How can you reduce the power of technical expert in large projects
Riad AlhammoudProject management| LanganAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
How can you reduce the power of technical expert In case if you have a large project divided to sub projects which requires to define the scope and review method statements and preparing the technical reports. He takes Alot of time for review and acceptance claiming can't accept the risk which in turn cause problems for project manager like delay the work progress and meeting the deadlines.
The necessity of reducing technical power is under question. the project should be feasible economically and technically. Plans are usually based on technical issues.
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1 reply by Riad Alhammoud
Mar 29, 2019 8:46 AM
Riad Alhammoud
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Thanks Mr. Abulfazel. Totally agree, we should bring the importance of the technical stuff down. In case the technical expert use his power to take more time for review then I think there should be some ways to control.
Is it a question of power or planning? Saving Changes...
Riad AlhammoudProject management| LanganAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Mar 29, 2019 8:07 AM
Replying to Abolfazl Yousefi Darestani
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The necessity of reducing technical power is under question. the project should be feasible economically and technically. Plans are usually based on technical issues.
Thanks Mr. Abulfazel. Totally agree, we should bring the importance of the technical stuff down. In case the technical expert use his power to take more time for review then I think there should be some ways to control. Saving Changes...
Jaleel .PMP, Associate Director| MetricStreamBangalore, India
From the question the problem seems to be with the technical expert taking more time rather than reducing the power of technical expert.
So, if the expert is giving the right justification for taking time then it needs to be accepted and planned accordingly.
If the expert is risk averse then discussing and giving confidence on how the risks will be handled or mitigated along with the impact of delayed reviews would make him/her understand and align to the targets. Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
If the Roles, Responsibilities and Expectations and/or Risk Appetite, Tolerance, and Thresholds were not properly set/addressed in the charter then this is the outcome. If I was to make an educated guess, I would say that his “risk aversion” is based on his belief that management has given NO room for failure. I have a couple of quotes for you: 1) “Promoting tolerance of failure increases the opportunities for success” and 2) “The fear of failure introduces an unbalanced inclination to avoid risk”. As you can see, these are basically saying the same thing, so it may be advisable to address the question of Risk with your technical expert and give him and his teams “the room for failure”. Believe me, they will still see that failure is NOT an option, but their mindsets, responses and collaboration levels will all change for positive. Obviously, there is a lot more to be considered, but some aspect of this might be in-play in your situation.
Technical projects would be much easier to manage if the end product didn't have to work, safety was not an issue, and it provided no innovative functionality that a client would be willing to pay for. Unfortunately for PMs in technical domains, the client is usually more interested in these things than Gantt charts and nicely formatted dashboards.
A more practical solution as a PM would be understanding why the expert takes so long, and determining if there is anything that can be done to help. Perhaps you are lacking critical resources and can find more, however some specialties are in extremely tight supply. Multiple projects could be relying on the same person (often my issue), in which case the PMO and functional managers need to work on prioritization. Perhaps the expert is getting poor quality inputs which requires them to spend extra time to do their own job. You can look for process efficiencies, evaluate requirements for nice-to-have vs. need-to-have, etc.
At the end of the day however, when working large technical projects it's usually a fact of life that the technical aspects provide both the value to the customer and the challenge to the PM, because if it was simple and easy, anyone could do it. Rather than trying to reduce the power of the technical expert, I generally focus on how to remove their roadblocks to efficiency. Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
Keith, I like your response. Classic theory of constraints. First identify the constraint (the technical expert). Then exploit the constraint to maximize productivity (find ways to help the expert work faster). Subordinate other work to this constraint, to set the proper pace and reduce waste. Then elevate the constraint- add resources or people to improve workflow. Saving Changes...
Anish AbrahamPrivacy Program Manager| University of WashingtonAuburn, Wa, United States
I think the PM needs to bring technical experts into the decision-making process, leveraging their expertise and giving them genuine ownership of critical business decisions. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Use and align any power on the project team. Be happy that there is power.
Do not try to reduce it, this would be the wrong fight. Rather make sure that they follow the project vision and use their power to support it. It is called stakeholder engagement and influencing. Saving Changes...
Alfred HortonCEO & President| AOC Connect, LLCLovettsville, Va, United States
Stakeholder engagement and a good communications plan are key. If the technical expert is included in the risk assessment and the risk mitigation plan, it should help minimized delays in approvals that are legitimately linked to risk. If the problem is "analysis paralysis", or the act of analyzing risk to a degree that keeps him from making decisions, then there may be a need for change. Either way, proper stakeholder engagement, communications and a well developed and maintained risk mitigation plan should speed up the process. Saving Changes...
