PM Crash Course

 

Rita Mulcahy is Founder and CEO of RMC Project Management, Inc.  She is a well known expert on nearly every aspect of project management. In her new book she boils project management down to its basics.  The book targets PMs who need to get something done, versus people looking to perfect their craft.  These are the people who need the skills and tools most of all -- and I think they're going to love this book.  Here's a quick interview with Rita...

Dave:  
Rita, thank you for being with us today!  Let’s start with your new book, PM Crash Course™ Premier Edition.  I see this book as a guide for "accidental”—or maybe even “incidental"—project managers.  It appears that what you’re doing is providing these people with the "must have" information that they need to be more effective on their current projects immediately.  In fact, we're seeing a huge demand for this type of knowledge through our own website as of late.  As a long-time authority in the project management industry, what do you feel are the top three issues project managers grapple with, and why?  

Rita:  
You mention ‘accidental’ or ‘incidental’ project managers, and these are great words to describe the target audience for this book.  These people are typically the ones who are very good at what they do, noticed by upper management, and eventually promoted to managing projects.  But my new book PM Crash Course™ was also written for what I call ‘unaware’ project managers—people who are currently working on projects and unaware that there is a science behind project management that could be helping them.

Although I can think of dozens of issues that project managers must grapple with every day, I consider the ‘Top 3’ to be 1) letting projects control them, instead of vice-versa, 2) the absence of measures of success, and 3) a lack of PM knowledge on behalf of senior management.  Let me see if I can explain further.

In terms of project control, letting projects control the project manager is typically an attitude problem as much as anything.  Many PMs simply don’t realize that their entire job is to control the project, plain and simple.  At times, project managers start to work on a project, and before they know it they’re not sure they can make the deadline—and the project becomes out of control.  But more experienced project manages will do things like plan scope in advance, and decide how they are going to control it.  They’ll also plan time and cost in advance, and decide how to control these elements before the project begins.

Many projects also lack what I will call a ‘measure of success.’  For starters, senior management should give every project some measure of success, whether it be a completion time, a total project cost, a level of quality, a level of customer satisfaction, or something similar.  In addition, there should also be measures of success put in place by the project manager, to measure success both at the end of the project and at various intervals throughout the project.  If your drive to work is 20 miles long, at the end of the tenth mile you know for a fact that you’re halfway there.  But projects rarely have these types of defined milestones—and they should.  For many project managers, implementing measures of success throughout a project is a revolutionary concept, when it should be second nature.

Finally, a lack of PM knowledge on behalf of senior management is something that project managers across the globe grapple with every single day.  Whether they know it or not, most senior managers end up getting in the way of the project because they don’t understand project management, and they don’t understand what their role in the process is.  Senior managers often badger project managers by asking for status updates and reports too frequently.  Or, they pull the project manager into meeting after meeting, looking for information and requesting unnecessary reports.  When senior management doesn’t understand what their role is—and what their role is NOT—it inhibits the entire project management process.

Dave: 
Project Management is always a balancing act, and the struggle appears to be applying just enough structure and administration—but at the same time, avoiding adding unnecessary overhead.  What do you see as some of the critical parts of the project management process that most “newbie” project managers might fail to see value in?

Rita: 
I like this question, because you asked what they DO NOT see value in, and most people wouldn’t approach the question in that manner.  I think overall, new project managers don’t see value in the ‘process’ of project management, primarily because they’ve never been exposed to it—even if they’ve had training before.  And new PMs don’t realize that a problem on a project is likely due to the fact that they didn’t follow the project management process.  For example, many new project managers spend a great deal of time dealing with changes on projects.  But an experienced PM knows that if you spend a little extra time clarifying the scope of a project up front, there will significantly less changes during the project—and the changes that do happen will take much less time.  I always tell students to think of it like spending 30 extra hours up front to save 300 hours down the road.  It really is that significant.

Another thing that new PMs fail to see value in is the ‘unrealistic schedules process.’  New project managers don’t realize that management has the right to require that a project be completed in ANY length of time. And instead of pushing back or providing additional data to management, new project managers will just sit around and complain to each other about the short timeline, then start to work on the project anyway.  Then ultimately, the project manager ends up providing management with less than they expected, because there was no time to do it right.  But in real-world project management, the project manager is required to come up with their own schedule and estimate, and reconcile any differences in the schedule before the work begins.  This process is absolutely critical in the real world, because management doesn’t want to dedicate resources to projects that can’t meet their needs.

The third thing that new project managers fail to see value in is project management tools.  For example, if a lot of team members do not understand what needs to be done and when, a Work Breakdown Structure would likely remedy the problem.  Similarly, if team members are having difficulty clearly communicating, a Communication Plan that details who should be talking to who about what—and when—is the perfect solution.

In summary, what my book PM Crash Course™ is designed to do is cut right to the chase, and change what is going on in the project management training marketplace.  I get frustrated when I see companies trying to sell people weeks and weeks of training, when only a few days—or a good book—are all they need to make an immediate impact on their current projects.  I also see people regularly being turned off by project management because it seems ‘too hard.’  It still amazes me how many people and how many training companies believe that good project management is all about using the right formulas at the right times.  As a 16+ year veteran of the project management training industry and one of its founding members, I can say unequivocally that good project management is most certainly NOT about formulas.  And my new book proves it, by helping new project managers prevent mistakes, and by helping experienced project managers better understand exactly what they’re dealing with.

Rita Mulcahy’s new book, PM Crash Course™ Premier Edition, can be purchased directly from RMC Project Management at www.rmcproject.com, or through any major online bookstore.