Project Management in Real Life

Project Managers can learn from watching a mother hen taking care of her chicks. It's a neverending job keeping watch over those chicks to make sure they are safe and don't wander off and get lost or into trouble.

The Project Team needs a good leader. The Project Manager needs to always keep an eye on the team to make sure everyone stays on track. You need to be involved, but do not micromanage your team. Let them be independent like chicks so they can develop and become valuable team members. Be there to steer the team members back on track when you notice that they are lost and need some guidance.

Having good intuition is a plus. The picture I snapped illustrates the mother hen being concerned because she has a feeling that one chick is missing because there are only five chicks around her so she takes to higher ground to get a better view of whats going on.

The Wild Wild West environment that is just focused on completing projects with no regard for an approach with standards works for many companies. The question is how long can a company operate efficiently with the Wild Wild West mindset.  

Bringing in Project Management professionals to run projects in an environment that has been operating in a "let's just get it done" approach will be a challenge. There will be resistance and a waste of my time attitude given. 

Leadership skills to win over the staff and management will be crucial. The Project Manager needs to show confidence and control without intimidating the staff and management. A company that has not practiced structured Project Management will need to be educated on the value it delivers. 

Baby steps, one step at a time will be the approach to get staff and management onboard with practicing structured Project Management with defined approach and standards. Select small projects to start off with. Have a kickoff meeting to go over the expectations of the team when there is a Project Manager running the project. Ask for input from the team so you can make appropriate adjustments to the approach that will be used. Create the project timeline with tasks and distribute to the team. 

Completing a few small projects will provide valuable insight into how well the staff and management adapted to a Project Manager running projects. It will also show the staff and management the value of a project that is run by a Project Manager.

It's ShowTime for the staff and management to be presented with a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation from the Project Manager. The presentations will give an illustration of examples of the approach, standards, and reports. The presentation should be done after you completed a few projects to allow appropriate tunning for approach, standards, and reports. 

I recommend a Hybrid or Hybrid-Plus method to be used. It will be a continuous work in progress to fine-tune as you get to learn more about the company. A hybrid-plus will provide more flexibility.

I have two posts on my blog here on projectmanagement.com for the Hybrid-Plus approach.

The Lean / Agile / Waterfall made to order Hybrid-Plus for software projects

The Hybrid-Plus called The LAW

It's going to be an adventure to go from an unstructured Project Management environment to a well-tuned structured Project Management environment. This is your time as a Project Manager to become an even better Project Manager. All your skills will be tested and tuned. You will be a better Project Manager after you tame the Wild Wild West in the company.

A good Project Manager is the problem solver that needs to know how to respond fast to get a resolution with acceptable outcomes to keep a project moving. Don't just be a delegator. Jump in and work with the team to find a solution. 

Having the ability to sense trouble is an asset for a Project Manager. Staying cool and taking ownership of the issue avoids any confusion on who is the point person to get a resolution delivered. You will work with subject matter experts or become one on your quest for a resolution. 

(Note - this article was originally written by Drake Settsu and published on DrakeSettsu.BlogSpot.com in March 2016)

We need Project Managers that leads by example and jumps in to help any project team member when they are in need of help. I do not like the term "Servant Leader", it sounds like it came out of the 1700's.

Project Managers need to get their hands dirty too. Don't just direct and watch the action sipping your cup of coffee. Involvement with your team to make adjustments to keep the project moving is important. Be there for your team. If there is a task you can do, then do it.

A good example of a Project Manager getting their hands dirty was a Data Center inventory project that I was involved in. I was the Systems Administrator assigned to inventory every piece of hardware / software in the Data Center. The Project Manager got on his hands and knees in the Data Center to help me take inventory and create the Data Center floor plan.

I have gotten my hands thirty on many of my own projects looking underneath the Data Center tile floor to plan hardware projects. 

Just get your hands dirty. It's a rewarding experience when you can help out. There is soap and water to clean your dirty hands when you are done.

Leadership with no borders sounds better than Servant Leadership.

You need a meeting scheduled with a short notice. You are dealing with project team members on campus, different locations, and remote team members in different time zones. Sounds like fun.

Make a checklist of who needs to attend this meeting and who is an optional nice to have if they can attended.

Start selecting all the players for the meeting on the calendaring software that your company uses so you can see the date / times that they are available. Indicate required attendee or optional attendee. You will see a lot of meeting conflict dates and times because this is a short notice meeting. Just press on with the best date / time to schedule your meeting.

Select an appropriate meeting subject name to express the urgency of the short notice meeting. Give a brief summary of the reason for the meeting. Create an agenda and attach it to the meeting invite. Provide the conference call number for team members that will not be able to attend the meeting in person.

I call this the take no prisoners approach to scheduling a short notice meeting. If you try to accommodate everyone, it will not happen. The clock is ticking and you need answers and resolutions to issues. Explain to your Sponsors and Stakeholders that you are dead in the water because you can't schedule a meeting. People will juggle their schedules when you make an urgent compelling reason for the meeting.

That's why you are the Project Manager. Your job is to make things happen.