To Say and Not To Be

John Sullivan is a working project manager who writes and speaks on project and career issues.

 

While assigning me to a politically challenging task, my boss told me I would be serving as "point man," meaning I would be the one leading people on the new assignment. The point man is the person in front on a patrol and is the first one to see trouble--and often the first to step on a land mine.

One of the biggest land mines in project management is alienation. Since the management of a project is separate from the work, project management types are often considered outsiders. As the project evolves and problems begin, the people handling the problems can become associated with them, and sometimes are perceived as being the problem. If the medium is the message, then the bearer of bad news is the bad news.

This can lead to isolation from the rest of the team, even though making difficult decisions is an important part of good project management. "The most important quality in a business person for at least the next decade will be...a character trait," writes Geoffrey Colvin in the December 29, 1997 issue of Fortune Magazine, "a willingness, even an eagerness, to make large, painful decisions."

Project management people need to make difficult decisions but they also need to be part of the team. Being excluded as a "problem person" can mean being shut out of those informal exchanges at lunch or the coffee machine where the more genuine information is shared. This …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.