Answering executives' questions about your project plan
It certainly would be handy if organizations gave project managers the authority to:
- directly assign work to team members "borrowed" from other departments,
- reward authority for outstandintg performance and
- the authority to measure performance.
But they don't, so we need to make the case for having that authority on every project. Arguing that these authorities increase the odds of project success is a good start. What other ideas do you have?
Regards,
Dick Billows, PMP
posted by Dick Billows, PMP, GCA @ 4:08 PM
4 comments
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4 Comments:
Project Managers should work with accountability rather than as a responsibility. The idle scenario is PM having complete control on all project activities, but this may not be possible every time. The PM goal should be to get best results with in all the limitations. The PM should identify and become conscious about the work constraints [not project constraints], document those and prepare accordingly. End of the day she/he cannot enter into blame game saying project failure is a result of limitations they bounded too.
Regards
Pavan Kumar Pothuraju, PMP.
Case 1:
There is always a risk of the project tasks assigned by the PM being given a step-motherly treatment due to the lack of accountability or responsibility.
Case 2:
PM will be held unfairly responsibile for activities done by members on whom they do not have any authority on.
Case 3:
Project Status and Performance Reporting cannot be effectively done by the PM, without appropriate data and co-operation from the team members.
The above factors have negative effect on project and also adds unnecessary stress and reduces morale for the PM.
Note: I dis-agree with pavankumar's view regarding the PM not being worried about Project Constraints due to the fact that Risk Identification and response planning relies heavily on Project Constraints caused by internal and external factors. It cannot be ignored.
Letting Sponsors know that authority to pick your project team members and reward outstanding performance and even to measure authority is a good start. However, it is not always possible. There are many different types of organizations and their understanding and support of Project Management practices also vary.
In an environment where there is weak PM understanding and support, it is necessary to develop strong trusting relationships with the team members as well as the stakeholders. When a resource is not working out or not really exhibiting the correct skill sets, it is imperative to communicate this in a way that does not reflect poorly on that resource. The PM must determine if it is “skill” or “will” that is causing the problem. It may be the person’s attitude or it may be the lack of training, tools and management support for the project. This must be immediately identified as a risk to the project task and or milestone outcome and communicated to the sponsor in a factual way. Maintaining a good relationship with your stakeholders and resources will help the PM to develop an authority that is not appointed, but earned. That type of authority is far more powerful than command and control.
It is also important to keep a log of all conversations, times and results regarding the defect, deficiency or risk. The PM should track the effort to identify the problem, offered solutions or elicited solutions from the company. That way, when it comes back to the PM, and it will, he or she can show the efforts made to mitigate the issue, problem or risk. Remember, keeping detailed notes of the time, date, person or people that conversations took place with can really come in handy if things get threatening in a non-authority position.
One way I think the confusion over evaluations, direction, etc is to have the manager be responsible for a task and then let them delegate that task to one of their workers. Our WBS should not be a to-do list but list of objectives that affect the project. By assigning a manager responsiblity it ensures you get better people and that teh task will probably be on time. (Ihope what I'm thinking is what I wrote...smile)
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