Rage, Rage Against The Dying Of The Project

Projects, by definition, have a discernible beginning and ending date (quick PM hack: each of the Work Breakdown Structure elements, by extension, should also have a discernible beginning and ending date, Rolling Wave/Planning Packages excepted. Otherwise, you probably have a Function or Organizational Breakdown element on your hands, which DOES NOT belong in the WBS). As your Project’s end date approaches, a whole new set of managerial challenges present themselves, and, if they are mis-managed, future successes may very well become more difficult to achieve.
But first, a quick evaluation of Matrix Management. Erik Francis, in cloudbees.com[i], actually refers to Matrix Management as a “fad,” one of the top management fads of the century[ii], in fact. And he’s not alone – I’ve seen Matrix Management show up on other business writers’ list of “management fads.” I think this is rather unfortunate, and points to a certain insensitivity (if not ignorance) of some of the essential elements that project-dependent organizations must integrate into their business models if they are to succeed, or even survive. For those new to the concept, Matrix Management asserts that each employee who charges to a specific project (or projects) essentially reports to two managers: the PM, and the “line” manager. This latter is responsible for the employee’s career track, and includes, among other things (like training), that employee’s “coverage,” or where he or she will charge their time. I would argue that this is a natural, holistic division of managerial authority and responsibility in organizations with a sizeable project portfolio. It leaves PMs free to focus on, well, PM stuff, like completing the scope on-time, on-budget, without having to worry about things like where their mid-level engineers rank in relation to the organization’s other engineers when it comes time for performance evaluations. Your typical PM has no idea how other Projects’ personnel are performing, and would, therefore, have no valid basis of comparison. However, those engineers’ Line Manager would know, or could more readily find out.
But where Matrix Management really comes into its effectiveness is when a given Project is nearing its completion. In organizations with a large or expanding contract backlog, transitioning personnel to new Project work is usually straight-forward, assuming that their new Projects do not try to pull them too early, and endanger the successful completion of the Project they are working in its end-stages. But in organizations with a static – or even declining – contract backlog – these transitions become much more problematic. I’m reminded of the old Mr. Magoo cartoons, where the title character is functionally blind, but doesn’t know or acknowledge it. He believes he is taking a stroll through a park when he is, in fact, walking along a steel beam that is being craned into position many stories above the city streets below. Just as Mr. Magoo seems to step off of the flying beam, another comes along in mid-air, just under his next step, so seamlessly that he still believes himself to be in a park at ground-level. Alas, such transitions are extremely rare in the PM world, as key personnel will almost invariably be perceived as leaving their nearly-completed Project too early, or arriving at their next Project late.
Then we have the Project Team members who have not been identified as “key,” but who are, nevertheless, rather talented. They, too, see the scheduled end-date of the Project approaching, but have not been informed by their Line Manager of their next assignment, leaving them to wonder if they have a future in the organization at all. The more capable ones will typically begin to explore their other options as the dreaded end-date approaches and no in-company options are presented, making them, as talented as they are, “flight risks.” Many organizations with large Project portfolios will seek to mitigate this effect by hiring sub-contractors, who tend to make per hour than the regular employees, but are more easily dismissed. However, this practice only mitigates the problem – it doesn’t solve it.
Ultimately, in organizations that depend on Project work but are experiencing a decline in contract backlog, Projects in their end-stages generate a great deal of organizational angst. A sort of death spiral may manifest, where uncovered workers are laid off, leading to a loss of talent and, therefore, capability, which then causes a further erosion of the organization’s ability to win more work. Such organizations may seek to ramp up their proposal backlogs, but the win rate is an unforgiving element in this formula. So, with apologies to Dylan Thomas, I would wrap by saying
Good PMs, whose follow-on proposal the client did reject,
See their successes utterly fall away.
Rage, rage against the dying of the Project.



[i] Retrieved from https://www.cloudbees.com/blog/top-6-management-fads-this-century on April 6, 2026, 19:46 MDT.
[ii] Ibid.