Don’t Be Afraid to Get Creative
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Date
“Creative” is rarely a word used to describe project managers. Typically, they’re called “organized,” “good communicators,” etc.
A colleague of mine inspired me when he said that a good project manager is a creative one. I was confused at first, but his explanation made sense. To be able to take advantage of great opportunities as they present themselves, a good project manager needs to be creative with the scope and the budget as the project evolves.
In other words, project managers shouldn’t automatically respond: “No, we can’t, it’s out of scope or budget.” Instead, they should say: “How can we make it work?” Genius!
Every project manager is guilty of refusing a great idea when the team comes up with something out of scope or budget. It’s easy to say “no,” but it’s a lot more rewarding for you, the team and the project to find a way. That’s where you get creative!
The first solution that generally comes to mind is upselling the idea to stakeholders and asking for more funds. This could be denied, or it might not even be an option if the budget is fixed.
Another solution is to reduce another part of the scope or even remove it completely to accommodate this new idea. There are often “nice to haves” on projects, and they can be traded for better ideas. That’s where the new idea needs to be sold as more efficient than what’s being removed.
Other solutions can be outsourcing to reduce some costs, or even pulling some strings if needed. And you know what? You don’t have to do this thinking alone—give your team the chance to contribute ideas. You might find out that if some features are slightly different, you can save effort here and there, and then you are able to transfer some budget somewhere else.
The key point here is leaving “no” as a last resort, and asking yourself and the team: “How can we make it work?”
How are you creative with your projects?
Posted
by
Christian Bisson
on: October 29, 2015 07:23 PM |
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Comments (15)
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In disturbing scenarios like the one we are living nowadays in Venezuela, this article can be perfectly applied...!!! When a PM is about to start a project, he/she needs to be really creative if they want to be successful. Simple issues like going to a hardware store just to get screws could be a depressing odyseey, so a PM should have plan b, plan c, etc, it means, must be creative and handle many alternatives in order to accomplish all duties involved in the project.
Not to mention that the PM should be surrounded by competent people.... By a truly TEAM...!!!
PARAG KANDEKAR
VP Operations| SoftNice Inc
Allentown, Pa, United States
For small projects, I am not sure if we can allow ideas or creativity to make a difference. But for Large projects there is a good scope of creativity, idea generations, planning alternatives to make it more proficient and effective.
For Product Development Cycle - many companies use virtual board system where team members can contribute their ideas. But fixed bid projects, time bound activities- we see very less scope for idea generation.
Thank you everyone for your comments.
Alberto, you are absolutely right. And having competent people around you is a must for PMs.
Parag, you bring an interesting point with the size of the project; I do feel it can apply to small projects too, the creativity would obviously be of smaller scale, and options might be more limited, but the idea could still apply.
Andreia Reis
PMO Coordenator| Adimax Indústria e Comércio de Alimentos
Mairinque, São Paulo, Brazil
Excellent Article, for me too this term "creative" is different, but read this article my concept changed and inspired me to be more creative in my projects. I liked this part where you mentioned "project managers should not automatically respond: “No, we can’t, it’s out of scope or budget.” Instead, they should say: “How can we make it work?” Genius!". really to do this way is be creative , think before give the answers.
thank you for sharing this tips.
Thanks Andreia, glad you liked the article.
It takes a bit of getting used to since our main concern is always scope/budget and we want to make sure it''s "protected", but there are often alternatives if we take the time to think about it.
Cheers.
Manas De Amin
Director| Computer Technology Group Kolkata
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Christian, it's thought provoking.
I am not sure if all the points you have made are feasible or not. There are times when PMs cannot afford to be creative as scope, budget and schedule are specific. PMs also need to avoid the lure of creativity to refrain themselves and the team from Gold Plating.
However, creativity should always be encouraged when doing things in a different way is involved.
Manas,
You are right, in some cases, it may not be feasible to come up with an alternative, but in the eyes of the team, the fact that they have not been met by a blunt "no" and instead see someone trying to find a way to make their idea come to life will still be a positive outcome of the exercise. This opens the way for a more collaborative approach and might welcome new ideas in the future that the team will share instead of withholding if they think it's simply going to get shot down.
And you are also right in the sense that gold plating can become a possibility. it is important that stakeholders are aware that if something is added somewhere, something else must be removed to balance, or extra budget might be needed. Whatever the solution is, it should not be to gold plate the project unless there is a valid business value behind it.
Cheers.
PANKAJ KUMAR JOSHI
General Manager| Transrail Lighting Limited
Nainital, Uttrakhand, India
Well said.
We lose creativity because we are afraid of mistakes. For project manager it is good idea to use set practices and work in a organised ways but there is always chance of doing the things better.
The Project management knowledge can be developed only through creativity and sharing your experiences.
This blog is also an example of creativity where you shared idea to be creative.
Manas De Amin
Director| Computer Technology Group Kolkata
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Christian, yes you are right. A blunt no, really upsets people. I take time to explain,"No" to the team. More importantly, if I find the proposition is good, I commit to the team/member to employ it in some other project. And I do.
I think there is a minute difference between gold plating and creativity. So how to differentiate?
Manas De Amin
Director| Computer Technology Group Kolkata
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Atif Shahzad, I think there''s a huge difference between creativity and Gold Plating. Creativity is generation of new and acceptable idea by an individual or group; of a product, service, process or opinion. Innovation is, successfully implement the new idea.
On the other hand, as per PMBOK; Gold Plating is adding something which is out of scope anticipating customer delight.
I believe you sum it up perfectly!
RAJESH K L
Project Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, India
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
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