A Project No One Wants to Work On

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  Risk Management   Talent Management  

In the workplace, there are people who enjoy working on projects, and some people who do not. Sometimes there is no choice--the boss decides who is assigned to projects; or perhaps it is just the nature of the job to work on projects. Regardless, the project manager is responsible for how the project is managed--and that responsibility should be taken seriously. Creating a project that no one wants to work on is a surefire way to make a project fail before it ever gets started.

Here are some examples of behavior I have witnessed where the project manager created a project no one wanted to work on…

Applying Constant Pressure
If a project manager applies constant pressure on the project team, then they will break. People are not coal--they do not turn into diamonds under pressure. Usually they break, but oftentimes they will decide to jump ship before they break under the pressure. The resources working on the project are just people; they have lives and families outside the workplace. While some pressure may be needed to make sure the project succeeds, applying pressure constantly throughout the entire project will only lead to nervous breakdowns.

Expectations should be realistic, and there must be some downtime to counteract the times of pressure. Any organization or project manager that never stops putting pressure on the employees will soon find itself…

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