getting people to do what he needs to have done.

• He couldn’t get a business analyst assigned full time to his project.
• His full time resource, Doug, made it clear that he is just treading water until his retirement and doesn’t even show up for the kick off meeting.
• Jerry finds a competent colleague in Sara Stone, the internet expert; but due to the political dynamics of the situation, she is pulled off the project by her boss.
• BizNex Inc. doesn’t have an e-commerce expert so he will have to hire an outside consultant over whom he may not be able to exercise some degree of control.

From John’s perspective, the problem is that although he is the project manager, he is not the boss. This would be highly impractical, to be boss, John would have to possess control over the career development of all the people on working on the project, and in view of the nature of his small project, highly impractical.

Project management lore is full of tales of project managers who were able to take the hand that was dealt and turn it into project success. For you to succeed, you'll have to rely on your ability to coach, mentor, and motivate, in order to get the level of performance you need from those assigned to work on your project.

What will you have to know as a project manager? Well, you'll have to know a little bit about just about everything. You'll have to learn to pay attention to the details, but not get wrapped up in them. You'll have to make countless decisions with insufficient information and despite conflicting signals. You'll have to condition yourself to seek acceptable solutions, rather than perfect ones. You'll have to blend technical expertise with a keen sense of human nature. You'll have to handle administrative matters.

While you're busy doing your own thing, you'll have to cultivate and maintain a smooth working relationship with many other people, both inside and outside your organization. Unfortunately, as you seek to carry out the objectives of the project, it's unlikely that everyone you encounter will be an ally. Organizational politics and reality dictate that not everyone will like project management or project managers (that's you!). Many people will admire your role, respect your position, and appreciate your involvement; others will not. You will need to figure out who's who, really fast.

One final word on John’s unfortunate adventure; a substantial share of his problems are rooted by his lack of experience. For example, he does nothing to strengthen his authority. Rather than go out on his own in dealing with people in other departments at BizNex Inc., he should have worked through his vice president, Mike Johnson. He could have drafted an e-mail, sent by Mr. Johnson that explained the purpose of his inquiries. In this way, he would not have looked like a loose cannon. Because John dealt directly with vice presidents in the company, it isn’t really surprising that the information technology vice president saw John’s actions as an infringement on his territory.

Project management is both an art and a science. The art is strongly tied to the interpersonal aspects; the business of leading people. The science includes understanding of processes, tools and techniques. All project managers are expected to be very well versed in the science of project management. You cannot survive without being knowledgeable in this area.

We will be addressing the overall project context, encompassing people, teams and the organization. We’ll look at how organizational issues can lead to project success or failures and the central importance of politics in projects. We’ll talk about strategies on how to cope with these and other realities. We’ll talk about project planning and control and defining the needs and requirements analysis, we’ll review some standard tools used for enhancing planning and control and finally how to successfully close out a project.

Although we'll focus primarily upon the process, we'll never lose sight of the importance of the interpersonal aspects as well as the environmental aspects; the people and things that surround your project.

Bibliography

• J. Davidson Frame, Managing Projects in Organization , John Wiley, New York (1995).
• G. Heerkens, Project Management , McGraw-Hill, New York (2001).