Topic Teasers Vol. 96: Assigning the Blame

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  Estimating   Leadership   Talent Management  

Okay, I’m not proud of how this project ended, but management is blaming me…me! There were lots of moving people and parts to this one, and we knew from the beginning it would be a challenge. But how do I react to the accusations? I want to be sure no one goes away thinking it was my fault, because I don’t think it is. What do I say so that the proper culprits will be blamed and my reputation comes out unscathed?

A. A great number of projects fail because upper management fails to properly and completely share the goals and accompanying evaluative metrics they will use to decide successes from failures. Not knowing what is expected of you, your team and your suppliers means you cannot then be blamed when you fail to meet their dreams.

B. The rule is that project managers are not supposed to ever do the actual activity or user story work of a project. If you are only in essence the “supervisor,” how is it fair to be held accountable when others do not do as they have promised? If participants led you to believe that your schedule and budgets were acceptable, they should be reported to management by name and I.D. number when things “go south” or fail.

C. If you work in an industry where you rely …

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