Manage the Forest, Not the Trees

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  New Practitioners   Schedule Management   Scheduling   Scope Management  

When I talk to people who are just starting out in their project management careers, I often ask them about their understanding of each phase. As you might expect, that can lead to some interesting discussions around what aspects fit in each phase, what a project manager’s responsibilities are, etc. However, one of the areas where these beginner PMs tend to be most confident is around the control phase. It’s the aspect of the project that seems most like general management; it’s less dependent on project management-specific skills, if you will.

However, the focus of these discussions tends to be very detailed--managing of the tasks that have to be conducted and the day-to-day activities of the team members rather than management of the overall initiative. Understandably, these PMs are focused on what they can best relate to, and while that approach can work, it’s not the best way to control the initiative. In this article, I want to provide some guidelines on how to move from micro-level project management to a more macro-level control phase.

The purpose of control
The control phase of a project is about ensuring that an initiative is proceeding according to plan--that it is on target to complete its objectives. It requires recognizing when a project is deviating from the plan and taking corrective actions accordingly to maximize the chances…

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