PM Network

The James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in December 2021, is the largest space science telescope ever developed. It is one of the most technically complex projects ever undertaken and will fundamentally change our understanding of how the universe works – and it all depends on people. PMI Strategic Advisor Dr. Ed Hoffman recently spoke with Greg Robinson, the Program Director of Webb at NASA, on the Center Stage podcast about leading the teams that made this futuristic endeavor a reality.

Hoffman: What are the biggest challenges that you have and your team faces in ensuring value delivery for Webb?

Robinson: Some of the larger challenges over the years were around performance. And with projects, it's all about performance, doing really good planning, getting your requirements right, setting your team during development, and getting it done within your constraints.

With that performance, the team is so important. Do we have the right team, the right team makeup? Are we communicating properly, not just talking but communicating? I took over Webb about three and a half years ago, and that was one of the largest glaring weaknesses, that communication was not good at all.

The biggest challenge was really getting the team focused not on the technical, but stepping it up a notch to make sure we were operating as one machine throughout the agency and with our stakeholders.

Hoffman: What are your principles in a leadership position or when you're part of a team? What do you look for to create a team that's high performing and successful?

Robinson: You want a good leader. That means a lot of things to different people. Someone who can look at the technical skills based on the work breakdown structure of the project. Do I have good technical prowess, technical leaders, good integrators, people who are not afraid of being challenged.

The great thing about NASA's history, internally, we've always been able to challenge each other. And we tend to end up with a better product. And that challenge has to occur with performance in mind, not taking too long to get it done. So recognizing people who have that skill, or can go deep technically, who are not afraid of being challenged, and often communicate.

In communications also we tend to talk technical language. And when we're communicating up and out, we have to talk layman's terms - that's not an easy skill. Those are the things I look for in my teams.

Hoffman: How did you develop into such a successful leader?

Robinson: Mentoring is a really big deal. A lot of a lot of people mentored me. We didn't even call it that at the time, but I reached out to other senior leaders, and basically saying, sure in different words, “I want to be like you one day when I grow up.”

Another area that came along a little bit later, the soft skills, which I did not appreciate early in my career at all. Then I took some class that was put together at NASA, and I was sold from that class on. I made sure I continued to develop my social skills through training and other types of development, kept the mentoring going, built networks within the agency.

So a combination of apprenticeship with senior leaders, mentoring, and training and development and networking. I think those were the key. And I continue to work on social skills today, believe it or not.

Listen to the full podcast on Center Stage.

Project Management Institute has unveiled the 2020 edition of the Most Influential Projects, which highlights 259 efforts, each a distinct masterclass in how to navigate change and deliver results. The projects demonstrate many pivots born of the global pandemic, but also shifts in response to pre-coronavirus forces, from sustainability to quantum computing.

The honorees—an overall Top 50 as well as Top 10s in 30 categories—represent the creative spirit shaping how the world collectively reimagines a new future. What’s more, they describe an emerging playbook for impact and success in a world that will never be the same. Four key elements of that playbook are summarized in “Why Projects Matter More Than Ever”:

• Always Innovate, Even If Imperfectly
• Amplify Collaboration Across Disciplines
• Lean Into Social Impact
• Create the Future

The Most Influential Projects offer a unifying theme: the ability to turn bold ideas into a new reality. As Melati Wijsen, the 19-year-old co-founder of UpLink member Bye Bye Plastic Bags put it: “We don’t look at today’s challenges as a burden. We look at them as an opportunity.”

You can explore the entire list, including Top 10 lists in 21 industries and nine regions, here, the home of the Most Influential Projects 2020. And the No. 1 Most Influential Project of 2020? It's the US$125 million COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, which aims to identify, accelerate and scale potential COVID-19 treatments by coordinating R&D efforts.

The 2020 evolution of PM Network continues this month with the launch of expanded, exclusive digital content on PMI.org.

In times of crisis, we need art more than ever to connect and inspire us. How timely that the world’s largest digital art space opened last month in Bordeaux, France—a 2020 project that even COVID-19 couldn’t shut down, though it certainly dictated some additional requirements and innovations.

Known as Les Bassins de Lumières (The Pools of Light), this impressive project offers an encouraging example of what the future of immersive public art experience can be. Read more at PM Network’s new and improved home for digital content, where this success story is our current Project of the Week.

While you’re there, check out other exclusive digital content from the PM Network team, including “Pandemic Pivots”—a quick look at five 2020 projects that are helping people navigate our new global reality, from drones that disinfect, to no-frills ventilators, to the Premier League’s Project Restart. Goooooaaaaallll

We could all use some inspiration in our information, and it's this kind of content that offers a much-needed reminder: project teams throughout history have delivered strategic solutions to difficult problems. The pandemic is no exception.

On that note, how about that other (not unrelated) existential global challenge in need of exceptional project management? Next to all this exclusive content, you will also find the digital edition of PM Network’s “The Climate for Change” issue from May/June. It presents a number of “bold projects for a better planet” and engages the project professionals who are leading them. Talk about essential work!

So stay safe. Stay informed. And stay in touch for the latest inspiration from the project management front lines.

Just as a spider’s web is complex when you look at it up close, so are organizations. Dependencies go in every direction, and these introduce uncertainty and add risks to projects. In this environment, PMO leaders must be prepared manage sweeping change and facilitate the C-suite’s strategic decision making.

This month’s PM Network article on complexity offers some tips on how to do that. One way is to use tactical information to create a story that helps executives make the call. Another way is to break down large portfolios into a series of mini-portfolios divided by business areas.

The Caribbean region is way more than a tourist resort. Its developing nations are striving for economic growth, but first need to upgrade infrastructure. Our profile of the region finds a lack of project management maturity is making it difficult for these countries to streamline their development of energy, water and transportation facilities.

Talent shortage getting you down? Many companies are looking at passive candidates—those who might be open to a job move but not actively searching. Finesse and personal connections can help your organization connect with these candidates. Cultivating this passive talent could help organizations fill gaps.

One of two case studies in this issue provide insights into how project managers turned a design by renowned architect Frank Gehry into curvaceous quarters for the University of Technology Sydney’s business school. The other, PM Network’s cover story this month, tells how a project team built an 8.5 megawatt solar power plant on an island in the midst of a national park in Japan.

The big, noticeable project opening this month’s Edge section portrays the first-ever effort to thoroughly hand-clean the Colosseum in Rome. Elsewhere in Edge, learn about projects in the up-and-coming field of virtual reality; see what cities are doing to improve bus and bike transit; read about the growth of medical hacking attacks and the cybersecurity projects being launched in response; see how the team completing the FIFA World Football Museum closed the project despite controversy surrounding FIFA; and read how teams are developing early-warning systems for earthquakes.

Voices is the part of PM Network where experts, executives and practitioners get to speak. This month it includes an interview with Peter Taylor, PMP, head of the global PMO for Kronos, discussing the value of the PMO and how it is measured. Our innovation columnist Kareem Shaker, PMI-RMP, PMP, talks about the importance of solid risk management when working on an innovative project. Uncertainty can be managed by being sure the project aligns with the organization’s risk appetite.

Our practitioner writers help you get it done in “Getting It Done: Project Management in Action.” This month your colleagues talk about managing millennials, working with project teams in Russia and estimating pitfalls in construction projects.

Did you know…if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.