Project Management
Certification & Training

Avoid micro-managing pitfalls on projects

By Dick Billows, PMP, GCA Summary: One of the hardest things in project management is to avoid micro management; particularly when you're getting started. It is tempting to solve all of the problems for everyone on the team because you can do it so quickly. But that style hurts morale and it comes back to haunt you if you move up to larger projects. Then micro management causes your team members to take no responsibility for anything.

"Me a micro-manager?" The PM scoffed as the executive looked over the 68-page Gantt chart with 1,279 tasks.

The senior executive ran a finger down the column of task durations. "I sure see a lot of one-hour meetings and three-hour tasks on this thing. The only thing you missed was scheduling bathroom visits. People don't like being managed this tightly. Do you estimate the work at that level of detail . . . and then track actuals?"

The PM looked out the window hoping for a tornado or an earthquake. "Well, we are just a little behind in posting the actuals and doing our variance analysis and some of the folks are just a little too busy to report status on 20-25 tasks each week."

The PM flipped the plan closed and said with a smile, "I guess I'm a just a bear for detail . . . I like to really pin everything down. Anyway, our 5-hour status meetings are good for team-building and I really know where we stand after those sessions. Best of all, we use the meetings to really hone in on what we're trying to achieve--everyone's ideas are welcome."

"Great to be real flexible on the objective when you're spending $2 million of the company's money," the executive said.

The PM replied, "Well, delighting the customer and providing world class service are just the tiniest bit vague as objectives. But maybe it's just me."

The executive ignored the comment and said, "Exactly how far behind are you in tracking things?"

"Six months, give or take."

The executive glared at the PM and then said, "Do you realize that I spend hours talking to people and reading status reports about new functionalities, endless training courses and wondrous new processes and I have no inkling of what your project is actually achieving for the business?"

"We're trying to detail that--"

This is not a pretty story.

Yet we hear all too often of PMs building these monstrous project plans that they never use to actually track and monitor project performance. Worst of all, the executives who sponsor these projects have no idea what's actually being achieved for the organization.

The answer is a simple one. We can't make up for lack of clear and measurable objectives with a long laundry list of activities. Don't view the project plan as a "to do" list of all the tasks people will complete. Rather, drive the project toward a business-relevant outcome. Then your project plans become a tool for planning and tracking measurable achievements in the project, not a "to do" list of everything that needs to be done.

The benefits come not only in clarity of purpose and scope control, but also in the quality of the assignments we make to project team members.