Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Responsibility Is Authority
Johanna Rothman, known as the "Pragmatic Manager," offers frank advice for your challenging problems. She consults with leaders and teams to help them learn about practical and possible options. They can then decide how to adapt their product development. Her most recent book is "Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility." See www.jrothman.com for all her books.
As a project manager, you have the responsibility to take authority, rather than wait for someone to give you the authority.
No manager ever has enough real authority to do what he or she wants to do. There's always someone with a bigger title. Even if you're a CEO, you report to a board. Even though titular authority is useful, it's not enough.
If the project is strategically important to the organization, act first (doing whatever the project needs) and ask forgiveness later. You'll know whether the project is strategically important by how many people ask about the status and what levels of people ask. The more people ask at the higher levels, the more strategic the project is.
If the project is not strategically important, don't waste your time trying to accomplish it. In reality, if the project is important enough to the organization, you have the authority to do just about anything you need to do. (You need the self-esteem to do what you need to do.) But if the project is not important enough to the organization, you can never get enough authority to do what you need to do. Go to the project portfolio and work on a strategically important project.
Even if the project is strategically important, you might need to use your influencing skills to obtain or have people accomplish what you need. Build relationships to lay the foundation for influence across the …
Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.
ADVERTISEMENTS
|
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein |