Part 9 of 10-The Book that Most Impacted My Career-Excellence in Engineering

 

This is Part 9 of a blog relating sections of Excellence In Engineering by W.H. Roadstrum, 1967, with Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

In Chapter 14-The Project Engineer, Roadstrum cites the good and poor practices for the project engineer and the unit manager.   But equally important is the skills by the project engineer to lead the team in completing the defined scope on-time and within the budget. 

Project Leading Techniques:

• Keep first things first-“...never lose sight of the fact that your job is coordination and leading.  This is your most important responsibility.”
• Allocate effectively-“...look at it as allocating resources to best meet requirements. …Take into account individual differences in your people’s experience and interests to optimize their output.”
• Handle consultants carefully-“utilize their efforts as contributions for some full-time team member tom integrate into the solution.”
• Start your control immediately-“It is much easier to keep a project under control than to rescue it once it has gotten out of control.”
• Keep your control effort current-“Nothing can relieve or excuse a project leader from the necessity of knowing the financial, schedule, and technical status of his work at all times.”

Roadstrum also indicates - two useful tools in maintaining mutual confidence between manager and project engineer are (a) an initial write-up on how the project will be conducted, and (b) periodic progress reports, usually weekly.

In PMBOK Appendix X3, the interpersonal skills for effective project managers are expanded.    While PMBOK is not an instruction manual for developing project managers, the Appendix contains summary descriptions of the skills listed in Chapter 1.   The descriptions, and a list of well-known business and management book s, provide information for personal development of project managers.  The books include:

• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey, S. R
• Human Factors in Project Management, Dinsmore, P.C.
• Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager, Verma, V. K.

Leadership is the 1^st skill listed, and probably the most important attribute for a project manager.   Leadership, as described, encompasses the bulk of the 11 skills - team building, motivation, communications, trust building, and coaching.   Effective Leadership is required throughout a project life-cycle and if demonstrated by the project participants it will lead to success for the project, the Owner, stakeholders, and the project team.

“Leadership involves focusing the efforts of a group of people toward a common goal and enabling them to work as a team.  In general terms, leadership is the ability to get things done through others.  Respect and trust, rather than fear and submission are the key elements of effective leadership.   Although important throughout all project phases, effective leadership is critical during the beginning phases of the project when the emphasis is on communicating the vision and motivating and inspiring project participants to achieve high performance.”

If the project is not successful, it is unlikely the project manager will be evaluated as demonstrating leadership.