Managing Project Objectives, Not the Minutia of Work Management

 

Managing  project-based work requires, among other things, a particularly strong attention to detail.  Some project managers are better able to coordinate the dozens, if not hundreds, of individual details associated with tasks, issues, and projects better than others.  Although this is an important skill for project managers, I think it's easy for those required to spend the majority of their time in the minutia of things to loose site of the forest for the trees.

Like most people, I sometimes find myself so wrapped up in the details of what I'm doing that I forget about the big picture.  Regardless of how detailed your work management plans are, it's important to step back every once in a while to see things from a broader perspective.  Here are a couple of suggestions that might help you do that:

1. Keep the business goals and objectives of the project front and center.  Post on the team white board, or someplace where the team will regularly see it, the business goal associated with the project.  I know one PMO that created templates in their PPM software with the business goal embedded on every task, issue, and project page to remind the team why they are doing the project.  This keeps everyone focused on the big picture, while working on the details.
2. As needed, meet with the project team to make sure everyone is still focused on the goal.  We may not like it, but there will always be the "drive-by" or "ad hoc" initiatives that come up to pull team members away from focusing on the project goal.  Meeting with the team on a regular basis allows managers to help resolve impediments and keep the team focused.  Often, the regular reminder of the project objective is all it takes to keep everyone on target.
3. Step back and look at the big picture.  Project management software can help automate the management of many of the details associated with a project, so managers have time to step back and see the big picture.  It's important to look at project progress from a broader perspective.  Make sure your project software helps free you from the minutia and doesn't force you to keep your head down, buried in the weeds that keep you from seeing the forest from the trees.

What do you do to keep your project teams focused on the big picture?  Does your project and portfolio management software help or hinder?