I've just been promoted to a Project Management role, and am having a few problems, I wondered if any of you kind people would care to proffer some advice.
I've been given 3 projects, one is to build a new software system (that's going ok), one is to get rid of an old software system (problem #1) and the 3rd is to perform an upgrade to an existing software system (problem #2).
The problems I'm facing aren't technical, or even project management ones - they're people ones.
Where I need to remove an old legacy system, there is only one developer who knows anything about the system, and I've worked with him for weeks doing systems analysis (to establish the impact of removing this system), and I've done nearly all the work for him.
I've tried empowering him, by giving him part of the project and letting him run it his way, but he ended up not delivering anything close to what had been asked for (and we compared his result to the work request, and he admitted that he didn't really want to do this work, and if he did, it would put him out of a job).
I'm ending up doing all the technical analysis work myself - and I don't feel like I'm "managing" just "doing".
How the heck do I handle this? I've got an project to complete, and the only person I can get to work on it is a.) not willing to, and b.) lacks the skills to complete the kind of work required.
The second problem is with a system where some new components need to be built in. A single person (customer) has had a system built for them as a prototype, by a third party. The third party has then written a spec. and he's given the go-ahead to build the new parts and enhance some of the existing parts. There is no contract with this company, it's a "tell us what you want and we'll tell you how much it will cost" operation.
Now I've been asked to "project manage" this work, but the customer says she doesn't have time to do testing or approval, and she "just wants it done".
There's seems to be no business critical date for this work, and the customer isn't in the slightest bit interested in plans, budgets or measuring the quality of the results.
How do I solve these problems, I've spoken to my manager, who has asked me to "motivate" both the developer and the customer - but they both appear genuinely uninterested... Saving Changes...
Mike Cooper PMPPrincipal Project Manager (retired, sort of)| New England Project ServicesWestford, Ma, United States
So, you are quickly finding out that which many seasoned project managers know - most project problems are people related, not technical.
Both your situations are indeed difficult. I can only make a couple of suggestions for you. With the first project, your manager wants you to essentially find out what it is that will make the project interesting for the developer. His job concerns are likely to be a very serious impediment to his work, so if you can help figure out what he will be doing after the project, that will help. This may entail going back to your manager. A new role for the developer that is aligned with the success of this project should certainly help his motivation. If he is truly just incompetent at the work, then you need to be able to quantify this, and take the information back to your manager and ask for resource that can undertake the work. Since he is the only person who knows the system, this will likely end up back in your lap with the same person! So I go back to the "job comfort" approach.
For the other project, perhaps your customer does not express interest in plans, budgets or quality, but you should be. You can therefore use this project to enhance your own project management skils. Try and do the best job you can of nailing requirements for the third party (sounds like this has been done) and hold them accountable for it themselves.
Your statement that your customer is not interested in quality is a concern. I think you need to work with your customer on a definition of project success. What will a successful project be to them? Maybe quality does not matter.
I can guarantee that if cost does not matter to your customer, cost WILL matter to someone in your organization. So be warned! If the customer truly does not express any interest in the project, then perhaps there is truly no business value in the work. If you can figure this out, then maybe your suggeston would be to cancel the project. A dramatic move on your part perhaps, but it could help force the issue about what the justification is for the work, and what you should focus on for project success. THe more a project manager knows about the business reasons for a project's existence, the better, because they can then manage the project in line with this, for things like prioritization of features, quality versus speed, etc.
