I am in a project for one of our customers, and we got a partner to perform a big part of the actual project work since it is not within our area of expertise.
The partner PM doesn’t want me to attend to the work meetings with our client’s team (neither he will or so he says) because that might make the engineers feel uncomfortable and they wouldn’t work the best they can.
This is the first time that this has happened to me in all the time I have been working as PM. The closer I were for this to happen before, was with this same partner when one big project started to go wrong, but I wasn’t quite out of the picture (it was with a different PM).
Back when I was doing engineer work, I didn’t like non-technical people into work calls/conferences when I lacked experience with the work I was going to perform.
Back to the present, I don’t know if I am going to be backed within my organization if I demand to be included, there will be other small projects with the same vendor’s upper management team and not getting away with this in my terms should make the partner to be more relaxed in the future.
What would you do in this or a similar scenario? Saving Changes...
This is not an unusual situation. I would talk with the partner PM to understand their perspective better and perhaps some compromise can be reached.
I have worked with customer PMs as the project leader where we were careful about what schedule information we provided to prevent them from trying to micromanage our project team. I have also seen situations where the customer PM can try and redirect the design team which and get them to perform work outside the contract scope, or different from the direction of their own management.
While open and honest communication is preferred, oversharing can have its own set of drawbacks, and sometimes there is a valid need to limit the information, or the attendees at working level meetings to avoid a conflict of interests.
I would speak with the partner PM to understand how you can work together better to both address your own information needs, while preventing disruption to their working team. Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
These issues should be resolved with the Project Charter - that is what the Project Charter is for - define roles, responsibilities and authorities within the project stakeholders and team.
That being said, in my experience there is equal opportunity for the technical teams to see the PM as administrative only and for the PM to strong arm the techs - becoming too involved in the technical aspects, feeling an obligation to direct solutions.
Either extreme can be detrimental to effective project delivery. Its a lack of mutual trust and respect. That becomes the PM's problem to resolve and until it is there will be no comfort. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
At the end of the day, I am just trying to get the project done as expected. I will talk with our partner’s PM and let him know that I am just trying to make sure there are no loose ends and that the interests of our client are indeed being addressed.
The Project Charter does not cover this (or similar) scenario but positions me as the highest point of escalation within the project team. As a side note, I do expect our partner’s PM to strong arm their techs if necessary. I had a big project with them cancelled due a “technical” oversight, and it didn’t show until the last minute, which to be honest has gotten me very wary of working with them.
Thanks for the advise, I do appreciate it. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Keith nailed it with his feedback. Genrally speaking, this is a toxic environment and doesn't reflect team spirit. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
As a PM you should take the right to sit in every meeting but be aware of the consequences. It is a necessary component of your role to be able to read the project.
If you go there, you should make it clear with leaders from each party before why you are doing this. So they are not surprised and can share it with their respective members.
You should be in listen mode and refrain from making technical comments. But you should observe individual behavior and identify potential conflicts, and have debriefs afterwards.
If it is a frequent regular meeting you might add a governance meeting to it, when the party leaders brief you about the meeting progress and issues. So you do not have to listen to too much technical detail and do not inhibit discussion with your presence. Offer this as an option to your partner PM, so he will better understand your role.
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