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Author: Kathleen Booker

PMTimes_Aug07_2024

Owning the Rules of Project Management

Written by Kathleen Booker on . Posted in Articles.

Project management (PM) developed over time and will continue to evolve as innovative technologies and practices are embraced. Rules of PM are sometimes brandished around as if they are things that never waiver, things that are a must-have. These include scoping the project, creating the project charter, asking for stakeholder input, managing budgets and timelines—and the list goes on. But rules need to be malleable; they need to adapt to the project.

 

First Things First

No doubt, it’s hard to let go of things we learn, things that courses, seminars, webinars, and experience teach us. Things our gut says to pay attention to. There are times, though, when those things fade into the background like a sunset dissolving into the western horizon. Everything about project management should unfold according to the project’s needs and not based on rules defined by instructors and books. We need to be accommodating.

After earning my project management certification (whew!), and after a few hours of in-house PM training geared to enlighten various management and professional teams about the value of structured project management—and company-designed forms to use—my ethos was one of a rule enforcer (kind of an inherent trait of mine anyway): This is how it’s done. This is how to ensure the project will be successful!

I can honestly say that this rigid mindset did not get far. I am not going to say that I threw a hissy fit when someone refused to follow a certain “rule”, but I voiced my concern. Someone in management challenged me with the question: Why is it so important that things be done this way?

My response was: Because this is proper project management. This is what I learned from PMI (the Project Management Institute), and this is what we learned in-house.

Sidebar: The people involved in this matter were in the same in-house sessions as I was.

I knew what I was doing, right?

Wrong … sort of.

I am a detail-oriented person, and I believe in structure and rules. Those traits can be too stringent and can get in the way of managing a project from the stakeholders’ perspectives. I needed to unlearn—well, maybe adapt—my inherent beliefs if I wanted to survive as a good project manager. I needed to satisfy the stakeholders needs, and not my own.

At the end of the day, the “rule” was not going to be followed for this project (and mostly all projects since then).

Did I feel defeated at first?

Yes.

Did I get over it?

Yes.

Every company will have its own unique way of managing projects. Each project will demand its PM to lead it in a way that suits the scope, goals, stakeholders, timeline, budget, and, more importantly, the company’s culture and style. Your corporate culture is not something you can be taught in a PM course. You must know it and make it part of your PM skills.

 

Communication

You need to know your stakeholders and what they need from you. Communication needs are not one-size-fits-all. Emails, status reports, and meetings need to be tailored to your audience. As examples:

  • The sponsor wants a weekly high-level status report.
  • The technical team lead requires a thirty-minute face-to-face meeting every two weeks.
  • The business manager only cares about monthly budget and timeline updates.
  • The functional subject matter experts team doing the project work needs weekly meetings.

Managing a project involves stakeholder registers and communication plans which ensure everyone is informed when and how they want to be.

It is important to note that communication with third parties is crucial. Vendors and suppliers, at least in my experience, are not psychics. They must be listed on your stakeholder register and assigned the same level of value as those in your company. No secrets! If there is a change in the timeline or resources, it is beneficial for them to know so they can adjust accordingly.

 

Objectives, Scope and Deliverables

We need to keep perspective when it comes to project scope and objectives. Complex projects may require occasional check-ins with team members and sponsors when new learnings trigger a flurry of “what if” questions. There almost always are unknowns, things we cannot predict, that could change some facet of the project. Nothing is set in stone, and things about a project can be adjusted if necessary.

Always keep risk management in the forefront when it looks like an aspect of the project needs adjusting. Assess the impact of the change and make sure that all requests are feasible.

The Requirements Traceability Matrix

When I first learned about the Requirements Traceability Matrix, I at once felt a bond that almost matched my love for Excel (I cannot envision a world where I could live without Excel, at least not in a business setting). I created a version of an RTM I found online that I liked, and then I adapted it to my needs. It really helped get me through a large, multi-year project. No one else referred to it. Everyone thought it was overkill.

A rule of thumb – use what works for you but expect that it may not work for anyone else on your project team. And that’s okay. If it keeps you focused on the tasks in the pipeline, the successes, and the near misses, that is what is matters.

 

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The Plan

Let’s not forget about the project plan. Regardless of the size of the project, you need a plan. What are the tasks? When do they need to be complete? What is contingent upon something else? What is the status of each task? Have communications gone out as planned?

Plan the work, work the plan—that was something my instructor at UMUC (now UMGC, University of Maryland Global Campus) told us one day during class. Those words still stick with me today, even when it’s related to personal projects and tasks. For me, this is a golden rule. No caveats.

 

Prioritization

Prioritizing your work is tantamount to success. And that means assigning priority to non-project work, too! I am not a full-time project manager. Along with my projects, I run supply chain models, pull data for various analyses and GHG reports, and take care of monthly reports and transportation management system support.

When you feel like you are overwhelmed (and it will happen), it’s good to step back and assess your priorities. Usually, that is done throughout the day as emails arrive in your inbox, impromptu meetings pop-up on your calendar, the phone rings, and a myriad of other things vie for your attention. STAY CALM and think rationally. Things will get done! Make sure to communicate if anything needs to move to the backseat instead of being in the driver’s seat.

The bottom line is that it is okay to make the rules up as you go along. Each project’s requirements will be different—sometimes only slightly while other times a major overhaul is needed. Be adaptable and responsive to the static and changing needs of your stakeholders and the project in general. Enjoy the plethora of challenges presented by project management.

Follow-Through – It’s not just for Sports

Written by Kathleen Booker on . Posted in Articles. 6 Comments on Follow-Through – It’s not just for Sports

It is Sunday afternoon, and everything that you wanted to accomplish over the weekend has been checked off your list.

Now it is time to relax. You sit down on your sofa in front of the television and grab the remote. As you click through the channels you pause briefly on the final round of a golf championship. The last golfer up can win the game if he sinks the ball in no more than two strokes. You watch as he approaches the ball, swings, and makes a hole in one. You continue clicking through channels and decide to watch the final home game of your favorite baseball team’s five-game series. Your team needs one run to tie, two to win. Bottom of the ninth, bases are loaded. The pitch, the swing, the ball flies out of the park. Walk-off grand slam.

You think about the two wins you just witnessed, and you know that both the golfer and the batter had something in common — follow-through. A contributor to their success, it was the continuation of their swings – the fluid movement of their arms and body after contact with the ball – that helped them hit their marks. Of course, there are things both internal and external that will either help or interfere with a player’s game, but perfect follow-through is critical to ultimately achieving success. It is important in sports, and it is just as important in project management.

Project managers need to practice their craft the same as those who play sports. To channel and paraphrase Vince Lombardi, it is not enough to simply practice your follow-through to make it perfect – you have to practice follow-through perfectly. If you take the time to continually learn, polish, and practice your PM skills; if you ask for, receive, and act upon honest feedback from your stakeholders and team members; if you are mindful of your actions and the requirements of your project; and if you have the opportunity to manage or co-manage a steady stream of projects, you will find that follow-through skills become second nature.

A seasoned PM earns faith and trust from stakeholders that the project will be managed to the best of his or her abilities and that all requirements will be met on time and on budget. Visualize the circular ripples that move outward from a dropped stone’s contact with calm water. PMs can be perceived similarly as people who have a widening circle of influence as they lead and impact the project.

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So how does one perfectly practice follow-through? I believe key elements include (and are not limited to) organizational skills, timeliness, and communication.

Schedules and reminders are excellent ways to make sure you are following up and following through on outstanding tasks. Because everyone has a different way of staying organized, a project manager has to figure out what works best for him or her (sorry, there is no one magic method). Is Outlook your friend?

Then use it. Do you fare better when writing things down in a spiral notebook? Then use a pen and a notebook. Or do you rely on a specific project management application? No matter which tool or resource you depend on to help keep you organized, take advantage of it. And do not be afraid to try something else.

Do not lock yourself into a particular resource unless you are one hundred percent sold on it. You might find that a tool works well for one project but you need something else for a different project. Just as project management can be iterative, so is developing your project management tool kit.

Follow-through does not necessarily need to be immediate, but it does need to be timely. If after a meeting there are deliverables assigned and tasks that need follow-up, make sure you set a reminder to touch base with the team to insure they are on track to meet the required dates. Determine during the meeting when the next gathering should be held, and make sure the minutes/notes are sent out within a day or two after the meeting. Always keep in mind that your team and the stakeholders are busy people who will move on to the next task, production issue, project assignment, et cetera immediately after they leave the meeting. Your team needs gentle reminders from you to help keep your project on schedule.

Communication is a core component of follow-through. Whether it is a quick phone call, a one-on-one chat as you pass each other in the hall, or a scheduled fifteen-minute meeting, check in with your team and ask how things are progressing. Always offer to help or get assistance if they are running into issues meeting the agreed-upon deadline. And when the project has been closed and the lessons learned meeting concluded, please be sure to document the team’s and stakeholders’ input, and follow through on any resulting asks from them. It is worth its weight in gold to address their concerns and comments as soon as possible.

Approach your project as you would approach the batter’s box. Once the project is in motion (visualize the baseball in play), approach it with all of your hard-earned skills (the mastery of the swing of the bat), and follow through until the goal is attained (the home run).

Individuality Matters on Diverse Teams – Why Project Managers may need to leave their pre-conceived ideas at the door

Written by Kathleen Booker on . Posted in Articles. 11 Comments on Individuality Matters on Diverse Teams – Why Project Managers may need to leave their pre-conceived ideas at the door

Imagine that you are a project manager holding the kick-off meeting for a new software deployment that is being rolled out to multiple distribution facilities.

You look around, scanning the groups on the conferencing monitors and in the room, taking note of the generations and functional areas represented. You nod your head in approval that you have built a solidly diverse team, one that will lift the project from a plan to a fully functioning new system in a matter of months.

Managing the team will be more complex than project teams you have led in the past. It has been a few years since you last led such a large implementation project involving not only your company but also a handful of consultants and the vendor’s integration team. Over the past years, your company has created new jobs, new positions, and hired people fresh out of college and some from different industries who have many years of experience in operations and supply chain fields. The core teams you have worked with in the past have evolved. You are working with a larger multi-generational group with a much deeper breadth of experience than you ever have.

As a strong project manager, you know that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to project management. Each project, each project team, each individual is different. Balancing how you communicate and manage each team member, each stakeholder, will be critical to project success.

I will admit that as a project manager I experienced a learning curve when it came to diversifying communications to suit team members. When I first started leading teams to get something done, it was not called project management (at least not in my company thirty-plus years ago) and there was no insight into dealing with individuals as individuals. You were given something to do by your supervisor, found someone who could help you get it done if it wasn’t something you could do alone, and then reported back to your supervisor that the task was complete. Workers were workers and everyone was pretty much treated the same (everything had to be fair and equitable). It was not until years later that formal project management was introduced to us, and I found the structure and details fascinating. Yes, I am a detail-oriented person who loves structure around meetings and tasks and goals and everything in-between.

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I learned over the years that my concept of structure and methods of communication were not necessarily the same everyone else’s. For example, not growing up with a cell phone in my pocket, I had to adjust to people not only bringing their phones into meetings but having no hesitation to look at the screen when a text message or other communication sounded or vibrated its way into the agenda. At first I was considering a “no cell phone” rule for our meetings but had to rule it out because some of the interruptions were legitimate, especially when representatives from technology teams attended meetings (production issues ALWAYS win over project meetings). How to tell if it is a true emergency communication or if it is a coworker or significant other on the other end of the message wanting to know what’s for lunch/dinner or how much longer is that meeting going to last? You can’t. But you also cannot let yourself get distracted from the reason you pulled the team together. Carry on with your meeting.

Remember that HOW you communicate is as important as WHAT you communicate. Most, if not all, of us have been through some form of personality testing and/or training (think Myers-Brigg). One of my favorites, one which focuses on conscious and unconscious motivators, provides outstanding (my opinion) insight in how to approach people. For example, if you know someone who wants balance and harmony, someone who is always trying to keep peace between all team members and stakeholders, bluntly telling them that they fell short on meeting a milestone could devastate that person. Instead, you need to let her/him know that s/he has been working hard, doing a good job, but needs to focus on whatever it is that is needed to complete the task. Ask what you can do to help. If the person is a matter-of-fact, detailed and perfectionist type, ask what is causing the delay and work with them to get back on track because chances are s/he is already beating her/himself up over missing the deadline. Ask what you can do to help.

Always, always ask what you can do to help. The sooner, the better.

Remember that each person you work with is an individual with specific needs, motivators, experience, and has background life noise that can change from day to day. Every day is a new day that can bring a slightly different version of a person into the workplace. As a project manager, you need to be cognizant of the “temperature” of the team and who may need what from you. Those running at a fever pitch could experience burnout, so work with them to make sure their focus is balanced with other non-project related tasks and that they are not taking on more than is necessary. Those that are falling behind may need a one-on-one meeting to help identify the issues and (hopefully) meet the milestone.

Your experiences, methods, and motivators are probably vastly different from your teams’. Realize it, get to know your team members, and treat them as the individuals they are in order to find success in your projects.