Herding a group of cats, cows, sheep, goats, dogs and llamas….

 

By that, I mean an Aerospace project

What does a project manager on an Aerospace project do?  They manage perhaps some of the most technically diverse and highly complex projects on earth.  This is accomplished through defined Project Management practices and a unique type of project team comprised of a group with very high “informational diversity.”

Informational diversity?  That means that each member of the team has widely different backgrounds, experiences, education, and understandings. They are so diverse; they often don’t agree or even understand each other.  It’s not that they don’t want to understand – it’s that each is speaking a different technical language.  For instance, a theoretical physicist may not be able to communicate a concept or concern to an engineer.  And the engineer may not be able to communicate well with the physicist.  A great many academic studies have been conducted on the difficulties and successes of managing a team with high informational diversity. 

Such a team may be composed of physicists, engineers, mathematicians, aerodynamicists, material scientists, ceramic experts, chemists, computer designers, computer-language designers – and many, many more.  In addition, your project may be purchasing advanced systems, both hardware and software - some of which are still experimental - from other teams that have their own degree of informational diversity.

This creates a condition I call “delicious complexity.”  It’s also wonderfully exciting and permanently mind-warping. 

How could you ever hope to manage this type of project team?   First, you don’t start as the project manager – that would be cruel and unusual.  I personally worked as a “wet-behind the ears” engineer developing avionics, software, and crew interactions for years before becoming a PM.  There is typically a well-defined (yet flexible) project management structure in place that everyone is exposed to in every aerospace environment.   The program and project handbook I used to use has a great many similarities to the PMBOK© guide and can be downloaded free here http://go.nasa.gov/1QPkK8Z

Eventually, the PM will become conversant in nearly every technical field there is.  Physics, mathematics, aerodynamics, materials, metal alloys, ceramics, polymers, composites.  Not an expert, but conversant.  The PM’s principal skill remains Project Management or “having their hand on the tiller.”  And without doubt, the most important of Project Management skills of all, are communicating, directing and building a team of proud humans to accomplish a goal.  That’s where the real complexity comes in. 

Boiled down, the PM job is simple: COMMUNICATE WITH ALL TEAM MEMBERS, ALL THE TIME. 

One difference in the PMBOK® guide from the referenced manual above, is the absolute requirement for scheduled project reviews, by other professional project managers as well as a “standing review committee” – experts brought in from outside the organization for a fresh and independent look at the project’s progress.  These in themselves can become a “significant emotional event.”

During these reviews, each project manager must present 6 types of information for assessment.  (More on what these “magic six” project assessment criteria are in a future blog.)

MEET ME IN SAN DIEGO NEAR THE PROJECTMANAGEMENT.COM BOOTH.